Thursday, July 31, 2014

DIY Zucchini Bread


Whats a girl to do with a huge zucchini that mysteriously showed up in my garden today? Zucchini bread of course!  I really don't get where these things hide because I'm pretty good at harvesting every few days and very well I might add.  3 times now these sneaky zucchini have hidden on me and then WHAM there they are. WHHHAATT???? I mean really. 



Zucchini Bread

Preheat oven at 350 degrees

2 cups of all purpose flour  ( I used Arrowhead Mills organic flour that I found on sale at Grocery Outlet $1.49 a bag which is a steal of a deal so I bought a case of them)

1 tsp cinnamon (although you can add more if you like. I'm not a huge cinnamon fan)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 salt

1 cup sugar (I use Wholesome Sweeteners which I buy from Costco for $11 a 10 lb bag. WAY cheap this way. Wholesome Sweeteners are my favorite and only brand of sugar I buy. Ive worked with them many times over the years and they rock! )

3/4 cup of oil ( I used olive oil)

3 large eggs (1 egg from Mary, 1 egg from Cleo and 1 from Gladys. I love them so!)

2 tsp vanilla 

3 cups shredded zucchini (from my garden today)


Butter and flour your cake pan or if you use a stoneware pan then no need to do that.  First 5 ingredients mix in a large bowl.  In a medium bowl beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Mix in zucchini in this mixture as well.  Once mixed well you can add this wet mix into the dry mix.  

Pour batter into your standard sized cake pan.  Bake about 40-45 minutes or until a fork is poked in and comes out clean.  Let cool and enjoy.  

And as usually you can add anything you want or alter as you will.  Don't have regular sugar then use brown sugar.  Just have whole wheat flour then just use that.  Get creative and have fun with this! 

$$ saving tip-Buy in bulk whenever possible! Its cheaper usually and no packaging to toss or recycle. Plus any chance I can show off my food in mason jars i'm all over that. lol.  But serious. I'm a little obsessed with mason jars.....

I found this recipe here and altered it to my likings. It called to bake for 1 hr 20 minutes but mine didn't take that long.  t love Epicurious recipes!  Go take a peek and see how you can alter it to your likings. Life is way more fun when you change things up. 

NOTE:I'm a non profit blogger and I do this all in my free time. I get no money from any of these companies I just share what I love.  Links are not affiliates! 

Monday, July 21, 2014

DIY Lemonade Blueberry Muffins


Today my friend Theresa let us pick her blueberries/lemonade blueberries and I put them to good use. Blueberry muffins can easily be a treat or a small breakfast. What I really love about this recipe is that there is very little sugar in them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.


Blueberry Muffins

1 cup blueberries of any kind (I used blueberries and pink lemonade blueberries)
Sugar
2 cups flour
3 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 tsp salt ( I used 1/2 tsp)
1 egg
1 cup milk (I used water)
6 tbsp melted shortening (I used olive oil)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, 2 tbsp of sugar together in a bowl.  Beat egg till fluffy.  Add milk, shortening and egg to dry ingredients.  Only stir till mixed then stop.  Add blueberries and mix very little.  Fill cupcake papers.

Bake 25 minutes.

Optional: I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top along with some cinnamon.