Monday Morning Mmmm: Zucchini Bread

August 23, 2010 By 19 Comments

Over the summer, Annalyn got to spend the night with my parents once a week. My mom is a teacher, so she has a couple months off to do things like baking, organizing and hanging out with her favorite (okay, only) granddaughter.

That worked out well for Annalyn, who not only loves spending time with her grandparents but also loves the breads that my mom bakes all summer. She likes banana bread, but she really loves “keenie bread.” You might know it as “zucchini bread.”

Mark and I love it, too. And since I don’t spend a whole lot of time baking, my mom is usually kind enough to send a loaf home with Annalyn. She says it’s for Mark, but I’m pretty sure she knows we both enjoy the home-baked goods!

Funny enough, when Annalyn and I took our little road trip to Iowa last weekend, our friend Cory did the same thing. And while I think it’s normal for a mom to send bread home with her kids, it cracked me up that our friend did it, too!

Not that I argued. Nope, I took that loaf of zucchini bread home – and we all three enjoyed it!

Now, you know the trouble I had making banana bread. But I’m hoping to have better luck with zucchini bread. I’m pretty sure I have my mom’s recipe, but my neatly organized recipe binder has kind of, sort of turned into a big mess of paper. So I asked our friend for his recipe.

Apparently, he got the recipe from a lady at church. So it’s possible this recipe is almost as good as my mom’s. Try it out. Let me know what you think!

The Church Lady’s Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup shredded zucchini
3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Bake at 350 for approximately 50 to 55 minutes.

Where do you get your best recipes? Do you enjoy any foods during the summer that you don’t get (or get to make) the rest of the year? (And whose recipe would you rather use: your mom’s or a church lady’s???)

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Monday Morning Mmmm: Oven-Roasted Potatoes

August 9, 2010 By 12 Comments

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Welcome to my week-long Housewarming Party! (Or, should I call it a Blog-warming Party?)

C’mon in and make yourself comfortable! We’ll have several “door prizes” (giveaways), so stay tuned for a few extra posts this week. And as predicted, food is involved . . .

The recipe is at the end of this post, so scroll on down if you’re only here for the food. But if you’d like to mingle and chat a while, I’m getting ready to ramble and rant about my busy month.

If you count last weekend as being part of July (which I’m going to do for purposes of my next statement), I was out of town or had major plans FOUR out of five weekends.

That’s a lot! No wonder I finished the month tired and stressed and in major need of a trip to the grocery store! (And then to finish the month up with the craziness involved in a blog redesign and move? Now, that was just ridiculous.)

But now that we’re here, on the other side of family get-togethers, gatherings with old friends and new, a blogging conference, a baby shower, two road trips with a toddler and a blog makeover, I’m still glad I did it all.

Easier to say after a relaxing weekend at home, two naps, countless loads of laundry and that trip to the grocery store.

Although I have to admit: my suitcase is still on the floor of my bedroom. And since I’ve waited so long to put it away, it’s now covered in cat hair – which means the simple task of zipping it up and putting it in Mark’s closet has now turned into a major clean-the-hair-off-the-bag chore.

You can’t win ‘em all.

One of the tastiest takeaways from my crazy busy month actually happened last Sunday – technically the first of August. We had friends over for dinner, and Mark upgraded my menu from hamburgers to steak. That was nice, but it meant more work for me.

I just don’t feel right serving chips and pickles with steaks.

We discussed the possibility of baked potatoes, but that seemed so boring. So I turned to Tasty Kitchen for a different starchy side. (My dad – just like Mark – is a meat and potatoes guy, so I grew up thinking you couldn’t eat a meal without some kind of starchy side dish. Hence the carb obsession.)

Right away, I found a recipe for oven-roasted potatoes, and it looked both delicious and simple. You know how that’s my criteria for any new recipe.

According to the recipe, I made enough for 6-8 people – and the four of us just about polished them off. As if that wasn’t enough proof that they were good, my friend sent me a message on Facebook two days ago asking for the recipe. She wanted to make them for her in-laws!

They were so good, in fact, that I think I’ll be making them on Wednesday when my friend Mindy comes over for dinner. Here’s the recipe, slightly adapted from the original version from Cooking Ventures.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

3 lbs small red potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 oz. packet onion soup mix
1 oz. packet ranch dip mix
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the potatoes (leaving the skin on) and cut them into quarters. Mix oil, soup mix, dip mix, garlic and pepper.

Now, the recipe said to make sure you don’t use extra-virgin olive oil, but I did. I don’t know what difference it makes. Also, I used about 4 lbs of potatoes and probably 2/3 cup of oil. (It was too much. Don’t be like me.)

Fold the potatoes into the oil mixture, making sure all potatoes are covered. Pour into a foil-covered and baking spray-sprayed baking sheet. Cook for about 30 minutes.

The recipe called for covering it with foil the first 20 minutes and cooking uncovered the last 10-15 minutes. I forgot to cover it, so I reversed that process. As I mentioned, they were good anyway.

Garnish with parsley. I guess you could use fresh and chop it up. But I just sprinkled it out of a jar.

Have you tried any new recipes lately? And how busy has your summer been? {And don’t forget to come back for giveaways and more fun this week!}

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Do the mashed potato (without leftovers)

July 26, 2010 By 1 Comment
Potato pic by rick

My mom is a good cook, but there are a few dishes that only my dad can make. Waffles are one. He made them every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember.

And then there’s mashed potatoes. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard my dad whistling as he beats the potatoes, adding a couple tablespoons of butter, a splash of milk and a little bit of salt and pepper. And then, always, tapping the beaters in rhythm on the edge of the bowl: shave and a haircut…two bits!

I love potatoes of all kinds, but I don’t make mashed potatoes often. Neither one of us likes leftover mashed potatoes, and it seems like a lot of work to peel and boil and mash just enough for two of us.

But when I told Mark that I planned to make meatloaf on Sunday night, he asked if I could please make mashed potatoes. What could I say to that?

Luckily for me, he offered to peel the potatoes: my least favorite part of the process. So all I had to do was boil them to a perfect consistency (until a fork can break them apart easily) and mix them up. Here’s what I did:

Mary’s Mashed Potatoes
1-2 lbs. Russet potatoes
2 T butter (or Blue Bonnet Light margarine)
¼ c. milk (skim)
¼ c. sour cream (light)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes. (As I said.) Drain and add butter. If you have lids for your pots, put a lid on it and let the butter melt. If you don’t (I know. Who doesn’t have lids? Oh yeah. Me.), just stir it around until it melts. Add sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Beat on low setting with mixer. Personally, I don’t beat all the lumps out, but that’s up to you.

Mark didn’t jump up and down at the addition of sour cream. Even though, as I told him, that’s how they make them in restaurants. Then again, I didn’t exactly time dinner right, and the potatoes weren’t nearly as hot as the meatloaf. So I guess that might have had something to do with it.

Oh well. At least two of us enjoyed them. (And we only threw out a couple spoonfuls of leftovers, thanks to big bites and second helpings.)

What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes?

P.S. “Do the mashed potato” is a lyric from Do You Love Me, featured in that classic movie I may have mentioned before right before the watermelon scene I may have mentioned before.


This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Family Recipe Fridays: Cheesy Chicken

June 5, 2009 By 10 Comments

I would really like to have a photo for you. But as I’m sure you know, sometimes things just don’t work out like you want. After all, I also really wanted to post this recipe the last two weeks.

I was waiting for a photo. Hmm. Okay, then.

When Smitty, my maid of honor, planned a wedding shower for me, we decided that our moms should be invited to the party. I’m not sure what prompted this, but the result was my mom, Mark’s mom and Sandi’s mom joining my girlfriends from high school at a sweet reception in the church fellowship hall.

Without looking it up, I don’t remember any specific gifts I received that afternoon. Except one. Well, two, actually.

Mark’s mom gave me a flannel nightgown and a cookbook.

See, Marilyn was cold-blooded. Not in the heartless sense, but in the it’s July but I still need a sweater in the shade sense. And so her gift of a flannel nightgown was a kind gesture, meant only to help me deal with my upcoming life with a hot-blooded man.

I suppose you can take that however you want.

I never wore that long-sleeved flannel nightgown. But the cookbook? Oh, it’s a treasure. It was a compilation of recipes from Marilyn and her friends at church. At the time, it wasn’t very interesting, but I have come to really love that book. While it’s been so comforting to have some of Marilyn’s recipes (she died in 2001), our favorite dish is actually one that someone else shared in the cookbook.

So, now that I think about it, this isn’t even a family recipe. Well, whatever. It’s our family’s recipe. And I’m sure I’ll pass it on to someone.

Cheesy Chicken

  • 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups cheddar
  • Some chopped onion (no, I don’t know how much)
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • Splash of milk (yep, I said a “splash”)
  • Black pepper
  • Rice (I use two bags of boil-in-bag rice)

Bake the chicken for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (or until cooked through). Drain water and any fat. Mix cheddar, onion, soup and milk. Season with pepper. Spoon mixture over chicken. Bake for another 15 minutes (or until cheese is melted). Serve over rice.

I used to serve it with Lipton’s mushroom rice, but that makes it awfully salty. Sometimes I cut the chicken breasts in half, to make smaller serving sizes. But really, no matter how you change it up, Cheesy Chicken is mighty good.

For more (actual) Family Recipes, head over to the Vanderbilt Wife. And for some mouthwatering recipes, check out A Southern Fairytale.

Do you have a favorite family recipe? How do you feel about flannel?

UPDATE: On August 30, 2010, this post will be linked to Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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