Tuscan Bean Soup

I think we can just go ahead and agree that Italians really know how to cook. At least Italian food ranks really high around my house. And this spinoff of a minestrone is so hearty and comforting that you will not be disappointed if you decide to give it a try. I found the recipe on Pinterest as Easy Tuscan Bean Soup. It was very similar to a minestrone that I made, so I decided to try it. I altered it just a little bit by leaving out the celery, swapping out the diced tomatoes for a can of tomato sauce, adding kidney beans,  using more spices and garlic, and using a flavored chicken stock. However you decide to prepare it, you won't be disappointed!

2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 yellow summer squash, diced
8 cloves garlic, pressed
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1/2-1 tsp dried or fresh thyme
½-1 tsp dried or fresh rosemary
1 quart vegetable (or chicken) broth (I used Tuscan flavored chicken broth)
2 (14 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14 ounce) can Italian flat green beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups chopped kale, ribs removed and rinsed, or spinach
2 tsps salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

Prepare your ingredients - once you get going you won't have time to stop and chop. Cut and rinse kale. Peel and chop squash, carrots, zucchini and onion. Chop or measure out spices, garlic, and salt and pepper. Open cans of beans and rinse.

Heat 2 Tbsps of olive oil in a 6-quart or larger Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, zucchini, and squash.

Saute for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme and rosemary. Cook 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, beans, and tomato sauce.

Bring the contents to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and add the chopped kale.

Cover the pot and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Use an immersion blender, or you can use the poor man's version - a masher lol - to partially puree the soup, leaving some chunks of beans and vegetables for texture.

Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve topped with your favorite cheese. I used some samples I picked up at Publix, and they worked wonderfully. We also had some Rosemary flatbread with ours, and it was delicious! Feed your body and warm your soul with this wonderful, fulfilling meal.

Pumpkin Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Several weeks ago, I tried my hand at creating a cookie recipe and Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies was the result. You know what? It turned out really well! So, I decided to try my hand at creating a cake. For all of the creative side of my personality, I also have a very mathematical, analytical side as well, and that kicked into high gear as I prepared for this recipe. I wanted to do something like a carrot cake, but based loosely on my pumpkin bread recipe. I did research on what exactly it was that made something a "cake" versus being a "bread," and I found several good blogs to help explain the difference. Then I broke out Excel, and listed the ingredients for my carrot cake recipe, pumpkin bread recipe and a recipe for carrot bread that I found. Then with the knowledge I learned from the blogs, I compared the recipes and decided roughly on the following - I did tweak it just a little bit more as I was preparing it. I have to admit that I was a little scared to tell my coworkers that I had brought Pumpkin Zucchini Cake for Monday treat. Doesn't really sound like much of a treat does it? Let me tell you though, it went over very well. I received lots of compliments on it. Even my daughter said it was delicious, and she had NO idea that there was even zucchini in it! Maybe it was just the cream cheese icing, but the spices in the cake really shine and it was really, really tasty. Want to sneak just a little more vegetables into your recipes, then this one should go over very well.

3 cups all-purpose
1 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsps nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin puree
1-2 whole zucchini, peeled and shredded
1 cup chopped/diced walnuts

(By the way, please ignore the vanilla in the photo - it actually shouldn't have been there, but I didn't take a second picture without out it. Oops.)

Sift together dry ingredients, and then set aside.

Combine oil and sugar in large bowl or stand-mixer bowl.

Add eggs and pumpkin. Mix until combined.

Add flour mixture in two rounds. Mix until combined.

Add zucchini and nuts. Mix until combined.

Pour into greased and flour cake pan (9X13, two 8" or 9" rounds, or bundt pan).

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 40-55 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow cake to cool for 10-15 minutes in pan, and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. While cake cools, prepare cream cheese icing.

1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened

Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Slowly mix in powdered sugar until it is all incorporated; add vanilla, and then continue to blend until smooth. Spread icing onto cake, and enjoy!

Lemon-Zucchini-Almond Bread

I think I may be in love. And it's not something I ever expected to love... lemon zest! I've never been a lemon fan. I don't like lemonade. I've never used lemon on anything. Ok, I do like the little sweet lemon drop hard candies, but that is it. This recipe is AMAZING. And to top off its amazing yumminess, you also get a little vegetable and some nut protein in each luscious bite! Woohoo! Now that's a win in my book. lol I found this recipe on Pinterest, and a previous bread I made, Lemon Almond Bread, was so good, that I decided to give this one a shot. It's called Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread. The bread is really flavorful; the zucchini adds some depth to it; the almonds add a bit of texture; and the glaze is out of this world. I adapted the recipe just a little bit, but I can't give you a comparison because I never tried the original. Read them both if you so desire, and take your pick! You'll probably notice that the pictures don't look like the same thing, and it's actually not. I made a loaf of this last weekend to try it. Today, I doubled the recipe so that I could make more so that I could take it work tomorrow. It made a little more than I anticipated, so I ended up with a 9X13, a mini-loaf pan full, and a small loaf as well. Following is the single loaf recipe.

2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk ***
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup almonds, plus a Tbsp or so for garnishing

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
2.5-3 Tbsp lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

First prep your fresh ingredients - grate the zucchini and zest and juice the lemons. The original poster left the peel on her zucchini. I think it would have been nice for the color, but I have a picky eater, and it's much easier to hide the zucchini with the green removed.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. 

Add lemon juice, buttermilk, and lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together.

*** Note, if you don't have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by using 1 Tbsp lemon juice and adding enough milk to reach the one cup line. Then use however much you need.

Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. 

Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined.

Add almonds and mix well. Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. 

The original says to glaze the bread while it's still warm. I didn't want the heat of the bread to melt the glaze, so I let mine cool first. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest until combined.

Carefully spoon glaze over bread. Garnish with a bit of zest and a few almonds. Your mouth should be watering at this point to try it, so go ahead and give it a taste!

Zucchini Muffins

The other day, I went on a quest to find some muffin recipes to try so that my daughter could have some new treats for breakfast. I found several recipes that I'm going to try, and of course, I pinned the recipes I found to my Pinterest. This particular recipe is for Zucchini Muffins. They were surprisingly easy to make, and I think they turned out pretty good. I believe the next time I make them I will use 1 1/4 or 1/2 cups of sugar to sweeten them just a little bit more. My daughter said they were really good and ate the entire muffin... until I told her what they were. lol

2 medium eggs
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of shredded zucchini (I used two zucchinis, which was a bit more than 1 cup)
1 1/2 cup of sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil
½ cup of chopped walnuts
1 tsp of baking soda
½ tsp of salt
¼ tsp of baking powder
1 tsp (heaping) cinnamon

Mix together the vegetable oil, sugar and eggs. Add the shredded zucchini, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Lightly grease muffin pan, then fill two-thirds full with the mixture. I was able to fill a mini-muffin pan, and 9/12 of a regular muffin pan. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes for regular muffins, 10-15 minutes for mini-muffins. Tops should begin to turn a golden brown color, and you can use the toothpick test to ensure they are done.