3/4 cup margarine
1 cup coconut
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup walnuts
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour and baking powder. Mix thoroughly. Stir in coconut, zucchini and walnuts. Spread batter evenly in well-greased 9x13 pan. Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Frost while still warm.
Cinnamon Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 tablespoons milk
Mix all ingredients together and spread on bars.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Carrot Cupcakes
I finally had some free time to make a recipe with my pureed carrots that I was experimenting with. A few posts ago I experimented with pureeing my carrot peelings from canning carrots. I came up with a dozen or so bags in the freezer and set out to find out if I could use this in exchange for shredded carrots. I found this recipe at Week of Menus. This recipe called for one cup carrot puree, exactly what I had frozen. I made them today and I am glad I did. The cupcakes are tasty! I think I found a good way to use up my puree. The kids will be glad to see that I tried a new recipe today!
Carrot Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cups corn oil (or canola or some other vegetable oil)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup shelled walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 cup pureed cooked carrots
3/4 cups shredded coconut
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pan with liners.
2. Sift dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger) into a bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
3. Fold in walnuts (optional), coconut, carrots, pineapple, and raisins.
4. Scoop batter into prepared liners. Set on middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool on a cake rack. When fully cooled, ice with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting (enough for 18 cupcakes) (this frosted over 2 dozen for me)
6 ounces of cream cheese frosting, room temperature (3/4 of your standard 8 oz block)
6 tablespoons of sweet butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you have vanilla bean, you can substitute a whole scraped vanilla bean in lieu of the vanilla extract - then also add a teaspoon of whole milk.)
1. Cream together cream cheese and butter with a mixer. Slowly mix in confectioners sugar. Continue to beat on low speed, slowly until all the ingredients have come together. Do not be tempted to beat on high speed -this adds too much air; rather beat on low speed for a longer time for a truly creamy frosting.
*On the Week of Menus blog she has great pics of how she made her cupcakes. I just scooped the frosting into a ziploc bag and squeezed it out on top, after all, five hungry kids and one starving husband will be home in about 2 hours and they will disappear! :) No fancy frosting needed here! Be sure to check out her site though!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Making Applesauce
Making applesauce has been a long time favorite for our kids. Not because it tastes so good,(which it does) but because they have an all-day free pass to hang out with our good friends until the job is done. The kids usually help with picking apples and taking turns at cranking out the fresh sauce. Here's the kids gathering apples for us.
And Darla, smiling at the basket of apples they brought in. I think she was still smiling at the end of the day! :) Make sure to wash your apples before cooking. They are actually more dirty than they appear. Just toss them into a sink of cold water and rinse.
After washing, cut apples into quarters. Put into boiling water until skins and pulp are soft and start to look like they are seperating, Remove from water. We use a big spoon with many small holes in it. Darla is using it in this picture.
We put the apples through a Sauce Master. (Not too sure if it is REALLY called this but it sounds good so we'll go with it.) This little piece seperates the pulp from the seeds and peelings. Great tool and makes less work. I also have this tool that I can add onto my KitchenAid Mixer and that really goes fast because their is no handle to crank. Here's one of the kids starting our first batch of sauce.
We added sugar to taste. It is alittle messy and sticky but well worth it at the end of the day! We make a few 5 gallon pails and can them later at home. I guess the "how-to can applesauce" can be another post.
And Darla, smiling at the basket of apples they brought in. I think she was still smiling at the end of the day! :) Make sure to wash your apples before cooking. They are actually more dirty than they appear. Just toss them into a sink of cold water and rinse.
After washing, cut apples into quarters. Put into boiling water until skins and pulp are soft and start to look like they are seperating, Remove from water. We use a big spoon with many small holes in it. Darla is using it in this picture.
We put the apples through a Sauce Master. (Not too sure if it is REALLY called this but it sounds good so we'll go with it.) This little piece seperates the pulp from the seeds and peelings. Great tool and makes less work. I also have this tool that I can add onto my KitchenAid Mixer and that really goes fast because their is no handle to crank. Here's one of the kids starting our first batch of sauce.
We added sugar to taste. It is alittle messy and sticky but well worth it at the end of the day! We make a few 5 gallon pails and can them later at home. I guess the "how-to can applesauce" can be another post.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Slow 'n' Easy Barbecued Chicken
I have been going through an old box of recipes that have been just sitting in my cupboard. I found this one from an old Taste of Home magazine. I love using my crock pot and my MIL gave me 10 broiler chickens this year so I thought I would give this recipe a try. I changed it up a little bit and made adjustments to feed our larger family. It was a hit with the kids and so we will make it again.
This is a picture of when it was placed in the cooker, not when it was actually done. I'll have to post a finished picture to this recipe when my card is not full. :0)
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (would be good with more)
6 pound broiler chicken, cut up and skin removed
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Rice for serving alongside
In a small saucepan, combine the first 11 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Fry chicken in pan with small amount (maybe 2 tablespoons) of vegetable oil until lightly browned. (You can skip this frying step and just put chicken in crockpot if you wish) Place chicken in crockpot and pour sauce over the top. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until juices run clear.
Remove chicken to a serving platter and keep warm. Transfer juices to small saucepan. (you can strain juice and skim fat if you wish) Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Spoon some of the sauce over chicken and serve the remaining sauce on the side.
*Note* For the smaller kids I shredded a piece of meat over their rice and poured sauce over all.
This is a picture of when it was placed in the cooker, not when it was actually done. I'll have to post a finished picture to this recipe when my card is not full. :0)
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 stick butter
4 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (would be good with more)
6 pound broiler chicken, cut up and skin removed
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Rice for serving alongside
In a small saucepan, combine the first 11 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Fry chicken in pan with small amount (maybe 2 tablespoons) of vegetable oil until lightly browned. (You can skip this frying step and just put chicken in crockpot if you wish) Place chicken in crockpot and pour sauce over the top. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until juices run clear.
Remove chicken to a serving platter and keep warm. Transfer juices to small saucepan. (you can strain juice and skim fat if you wish) Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Spoon some of the sauce over chicken and serve the remaining sauce on the side.
*Note* For the smaller kids I shredded a piece of meat over their rice and poured sauce over all.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Making Pear Sauce
It seems as though all my recent posts have to do with canning. That is because most of our food from the garden this year all came ready at the same time. I thought I was almost done with canning and then our neighbor said we are welcome to his pear tree because he does not use the fruit. We went and picked one box and let them ripen. We then made this pear sauce, which is so good, we went and shook the rest of the tree and now we have one more full box and one 5 gallon pail. They take a couple weeks to ripen so I will have a small canning break now. :0) This is our first box of pears. You can see they are still very green.
Once they turned yellow I cut them up into quarters...
and boiled them until soft.
I have this handy attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer that peels, cores and seeds the fruit. One bucket collects the pear sauce and one catches the "garbage".
I added about 1 1/2 cups sugar per pail of sauce. You could make it without sugar and that is good too. It is delicious! Here are our first few jars of sauce..
Pressure can the sauce for 10 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure.
*Note: You can substitute pear sauce for pumpkin, applesauce or zucchini in your recipes. You can also add it to jello or put it on muffins/breads. Or just enjoy it as sauce right from the jar!
Once they turned yellow I cut them up into quarters...
and boiled them until soft.
I have this handy attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer that peels, cores and seeds the fruit. One bucket collects the pear sauce and one catches the "garbage".
I added about 1 1/2 cups sugar per pail of sauce. You could make it without sugar and that is good too. It is delicious! Here are our first few jars of sauce..
Pressure can the sauce for 10 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure.
*Note: You can substitute pear sauce for pumpkin, applesauce or zucchini in your recipes. You can also add it to jello or put it on muffins/breads. Or just enjoy it as sauce right from the jar!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs beaten
1 cup salad oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 chopped nuts (optional)
Mix together, pour into greased cookie sheet with sides, bake 30 minutes.
Frosting:
3 ounce cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 lb. powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon milk (or more if needed)
Mix well, spread on bars.
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