2013 Highlights

December 31, 2013December 31, 20136 Comments

I hate to be that person, but I’m going to say it: I can’t believe 2013 is coming to a close. Seriously, where did the year go?

I remember when I was in college, my friend Hazel would laugh at me because I recounted my days through my meals. So in traditional Karla (Foodologie) fashion, let me recount my year by favorite things I made/ate.

In January, I was all sorts of awesome (modest, right?). I made two of my favorite things:

Bourbon Banana Pie

Orange-Pistachio Biscotti

Seriously, those are probably my two favorite sweets I made all year. So much so that I made them for Christmas. After January, I had clearly eaten too much pie and biscotti so I felt the need to do a crazy thing: a 30 day paleo challenge.

It was a shit storm, for lack of better words. If you want to relive that (I don’t, but that’s cool), check out these posts:

Paleo Challenge: Day 1
Paleo Challenge: Day 2
Paleo Challenge: Day 3 & 4
Paleo Challenge: Day 5, 6, & 7
Paleo Challenge: Day 8 (Plus 1 Week Thoughts)
Paleo Challenge: Day 9 & 10
Paleo Challenge: Day 11
Paleo Challenge: Day 13 (apparently 12 doesn’t exist?)
Paleo Challenge: Ending Early <— spoiler I quit!
Life After the Paleo Challenge

But after Paleo, I became a semi-normal person again. I tried to make healthy things

Like Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash

and Eggplant Rolls to balance out my ridiculous desire to ALWAYS eat cake

This year, I also made awesome blogger friends. Now I can say Allison from Sweet Potato Bites and Samantha from Little Ferraro Kitchen are real life friends, which is cool! Who wants to be real life friends next year?

(photo stolen from Sweet Potato Bites)

This year I also decided food parties were a good idea. So I started with a Fried Chicken and Waffles party.

Because I had never fried chicken and that seemed like a good idea. It was.

Then Allison and I teamed up with Peanut Butter & Co and threw a Peanut Butter Party.

That was all sorts of fun. Next year, I’d like to do a pancake party, a cocktail party and, if we get crazy, a tamale making party, because why not?

Then let’s not forget how in 2013 I became obsessed with protein powders. And it continues because I keep putting protein powder in everything, like these pancakes…

But the highlight of the year for me was our trip to Peru

We hiked, we ate guinea pig, saw llamas, walked everywhere and had a great time. It was amazing. I only wish it could have been longer.

Now that 2013 is almost over, I’m excited for 2014. I hope you’ll follow me along next year as I continue to make sweets and healthy things to cut the guilt. I promise I’ll keep the crossfit talk to a minimum and I’ll keep taking pictures of myself in dressing rooms and sharing those, like this shirt I bought yesterday…

Just kidding! Well, actually, no I’ll probably still do that, but I promise one day I’ll get over that habit.

Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve filled with Champagne, goodies, friends and family! I wish you the best in the New Year and thank you for following my blog in 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Salted Almond Joy Bark

December 21, 20135 Comments

With Christmas and the New Year on the horizon, I have two goals for today:

1. Clean out my closet/dresser of unwanted garments

I have too much stuff. I have clothing I don’t wear and even more that doesn’t fit. One of the fantastic things about lifting weights is that my body shrank. It’s great! But it means that I don’t own any pants that fit me. So I want to clear out the stuff that doesn’t fit me any more, because there’s no room in my shoebox of an apartment for clothing that is too big or old.
2. Bake Christmas Cookies for gifts

I love baking and Christmas is the perfect time to bake treats and give them away. So today and tomorrow will consist of Christmas baking. I had my recipes all planned out, but then yesterday when I arrived to Crossfit, Allison told me she had something for me. She handed me a lovely tin filled with homemade salted chocolate coconut almond bark.

At this point it was nearly 6am and not an appropriate time to eat chocolate. So I put it in my car, got my butt kicked during the WOD and went to work. I have this rule during the holidays (since there are so many treats floating around) that I’m allowed to have a sweet treat AFTER lunch.

This means waiting til I have a nutritious (or semi-nutritious because yesterday my boss took us to Umami Burger for lunch and that’s clearly NOT nutritious) before enjoying goodies and also cutting down on how much I eat. I have a hard time stopping once I start, so I found it’s better for me to just start later. But anyway…

So I waited until after lunch and had a piece of Allison’s delicious bark.

OMG

OMG

OMG

It was awesome. Let me just tell you, I gave some to co-workers and to Jesse, but the reality is I ate it mostly myself. Today, as of 2pm… the bark is gone. As in, I finished it all after lunch today.

Because this bark was so amazing I wanted to try to make it on my own and give it to my loved ones. I’ve decided to rename it Salted Almond Joy Bark, because that’s sort of what it reminded me of.

Salted Almond Joy Bark

from Sweet Potato Bites

10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks)
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup Roasted Coconut Chips*
Coarse Sea Salt

First, prepare your pan by lining a cookie sheet with parchment. Set aside.

Next, pour chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave 30 seconds then stir. Microwave another 30 seconds and stir, repeat until chocolate is melted and smooth. You can also do this in a pan or double boiler, but I’ll be honest, the microwave is a million times easier. It’s also idiot-proof. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my chocolate seize when using a double boiler, because water in chocolate (steam included!) might cause it to seize.

Because of this, I take the easy route and use the microwave. Once your chocolate is melted and smooth, pour about 3/4 of the chocolate into the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Using a spatula, smooth until it’s a tiny bit thick (if you like your bark thicker, leave it thicker, if you want it thinner, spread it more). It doesn’t have to be perfect because you’re going to cover it with stuff anyway…

Sprinkle chocolate with coconut and almonds. Take the remaining chocolate and drizzle it overs the coconut and almonds.

Sprinkle with sea salt (be generous! That’s seriously the best part!) and refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Once the chocolate is completely hardened (it took about an hour for me, if not it’ll start to melt when you touch it), break the bark into pieces.

Store in an air tight container in a cool spot for up to a week.

*I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Coconut Chips, but if there’s no Trader Joe’s near you, you can just use toasted coconut.

This stuff was seriously amazing. The salt really takes this from normal tasty chocolate bark to something out of this world. Everyone that tried it loved it. I’m really excited to share this with others along with Orange-Pistachio Biscotti, Molasses Cookies, Chocolate Mint Cookies and maybe another cookie or two. Any suggestions?

Are you giving Christmas Cookies this season? If so, what are your top cookies or treats to gift?

Persimmon Crumb Cake

November 19, 2013November 13, 20132 Comments

Hi Everyone! I’m in Peru probably avoiding altitude sickness is Cusco and on my way to Machu Picchu, but before I left, I made something to share with you.

I have some pretty awesome co-workers. Once brought me a bag with 15 persimmons. Isn’t that amazing? I love persimmons but $$$ and let’s be honest… the rent is too damn high to be eating persimmons all the time.

First, I used the persimmons for pancake topping.

But sadly, he gave me persimmons just before I left for Peru so I figured a great way to give back (and use up the persimmons) was to make a delicious treat with them. If you’re looking for a wonderful afternoon tea fall crumb cake… this is the one.

Simple and delicious. And I have to confess, that I ate two pieces of this when I brought it to work. It was great with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

Persimmon Crumb Cake

adapted from Real Simple Sandi Rose’s Blackberry Crumb Cake

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp molasses
1/4 cup (heaping) sugar
2 tbsp butter

For Cake:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
4-5 persimmons, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Make crumble topping by combining all ingredients. Use your fingers to work it together til it becomes the texture of coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Next make the cake batter. Beat together oil and sugar. Continue to beat and add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each egg. Add dry ingredients as you’re beating in the dry ingredients, stir in the milk.

Pour batter into a 9inch square pan (I actually used a 9inch deep pie dish, because that’s all I had). Sprinkle with chopped persimmons then the crumble topping. Note: some of the persimmons might sink because the batter is pretty watery, but that’s ok!

Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Allow to cool completely, dust with powdered sugar (optional). Slice and serve!

Definitely a winner. Perfect for afternoon tea or when you have guests. And the best part, if you don’t have persimmons you can pretty much sub out any fruit: apples, pears, peaches, berries, even probably bananas?

Either way, make this and have it with a large cup of coffee or tea. I did. It was amazing. Do it.

So while I’m in Peru, I don’t have time to share all this goodness with the social media world. Do me a favor. Tweet it. Pin it. Facebook it. Tell the world about the magic of persimmon cake! In the meantime, I’m going to hike a mountain and eat some guinea pig (well… we’ll see)…

Also don’t forget The Refugee Auction is ending soon! Don’t miss out on your chance to bid on some Foodologie treats just for you! Check it out here!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

November 6, 201310 Comments

Let me just tell you… these pancakes made my day magical.

I started the day by running with Ms. Allison from Sweet Potato Bites. That lady is faster than me (check out her running page!), so it’s awesome to keep up with her!

After the run, I wanted a good breakfast. For the past few months, I’ve had a smoothie for breakfast pretty much everyday, but today I wanted something warm and Fall-like. And we all know… Fall = Pumpkin.

All season, I’ve been avoiding pumpkin flavored foods, because honestly most of it just tastes fake. I’m probably the only person in the world that doesn’t love the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks.

So this morning, in my quest for a warm Fall breakfast, I had a bright idea. Pumpkin pancakes with REAL pumpkin inside and on top.

Pumpkinpalooza in a pancake.

So I started with an amazing stack of pancakes and then topped them with a mixture of pumpkin puree, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon and mace (with some water to thin it out). Seriously delicious. Please try it. But first to make the pancakes…

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

2 tbsp buckwheat flour (spelt or all purpose works too)
2 tbsp almond meal
3 tbsp protein powder (I used Spiru-tein Vanilla Protein)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of ginger
pinch of mace
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 egg
4 tbsp pumpkin puree (plus extra for topping)
2-3 tbsp almond milk**

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix together.

Heat a large skillet and grease (with butter or non-stick spray). Scoop 2 tbsp of batter to form each pancake. Cook until it starts to bubble, then flip and cook an additional minute.

Serve with a mixture of pumpkin, maple syrup and spices or your favorite pancake topping. This recipe makes 4 pancakes.

**The amount of almond milk might vary. Spiru-tein protein powder has some sort of thickening agent in it that makes it thicken up, so if you use a different protein powder you might need less liquid. Try adding a tbsp of liquid first and if you need more to thin out the batter, add more. If your batter is too thin/runny, you’ll get flat pancakes so you want the batter to be a little thick.

I seriously loved these pancakes. The topping reminded me of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin butter. Amazing. But what I really love is that you get all the awesome health benefits of pumpkin, that you definitely don’t get from a Pumpkin Spice Latte (p.s. totally not trying to hate on the PSL! It’s just not for me).

I’m seriously considering making a few batches of these and having them the next few mornings, reheated. If they taste great reheated, I’ll let you know.

So tell me, what’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin this season?

Aside from this healthy version, I love love love this Creamy Pumpkin Pie, but also Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. One day I won’t want to eat sugary things every.single.day…

P.S. 1 week til Peru!!!!

Mushrooms in Red Wine over Polenta (with a poached egg)

October 22, 2013October 22, 201310 Comments

Today was the first day I cooked in about 2 weeks.

For me, that’s unheard of. Literally the last thing I made was these Mocha Protein Cupcakes. No a single thing has been made other than microwaving soup from a box and veggie patties.

I’ve been busy, but let’s not concentrate on that. Today, I knew I needed to cook. I needed comfort food. Usually for me, comfort food is a cookie, but lately, all I’ve wanted is lamb stew. Umm… random? Yes.

Lamb is a little out of my price range right now, so I went to the store and bought some beef. I started making beef stew with a bottle of cabernet a friend gave me not too long ago.

With half a bottle of wine and my stew on the first of many hours of stewing, I had a bright idea.

I enjoyed this with a glass of wine while listening to Boleros. Boleros is a genre of Spanish music, popular with people my grandmother’s age. I have the musical taste of an 80 year old hispanic woman. If we’re being honest, it’s probably my most listened to Pandora station. It makes me think of my grandmother, who loves to wake up and put on music to listen to with breakfast.

So tonight, with my boyfriend across the country, I listened to sad music, think of my grandma, drank wine and ate a tasty comfort meal.

I’ll stop sounding so melodramatic, because despite the obvious missing of the boyfriend, it was a pretty relaxing meal for me (which was much needed because I’ve felt like I’ve been on the go for the past three weeks).

In terms of benefits to you: This is a super easy meal. It’ll be ready in roughly 15 minutes and it’s pretty healthy and the egg is totally optional, meaning this can be totally vegan.

Mushrooms in Red Wine over Polenta

1/2 cup corn meal
2 cups chicken/vegetable broth
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, sliced
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tbsp fresh herbs (I used Rosemary and Sage)
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs (optional)

In a saucepan, mix together cornmeal and broth. Put on medium heat. While it comes to a boil, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and add onions cook a few minutes. Add mushrooms and cook another few minutes (about 5), stirring occasionally.

If you’re not good at multi-tasking, you can do each one at a time, but I’m a fan of multi-tasking so while the mushrooms and onions cooked, I stirred the cornmeal/polenta. Once the polenta is thick and starts to come off the side of the pan when you stir, divide onto two plates, like so:

By now the mushrooms should be about ready. Add garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and cook for a minute. Add wine and stir. It’ll bubble, steam and reduce. Once the majority of the liquid is gone, turn the heat off. Try a mushroom to make sure you added enough salt, adjust accordingly. Then divide the mushroom mixture over the polenta. You can serve it just as it…

Or you can be a rockstar and add a poached egg, for extra protein and deliciousness. If you don’t know how to poach an egg… google it?

Just kidding. Check out this blog post from Smitten Kitchen.

Place your poached eggs on top of your mushroom-polenta creation. Sprinkle with paprika, cheese, pepper, whatever else you like and enjoy!

This recipe is perfect for two people, but it’s easy to make for one (which is what I did and just had leftover mushrooms for tomorrow).

This might be my new comfort dish of choice, because 1. easy, 2. delicious, 3. warm and 4. wine.

What’s your comfort food of choice?

For me, Ice cream is probably my ultimate comfort food, but if we’re talking about meals: thick fatty soups (think creamy tomato) with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

September 10, 2013September 9, 201311 Comments

I’m going to go ahead and let you know that after this post, all you’re going to want in life is a rice crispy treat. If there’s bacon in it, that’s going to be an added bonus. But rice crispies are going to be on your brain and I’m not even sorry.

The past few weeks have been the most insufferably hot weeks ever. It’s like I forgot that I grew up in a desert-like region where 100F+ is normal during the summer. 100F in Costa Mesa is hell (without AC). As a result, I refused to turn on the oven.

Frying bacon on the other hand, no heat could stop that.

When I was trying to think of what to make for dessert for a potluck, I could only think of making something that did not involve turning on the oven. So of course I had a brilliant idea, and I made it a reality

The world can pretty much thank me for this.

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

3 slices of thick cut bacon
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Company Crunch Time)
4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups puffed rice cereal

In a large pot, fry bacon. Once cripsy, remove from pan and pour off the majority of the grease (it’s ok if some stays on there). Allow bacon to cool completely, then chop. Add peanut butter and marshmallows to pot and melt on low heat. Once melted together, add rice cereal and bacon. Stir to combine. Press into a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Allow to cool completely, slice and serve!

These were tasty. Next time, I’ll drizzle some chocolate on them, because I’m intense like that. Also because peanut butter, bacon and chocolate are an awesome combination. Did you forget about the Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon? In case you did, here’s a reminder…

Peanut Butter and Bacon is absolutely a thing. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. And seriously, this couldn’t be an easier way to do so. No baking, just a bit of stirring, pressing and slicing.

Get on it.

What’s your favorite sweet bacon combo??

Technical Difficulties and My Baking Wish List

August 18, 2013August 18, 20136 Comments

Hi All. I have so many things to tell you about… OC Restaurant Week (that’s happening now!), my first attempt at mac and cheese, gnocchi making. So many things!

But sadly, I’m having technical difficulties with some photos and my internet just plain sucking most days. So while I get that sorted out, let’s talk about things I’ve been dying to make lately, but haven’t had a chance to…

(Image from Martha Stewart)

Crepe Cake. I don’t even really like crepes. I just want to make tons of crepes, and layer them with some amazingly delicious fillings. I have so many ideas for a wonderful crepe cake. I hope it happens soon. If you’ve made one tell me if it’s amazing or not.

Bake Bread. I haven’t made bread in a really long time. In fact, I think the last bread I made was the Challah in the photo above. I’d love to make a good, hearty wheat bread, or maybe some pretzel rolls.

Along those lines… bread pudding. I made some not too long ago, but I didn’t try it and I hated my photos. That probably means I need to remake it. Sometimes I still reminisce about this Bourbon Bread Pudding I made a long time ago…

Memories.

I’m also really curious to experiment with new flours and healthier baking options. I remember I made that Bourbon Bread Pudding because I made some wheat berry bread that didn’t taste very good. Back then I used to experiment. What happened to that?

Well I’m off to take my Dad to the airport. Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend and making (and eating) lots of tasty things!

What’s on your list of things to make?

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

August 11, 2013August 10, 20136 Comments

Pies vs Tarts?

What’s the difference? Great question. There’s probably an official answer but honestly to me they’re the same thing. The only difference is the type of pan you make it in. But honestly, you can make any tart recipe into a pie and any pie recipe in to a tart. So whether you want to call this a pie or a tart, I’m ok with either.

I took this to a potluck and I think I called it a pie. But now that I think about it, I made it in a tart pan so it should be called a tart. A tart sounds fancy, doesn’t it?

Pie sounds homey. Tart sounds regal. I’m ok with fancy business, but let’s be honest, I’m not a fan of expensive. My tart pan was $2.50 at the Good Will. I wanted to keep this dessert low budget too. I went to the store and looked for the cheapest fruit available. That’s my strategy because generally the cheapest fruit is in season.

Nectarines were $0.50/lb. So awesome. It took about $1.50 worth of fruit to make this tart. Beautiful and frugal. I’m into it.

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

For Crust:

175g All Purpose Flour (about 1 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp Sugar
pinch of Salt
1 stick of Butter, cold
2 tbsp (maybe more) Ice Water

For Filling:

8 Nectarines, diced
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (optional)
2 tbsp Rum (Optional)

For Topping:

1/2 cup Flour
1/3 cup Oats
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbsp White Sugar
1/4 Pistachios, chopped
pinch of Salt
4 tbsp Butter (plus extra for placing on top)
1 tbsp Rum (optional)

Prepare pie crust by combing flour, sugar and salt. Using your fingers, break the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse crumbs (even pea sized is fine). Add ice water and bring it all together into a ball using your hands. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate a few hours. You can make this up to two days in advance (or much longer and freeze it).

Once the dough has rested enough (a few hours or days), roll out and place into a 9 inch fluted tart pan (this will also work in a pie dish). Place in freezer while you make the filling and topping.

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Dice nectarines (leave the skin on) and combine with sugar, flour, cinnamon and rum. Set aside and make the topping. In a bowl, combine ingredients for filling. Using your fingers, work ingredients together (feel free to add more pistachios if you’d like) until the texture of coarse crumbs.

Now assemble tart. Place nectarine filling into prepared tart pan. Top with crumble topping. Lay a few thin pats of butter over the top. Bake for about an hour and a half, or until filling is bubbling and top is golden.

Allow to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!

This was a big hit. I was a fan. I loved the crumble topping with pistachios in it, and let’s be honest… nectarines > peaches, but we never see nectarines in a pie/tart. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad I changed that. Also, everyone should leave the skin on the fruit. Just saying…

For some reason I’m thinking plum pie needs to happen sometime soon, because I never see plums in a pie.

What’s your favorite fruit pie? If you have an awesome recipe, share it in the comments!

Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Bars

July 18, 2013July 19, 20133 Comments

I somehow had the bright idea of joining the company softball team. If you knew me in real life, you’d be surprised that I would make such a choice. I’m not really a “team sports” kind of girl. Not because I don’t like exercise. No no. I love Crossfit. Running is fun. Spinning is amazing.

At first you might think, oh so you’re a solo rider. Well not really. What softball has that running, Crossfit and spinning don’t is that softball involves a hard object flying at your face. I’m not good at that. You see, I’m what we like to call “accident-prone.”

The truth is, if there’s an opportunity to get hurt, chances are I will. I’m set to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in November and my sister is already researching altitude sickeness and ways to prevent it. She’s not even going on the trip with me and she knows it’ll be an issue for me.

In fact, the last time I tried to play a team sport was a summer softball league the summer before 9th grade. I broke my finger mid way through the summer. Lesson learned.

But now I’m older, and conquering fears and trying new (ish) things is totally my thing. So why not. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, let’s talk about these guys.

I know you’re drooling because any mention of the word “snickerdoodle” makes babies smile and men squeal in joy.

Ok I can’t take credit for these. I got this recipe from my favorite cookie cookbook given to me by my friend Rhoda (who also published an awesome cookbook!).

I want everyone to buy this book because I think it’s so awesome. What I didn’t think was awesome was the name of the recipe. Buttermilk Cinnamon Bars. Boring. So since I made some changes (like adding chocolate chips, among a few other changes, I decided to rename these to more accurately describe the taste.

Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Bars

Adapted from Blue Ribbon Cookies

2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine sugar, flour and butter. Using your fingers, combine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Take two cups of that mixture and combine it with coconut and chocolate chips.

Press into a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment paper. With the remaining sugar/flour/butter mixture, add egg, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, buttermilk and vanilla. Blend together. Pour mixture oven base and bake for about 45 minutes, or until fully cooked in the center.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. (I let it sit out overnight) Once cooled, remove bars from pan by lifting parchment paper. Cut bars into about 40 squares (or fewer large pieces…).

I promise these will be a hit. They’re like snickerdoodles and chocolate chip coconut cookies on a date, because that makes sense.

Either way, enjoy them, pin them and wish me luck on this softball endeavor.

How are you at team sports? Play any? Tell me!

P.S. Have you entered the Peanut Butter & Co Giveaway? You can earn entries daily! Get to it here: http://bit.ly/147k7k8

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

July 2, 20135 Comments

What’s your go-to blog for recipes? We all have them, because these days… it’s so much easier to Google than to search through an array of cookbooks.

Me and half of America have Smitten Kitchen as our go-to blog for recipes. I haven’t made too many things, because most of the time I like inventing things but I’ve made a few and every one is great.

This past week I was dogsitting…

and had a massive zucchini from the garden to use. First I made an zucchini mozzarella bake, which I will tell you about soon, but there I still had about 1/3 of the zucchini left. I’m telling you this thing was the size of a small animal (probably roughly the size of the two pugs above). I wish I had taken a picture of it.

So with 1/3 of an enormous zucchini sitting on the counter as two pugs stared at me, naturally, I turned to Smitten Kitchen for direction. Now, I have to tell you… I’m a terrible person. I never actually read her blog posts. I only ever look at the pictures and recipes. Does anyone else do that?

We all have different motivations for following blogs, right? For me, Smitten Kitchen is all about pictures and recipes.

So back to Zucchini. I made zucchini bread, because I was feeling traditional.

I usually never do this, but I actually followed this recipe pretty much to the T (but omited the nuts and added chocolate chips). I chose to add chocolate chips because for some reason chocolate and zucchini sounds like a natural combination.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

from Smitten Kitchen

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

*Note: I didn’t measure the zucchini so I actually think I added more like 3 cups

Line two loaf pans with parchment paper. Pre-heat oven to 350F.

In a bowl, beat together eggs, oil and sugar. Once combined, add zucchini and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into two loaf pans.

Bake about an hour (mine took about an hour and 10 minutes, remember all ovens are different).

Allow to cool completely. Then remove from pan (parchment paper makes it super easy to pull out of the pan). Slice and serve.

I took these two loaves to work and they were gone in a day. That’s probably because I ate half of it on my own. It was pretty delicious. The loaves are sort of dense, but super moist, which is always appreciated.

Normally I hate chocolate chips in quick breads, but this was fantastic. If you ever put chocolate chips in my banana bread or pancakes, we won’t be friends anymore, but in zucchini bread… bring it on!

So there you have it. Sometimes you need a go-to blog for a recipe.

What’s your go-to blog for recipes? Are there any blogs you read solely for pictures and recipes?

Foodologie

A Blog about Balancing Health with a Constant Desire to Eat Cake

Tag: Recipe

2013 Highlights

Salted Almond Joy Bark

OMG

Salted Almond Joy Bark

Persimmon Crumb Cake

Persimmon Crumb Cake

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Mushrooms in Red Wine over Polenta (with a poached egg)

Mushrooms in Red Wine over Polenta

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

Technical Difficulties and My Baking Wish List

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread