Delicious Zucchini Carrot Bread & Muffins

When we lived in Dallas we used to go to this awesome place called Breadwinners. It was pretty much a breakfasty, lunch place and they sold these amazing mini-loaves of bread-- the zucchini spice, a moist zucchini bread with a cinnamon-y flavor, was a favorite of ours. And I have been successfully recreating different versions of this bread over the last few years.

This time I had so many carrots I decided to throw one in, making it Zucchini Carrot Bread. The key here is the most zucchini, carrot, blueberries, etc. that you throw in the moister the bread ends up-- but don't over do it or it will never finish baking.



One variation we make all the time at home is Zucchini Blueberry Bread-- which you can easily change this recipe to by omitting the carrot, and adding blueberries. If you make it with blueberries just take note that using frozen blueberries will kind of make a blueberry swirl effect as the blueberries kind of melt and spread blueberry juice throughout the batter. Fresh whole blueberries will stay together and not make everything turn bluish. I've used both, and both taste great... just look a little different.

Personally I think it's all about the crusty outside with the moist yummy inside-- so to have as much crust at possible I recommend making mini-loaves instead of a regular size loaf. This time around with the recipe amounts below we made two mini-loaves and 12 mini-muffins (the tiny muffins). By the way, the muffins were gone within the first 20 minutes.

Here we go...

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Times: Varied depending of bread tins, muffins, etc.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil -either vegetable, rice bran, or I think grapeseed would work well-I used rice bran
• 2 cups sugar - I used organic raw sugar, use what you've got or like
• 2 cups finely grated zucchini= about 2 medium zucchinis in the food processor
  
• 1 cup finely grated carrot= 1 carrot- put in food processor at same time as zucchini
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour --if you do have have wheat flour just use an extra cup plain flour
  
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

The method to my madness:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and lightly flour loaf pans, or line muffin tins with paper bake liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy.
   
3. Mix in oil and sugar.
   
4. Stir in grated zucchini/ carrot mixture and vanilla.
   
5. In a separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, and salt.
   
6. Add bowl of dry ingredients to egg mixture and blend-- it is kind of soupy, and that's okay.
   
7. Pour batter into prepared pans filling whichever type you are using about 3/4 full.
8. Cook times:

• 30-40 minutes for mini-loaves
• 55-65 minutes for regular loaves
• 10-15 minutes for mini-muffins
• 25-35 minutes for regular size muffins
• Stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean, they are done.

Cheesy Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Po-tah-to, potato, po-tah-to, potato, let's call the whole thing off, doo-wah. Wow, that's an annoying song, and I can't call the whole thing off because I live in Australia and I am the only one who says potato.

Whateva,--anyway-- I rarely make potatoes, but I think they are pretty much a requirement to go with brisket-- and since we ate brisket all week--- well, nuff said.

I just started throwing stuff in (as usual)-- and they were awesome. The four year old foodie ate them non-stop for the last few days.

Here's what I did to make it all happen:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 5 medium brown potatoes (I'm guessing about 2lbs or 1 kilo)
• 1/4 head of cauliflower
  
• 1/2 cup milk (skim, whole, 2%- your call) you can add more later if potatoes are too dry
  
• 3-4 tbsp sour cream (regular or light)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzerella, but you could use cheddar or colby jack)
• 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion
  
• 1 tsp salt-- or to taste
• a little pepper

The way to bring it all together:

1. Wash cauliflower and in a microwave safe dish microwave it covered for 3 1/2 minutes. Then set aside.
   
2. Scrub potatoes and pierce them several times with a fork or knife-- for goodness sakes-- be careful and don't stab yourself!
3. Put 1/2 the potatoes in microwave on a papertowel for about 5 minutes. When finished using an oven mitt see if they are soft, if not microwave for another 3 minutes. When you can squeeze them and feel soft- they are cooked. Remove from microwave and microwave the rest of the clean potatoes.
4. Put shredded cheese in a large mixing bowl.
   
5. Holding potato with oven mitt, cut in half and scoop insides of potatoes into the bowl with the cheese. You can save the skins if they are still in good shape to make potato skins later.
   
6. When potatoes are scooped into the bowl, add the cooked cauliflower and all remaining ingredients. Mix with a potato masher.
   
7. Serve immediately or pop into microwave right before serving.
8. Garnish with a little extra green onion on top if you feel like it.

Slow Cooker Brisket

My entire life my grandmother and mom made this amazing brisket, especially during the holidays. A few years ago I finally decided I would put on my big boy pants and try to make it myself. So let me just say that making brisket in the oven is a total pain. You have to take it out of the oven, baste it, add water, turn it, move the onions around... and then a mere 5-7 hours after you've begun it's finally ready. It is one high maintenance meal. Delicious, but who has the time for that kind of cooking commitment?

So I decided to try the brisket in the slow cooker. I'm thinking-- no basting, no flipping-- just let it stew on its own and at some point turn it off.


Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: About 10-11 hours of not having to touch it even once

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb. (a little less than 2 kilos) beef brisket
• 1 jar Heinz (it must be Heinz) chili sauce OR 2 cups ketchup mixed with 2 tsp. brown sugar, 2 tsp. dried onion flakes, and a little garlic powder
  
• 2-3 yellow or brown onions sliced thick
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Technique:

1. On a cutting board, trim all visible fat from brisket- I do this was a cheap serrated knife.
2. Put 1/2 of the sliced onion in bottom of slow cooker.
3. Put brisket on top of onion, if too big fold edges up the sides or fold the whole thing in half. It is going to shrink in a big way.
4. Add about 1 cup of water to the crockpot.
5. Pour chili sauce or ketchup mixture over the whole thing, use the back of a spoon to coat top of brisket with sauce.
6. Put remaining onions on top of brisket.
7. Turn slow cooker on low and cook 8-11 hours, until meat can easily have a fork stuck into the middle of it.

Serving it up:

• After it cools about 30 minutes to an hour, remove brisket from crock pot and slice with a large serrated/ or bread knife against the grain-- this means if the brisket is shredding do not cut it the same way the beef is shredding-- cut across the shredding, not with the shredding. Ladle some sauce with onions over sliced meat on each plate.
• Excellent served with sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes, and green beans.
  
• Store meat in separate container from sauce/onions.
• If you have a ton of sauce (like I did), freeze a small container of it to use to bake chicken in at some point.

This is how much I ended up with-- when you make this in a slow cooker it makes a ton of gravy.


To give you an idea of scale...that meat container is about 8 inches high.

Pretty Tuna Salad

Yeah, like I really thought anyone needed instructions on how to make tuna salad-- but sometimes it's good to hear how someone else does it.

You actually can pretty up tuna salad by adding a splash of color using red capsicum (that's Australian for red bell peppers-- and if you say red bell peppers in Australia, I don't think anyone will know what the hell you are talking about).

Both my kids like this... a lot. I've been putting it on wholemeal bread (that's Australian for wheat bread), quartering it diagonally, and cutting the crust off. It is also lovely served with crackers, or atop a salad.

For me it's all about the red bell peppers in it, but if you're like my husband and "hate peppers", then feel free to substitute celery. But for goodness sakes, I am begging you-- please do not add that nasty sweet relish... mom, that means you.

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large can (not those little mini cans) tuna packed in water
• 1.5 tbsp Hellman's Mayonaise or Light Hellman's Mayonaise-- other brands just will not do in my opinion
• 2-3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper (aka red capsicum)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried onion flakes (the kind that come in a spice bottle--looks like dehydrated little pieces of onion)
  
• 2 small pinches salt
• A little pepper
• (optional) 1-2 tbsp diced celery-- personally I don't do this, except for in my husband's portion which has no red bell pepper in it
  

The method of my madness:

1. Squeeze water out of tuna can well.
2. Put tuna in bowl and use a fork to smash it until not in chunks anymore.
3. Throw in all the other ingredients (only 1 spoon of mayo at a time, you can always add more--but too much is just totally unacceptable) and mix with fork.

To serve on a salad:

• Put lettuce or spinach in a bowl
• Use an ice cream scooper to make a pretty round scoop of tuna salad on top
• Add little veggie decorations around it like broccoli, green beans, cucumber, carrot--whatever

To serve on a sandwich:

• Stick it on bread
• For kids cut into quarters or let kids make them into shapes with cookie cutters
• Cut diagonally for adult sandwiches

Chicken Enchiladas, Yum.

This is one of our favorite recipes. As with all the dishes I make on a regular basis--this is more of a loose guideline, than letter of the law. You will basically need the good part of a morning or afternoon to make this. A good pointer is that you can get the whole thing ready, refrigerate it in a casserole dish, and pop it in the oven about 45 minutes before you want to eat.

And yes, I know black beans and rice are not the most Mexican choice for a side dish, but when you are in a country lacking in the Hispanic ingredient department- you do what you can.

Prep Time: 60-90 minutes depending on if chicken is already cooked
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs (about .75 kilo) uncooked boneless chicken breasts OR you can use 1 premade rotisserie chicken and shred the whole thing (should be about 4-5 cups cooked shredded chicken)
• 2 large onions- chopped
• 2 small cans green chiles (unless you live in Australia, because I still have yet to find them here)
  
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic- pressed
  
• 2 16oz. (about 800ml) cans tomato sauce/ tomato puree (in the U.S. I like Hunts brand)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 sugar
• 2 jalapenos - very finely chopped(optional)
• 6 cups milk or cream or a combination of both (but skim milk alone will not be a good choice, we're looking to cream it up a little)
  
• 10 cubes chicken bouillon
• 24-36 corn tortillas
• 3 cups shredded cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar-- which ever you prefer or a combo)
• 1 cup salsa
• Sour cream (optional- as an accompaniment)
  

Tip:

• You can make this one of two way- 1) traditional rolled enchiladas baked in a large casserole dish OR 2) Casserole/lasagna style-- this is the quicker version, probably saves at least 10 minutes. The below technique is for individual enchiladas. I will include below the very simple modification to make the faster casserole style dish instead.
  

Technique:

1. Saute onion in olive oil until clear, but not brown.
2. Stir in garlic, tomato sauce, salt, sugar, green chiles, jalapeno, and chicken.
   
3. Cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
4. In a large saucepan heat milk & dissolve bouillon cubes in it. Careful to heat on low to avoid scorching milk. Turn off when bouillion is dissolved and set aside.
5. Heat tortillas (about 10 at a time) in the microwave-- I recommend putting them on a plate with a barely moist papertowel over them for about 30-45 seconds.
6. (See note below instructions to make faster casserole style). Dip a tortilla in the milk/bouillon mixture, lay tortilla in a 9 x 12 pan, place 1-2 tablespoons chicken mixture in the middle of the tortilla, and roll it up. Place in casserole dish, seam side down, and keep in mind you will be compactly filling the pan to be lined up with enchiladas. Repeat under all chicken mixture/ tortillas are gone.
   
7. When pan is full (you may have more than one pan), use a ladle to add additional milk mixture over enchiladas casserole (generously), you should see some milk mixture on all sides of the casserole.
8. Spread salsa evenly over the top of the enchiladas.
9. Top with shredded cheese.
10. Bake at 350 degrees (that's about 180 degrees in Australia) for 25-35 minutes until top is browned and it looks delicious.
11. Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.

**To make faster casserole style dish: (after completing up to step #5 above)

1. Dip each tortilla in milk mixture & place in 9 x 12 baking dish (you may have enough to make a 2nd 8 x 8 batch too).
2. Cover the entire bottom of pan, rip into pieces to hit all spots if necessary. We are going for a lasagna method with this version.
3. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over tortillas (you will probably have enough to make a 2nd baking pan).
4. Dip more tortillas in milk mixture and make another fully covering layer over chicken.
5. Spread a thin layer of salsa over the top.
6. Top generously with shredded cheese.
7. Go back to #10 in the original directions.
   

Shrimp Scampi Ravioli

I bought some fantastic looking organic 4-cheese ravioli this week, and really didn't want to top it with a red sauce-- I needed something special.

My four year old has decided he "loves shrimp" (that's American for "prawns"). He especially likes prawn crackers, which I had never seen prior to living in Australia-- but we can expand on his ravenous appetite for those another day.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to make a shrimp scampi style concoction to put over the designer ravioli. Don't you just love it when you throw something together and it all works out like it's supposed to.

And I was very happy with the way this came out because a) it was really fast b) it was really good c) my husband and kids loved it. I actually think this would be an excellent meal to serve for a dinner party if you are cooking everything yourself because it all came together so quickly, and with such ease.

Here's what I did:

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: (including boiling water for pasta) 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. (1/2 kilo) cooked peeled shrimp- tails off, rinsed, & chopped into large pieces
  
• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach- chopped
• 4-7 garlic cloves- cut in thick slices
• Garlic powder or granulated garlic
  
• Olive oil -approximately 1/4 cup-1/3 cup
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Splash of white wine
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 handful Parmesan cheese - grated or shredded + a little extra to use when serving
• Ravioli or pasta of your choice

Tip:

• It's best to take tails off shrimp (I cut the shrimp in thirds- my feeding toddlers mentality- but I highly endorse it for anyone), slice garlic, & chop spinach before doing anything else, with everything pre-prepped the sauce cooks in about 10 minutes
  

Technique:

1. Start a large pot of water boiling for the pasta-- you should probably start cooking the sauce when you add the pasta to the water-- the sauce will probably about the same time to cook as the pasta- give or take a couple minutes
   
2. Put chopped shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with garlic powder or granulated garlic
   
3. In a large nonstick pan warm olive oil and butter on medium low heat
   
4. When oil and garlic are warm add the sliced garlic, reduce heat to low, and cook for about 5 minutes
5. Using a slotted spoon (unless you have a better method), remove garlic slices and save them for use later in the process
6. Add a splash of white wine to the pan
7. Add the frozen peas to the pan and let pan heat up again- about 1 minute
   
8. Add chopped cooked shrimp and chopped spinach to pan and mix thoroughly
9. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. of a good salt over the top and stir (if in Australia, I prefer Murray River Pink Salt-- I just it's amazing)
10. When spinach is wilted/ cooked, using a garlic press- squeeze the cooked garlic into the pan and stir
11. Add handful of Parmesan cheese, stir thoroughly and turn off heat
12. Serve shrimp over pasta and top with reserved Parmesan cheese
    

You may (or may not) understand how satisfying it is when my picky three year old (not to be mistaken for my gourmet eating four year old),-- wolfs down a nice size bowl of this. Um, did I mention he normally only eats dinner if it's macaroni & cheese or chicken schnitzel (for my American friends, chicken schnitzel is to Australia, what chicken nuggets are to America).

And here's the four year old who loves sushi, tandoori chicken, and sweet chili sauce on everything. Notice the pretend Parmesan cheese, he insisted on serving everyone some.