Cranana Bread

The houseguests have mostly left (my in-laws are still here) and thankfully my baptism-party, many houseguest cooking and baking is finished. I will have a flurry of posts related to all the cooking that was done. My kitchen was VERY busy for the last few days. At one point my Mom, Grandma, myself, and my son (who was in his backpack carrier) were all in it at once preparing things. It was great!

I made this recipe about a week ago and ended up taking it into work to share. Everyone thought it was delicious. I'll definitely be making it again.

Cranana Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
4 bananas, mashed
1 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix in cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and flours. Stir in dried cranberries and walnuts. Bake 70 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Source: A Southern Grace

Zucchini Bread

I wanted to make Carson some more babyfood and Zucchini is his favorite. It just so happened that the Food City grocer had a huge basket of zucchini on reduced for quick sale since it needed to be used in the next day or so. I ended up with 2 1/2 lbs of zucchini for $1.60. Not bad at all.

So I decided I would make myself a treat as well. I found this recipe in a book my mother-in-law gave me. She compiled it as a fundraiser for her church a number of years ago and the recipe happens to be her aunt's (my husband's great-aunt).

While I was mixing the batch my husband happened to call (he was out of town at the time) and our conversation went something like this:

Him: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Making zucchini bread. It's your Aunt Hilda's recipe."
Him: "I didn't know she had a recipe."
Me: "It's in the book your Mom gave me."
Him: "Hilda wasn't a very good cook. I liked the nights we went out to eat the best."

And he says this while I have the batter already mixed and I'm just waiting for the oven to preheat. I decide to go ahead and make it anyway. Who knows, maybe I'd love it.

I must confess. While it was good, it wasn't great. I did give one of the two loaves to my babysitter and she said how much she and her husband enjoyed it but I don't know if they were just being polite. That said, it is a healthy recipe and some additional substitutions could make it even healthier.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup oil (I used canola)
2 cups sugar
2 cups zucchini, raw grated course zucchini with rind
3 cups flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat and 1 cup all-purpose)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

Grease and flour pans. Combine eggs, oil, sugar and zucchini in large mixing bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add vanilla and chopped nuts. Spoon batter into loaf pans. Bake at 325F for 1 hour. Yield: 2 loaves.

Source: my great-aunt-in-law

Parmesan Rosemary Crescents

I wanted to make some sort of stuffed bread item to go along with the Garlic Lime Chicken I made for my parents and I had a can of crescent rolls so I thought I'd play with this. I'm blogging it however I'm not happy with how the recipe turned out. It was a little too rich. I'm thinking it would work better in a pinwheel shape instead of in the crescent because then the cheesy flavor would be spread out better instead of in one big blob in the middle of the roll. Oh well, live and learn.

1 8 oz can crescent rolls
1/2 cup regular cream cheese spread
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
4 tsp fresh snipped rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Separate dough into triangles.
2. Place cream cheese in small mixing bowl. Add grated cheese and rosemary. Mix well. Spread in center of each triangle and roll up.
3. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Kenny Rogers Cornbread

I also made this dish for our Saturday get together. I had just made cornbread for work's Cinco de Mayo lunch celebration and to be honest, I thought that one was much better than this one. I personally felt that these muffins were dryer than the other cornbread. But they didn't taste bad so if you're still looking for a go-to cornbread recipe, this one may be worth the try.

Kenny Rogers Cornbread

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen yellow corn

Preheat oven to 400F. Cream butter, sugar, honey, eggs, and salt in large bowl. Add flour, cornmeal, and baking powder and blend. Add milk while mixing. Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn worked in. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins begin to brown.

Source: I got this on a message board about 3 years ago. I did a quick internet search and also found the same recipe here.

Very Belated Cinco de Mayo

Last week was close week and it really got away from me so I am just now getting a chance to post my Cinco de Mayo recipes. We had a potluck celebration at work (the bad economy has made us prepare food to pass instead of having lunch brought in). I brought in two recipes and had zero leftovers.

Bean and Corn Salsa
Makes 16 (1/4 cup) servings

3 cups chopped seeded tomatoes (about 3 medium)
3/4 cup Vidalia or other sweet onion (I used a red onion for the color)
1/2 cup chopped tomatillos (about 2 medium)
1/4 cup fresh corn kernels
1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed & drained
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp hot sauce

Combine all and chill for at least 2 hours. (I chilled mine overnight).

Source: Southern Living Magazine, August 2005



Mexican Cornbread

1/2 cup vegetable oil, divided (I used canola oil)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 1/2 cups cornmeal mix
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat; add onion and next 4 ingredients. Saute 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat, and cool.
2. Stir together cornmeal mix, next 5 ingredients, and 1/4 cup oil until blended. Stir in onion mixture.
3. Heat remaining 2 Tbsp oil in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet 10 minutes. (I did not have one so I omitted this step). Pour cornmeal mixture into skillet (I sprayed a 9x13 glass dish with nonstick cooking spray and then poured mixture in.)
4. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until done (Due to different pan mine was done after 20 minutes).

Source: Southern Living Magazine, November 2001

This was DELICIOUS! I'm not much of a salsa fan but the cornbread was fabulous! I think it would go great alongside a bowl of chili. I will definitely be making it again.

Bruschetta

My parents were up this weekend. It was so wonderful getting to see them. I also was excited to prepare them a (hopefully) wonderful meal. Since we had thoroughly enjoyed the Boursin Spinach Stuffed Chicken I knew I wanted to make that for them.

I also decided to try my hand at Bruschetta. I personally do not care for tomatoes, but I want to like them so I figured why not. My parents LOVE bruschetta and always order it when out at Italian restaurants.

This recipe was good (I liked it as well as I could like anything with tomatoes) and very easy. In fact my Mom commented once she saw how simple it was that she would just make her own bruschetta from now on and not buy store bought (YAY Mom!)

Here is our creation:

Bruschetta

3 1/2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp garlic powder, divided (I didn't have minced garlic on hand)
1 loaf Italian bread sliced in 1-inch thick slices
1 Tbsp dried basil
4-5 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 tsp black pepper

1. Put oven rack in middle position. Heat to 450F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place cut pieces of bread on pan.
2. Mix 1 1/2 Tbsp oil, 1/2 the garlic powder, and 1/2 the Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Brush top cut side of bread with oil mixture. Bake 5 minutes or until lightly toasted.
3. Meanwhile, combine remaining oil, garlic powder, the tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper.
4. Place tomato mixture on top of bread slices and top with remaining Parmesan. Return to oven for 1-2 minutes to warm through.

Strawberry Bread

I had purchased some strawberries to make a fruit salad on Easter but completely forgot about it on the day so I needed to use them up before they went bad. My Mom mentioned a Strawberry Bread recipe she had made awhile back so I decided to try it. She got it from sparkpeople.com so I knew it would be relatively healthy as well.

Strawberry Bread
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted margarine
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Slice strawberries and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar.
2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Combine oil and margarine; beat eggs until fluffy and add to oil/margarine.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet and incorporate. Add strawberries.
5. Place in greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes.

Italian Crescent Rolls

I based this "recipe" (it's hard to call it that) based on this one here.

Basically what I did was take a tube of crescent rolls, unrolled them, brushed melted butter on them, sprinkled with Italian seasoning, and rolled them up. Then baked at 375F for 11 min.

They were absolutely delicious.

Garden Harvest Cake

When I got my latest issue of Cooking Light this recipe leaped out at me. I just love carrot cake, zucchini bread, and banana bread and this recipe looked very similar. Honestly I'm not sure why they call it cake since it is much more similar to a bread but it was very yummy. Cooking light does not allow reprints of their recipes on blogs so you can get the recipe here.

I will definitely be making this recipe again but I will add some raisins to it next time. It was very moist and delicious. I also shared with my coworkers and they all were quite impressed.