Zucchini Frittata

This past Saturday was island planting day on our street. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend to do it, either! That morning, I woke up to the birds chirping outside my bedroom window, and a beautiful summer-like breeze blowing in. I got up about an hour before my alarm went off, went downstairs, and started chopping vegetables for this frittata, which I found on Steamy Kitchen. It came together quite nicely, and it was a great aroma for Joel to wake up to. I ate my frittata as a slice, while Joel chose to make this into a breakfast sandwich by putting his piece between a toasted bagel. Either way, we had a relaxing, hearty breakfast to give us energy to play in the dirt with our neighbors!

1 Onion, sliced
3 tablespoons Butter
1/8 teaspoon Sugar
12 ounces Zucchini (I used 1 large)
Salt and Pepper
5 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon Dried Thyme
1 Tomato, sliced
4 ounces Goat Cheese

Add the butter to a nonstick pan over medium heat. When it starts to bubble, add the onion and sugar. Saute the onion until it is caramelized, about 8-10 minutes. While the onion is sautéing, slice the zucchini very thinly (1/8" thick). Cut the tomato into 1/4" thick slices. When the onion is ready, add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is tender and has just started to brown. In a large bowl, beat the eggs along with the thyme. Once the zucchini is cooked, pour the eggs into the pan. Top with the sliced tomatoes and dot with crumbles of goat cheese. Cook for 6 minutes. Place the pan under a preheated broiler (with the rack set 8-10 inches below the heating element). Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Let the frittata cool for about 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Double Coconut Muffins {Vegan}

I've never cooked with coconut oil. I've been wanting to give it a try, but I couldn't justify spending almost $10 for a jar when I didn't have anything specific to use it in. Then, Bridget posted these Smitten Kitchen muffins on her blog, The Way The Cookie Crumbles. I saw the recipe and moments later, found myself pulling my car out of the driveway, driving to the grocery store! To this day, I've only used the 8 tablespoons that this recipe calls for, but you know what? I have absolutely no regrets! I just look at that as a reason to make these muffins again…then again and again. They are a bit more dense than most other muffins that I've had, but they are very delicious! If you like coconut, you will not be disappointed with this recipe!

8 tablespoons Virgin Coconut Oil
3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Greek Yogurt, room temperature
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla

In a small saucepan, warm the coconut oil just until it melts; do not heat it until it is hot. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, coconut oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the coconut oil mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among 10 muffin cups that have been lined with paper liners or sprayed with nonstick spray. Top each muffin with about 1 teaspoon of the remaining shredded coconut. Bake at 375 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack; cool for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan. 

English Muffins

I was home on spring break two weeks ago and I got bored! I know, what's wrong with me, right? Home for an entire week with nothing to do, and I was bored? What can I say, I'm a creature of habit who thrives on routine, so when my routine is thrown off for even a few days, I don't know what to do with myself. I did a few things that needed to be done, like go to the DMV to renew my license, get my oil changed, and grocery shop during the day when the store wasn't super crowded. I also had lunch with my mom and grandparents, and met Joel at work for lunch one day, and got to see his office and the people he works with, which was fun. But all of those things only took up so much time, so with the remaining time, I decided to tackle an item on my list of things that I've been wanting to make: English Muffins! I googled a recipe and decided to go with this one from Budget Bytes. Since this dough needs to rise 3 times, each for 45 minutes, I figured why not do it while I was home and bored with nothing but time on my hands. The recipe was very easy, and even though it took quite a while, the majority of time was hands-off. My muffins ended up being slightly smaller than the typical size, and I didn't end up with the nooks and crannies that store bought English muffins have, but the flavor was spot-on! They were delicious in the morning holding an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, and also toasted with butter and jam. I'm glad I finally decided to tackle these, and now that I have tried them, I definitely plan to make them again.

1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 cup Warm Water 
1/2 cup Milk
2 tablespoons Butter
3 cups Flour, divided
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Cornmeal
Non-stick Spray

In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and yeast. Let sit about 5 minutes, or until foamy on top. While the yeast mixture is resting, combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Stir well to evenly distribute the salt. In a second small bowl, combine the milk and butter and microwave it for 30 seconds, stir, then microwave for another 30 seconds. Continue stirring until the butter melts into the warm milk. Pour the yeast mixture and the butter mixture into the flour. Stir until it has combined into a pasty mix. Adding 1/4 cup at a time, stir in more flour until the dough forms a soft, slightly sticky ball that pulls away from the bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto a clean countertop and coat your hands in flour. Dump the ball of dough out of the bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes. Add as little flour as possible to the countertop while kneading--adding too much flour will yield tough muffins. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been coated in non-stick spray. Lightly spray the top of the dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch down the dough and shape it into another ball. Cover the dough ball and let it rise a second time, another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch the dough down again and turn it out onto a well floured countertop. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll the dough until it is about 3/4 of an inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or a large round glass, cut the dough into circles. When you can't cut out any more circles, gently ball up the remaining dough, roll it again, and cut some more. Place the cut dough circles onto a sheet pan that has been liberally covered in cornmeal; sprinkle more cornmeal on top of the muffins. Cover loosely with a damp bowl and let rise, once more, until double in size, about 45 minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray the pan with non-stick spray. Carefully transfer the fluffy, risen muffins into the hot skillet with a spatula. Cook the muffins, in batches, in the skillet until they are golden brown and crispy on each side, about 5-7 minutes per side. Make sure to keep the heat on low so that the outside browns slowly, allowing the inside to "band". Let the muffins cool on a wire rack before attempting to slice them open. 

Cranberry Cornbread

Last weekend, I felt the urge to bake...surprise, surprise! I had some cranberries in the freezer leftover from our holiday salad, so I thought of things I could do to use them up. I can't remember how, but I ended up on I Will Not Eat Oysters, and decided to adapt this recipe to suit my needs. Paired with a big mug of tea, it was a delicious way to start the day. With the rest of our beautiful Saturday, we took a trip to walk around the shops of a nearby village. I got my first candy cane of the season from a Santa who was walking out of a pet store! 5 tablespoons Butter, melted
2 Eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
1 1/3 cup Cornmeal
2/3 cup Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cup Cranberries In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and buttermilk until well combined.  In another bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix until it looks uniform. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon. Add in the cranberries and gently mix them into the batter. Lightly grease a 8x8 inch square pan. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Let the bread cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

Maple Cinnamon Quick Bread

Aside from the occasional large breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast on the weekends, I love baked goods.  I really enjoy baking on the weekends so that I have something to eat each morning during the week with my tea.  As much as I try, cereal or granola just do not cut it for me in the morning!  I have numerous quick bread or coffee cake recipes saved in my RSS feeds.  A few weekends ago, I woke up early on a Sunday morning so I chose this one from Buns In My Oven to make for breakfast.  The smell that it filled my whole house with was amazing.  I only wish I was able to get the correct consistency for the icing on top!

For the Bread:
2 1/4 cup Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Buttermilk
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Browned Butter (I just used melted)
1/4 cup Cold Butter, cubed
1 tablespoon Cinnamon

For the Icing:
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Heavy Cream (I used milk...could be the reason mine was runny)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Salt

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  Slowly whisk in the browned butter.  Combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients and mix until all combined.  In a small bowl, cut the cold butter cubes and cinnamon together until you have small pea sized chunks.  Fold the butter into the batter.  Pour the batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes before drizzling with the icing.

To make the icing, whisk together all ingredients in a bowl.  Add more sugar or cream to reach the desired consistency.  Drizzle over the top of the bread or spread over each individual slice.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Yesterday, while relaxing at the cabin after a long day walking around Fall Fest, my sister-in-law mentioned that she had made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast that day.  This morning, when we woke up, that was the first thing that came across my mind.  I had leftover pumpkin filling from the pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes that I had made, so what better way to use it up than pancakes?!  I searched for a recipe and came across this one from Pinch My Salt.  This recipe is a definite keeper!  The pancakes tasted like little bites of pumpkin pie.  The flavors were the perfect beginning of a beautiful fall day.  I was able to get about 9 pancakes out of the batter, which was great because we froze some for another day.

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Cake Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 cup Buttermilk (I used vanilla almond milk)
1 cup Pumpkin Puree (I used the leftover pumpkin mixture from my cheesecake)
2 Eggs
2 tablespoons Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla, and brown sugar.  With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.  Drop by the ladle-ful onto a griddle over medium-high heat.  After about 1-2 minutes, when the sides begin to look dry and the top begins to bubble, flip and cook on the other side for another minute or 2.

Zucchini Bread

I was so upset that my zucchini plant didn't produce any zucchini this summer.  So, a few weekends ago at the Farmer's Market, Joel bought 3 small zucchinis with the intent of making zucchini bread.  They sat in the fridge, untouched, until I finally decided to look for a recipe to make it myself.  I checked my recipe box and found one that I had gotten for my wedding shower from Joel's Aunt Sharon.  I grated all 3 zucchinis and ended up with enough to make 2 loaves.  We put one in the freezer, but by the end of the week, I pulled it back out because we had finished the first loaf!  This bread is great on it's own, but toasted with a little butter or cream cheese makes it extra delicious!

3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 1/4 cup Sugar
3 Eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups Shredded Zucchini, not drained
2 cups Flour
1 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, eggs, and zucchini.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture.  Using a hand mixer, beat for 3 minutes on medium speed.  Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and scrape the batter into the pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Peach Muffins

I saw some donut peaches at the co-op the other day that intrigued me, so I bought 2 to try.  They have been sitting in my fridge, untouched, ever since.  Rather than let them go to waste, I decided that I would find a peach muffin recipe to use them up in.  I googled peach muffins, and found this recipe at allrecipes.com.  I halved the original recipe, since I only ended up with about 1 cup of peaches after chopping them, and it was a good thing because I only had enough eggs, flour, and sugar for half the recipe, too!  Guess it is time to stock up on my baking ingredients!  The reviews for this recipe were outstanding, and without good reason.  These muffins have the perfect consistency, sweetness, and all around flavor.  Not bad for a spur of the moment Sunday breakfast!

3 cups Flour
1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/4 cups Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups Sugar
2 cups Peaches, pitted and chopped

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar.  Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist.  Fold in the peaches.  Spoon the batter into 16 prepared muffin cups (either sprayed with cooking spray or lined with a paper liner).  Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Looking back through my blog, it appears that we like bananas in our pancakes, as this is the third pancake recipe on my blog that has bananas in it.  It isn't that we don't like other fruit, but rather that we tend to buy bananas and not eat of all them before they start to get spotty, so I use them in baked goods and such before they go bad.  Well, that same situation happened this past week.  We had a few bananas remaining from a bunch I bought earlier in the week.  It was morning, I was hungry for breakfast, and I came across this post from 990 Square in my RSS feeds.  I decided it would be easy to swap out the blueberries for bananas and gave it a go.  This batter was enough to feed Joel and I for two mornings, both of which we were quite full after breakfast.  I definitely would like to make these again, possibly playing with the idea of freezing leftover pancakes to make for quick weekday morning breakfasts.

1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour

2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 cups Quick Cooking Oats

2 cups Milk (we used vanilla soy milk...free extra flavor!)

3 Eggs, beaten

1/4 cup Melted Butter

*2 Bananas, chopped (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup blueberries)

In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In a small bowl, mix oats and milk.  Whisk in the eggs and melted butter.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Gently fold in the bananas.  Spray a griddle or frying pan with non-stick spray/melted butter.  Pour pancake batter about 1/4 cup at a time onto the griddle/pan.  Cook for 1-2 minutes until bubbly.  Flip and continue cooking until lightly browned.  

Caprese Eggs Benedict

On Wednesdays, Joel sails.  He usually ends up grabbing a bite to eat with the rest of the boat crew at a bar near the dock.  Needless to say, I'm generally on my own for dinner every Wednesday during the summer. I have come to enjoy those night (sorry hun!) because it allows me to make something for myself that he might not particularly enjoy and not feel bad about it.  Take this meal, for example.  I found it on In Good Taste.  When I showed him what I was thinking, he said "Um, I'm not really a fan of eggs benedict..." so I knew that it would become dinner on Wednesday!  I was particularly excited to make this dish because eggs benedict is on my list of things to make this year.  Does it count if it doesn't have the traditional hollandaise sauce on top?  Either way, I'm checking it off my list!

2 Eggs, poached
1 English Muffin, sliced in half
2 Tomato Slices
1/2 an Avocado, sliced
2 Mozzarella Slices
Pesto
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil, optional
Butter, optional

Heat a medium saucepan filled with water.  Crack eggs into 2 small bowls and gently dump the poach the eggs.  Meanwhile, toast the English muffin.  When the muffin has been toasted, spread it with butter.  Top each half of the muffin with a slice of mozzarella cheese.  Drizzle the top of the cheese with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place a slice of tomato on top of the cheese and then top that with avocado slices.  Using a slotted spoon, place one poached egg on top of each half of the English muffin.  Dollop each egg with a spoonful of pesto.