A few weeks ago, after lamenting over too much zucchini in my CSA shares, blog reader Erin sent me a new recipe for Zucchini Bran Muffins.  Always willing to try a new recipe, I tried it out.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unpacked light brown sugar or brown sugar substitute (I use the substitute – can’t tell! I use a Splenda Brown Sugar Blend)
• 3/4 cup bran cereal (I used Nature’s Path Heritage Heirloom Whole Grain Flakes – what was in my pantry)
• 1 cup oat bran flour (I used oatmeal I ground up in my mini chop food processor)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm Fat Free French vanilla)
• 3/4 1 cup grated zucchini (press out the moisture by squeezing it in paper towels)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375*. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, place the brown sugar or sugar substitute, bran cereal, oat bran flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla, almond extract, yogurt, zucchini, and applesauce. Combine the ingredients from both bowls. (The batter should be slightly lumpy.)

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Let the muffins cool for 15 minutes before removing.
Makes 12 9 muffins

A great recipe – and a very simple tasting muffin.  I bet this would taste amazing with some fresh blueberries.

Thanks for sharing the recipe Erin!

I.am.tired.

I woke up in an attempt to run but realizing I would be at work until 11:00 pm or later tonight, I decided an extra bit of sleep would be better. 

I wanted something delicious this morning – and something a little different.  Realizing I haven’t had an Oatmeal Pancake in a while, I started soaking some oats while I typed this blog post – multitasking at its best. 

In the bowl went:

• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 mashed banana (added right before cooking)

I topped my pancake with the other 1/2 of the mashed banana mixed with Stonyfield Farm Fat Free French Vanilla yogurt and some chocolate chips – because it is Friday!

Obviously the bites with a chocolate chip were the best!

Green Tip of the Day: Love fizzy water?  Rather than just buying disposable bottles of the fizzy stuff, have the stuff delivered in reusable bottles from a seltzer service or make your own with a seltzer bottle, aka “soda siphon.”

September 2010 Cooking Light Magazine has a great article on the Top 20 Ingredients for the Quick Cook.  According to the article, these 20 kitchen essentials can be combined in creative ways to make delicious, quick and healthy meals.  My interest was obviously piqued as three of my favorite words are delicious, quick and healthy. 

Their list includes:

1. Canned Diced Tomatoes
2. Chicken Broth
3. Boil-in-Bag Brown Rice
4. Panko
5. Canned Black Beans
6. Smoked Paprika
7. Pitted Kalamata Olives
8. Couscous
9. Plain Greek-Style Yogurt
10. Chile Paste
11. Soy Sauce
12. Canola Mayonnaise
13. Frozen Shelled Edamame
14. Frozen Corn kernels
15. Bagged Baby Spinach
16. Refrigerated Potato Wedges
17. Eggs
18. Grape Tomatoes
19. Fresh Ravioli
20. Presliced Cremini Mushrooms

Notice that salt, pepper, water, oil or cooking spray – those were assumed as a pantry staple. 

The article left me thinking what my 20 ingredients would be…I agree with some on the above list, but would change many I think. 

I need to take a few days to think about this and will create my own list but I would love to hear what some of your pantry/kitchen staples are.  What are your top 20 ingredients?

I tried a new snack I saw on Meghann’s blog that I wanted to try.  Turns out it is my new favorite snack – apple sauce and granola.

In a small container, I portion out some apple sauce – I am too cheap to buy the smaller snack packs – plus this is better for the environment.  To the applesauce I add

I love this Not Sweet Vanilla Galaxy Granola.  Plus it is sweetened with applesauce so it tastes great it in.

Typically, I enjoy this snack around 11 am in the morning and it keeps me going until lunch time – this way I am not ready to eat everything in site at 12 noon. 

Have you tried any new snacks lately?  I’m always on the look out!

I woke up this morning completely ambivalent about breakfast -  I had no idea what I wanted.  Matt, interestingly, felt the same way.  I think we both realize that we have to work all weekend so any excitement about it being Friday was a fleeting thought.

A “chocolate milkshake” lifted my spirits – in the Magic Bullet went 1 Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast packet, 1 tablespoon Soy Nut Butter and frozen banana.  Blend till smooth.

Off to work I go!

Green Tip of the Day: Pour your favorite eco-friendly concentrated liquid dish detergent into a pretty glass bottle and top with a pour spout designed for a liquor bottle.  The detergent will come out slowly and you won’t “over-serve” and waste detergent.  

I feel like I have stopped and started the Couch to 10k program about 1 million times in the last few weeks.  At least 3 to be precise – but who is counting. 

This time I am hoping not to be sidelined with shin splints again.  They are getting kinda old.  I headed out for a 20 minute tempo run again and have no idea how many miles I ran – my Garmin’s battery was dead.  It was so humid out.  I found it hard to get into a groove.   

Yesterday, while sitting at my desk and needing a momentary distraction from the 1 million emails I received while in New Jersey last week, I decided to make a Vanilla Carnation Instant breakfast, frozen blueberries and banana smoothie for breakfast.  

You know what – I should concoct breakfast plans in the middle of emails more often.  I’m pretty good at it!

Green Tip of the Day: Help a college-bound student sent up a green residence hall room.  Send them hand-me-down sheets or towels,and picture.  Encourage them to buy used books and sell them back at the end of the semester. 

Matt and I, with Matt’s brothers and sister-in-law Alex, have been working hard the last few weeks on a surprise 40th anniversary party for his parents.  The party was last night and although they knew something was in the works, the party went off without a hitch. 

We put together a memory book and had guests leave a message for the happy couple.

We are heading back to Massachusetts today – it has been a great weekend with family. 

On the road again…

I have had a lot of zucchini this summer from our CSA share – I used some recently to make one of my favorite cookie recipes – Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies – from Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  If you haven’t read it – I highly recommend it.  One of my faves. 

I brought a container of these to the office and they were gone by 3 pm.  A success if I say so.

These are very cakey cookies – so if you prefer crunchy cookies, I do not recommend them.  You cannot even taste the zucchini – at all. 

My second batch of cookies I made this summer was Anne’s recipe for Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies 

I ground up the oatmeal as she recommended and followed the recipe.  The batter made me quite skeptical – it tasted A LOT like olive oil.  Who wants olive oil tasting cookies.  Not me. 

These were definitely wheaty.  Warm they were delicious – when they cooled they were a little too crunchy for my taste.  Oddly enough, they tasted almost like a sugar cookie with chocolate chips. 

I love staying at a bed and breakfast.  We woke up yesterday to a ham, egg and cheese casserole (I gave the ham to Matt) plus homemade white bread.  Now I normally stay away from white bread – but this stuff was amazing.  I had some with blueberry jelly and some just plain. 

After breakfast, I headed out in the kayak for a little bit – it was a beautiful day for some time on the water.

We had lunch at D’Ellies a great sandwich place in the Harbor.  I got the vegetarian sandwich on wheat bread – so delicious – the bread was amazing!

After walking around some of the afternoon, we headed over to our favorite place for dinner. 

Again.  I bet you can’t imagine what I got to eat…LOBSTER.  Sadly, I could not eat all three – Matt ate two, I enjoyed one. 

We also split an order of fries…

There is a reason we love this place so much – you sit at picnic tables and enjoy the view

But you need to be aware of these guys – they have no shame and are not afraid to steal your food.

After dinner, we had ice cream – it is vacation…I had java chip and my dad had black raspberry.

Sadly we leave today – we are going back to D’Ellies and picking up some sandwiches to eat on the road.  I wish this trip could have been longer. 

I can’t wait for next year. 

I love blueberries.  It should be no secret.  Blueberries are great for you and provide lots of nutrients.  A brief snapshot

The health benefits associated with blueberries include improved eyesight, stronger blood vessels,reduced risk of heart disease, reduced risk of urinary tract infections, better memory performance, and promoting and maintaining a healthy weight.

Blueberries are also one of the richest sources of antioxidants in the average westerner’s diet.

Blueberries are on the Dirty Dozen list of produce so I always try to buy organic when I can. 

In order to enjoy blueberries throughout the year, I freeze fresh ones I buy at the farmers market.  I bought two pints on Saturday and on Sunday I froze them. 

Here is how I freeze blueberries. 

Step 1: Wash – I simply rinse the blueberries in my strainer – I also try to pick off any stems I can find. 

Step 2:  Dry.  Very well.  I use old dishtowels and spread the blueberries out on the counter.  I then cover with another dish towel and gently dry them.

I let the blueberries just hang out and air dry for a little while – probably for about an hour.

Step 3: Put blueberries on a baking sheet (I covered my baking sheet with parchment paper to help pour blueberries in freezer bag in next step – makes it a lot easier).  Make sure you spread the berries out.  Leave berries in freezer for about an hour.  You want them to be almost frozen – it will help them not stick together.

Step 4:  Seal in a freezer bag and put back in the freezer.  I always write the date on the bag and try to use the oldest berries first.   Step 5:  Put bag back in freezer and save for winter.

I also froze rhubarb the same way a few weeks ago. 

I am interested in freezing other produce.  Have you frozen fruits or veggies before?