Double Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups grated zucchini

1 (11 oz) bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; stir until combined. Fold in zucchini and mix, then add chocolate chips. 

Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, then let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them to wire racks.

Delicious cookies!! Someone commented on these cookies from the original site and said to put the zucchini in the food processor, skin and all, and measure out what you need. I will try that next time! This is definitely a keeper!

Black Bean Brownies

• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 
  

• Place the beans, 1/4 cup chocolate chips and oil in a food processor; cover and process until blended. Add the eggs, brown sugar, cocoa, vanilla, baking powder and salt; cover and process until smooth.
• Transfer to a 9-in. square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out
• clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 1 dozen.
• Nutritional Facts: 1 brownie equals 167 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 53 mg cholesterol, 131 mg sodium,

I never thought I would ever make anything like this. It sounds so gross. But, honestly, I couldn't taste the beans at all! They tasted like brownies. The texture did throw me off a little bit and they did taste a little bitter to me and Sean. I've heard people suggest using milk chocolate chips to help the sweetness and I think I would do that next time. And maybe use part brown sugar and part white sugar. The kids LOVED these though. And that's what's most important. Trying to get more fiber into them. Yay!

Read more: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/black-bean-brownies#ixzz3CUejLdS1

Orange Buttermilk Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Orange Buttermilk Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Zest of 1 orange (1 T.)

½ tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

¼ cup butter, melted and cooled

Frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T butter, softened

2 T orange marmalade

½ tsp orange extract

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together sugar and eggs until combined. Add orange zest, vanilla

extract and buttermilk. Mix until combined. Add cooled melted butter. Add flour, baking powder

and salt until just combined. Don’t over mix.

2. Line bottom of 9x2 round baking pan with parchment paper or foil and butter top of lining

and pan sides. Pour batter into pan, smooth with rubber spatula, and bake for 30 minutes or

until toothpick in center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan for 30 minutes before

removing from pan. Allow to cool completely on wire rack.

3. For frosting: combine first 6 ingredients and beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and

beat until combined and smooth.

4. Cut cake in half, lengthwise. Spread bottom half with ¼ of cream cheese frosting. Place the

top half of the cake on the bottom half. Frost cake with remaining cream cheese frosting.

YUM!!! This was my first time zesting and I had no idea how much flavor comes from the zest. So awesome. Most of the time when I make cakes the frosting is always too sweet and too much. But this frosting was not. I would say put half of the frosting in the middle and the rest on top of the cake. It was just perfectly sweet. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

(Makes 24 muffins)

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup mini milk chocolate chips

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease or line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners.  In a large bowl, beat together eggs, sugar and oil.  Add cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and mix well.  Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour batter into prepared muffin tins 2/3 of the way full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool before serving.
Nutrition: 245 calories, 10.75 g fat, 34 g carbs, 3 g protein

YUM!!! These were super moist and chocoately. And there cinnamon and nutmeg make the flavors so warm and delicious. 

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Lemon Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
4 tsp. coarse sugar

Prehead oven to 350F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and lemon juice. Gradually add flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar into creamed mixture.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 6 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Flatten to 3/4 inch thickness with bottom of measuring cup. Lightly brush tops with water; sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 14 cookies.

I was so glad to find a sugar cookie recipe that didn't involve rolling the dough on a floured surface. I always mess those up. I didn't have any coarse sugar so I just rolled the dough balls in some sugar. It was a little tricky because the dough is pretty soft. But they turned out soft and chewy. And the lemon adds a good flavor! Oh, I was also out of cream of tartar but the cookies seemed fine without it.

Honey Mustard

Honey Mustard
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
3 T mustard
3 T honey

YUM-O!!! This is my version of the original recipe. The original makes 100 servings so I had to 1/8 everything. I just used regular yellow mustard in mine. So good on a sandwich or with chicken tenders. So easy to make!! Yay!

Easy Pasta Carbonara

Easy Pasta Carbonara

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman.
Ingredients:
1/2 pound bacon or pancetta
1 whole small onion
5 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine (or chicken or vegetable stock)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 bunch parsley
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese plus more for garnish
1/2 pound linguine pasta
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon black pepper

1) Slice bacon into thin slices and cook on stove top until cooked. Drain bacon from grease on paper towels and set aside. Reserve some grease for cooking onions in step 2.

2) Chop onion finely and cook diced onion in a reasonable amount of bacon grease (1 or 2 tablespoons) for 2-3 minutes over medium-high constant stirring to avoid burning.

3) **Slice the garlic and add it to the onions. Cook garlic and onion together for 2 more minutes and remove them from the pan, using slotted spoon. Discard the grease.

4) Place the same pan (where you cooked onion and garlic in bacon grease) back on high heat, pour in the white wine (or stock) to de-glaze the pan. Stir, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock. Return bacon, onion and garlic back to the pan. Let simmer covered over low heat, do not let too much liquid (chicken stock) to evaporate.

5) Chop the parsley. Crack eggs into a large bowl. Add Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley to the eggs. Leave a little Parmesan and parsley out for a garnish. Mix well with a fork.

6) Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water according to pasta instructions, al dente. Drain the pasta and add very hot pasta to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Then add bacon, onion, and garlic mixture to the pasta, mix again. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to mix. Salt and pepper to taste and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley. Makes 4 servings.

This meal gets 1 million stars! Seriously soooo good. And easy. It tastes like Alfredo but there's no cream in it and it's just delicious. Eve the kids gobbled this up. Definitely read through the whole recipe before you start, though.  And go to the original source from The Pioneer Woman. She has step-by-step instructions with pictures which was very helpful for me. It was so fun for me to try a new recipe and new techniques (like deglazing)! I will be making this again!!

**I used my garlic press for the garlic and reduced the time the garlic cooks with the onions because I didn't want it to burn or overcook. Bitter garlic is the worst.