Zucchini Bread

After dinner we made Zucchini Bread, came out delicious!!

Zucchini Bread

3 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup oil (no olive oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (2 medium, peeled)
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking power
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until foamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients, flour & nuts last. Grease 2 medium loaf pans, or 4 small ones.

Bake 1 hour for 2 medium loaves, 45 minutes for small loaves. Use toothpick in center to test for doneness. Remove from pans & cool on rack.



Source: Mom's recipe

Cooking with Mom - Part 3; Grandma's Meatballs & Gravy

Today is the day!! We decided to attempt Grandma's famous meatballs & gravy once again. And as always, it was amazing. No, its not EXACTLY Grandma's, but I think we do a pretty good job!!

All the ingredients:



Cooking the gravy



Making the meatballs



Gravy & meatballs, yum!



Here is Grandma's recipe:

Italian Gravy

2-3 or more canned tomatoes (We use 4, 2 crushed & 2 whole peeled tomatoes)

Drippings from fried meatballs

Open one of the tomato cans & pour into blender combined with 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp. dry sweet basil, one small onion, and 2 bay leaves. Blend well.

Pour all cans of tomatoes, plus blended tomatoes, into sufficiently large pot, add meat drippings (and meat), also about 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. black pepper.

Cook over low flame, uncovered, about an hour, longer if you want meatballs to really absorb gravy. Stir frequently.

Grandma's Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
Grated Romano cheese, 2x around or more
2-3 slices white bread, wet & shredded
2 eggs
1 medium onion, grated
Salt, 2x around
Pepper, 1x around
Basil, 2x around

Combine all ingredients together. Roll into balls, then roll in 4C seasoned bread crumbs.

Fry in oil until browned on all sides. Remove & drain on plate lined with paper towels.

Simple Fudge Tarts

This is an easy quick dessert Mom had cut from a magazine in 2000!! haha.

The pictures were not so great, but they were delicious! Here's the recipe:

Simple Fudge Tarts

24 tarts

Nonstick cooking spray
9 ounces refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate piece
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk


Spray 24 1 3/4 inch muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside. For tart shells, cut cookie dough into six equal pieces. Cut each piece into four equal slices. Place each slice of dough in a prepared cup.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9 minutes or till edges are lightly browned and dough is slightly firm by not set. Remove tart shells from oven. Gently press a shallow indentation in each tart shell with the back of a round 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon.

Bake 2 minutes more or till the edges of tart shells are firm and light golden.
Let tart shells cool in cups on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Carefully remove tart shells from cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

For filling, combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan.

Cook and stir over medium heat till chocolate is melted.
(WATCH CAREFULLY) Spoon a slightly teaspoon of filling into each cooled tart shell. Cool, allowing filling to set.



Source: Better Homes & Garden 2000

Cooking with Mom - Part 2; Pretzels again!!

We had Mexican tonight, and are going to attempt Grandma's gravy & meatballs tomorrow. SO tonight we decided to make some pretzels & a dessert. The pretzels were amazing, again. This is my new favorite recipe!!

Here are some pics of the process!!

Dan rolling the dough



Boiling baking soda water



Going in the oven!



All done!

Cooking with Mom - Part 1; Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

My mom's in town!!! So we are doing a lot of baking & cooking, and trying a few new recipes.

After a few drinks out with Dante dressed up as Peter Pan, we came home to tackle these muffins. They were DELICIOUS!!!

Making the cream cheese filling...





Putting the filling in...




All done! With Dan's jack-o-lantern :)



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar
¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour
4 tbsp. butter, cubed
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (We used foil, but we think wax paper would work best!!)

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Mangia!!



We got this recipe from this blog