Sunday, July 29, 2012

Zucchini Bread

One of my favorite foods to have for breakfast is Zucchini Bread with cream cheese spread on it. Today I made some and I can't wait to have it for breakfast tomorrow! I hadn't made this recipe in years and forgot how simple it is. I used a food processor to shred two zucchinis which instantly gave me 4 cups, so I made a double recipe (4 loaves). My loaves came out a little flatter than I had hoped, so the only thing I would do differently next time is make a double recipe and make 3 loaves out of it instead of 4.

The best thing about this recipe is that it has instructions on how to adapt the recipe for orange or apple bread as well. I've never tried the orange bread, but the apple bread is delicious! My mom prefers this bread refrigerated, so that is usually what we do. It's also great to freeze and take out the night before you want to eat it. I have three in the freezer now that will be going on vacation with us in a few weeks. I've also made these into mini loaves, which make great gifts!

Update - July 2021: I made this Zucchini Bread recipe yesterday for the first time in years. I had 3 medium-sized zucchini and shredded them all in my food processor and then measured - I had 8 cups of zucchini, so I had to make 4 recipes. Luckily I have two very large mixing bowls which I used to mix everything together. I made 3 regular size loaves with the first double batch, and 2 regular size loaves and 3 mini loaves with the second batch. The breads came out a much better size using a double recipe to make 3 loaves instead of 4 (the recipe says a single recipe makes 2 loaves but then the loaves are a bit short). Doing it this way means you will have to increase your baking time - they will take over an hour to bake. Next time I will increase the temp to 325˚ when baking them. Either way, you can't go wrong - this zucchini bread is so good!


Three-Way Quick Nut Loaves
From Kitchen Aid Convection Oven Cookbook, page 72

Depending on the season, this moist nut bread can be made with oranges, apples, or zucchini. Whatever the flavor, the bread will be easier to slice if it stands for at least a day. Wrapped well, it keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week, or you can freeze it for longer storage.

2 cups orange, apple, or zucchini mixture (recipes follow)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs
1½ cups sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Make orange, apple, or zucchini mixture.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nuts; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs lightly; add sugar and oil and stir until blended. Stir in vanilla and orange, apple, or zucchini mixture. Add flour mixture all at once and stir just until evenly moistened. Spread batter into 2 greased and floured 4½” x 8½” loaf pans.

Bake in preheated 300˚ convection oven for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out on wire racks to cool completely. Wrap well and refrigerate or freeze. Makes 2 loaves.

ORANGE MIXTURE:
From 4 large oranges, grate 1 tablespoon orange peel; then cut off and discard remaining peel plus all the white membrane. Remove seeds (if any) and finely chop pulp; you should have 2 cups. Combine pulp and grated peel.

APPLE MIXTURE:
Peel, core, and shred 3 or 4 medium-size tart apples; you should have 2 cups. Stir 1 teaspoon lemon juice into apples.

ZUCCHINI MIXTURE:
Coarsely shred about 2 medium-size zucchini; you should have 2 cups (packed lightly).

Easiest way to shred zucchini


Chopped walnuts in mini food processor

Wet ingredients

Dry ingredients

Mix shredded zucchini with wet ingredients

Add dry ingredients and mix together

Loaf read for the oven

Fresh out of the oven!




Updated photos from July 2021:
















Honey-Lime Cilantro Marinade

Today I wanted to use my leftover Pineapple Mango Salsa on top of grilled chicken. I found two recipes on Pinterest that would go perfectly with it - Honey Lime Chicken and Cilantro Lime Rice. I took a few things out of the chicken marinade that I didn't think were necessary (pepper flakes and siracha). I made three pounds of chicken and cut them into tenders so they'd grill faster. The chicken was very tasty. I boiled the remaining marinade so I could put more on my chicken. I topped my chicken with my leftover pineapple mango salsa, which made it even better!

The rice was also good, but with all of the other flavors I could have just made plain rice and put the extra marinade on it as well. The recipe called for basmati rice, which I did not have so I used jasmine rice (my favorite). I cooked the rice according to the directions on the bag rather than on the recipe, and just added the lime juice, oil, and cilantro to the cooked rice.


Honey-Lime Cilantro Marinade

3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Juice of one lime
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons cilantro
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (halved or cubed)

If making kabobs, cube the chicken. Otherwise, halve the chicken or cut into tenders. Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken in dish or Ziploc bag. Let chicken marinade for at least one hour. Cook chicken as desired. Boil leftover marinade and use on top of cooked chicken.

Top with pineapple mango salsa if you wish.

Chicken cut into tenders


Chopped garlic

Marinade mixture



Chicken grilling

Finished!

Chicken topped with pineapple mango salsa

Photos by JoJo




Cilantro Lime Rice

1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
Juice of ½ lime
3 Tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 teaspoon oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining 2 teaspoons oil and toss until completely mixed.


Jasmine Rice


Photos by JoJo

Pineapple Mango Salsa

All summer I've been wanting to make a mango salsa and finally got the chance to. I looked online for recipes and found a few that looked good. Most of them had the same general ingredients, but this one also had pineapple which seemed the most summery out of all the ones I found. It was easy to make, but time consuming cutting everything up (I made a double recipe). In the end, the salsa was delicious so it was worth the time! I thought the flavors blended together very nicely. I served the salsa with Tostitos Hint of Lime chips. I found the recipe here, although the original recipe is from this blog. I have about half of what I made leftover from the party I went to and it would be delicious topped on teriyaki grilled chicken and served with cilantro lime rice. This is perfect for a cinco de mayo party or summer cookout!


Pineapple Mango Salsa

1 mango, diced
1½ cups diced fresh pineapple (about half a pineapple)
½ of one red bell pepper, diced small
¼ cup red onion, finely diced
1 Tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
Juice of one lime
Pinch of coarse salt

To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, allowing flavors to blend.

Serve with your favorite chips (recommended: Tostitos Hint of Lime chips).













Photos by JoJo