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Snacking in the Kitchen

~ Culinary Adventures In & Out of the Kitchen. Recipes, Reviews, Culinary Musings.

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Banana Zucchini Bread and Muffins

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

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Tags

allrecipes, baking, bread, breakfast, muffins, recipe

banana zucchini bread and muffins (11)

Confession time. I don’t like bananas. Maybe it’s one of the reasons I’m not a fan when I get called Anna Banana. The riper the banana, the less I like it. The overwhelming aroma, the dark brown spotted skin, it all makes me want to run away.

But then there’s banana bread and banana muffins, that make it worthwhile to have an overripe banana in your kitchen. For this project though, I’ve combined the sweet, soft banana with the crunchy, fresh zucchini in a recipe that yields one loaf of bread and 12 muffins. Perfect, isn’t it? If you wish, turn this into 2 loaves or 24 muffins. You’re the boss!

banana zucchini bread and muffins (4)

Banana Zucchini Bread and Muffins

Ingredients

4 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Beat eggs, sugars, oil, apples sauce and vanilla extra in a bowl. Stir in bananas.

3.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to the egg mixture and stir to combine.

4.  Fold in zucchini and walnuts.

5.  Transfer half of the batter to a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Transfer the remaining batter into a greased 12-cup muffin pan. Bake in the preheated oven until the toothpick inserted into the bread/muffins comes out clean, about 50 minutes. The timing for the muffins might be less, be sure to check earlier. Cool on a rack.

banana zucchini bread and muffins (9)

And that’s all folks! Now you have bread and muffins to eat up, share and enjoy. These are quite good on their own. Do try the bread sliced, toasted and buttered (with either regular butter or peanut).

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Spring is Here – How to Grow Herbs

06 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

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Tags

diy, herbs

Spring is here! Earth Day is right around the corner. It’s time to get your garden growing. But where does one start? I suggest starting with herbs. It’s easy, rewarding, inexpensive and you’ll reap daily rewards in your kitchen.

How to regrow herbs at home

Rosemary and thyme growing on a window sill. Rooted and grown from a plastic clam herb packages.

I’ve tried growing herbs from seed. And while mostly successful, it takes a long time. The other option is to buy herb starters from your local nurseries or grocery store. That is a good option but you might not feel as smug about your diy abilities.

Here, I present option #3. You know those plastic clam herb containers you can find at your grocery store? Will you believe me if I tell you that you can root them and plant them to turn into potted herbs? Believe!

Last year, I successfully rooted sprigs of Italian and Thai basil and enjoyed a summer full of pesto, basil salads, dressings and Caprese salad.

This year I decided to try the same trick with rosemary and thyme. I simply placed sprigs of rosemary and thyme in glasses of water and waited for the roots to appear. Be sure to change the water and get rid of any fallen leaves.

Once the roots are about an inch long, go ahead and plant the herbs in a pot or ground. If planted in pots, these guys get pretty thirsty, so be sure to water them regularly. For now, I’m keeping them on my window sill. Once the weather stabilizes a bit and it gets warmer outside, I’ll move the pots to my balcony.

Curious what I’ll be doing with all the rosemary and thyme? I’m thinking rosemary potatoes, thyme roasted chicken, herbed ricotta, and so much more.

How to regrow herbs at home2

As a little bonus, here’s a photo of my succulents. I’ve been regrowing the “babies” the same way as discussed earlier for the herbs. Once the babies are formed on the “mother” plant, carefully cut them off and root in a bit of water. Then, plant in dirt and watch them grow!

How to regrow succulents at home

Mama and baby succulents. A little family.

Give this a try and share your photos of growing herb garden.

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Easter Breakfast Eggs

04 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Bread, Breakfast, Eggs, Holidays, Kids

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

diy, Easter

Easter Breakfast Eggs 6

I wanted to share a really fun and easy idea for your Easter breakfast. You’ll need a few slices of bread, a few eggs and bunny-shaped cookie cutters. Wait till your kids see this breakfast plate hopping to the table. Hopping, get it?

Start by cutting out the bunny shapes from two slices of bread. I had two shapes on hand, so I used one of each. You can certainly cut out the same shape, if you wish.  Individually saute the cut outs in a little bit of olive oil until golden brown and crisp on both sides.

Easter Breakfast Eggs 2

Easter Breakfast Eggs 5

For the main toasts, sautee each slice of bread in a skillet over medium high heat until golden on one side. Then flip and carefully add in an egg. I used one whole and one scrambled egg for each slice. Lightly salt the eggs for flavor.

Easter Breakfast Eggs 4

And really, that’s all. I served the toast with some baby spinach and added Sriracha eyes to each bunny. If Sriracha is too hot for your taste, you can use ketchup.

Happy breakfast!

Easter Breakfast Eggs 7

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Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs ~ 50 Shades of Grey

03 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

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Tags

allrecipes, art, diy, eggs, holidays

Natural Dye Easter Eggs 3

This is what happens when a girl who celebrates Passover is assigned to test natural egg dyes for Easter at work. I lovingly call the results of this project “50 Shades of Grey”. What do you think? To me, these eggs are quite beautiful. Ranging from lightest, barely-even-there grey (from spinach) to a really dark, stone-like grey of grape juice.

If first hollowed, I would happily keep these eggs forever, perhaps displayed in a large glass jar or a shallow bowl.

Natural Dye Easter Eggs

The beauty of this project is that it can be done at any point with the items you are likely to have on hand in your kitchen and pantry. Here, I used paprika, turmeric, grape juice, spinach (unsuccessfully), tea bags and onion skins.

The methods vary depending on the source you use. There are cold-overnight methods. There are hot-quick-and-easy methods. You decide what works best for you. Here, I boiled the color agent in water with white vinegar and then submerged boiled eggs into the solution and simmered for about 30 minutes.

Do you see the splotchy, blotchy, imperfection in the color? To me it’s beautiful. If you are looking for a more perfect, even color, I’d suggest straining the color agent first and simmering the eggs in the dye with the vinegar.

I am a fan of the matte look. For a shinier, happier exterior, rub the dyed eggs with a little bit of vegetable oil.

Enjoy!

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