Zucchini Bread (Cake?)

It’s interesting that carrot cake is always cake, but banana cake and zucchini cake are often called breads. The ingredients for all of these are very similar, but we never say carrot bread (or beetroot bread!) do we! I think they’re all really cake, because bread in my view is generally a savoury thing. But who am I to argue with the masses…….

Anyway I came across this great looking zucchini “bread” recipe a couple of weeks ago via a Food.com e-newsletter, and decided to make it for morning tea at work, last week. As I had successfully made my usual carrot cake in the bread machine the week before, I looked at the zucchini bread ingredients and thought hmmmmm they’re very similar in quantity etc. so I’ll do this one in the bread machine too.

It worked, but it was not as moist as the carrot cake, so I think this one would be better eaten straight after cooking (I made it the night before taking it to work). Also it didn’t rise quite as much and I think would have been better on the medium crust setting, which would have baked it about 8 minutes longer. It was good enough to be a “keeper” though, so I will change the baking time slightly next time.

Below is my bread machine version for 1 cake – if you want to do it the original, oven way, here is the website I got it from – which is in fact quantities for 2 loaves.

The Ultimate Zucchini Bread (CAKE!!)

In order, place the following ingredients in bread machine bowl:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups grated zucchini

1 tbsp orange zest, grated

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bi-carb soda

1/2 tsp salt

Bake on bread machine’s Cake setting, with Medium crust and 750gm loaf settings.

If you’re feeling like a more savoury bread, try this lemon & dill bread, also in the bread machine. I made this again recently and we had it at work with apricot & almond cream cheese on top – a great combination with the bread flavours.

Happy Fooding!

Moroccan Quorn Tagine

I’ve been eating a lot of quorn lately – trying all the different forms of it, both refrigerated and frozen. So far I’ve liked everything except the “sweet chilli stir fry strips“, which were very dreary tasting and in texture were more like tofu than anything else. Meh, won’t be going for those again. Everything else, however has been quite delightful, and this Moroccan Quorn Tagine recipe from the quorn Australian website, using frozen quorn pieces, was very good.

Mine even looks pretty much like theirs, too! I didn’t bother serving with couscous or rice, as for just me it was enough to scoff into a bowl of it without any accompaniments. Very nice indeed.

I broke my vegetarian phase the other night, with a Crust mediterranean lamb pizza (loads of garlic!) – it tasted great but afterwards I felt really bloated and yuck, almost like I was being punished for eating meat! I didn’t feel at all well for the rest of the evening, a bit like when you have an MSG overload at a Chinese restaurant, which thankfully doesn’t happen often these days. I for one won’t go back to a place that does the too-much-MSG thing. The pleasure is just not worth the gesplurgledness (my word) – headache/nausea/palpitations/breathing trouble and “dry horrors” all night afterwards. Don’t get me wrong –  if you like MSG in your food then go ahead, it’s just not my thing, especially after living in Suriname where the shops sold big bags of “aji-no-moto” and didn’t understand why I didn’t add heaped tablespoons of it to every dish I cooked!

So, I think I’ll skip the meat for a while again….red meat at least. I do have a bit of a pang for chicken occasionally, and this Winter weather does makes me feel like a nice comforting roast sometimes.

Terrible weather here still…..cold, wet, windy…..roll on Spring.

Happy Fooding!

Healthy Little Goodies

These balls are adapted from a recipe in a food magazine from a couple of years ago – I adjusted the quantities to suit what I had in the cupboard and how fussed I could be on the day. These are great for a sweet but reasonably healthy snack – perfect for lunch boxes or after school munchies. Certainly they all disappeared at work!

Apricot Energy Balls

200 gms dried apricots (the soft kind)

120 gms walnuts OR macadamias (or a mixture of both)

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until finely chopped and sticky (add a little extra honey if necessary)

Using clean, damp hands, roll mixture into 3cm balls. Place on a dish lined with baking paper, and refrigerate for half an hour until firm.

Makes 18-20

Mixture can be doubled easily, and if you like you can roll the balls in either extra sesame seeds, coconut or cocoa.

Happy Healthy Snack Fooding!

Steamy Citrus Goodness

I made up this carrot recipe to go with a chicken dish I tried last week that wasn’t so fabulous…..I did this in one of those steam bags you buy for the microwave. It is amazing how much juice comes out as the vegies steam in their own juices – no water or other liquid required. I just added the lemon juice for flavouring.

Steamed Citrus Carrots

4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, snipped

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tbsp apricot jam

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in steam bag. Seal bag and toss until carrots are coated with the other ingredients. Lay flat in the microwave and cook on HIGH for 5 minutes. Remove carefully from the microwave (these little buggers are burning hot and will give you a massive steam burn if you aren’t careful when opening!), give the bag a gentle toss and let stand for a further 2 minutes.

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

Happy and Steamy Fooding!

Please Go Away Winter

I tell you, I am so over the cold weather. Actually I was never into it in the first place, but this is the coldest Winter since I arrived here 3 years ago – and I hate it.  I need warmth, and my tiny place is like a freezer all the time, even with the heating on – on sunny days it is actually warmer outside – the place just never warms up.

SO……I am still in crockpot mode and have been raiding all of the local libraries, reading every slow cooker recipe book I can find (and there are LOTS as crockpots are very “in” at the moment) to get different ideas for mucking about with.

This is a combination of a pork and a chicken recipe, because I liked the flavours of both so I just mixed it all up! Definitely use chicken thigh fillets here, as breast fillets will be soooooooooooooo dry. This is adapted from two recipes in Stephanie O’Dea’s More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow cookbook (Stephanie has a slow cooking blog that she has turned into two successful cookbooks).

Teriyaki & Apricot Chicken

8 chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of skin/fat

1 large red capsicum, cut into large pieces

2/3 cup apricot jam

1/4 cup teriyaki marinade (try to find one without too many nasty artificial flavourings/preservatives – I used this Masterfoods one)

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp fresh thyme

cracked pepper, to taste

Place chicken and capsicum in crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over chicken; stir to mix well. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. Serve with rice or green vegies.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Quick Apricot Couscous

I love couscous, quinoa, burghul – so healthy – I add anything I have lying around, a bit of lemon juice and lots of cracked pepper. Here is what I made on Sunday for a quick and easy dinner. I often make something like this to take to uni for my lunch as well.

Apricot Couscous

3/4 cup couscous

3/4 cup boiling water

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

grated zest of 1 lime

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Place couscous in a large bowl; pour over boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes until liquid has absorbed. Fluff up with a fork to separate grains.

Whisk lime juice and oil together. Add all ingredients to couscous and mix well.

Serves 2.

Easily doubles or make a huge quantity for a salad – you don’t really have to measure, just toss it all in. Use whatever nuts you like, and whatever juice you like – lime, lemon, orange. If you like things a bit salty, add a splash of soy sauce (not too much).

Happy Fooding!