Tag: zucchini

Pumpkin Zucchini Bran Muffins

pumpkin zucchini bran muffins

This past Friday my mom, her best friend Jenni, Harper, and I drove to Fort Worth for the Trinity Valley Quilter’s Quild Quilt Show – Sew Many Favorites.

My mom’s “Bring Me Flowers” quilt won first place!!! She is super talented and her quilts are absolutely gorgeous. Maybe someday I’ll win a blue ribbon in a quilt show.

fort worth quilt show

In the meantime, I’ll just practice-practice-practice. I am a novice and just started sewing when Harper was born. So far I’ve made collegiate pillowcases (Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State), a baby quilt, and a Texas A&M pillowcase dress and Dallas Cowboys pillowcase dress for Harper.

baby quilt
Harper’s baby quilt.
baby quilt
Harper loves her quilt!
Aggie pillowcase dress
Gig ‘Em Aggies! Harper in her Texas A&M pillowcase dress. 
Dallas Cowboys pillowcase dress
Go Cowboys!

After returning from the quilt show, I tried one of these bran muffins that my mom made and wow are they delicious!

They aren’t your typical boring bran muffin recipe.  Instead they’re made with shredded zucchini, pumpkin puree, flaxseed, whole wheat pastry flour, and coconut oil… all healthy ingredients for an actually ‘good-for-you’ bran muffin!

Credit goes to Jessica Merchant of “Seriously Delish: 150 Recipes for People Who Totally Love Food.” I’m not much on buying cookbooks since the Internet has so many of them listed, but Merchant’s cookbook is an exception. She has tasty, innovative recipes that are “lightened up”, but actually taste good.

pumpkin zucchini bran muffins pumpkin zucchini bran muffins pumpkin zucchini bran muffins

I’ll be making these again soon since they were soooo good! Since it’s pumpkin season, grab a jar of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter from Williams-Sonoma to smear on these, and you’re good to go!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Zucchini Bran Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Source: Seriously Delish: 150 Recipes for People Who Totally Love Food by Jessica Merchant
Ingredients
  • 1 cup oat bran
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2/3 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup freshly grated zucchini
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners and set aside.
  2. Place the wheat bran on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes to toast the bran, shaking the pan once or twice during baking. Remove the pan from the oven and add the bran to a bowl. Pour the milk over the top of it and let it sit for 5 minutes.
  3. In large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, flaxseed, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt, In another bowl, stir together the zucchini, pumpkin puree, coconut oil, egg and vanilla extract. Add the wet wheat bran to the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix. Fill each muffin liner almost full. Bake the muffins until the tops are set, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly.

 

 

Spicy Spaghetti with Beef & Vegetables

Spicy Spaghetti with Beef & Vegetables

While the pictures I took don’t do it justice, this is the perfect pasta recipe to make this summer. Loaded with freshly picked cherry tomatoes from our garden and diced zucchini, you can’t get much healthier than this twist on the traditional spaghetti with bolognese sauce.

Our family likes to eat healthy, buy organic, and cut out as much processed foods as we can. This day and age, our meat is injected with hormones, and our produce is sprayed with insecticide and chemicals; it’s just downright scary.

I used to buy the jarred marinara sauce to make my spaghetti sauce, but the more and more I ate it, it tasted sugary and somewhat “old”. I’ve been making my own meat sauce using The Meat Ball Shop’s classic tomato sauce recipe and I’ll never go back.

This is another great recipe for homemade meat sauce from Taking on Magazines blog, but  it has a bit of heat from the red pepper flakes, and is loaded healthy summer vegetables.

IMG_7541 Spicy Spaghetti with Beef & Vegetables

If Harper could eat adult food, she’d give it two thumbs up! lol. Enjoy!

baby

Spicy Spaghetti with Beef & Vegetables
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Source: Ground Beef Cooking 2015
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces dry spaghetti, uncooked
  • 1/2 pound ground lean sirloin beef
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (1 med = about 1 cup)
  • 2 medium tomatoes, seeded, chopped (2 med = about 1 cup)
  • 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain; set aside.
  2. Combine meat and onions in medium nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink; stirring frequently. Drain, if necessary.
  3. Stir in tomato sauce, vinegar, Italian seasoning, sugar, garlic and red pepper. Cook 3-4 minutes, or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add pasta and zucchini; mix well. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes and parsley; heat through.

 

Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini MuffinsHAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!  In all actuality, I did not make these muffins because of the Irish holiday…however, it just so happens that zucchini is green in color, so it makes for quite a fitting blog post. 🙂

Last week, Julie, a coworker and also one of my best friends, had made mention that she loves Starbucks’ Walnut Zucchini Muffins. Unfortunately, Starbucks discontinued making them, and replaced them with a Morning Glory Muffin instead, if I’m not mistaken.

It got me thinking… I’ve NEVER eaten a zucchini muffin!

After having Julie reassure me that a muffin filled with zucchinis could actually taste good,  (remember, zucchinis are vegetables) I thought I’d give them a whirl this weekend to see what I thought.

SUCCESS is all I can say. 🙂

The combination of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg make for a warm, delicious and sweet muffin that pairs extremely well with the zucchini.

Extra cinnamon-sugar is sprinkled on the top of the muffins to add a little crunch on top, for those folks with cinnamon-toast crunch cravings!

Matt loved these and asked me if they were healthy. (You can tell he likes something when he asks about the calorie and fat count… it means he wants a second or even third helping!)

So, are they healthy? Well….sort of. They do have 1 1/2 cups of zucchini in them. However they contain quite a bit of sugar. You could probably use a sugar substitute if you’re looking to cut back on calories.

I will say, I scoured the web for the best looking zucchini muffin recipe and this one from Eat, Live, Run looked the best. While another Pinterest photo of a zucchini muffin caught my eye, it called for 2 sticks of butter – a big fat “NO” for me. I’m not much of a butter fan, just ask my mother-in-law Paula! 🙂

Ready to get started??

IMG_3274

Combine flour, sugars, salt powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
IMG_3276

Grate 1 1/2 cups worth of zucchini.

IMG_3278

Combine eggs, vanilla, oil and zucchini.

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Fold zucchini mixture in with dry mixture and be careful not to overwork the batter.

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Fill paper muffin liners 3/4 full with batter.

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Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees F or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Zucchini Muffins

Let cool slightly.

Zucchini Muffins

Look at that lovely muffin! Take a big bite and enjoy. I like to drizzle mine with a little bit of honey. I hear honey is good for your immune system. :0

Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini Muffins
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (about two small-medium sized zucchinis)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the grated zucchini, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Stir well to combine and then gently stir into the flour mixture. Be careful not to overwork this – it will lead to dense muffins.
  3. Fill paper-lined muffin tins about 3/4 of the full with batter and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
Notes
Source: Eat, Live, Run