September 21, 2012

Hannah is officially out of the boot!  Fantastic!  She gets to play in her first soccer game of the season; she is looking forward to that.  And Owen's soccer season is humming along - they've tied both their games this season, but we'll take that over the alternative!

We tried a few new recipes this week but only one was voted a keeper.  I had especially high hopes for baked sesame tomatoes, but they seemed to be lacking something.  I will likely try them again, and perhaps with an addition of some Parmesan they might move up to the keeper realm.

The kids and I did love the zucchini carrot muffins I made, so that recipe is listed below.  A muffin that has 2 vegetables in it and has the kids asking to have another - tough to not vote that one a keeper!

New Recipes
Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Ingredients
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 1 tbsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup grated zucchini
* 1 cup grated carrot

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and prepare two muffin tins.  This recipe made 18 muffins.
2. In a bowl whisk together the flour. cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl combine the oil and sugar.  Beat until well combined. 
4. Add each egg, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Squeeze the zucchini to remove any excess moisture.  Add the zucchini and the carrots to the sugar and egg mixture and mix well.
6. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the batter, stir long enough to combine well, but do not over-mix.
7. Divide the batter into the muffin tins; anywhere from 18-20 depending on how evenly and high you fill the cups.  Try not to fill more than 3/4 full.
8. Bake for 19-20 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then serve warm!

Notes
All my kids loved these muffins.  They were best the afternoon we made them, but reheat them a little the next day to enjoy again!  The addition of nuts to this batter, probably about 1/2 to 1 cup, would probably be fantastic! 

If you are inclined to make this as a loaf instead of muffins, try using two 8 x 4 loaf pans.  I haven't tried this as a quick bread, but I would cook them for 60 minutes and then start checking.  They might take up to 90 minutes, but you definitely don't want to over-bake the loaves, so better to check a little too often to find the right time, then to miss to optimal cooking time and end up with dry bread!