Fresh from the Garden

A few weeks ago my husband and I visited his family in the mountains of Virginia. His parents and his sister both have huge gardens that produce more fruit and vegetables than they're able to use. We were blessed to have them share their bounty with us and we came home with 3 giant zucchinis, a variety of squash, 2 huge pie pumpkins, 4 spaghetti squash, green peppers, fresh dill, cherry tomatoes, rhubarb, and a few pounds of freshly dug potatoes! Thankfully much of this is stays fresh for a long time and is also freezable. So I've been slowly roasting & pureeing the squash & pumpkins and preparing the other food to be frozen.

My mother-in-law gave me a fantastic recipe for zucchini bread and I found a great recipe for pumpkin muffins. I want to share both!

Lorraine's Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 c. coarsely grated zucchini
2 c. flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans or one 10" bundt pan.
2) Beat eggs until frothy, beat in sugar, oil, and vanilla. Beat until thick and lemon colored. Stir in zucchini.
3) Mix dry ingredients together and add to batter. Pour into pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until loaves spring back at a touch.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla
3/4 c. solid packed pumpkin puree
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease 12 muffin tins.
2) In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, ground spices, and salt.
3) In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. Scape down sides of bowl. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and pumpkin puree, in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in chocolate chips.
4) Fill muffin cups evenly. Bake 18-20 minutes or until firm to touch and toothpick comes out clean.


Enjoy!!

New Recipes :)

Growing up, one of my favorite Sunday morning breakfasts was when my dad would make oven pancakes. For some reason I always thought these were complicated or difficult to make but when I did the research I discovered that they are super easy! I decided to share the recipe.



Oven Pancakes
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 c. butter
4 eggs
1 c. milk
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. confectioners' sugar (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
2) Place butter in a 9-inch cake pan (I used an 8-inch square casserole dish) and heat in the oven until melted. In a blender or food processor, whip eggs and milk (I used an immersion blender). Pour in flour and beat until well combined. Pour batter into hot pan. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar.
3) Bake 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Dust with confectioners' sugar.


I also wanted to share a killer recipe for banana pancakes. My parents are currently living in Kenya and apparently have access to tons of bananas and I'm thinking of them as I write this. I love to make triple batches of this recipe and freeze them, when I'm looking for something quick and healthy to give James, I just pop one in the toaster oven for a couple minutes.

Whole-wheat Banana Pancakes

2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
2/3 c. milk
2 tbsp. butter, melted (optional)
1 banana

1) Mix together dry ingredients. Add beaten egg, milk and butter.
2) Add 1 mashed banana and mix until well blended, but lumpy.
3) Pour desired size pancake onto a medium-hot lightly greased griddle.