Zucchini Chocolate Cake

This seems to be the time of year when every gardener seems to be giving away their crops of Zucchini. It grows really well and most people who plant these don't realize how many actually grow. Its great though to have people stop over with a bag full of zucchini for us.

I found this delicious cake recipe that I would like to share. It was easy to make and taste delicious. I made it in a 9*13 pan so it made a lot.



The only problem with most recipes for Zucchini is that they only take 1-2 cups for the shredded stuff. So I shredded up the rest and placed in 1 cup portions in the freezer. I have so many bags its crazy. So I am asking you if you have a recipe that uses zucchini please comment and leave your link.

I did try Niki's butterscotch zucchini bread. It smelled so yummy in the oven but I haven't got to taste it yet.

Strawberry Yogurt Scones

With my abundance of strawberries that I picked last week I had to come up with ways to use them as they don't keep their freshness for every long in the refrigerator. So well looking on line I happen to come across this delicious scone recipe. They were so yummy I made a second batch.


The recipe was very easy to whip together and they tasted delicious. Scones are similar to biscuits, but these have a wet, sticky dough. Serve fresh from the oven with a cold glass of iced tea.

Strawberry Yogurt Scones


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup diced strawberries
2/3 cup strawberry fat-free yogurt (I used homemade plain yogurt)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind (Orange Juice worked fine)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Combine strawberries, yogurt, butter, rind (or juice), and egg white; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times with floured hands because the dough is VERY sticky. Pat into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut into 12 wedges, cutting into but not through dough; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Another way to use up your strawberries is to make Strawberry Salsa with cinnamon crisp. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to enjoy strawberries. It makes a lovely snack and is usually a big hit at any BBQ. The recipe can be found in Dietitians of Canada Cook Great Food Cook book.

Strawberry Apple Salsa
1 cup mashed strawberries
1 Med tart apple, peeled and diced
2 Tbsp liquid honey or brown sugar
1/2 tsp grated orange zest (optional)

In a medium bowl, mash strawberries; add apple, honey and if using orange zest. Stir to blend well. Serve with Cinnamon Crisp.

Cinnamon Crisp

Small flour tortillas
Sugar
Cinnamon

Brush tortillas with water (or margarine), sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture (I have a cinnamon sugar shaker). Cut into wedges using kitchen scissors or pizza cutter. Place wedges on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven (425) for 5 minutes until golden and crisp.

Oh how I love...

STRAWBERRY SEASON!!

I love these juicy little guys that you can go and pick yourself. I know that we can buy "strawberries" during other seasons, if that's what you want to call them, but nothing beets the flavor of local strawberries. Its hard to believe how much nutrition in packed inside; they are full of vitamin A, B and C!

Our families have been picking strawberry's for the past week so we got to share in their labor this weekend while we were home. After enjoying a wonderful BBQ the desserts served where everything strawberry!

First this simple little treat of hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries; and yes some even had sprinkles on them for the kid in all of us.


Next was a pie that is well...not so healthy for you but as my mother in law says you can only enjoy this pie during strawberry season which usually is two weeks to 1 month. So when put into perspective...bon appetite! I will post the recipe later.


And of course we wouldn't want to foget old faithful. Strawberry short cake on homemade biscuits with real whipping cream.


The best biscuit recipe I have found is one that my mother-in-law uses

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cream of tarter
3 heaping Tbsp shortening
1 cup milk

Combine Flour, soda, powder and cream of tarter

Mash in shortening with a fork until shortening makes little balls

Add 1 cup of milk and stir just until combined

Plop dough onto a floured surface and pat down with hands. Then cut out biscuits using a biscuit cutter, a round cookie cutter, or a can (soup or tuna) that has both the top and the bottom removed.

Bake in 350 oven for 20 - 25 minutes

~ Now there are some serects to baking biscuits. One is that you don't want to over work the dough because unlike bread, which needs a lot of work because the yeast will raise better, biscuits will not raise if they are handled too much. Another sercert to getting a nice fluffy biscuit, which I learned from Martha Stewart, is that when you are cutting the biscuits out you NEVER want to twist the cutter. When you twist the cutter on the dough it closes off the air holes with help make the biscuit light and fluffy.

Now for the short cake part. You cut the biscuit in half; not by using a knife but by poking a fork the whole way around it until it breaks apart. Then on the bottom part you add strawberry's that have been cut up and whip cream. Add the top biscuit, whip cream and crown with strawberries!

For a new twist on whipping cream try sweetening it with maple syrup instead of sugar. It give it a great flavor that enhances any desert!

Puddin

Dessert doesn't have to be loaded with calories and fat in order to be delicious. This is a simple way to make a nutritious dessert that will satisfy your after supper craving.


Puddin Parfaits

1 package of vanilla pudding (or any flavor)
Any kind of fruit (fresh or frozen)
Any kind of cereal (I used simple granola)

In a nice fancy glass I layer pudding, fruit, granola, pudding, fruit and top with granola.

Having desserts that are made with milk (such as pudding or yogurt) is a great way to end any meal. Milk is an important part of our diet as it contains many vitamins and nutrients that our body benefit from. If you have a hard time sitting down and enjoying a glass of milk this is delicious way to get it!

A childhood favorite

Its usually a childhood memory that gets my creativity working in the kitchen as I try to recall the ingredients, flavor and look of my favorite foods my mom use to make for me when I was little. On special occasions or if my mom was craving it she would make a delicious chocolate cake and top it with peanut butter frosting. This was and still is one of my favorite treats. So I decided to make it recently when we had a visit from one of my very good friends. Its funny because we both have our nutrition degree and will both be Dietitians soon and yet I choose this cake to make for her during her time here. You see even us Dietitians practice moderation!!





Chocolate Cake

Dry
1 cup sugar
3 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Wet
1 cup oil
2 cup water (cold)
2 tsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla

Step 1: Combine all dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Combine all wet ingredients together in another bowl (Or I like to use my 4 cup measuring cup).

Step 3: Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix well.

Step 4: Pour cake batter into a cake pan. I have made this many different ways you can use a 9x13 pan, 2 round cake pans or a bunt pan.

Step 5: Bake for ~ 20-30 minutes; depending on what type of pan you use.


Now for the icing...this is my moms secret recipe! hehehe Ok, ok so basically its just peanut butter with icing sugar and a bit of milk to make it creamy!! Once the cake was frosted I grated some frozen dark chocolate on it for a nice Dietitian presentation! The cake was spongy and the icing was creamy, it went great with a hot cup of tea and a little bit of ice cream.

Christmas Goodies

So now that it's December its time to post some Christmas Goodies that our family loves to make and eat during the holiday season. With the expectation of a new baby we have been doing some early Christmas baking to be sure that we will be ready for company over the holidays.

First the classic sugar cookie. This is a recipe that the Peterson's use and I find it's my favorite. You can decorate the cookies as much or as little as you like and they still taste yummy. It's been a tradition over the past couple of years to have people over to the house to decorate these cookies with us. Its so much fun to see different peoples creativity. This is also very fun to do as a family as kids usually love getting creative.



Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Blend together the dry ingredients and mix into first mixture.

3. With hands form dough into 2-3 dough balls and chill in the fridge (15- 30 minutes). This makes the dough easier to roll out.

4. Roll the dough out on a well floured surface ( wax paper also works well but make sure it's well floured). Cut the dough with cookie cutters and place onto a cookie sheet.

5. Bake in Pre-heated oven (350) for 7-8 minutes.

Cookie Icing

2 Tbsp margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp canned milk
Coconut extract

Blend together butter and icing sugar. Then slowly add a little bit of canned milk at a time until you have a desired consistency.

Also this frosting taste so yummy when you add just a little drop of coconut extract to it. To make the different colors just put the icing into different bowls and add food coloring.

To top the cookies I love going to the bulk barn and picking up the sliver balls and sprinkles of every color.


The best part about these cookies is once the icing is on you can chill them in the fridge for a 10-15 minutes then you can store them in the freezer. When you have guest coming over just pull them out over the Christmas holidays, put them onto a plate and there you go...cookies in no time!


Hot Apple Cider

During our cookie making parties I usually always have a pot of hot apple cider going. I found this great recipe last year that is so quick and easy to make. I usually just throw all the ingredients into my crock pot and put it on high for a couple hours. Once the drink is nice and hot I just turn the crock pot down to low or even warm.

When selecting apple juice make sure you choose the unsweetened kind to keep the calories of this drink low.



Hot Apple Cider

8 cups apple juice or apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves
2 allspice berries
1 whole nutmeg
1/2 orange peel, cut into strips
1/2 lemon peel, cut into strips

1. Pour apple juice into a large pot or crock pot.
2. Place spice into pot along with orange and lemon peels.
3. If cooking on the stove top bring to a boil and then reduce heat, or put into a crock pot on low or warm, to low to keep drink warm. If you are making in the crock pot, put on high for 2 hours to allow it to get hot. Then reduce heat to warm or low.


Chocolate Pretzels

Another favorite of ours around this time are chocolate pretzels. The past couple of years we have been making our own...because they are soooo easy to make.



Chocolate Pretzels

1-2 bags of pretzel sticks (try to get the long ones)
Any flavor chocolate chips! We usually use the dark chocolate and white chocolate

Toppings for Chocolate
Crushed candy canes
Crushed peanuts

1. Using a double boiler (or a pot with a metal bowl in it) melt the chocolate. Most chocolate melts fairly well but to get a nice dipping consistency try adding just a tsp-tbsp of shortening. I know that many of us think that adding water or milk will do the trick but trust me it doesn't work. It will only make the chocolate go lumpy instead of runny and smooth.

2. Dip the pretzels into the chocolate then roll in whatever toppings you would like. Because I am a huge mint chocolate lover I love the crushed candy canes on the top of my pretzels while others enjoy the sweet and salt taste of theirs coated with peanuts.

These can be placed in the fridge or freezer to allow to set and then brought out and enjoyed at any time.



Being the peanut butter addict I am you better believe that peanut butter balls are my all time Christmas favorite treat!

Last year my friend Maria and I got together to make these treats. We both used the same recipe, however she decided to make hers with all natural peanut butter instead of the Kraft. They turned out soooo yummy. So feel free to try to make some this year with the 100% just peanuts, it will cut down on the amount of saturated and trans fats are in the recipe. Also a lot of recipes for peanut butter balls call to use wax in the melted chocolate but just like for the pretzels shortening works much better but remember you only need a little bit to get the chocolate the right consistency. We found that the easiest way to dip these is by using chop sticks.


Peanut Butter Balls
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups Rice Krisipies

1. Blend together butter and peanut butter.

2. Add in icing sugar and Rice Krispies.

3. With hands form into small balls (or whatever size you would like) and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper.

4. Place in freezer for 20 minutes (we have found that this makes them easier to dip).

5. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler adding shortening as needed.

6. Dip and place on lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer to allow to settle.

These are also another treat that can be left in the freezer in a air tight container.