Zucchini Fritters

Sick of zucchini yet????? No???? Well then! Here is another recipe for you!

Tree's Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• ½ medium onion, grated
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 to 8 tablespoons flour 
• 1 egg
• Salt 
• Pepper 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425°. 
• Place shredded zucchini and onion in a strainer and press down firmly with a paper towel to remove as much excess moisture as possible.
• Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the egg. 
• Add the baking powder, salt and 6 tablespoons of flour. Add additional flour if it is still too wet. 
• Drop mixture by the tablespoon full into a prepared muffin pan.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, then turn the fritters over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. 
• Fritters should golden brown on on both sides when done.
• You will get about 18-20 fritters.

 I think we are about zucchinied out over here... My plants in the garden are pretty much done for the season, so this is the end my friend....No more zucchini recipes.... Until next year.....

Zucchini Bread

I've been craving zucchini bread... I've made almost everything that you can with Zucchini, since I have 2 plants in my garden and a co-worker of Matt's gave him 2!

I ended up with enough for 2 loaves... I made Parmesan Zucchini bread, which the recipe can be found here, with a few other Zucchini recipes from last year.

  

I've always wanted to try a sweet zucchini bread and you know how it goes in my kitchen...  I never follow just one recipe :oP I ended up making a spiced zucchini bread, which turned out amazing!

 

Spiced Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1½ cups flour
• ½ tsp baking power
• ½ tsp baking soda
•  1½ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp cloves
• ¾ tsp salt

 Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 °
• Wisk together brown sugar, white sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs.
• Add flour, baking power, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt to the liquid mixture. Stir to combine.
• Stir in zucchini.
• Pour batter into a prepared bread pan and bake 45 - 55 minutes. 
• Cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Then remove from pan and cool on baking rack.
• Once completely cooled, cut into slices 

I am loving the spiced zucchini bread, it came out super moist and has the perfect hint of spice!!

Iced Coffee

So the hubby is an avid coffee and iced coffee drinker... Our local Starbucks knows us on a first name bases :)

We cut down on Starbucks since we moved... We lived within walking distance to one... sometimes we'd go there 2 times a day! :oP I've been buying iced coffee at the store, which is kinda pricy... So here I sit tonight sipping on a glass of iced coffee that I made earlier... Not too shabby for my first time making it, need to cut down on the creamer a little. I added a cup of it, besides that it's good.

 

Tree's Iced Coffee

 Ingredients

• 8 cups of fresh brewed coffee
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• ½ to 1 cup of your favorite creamer (I used french vanilla)

 Directions

• Brew coffee and then let cool for 10-20 minutes. Then transfer to a pitcher and cool for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
• While coffee cools, make a simple syrup with the water and sugar. When the water comes to a boil water, pour sugar into water and stir until dissolved. Place into refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes.
• Once coffee and simply syrup have cooled, pour simple syrup into the coffee. Then add the creamer, to your taste, and stir together.
• Grab yourself a glass with a few ice cubes and enjoy!

Jalapeño Poppers

I had some left over cream cheese and I was thinking what I should make with it.... Hmmmmm, as I look over at the 9 Jalapeño I just picked from the garden, Jalapeño Poppers!!!

It's been a while since I've made them... Not sure why I don't make them more often... They are sooooooo good.... The hubby came home from work and went straight to them :)

Tree's Jalapeño Poppers

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded colby cheese
• 9 Jalapeño, cut in half
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
• ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp ground cumin

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 350°
• Cut Jalapeño in half lengthwise, remove seeds and membranes
• Mix together cream cheese and shredded colby

• Fill each pepper half with 1 tsp of cream cheese mixture

• Prepare you breading station... Place flour and cumin in the first pan, second pan mix the eggs and milk together and third pan mix the panko and Italian bread crumbs. Also grease a baking sheet to place the poppers on.

• One at a time, dredge each popper in the flour mixture

•  Then dip into the egg mixture and coat well

 

•  Last but not least, place in the bread crumb mixture and cover popper. Then press down to get a good coating.

•  Place peppers cheese side up on the prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes

•  When finished baking, take out of oven and let cool for a minute or so.... Since the cheese is molten hot! :)

I can't wait to make these again... Once you pop one, grab another because before you know it they are gone!

Spiked Peach Cobbler

Sunday I had a whim to make something with the peaches I got from the Pittsburgh Public Market the day before.... So 2 hours before we leave for our friends I decided to whip up a Peach Cobbler...

I've been seeing a few recipes that used cake mix as the topping for the cobbler. So I came up with my own recipe using what I had in the cupboard.

Tree's Spiked Peach Cobbler

 

Ingredients

• 1 box of white or yellow cake mix (I used funfetti)
• 1 Stick of Butter, Melted
• 7-10 Fresh Peaches
• Cherry Brandy
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Peel and cut peaches into slices and place into a 9x13 inch pan.
• Combine hot water and sugar to make a simple syrup.
• Add a couple splashes of Cherry Brandy and cornstarch to the simple syrup then pour over peaches.
• In a separate bowl mix together cake mix and butter until crumbly.
• Sprinkle cake mixture over peaches
• Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

And here you have it! I forgot to take a picture before we dug in :)

This turned out really good and a lot better than I thought it was going to turn out! I think the brandy did the trick.

It was even better with ice cream! :)

Homemade Saturday

A couple weeks back I had a bunch of cucumbers from the garden and decided to give making pickles a try....  I found a recipe at Serious Eats for Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles. 

I ended up doing spears and chips.... The spears I left for a week before I cracked them open and they were great! A little spicy too... I put in extra garlic and red pepper flake.... Very easy to make too!! I change in ingredients, since I made them "my way".... you can also can these to make them shelf stable too... Which is included below in the directions...

Tree's Garlic Dill Pickles

Ingredients

• 3 lbs cucumbers
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups filtered water
• 2 tablespoons pickling salt
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled (I used about 10-12, since I wanted them extra garlicky)
• 3 teaspoons dil
• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoon red chili flakes

Directions

1. Wash jars thoroughly in warm, soapy water. If you plan on making shelf stable pickles, prepare a boiling water bath canner. Put fresh canning jar lids into a small saucepan with 3 inches of water and set to the barest simmer.
2. Wash and dry cucumbers. Remove blossom end. Cut into chips, spears or leave whole, depending on your preference.
3. Combine vinegar, water and salt in sauce pan and bring to a boil.
4. Equally divide garlic cloves, dill seed, black peppercorns and red chili flakes between jars. Pack prepared cucumbers into jars as tightly as you can without crushing them.
5. Pour the brine into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace (that's the amount of space between the surface of the brine and the rim of the jar).
6. Remove any air bubbles from jars by gently tapping them. You can also use a wooden chopstick or plastic utensil to help remove stubborn bubbles.
7. Wipe rims and apply lids and bands (don't screw them on too tightly).
8. If processing jars for shelf stability, lower jars into your processing pot. When water returns to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes.
9. When time is up, remove jars from canning pot and allow them to cool. When jars are cool enough to handle, check seals.
10. If you choose not to process your jars, let them cool before putting them into the refrigerator. Do note that your jars may seal during the cooling process. However, without the boiling water bath process, that doesn't mean they're shelf stable. Still refrigerate.
11. Let pickles rest for at least one week before eating.
    
    Here is what they looked like before I put the brine in the jars....

Tonight we are having our Saturday Night Magic Night Cookout and I've broken out the chips,... Hope everyone likes them!!

Here are my picking from the garden on Thursday... 3 cucumbers, 1 zucchini, Cherry and Roma Tomatoes, Green Beans, Jalapeños and habañero.... I think, one of my zucchini plants is about done... The other is still going and might have a few more in the works.....

I should have my first egg plant soon... There was a small "fruit" the other day.... and I am sure I will be overloaded with tomatoes here soon..... Zucchini is phasing out and tomatoes are next! :oP

Fill the Cookie Jar!!

One day while surfing the next... I stumbled across Fill the Cookie Jar, I thought for fun I'd join...On the first Thursday of each month everyone shares their cookie recipes, which have  a theme.

This month the theme was Back to School/Kids Favorites... Well since I am not in school and don't have kids at the moment..... I made my hubbys favorite cookie from when he was a child, and still his favorite cookie, Oatmeal Raisin :)

Tree's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 cup  light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 cups quick oats
• 1 cup raisin, plus a little extra for the tops of the cookies  

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350°
• In a large bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, white sugar.
• Then add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla
• Stir the Flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the wet mixture.
• Then fold in the quick oats and raisins

• On a baking pan lined with parchment paper, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out the batter, and separate the scoop into two cookies, then place 6 cookies on the tray
• Sprinkle a little on top of each cookie.

• You will get about 18 cookies
• Bake for 14 - 18 minutes 
• Remove from oven and let cookies cool slightly on the sheet, then move to a cooling rack.

 

 There you have it! Turn out soft and chewy.... Mmmmmmm!

Make sure to check out the other recipes as well! :)