The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘FOOD!’

What can you do with zucchini? That was my question last week when I returned to work, after an extended weekend, and was told there was zucchini in the newsroom. But then my question was quickly answered when one of our interns sent out a mass email saying her mom made zucchini bread! There it is! I can do that. I love to bake. But, do I like zucchini bread? So I had to taste it, and I toasted it, the way I like banana nut bread. Um, YUM! So I rushed back into the newsroom and there was one zucchini left. Well, I doubted that I could do anything with one zucchini, but it’s worth a try.

So, being the investigator I am, I Google’d “Zucchini bread recipe, one zucchini”. I found tons of recipes for two zucchinis and ended up just halving a recipe and bam, I am ready for baking.

And what makes it better, I had my zucchini and all I needed other than that was walnuts and cinnamon. That’s the perk of baking a lot!

So, here’s the recipe from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients: For two zucchini (one in parenthesis)
3 cups all-purpose flower (1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt (1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking soda (1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking powder (1/2 teaspoon)
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (1 1/2 teaspoon)
3 eggs (1 1/2 eggs)
1 cup vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
2 1/4 cups white sugar (1 cup 2 tablespoons)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (1 1/2 teaspoons)
2 cups grated zucchini (1 cup)
1 cup chopped walnuts (2/3 cup and 1 tablespoon)

Directions:
Grease and flour two 8×4 inch pans (one pan for one zucchini)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in bowl
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar together in large bowl
Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well
Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined
Pour batter into pans

Bake for 40-60 minutes or until tester inserted in the center (toothpick) comes out clean

I think I put in a little more cinnamon than the recipe required, but I think that made it better. I love cinnamon, so I will always add a tad, or spoonful extra.

I can always tell if my baking is a success depending on my husband. I like almost every baked good I make, so I’m not a good judge. I have a sweet tooth that is never tamed.  I had doubts that my husband would like the zucchini bread. He told me before I made it he wasn’t a big fan. But, he ended up loving it!!! (thanks to the extra cinnamon I am sure) So this is definitely a recipe that I know I can make in the future. I do kind of feel bad though because I told my parents I would bring them some bread, but it didn’t last long in our house. I had to have a piece after every meal, and for a snack. I wish there would have been two zucchinis.

If you have some variations that you like to add to your zucchini bread, please let me know. I heard about putting chocolate chips in it. Yum!

Like most women, Grace Mills craves to be perfect. She reluctantly hits the treadmill every morning, but treats herself to one of her homemade cranberry scones if she sees the man who is a treat to her eyes.

When Grace has an accident on the treadmill, somehow she ends up in another life. She has the man and an awesome job and people love her and she is perfect from head-to-toe. But when you mess fate, not everything stays the same. After a couple more accidents and hopping back and forth from Grace to perfect, she has to determine which life she wants to stay in for good before time runs out.

This book is a modern-day Babes in Toyland. Grace wakes up in a whole different world…although it may not be as real as she thinks.

In this book, Fichera found a very creative way for her main character to tackle her problems. There are many people who think the grass is always greener. And while you may have the nice car and the hot boyfriend, the hot boyfriend may be a douchebag and the car may just sit in the parking lot because someone always drive you around. There may be some things that are better, but it never fails that you always have to lose something in order to gain those one or two things. And it’s never something simple. It’s always big, like family or friends, or a crush that you haven’t gotten enough of just yet.

Now I got much more than a life lesson out of this book. I also got an amazing recipe. In this book, Grace is a baker who makes a mean cranberry scone. Within the first couple of chapters of this book, my mouth was watering. I love baking, but had never made scones before. I started looking up recipes and tweeted my plans and Liz Fichera herself tweeted me to make sure I saw Grace’s scone recipe in the back of the book. So of course, I had to use that recipe.

I actually made these scones one night while my husband was out of town… at like 10 p.m. If I lived by myself, I would have horrible time management and be up baking all night.

I was very nervous starting this recipe. It seemed simple enough, but it always makes me nervous trying something new. I have perfected a few cupcakes and am starting to branch out, but I’m nervous for baking failure. But…. although they weren’t beautiful to look at, these scones were AMAZING! Something completely different than I am used to making. I imagine the next time, I’ll do a few things different, like  not start at 10 p.m. and now I have a better idea of how the recipe works so I’m not flying blind.

Speaking of recipe, I want to share it with you, courtesy Liz Fichera.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into small squares
3/4 cup raspberries
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Generous amounts of jazz music

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375
Place rack in the middle of the over
Line baking sheet with parchment paper
In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt
Blend the butter into the flour until it looks coarse
Stir in raspberries
In separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, vanilla extract and egg
Add this to flour mixture and stir until dough begins to form
Don’t overmix
Transfer to lightly floured surface and knead dough gently no more than 6 times
Pat or roll dough into a circle until it’s 7 inches around and 1.5 inches thick
Cut the dough into 8 triangles and place on baking sheet
Bake for 20 mins. or until golden brown
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and place under broiler for a few seconds
Cool and eat

After I made this recipe and am looking back on the directions, I’m not quite sure I did the mixing correctly. I don’t know if I overmixed or if I kneaded too much or enough. I think after making them a second time, I’ll be a better judge and they were definitely good enough to do again. Oh and I had a broiler issue. I thought I turned on my broiler, but I turned on the over as high as it will go and I couldn’t figure out what the deal was. Needless to say, the topping didn’t quite melt as it should. I would suggest that after you sprinkle the powdered sugar on the scones, change it to a clean piece of parchment. If you sprinkle extra and it gets all over the pan, it’ll burn quickly and stink up the kitchen.

Anywho, I give Craving Perfect AND the Scone Recipe both 5 bookmarks… or 5 baking pans if you will.

ISBN:  9781426891939
Released: July 25, 2011
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

I’ve been getting into the kitchen a lot more lately and I love it. My baking goal for the year was at least once a month. I didn’t follow it month-wise, but I’m almost caught up recipe-wise. One thing I want to be better at next year is cooking dinner.

My husband and I normally go our own way for dinner during the week. By the time we both get home and get settled, it’s nearly 8 p.m. and neither of us want to eat a huge meal, or cook one that late. So we normally throw something in the microwave or eat a sammich.

But Sunday is my cooking day. I wake up on Sunday mornings with a hankering for a good homemade meal. So I sit with my coffee and cookbooks looking for something that makes my mouth water.

One of my recent dinners was Fire Roasted Ziti with Sausage. I got the recipe out of one of my favorite cookbook/magazines. It’s the Taste of Home Comfort Food 2009 Edition. This was one of the first cookbooks I ever got. It has some great dishes in it, which I will pick off one-by-one

Ingredients:
1 package of ziti or small tube pasta (8oz)
1 can Italian diced tomatoes, undrained (28oz)
1 jar fire-roasted tomato and garlic spaghetti sauce (26oz)
1 package smoked sausage, sliced (16oz)
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided (8oz)
1 cup 4% cottage cheese (18oz)

Now that I am looking at this, I see it says part-skim cheese – I used regular. I love cheese, but don’t know much about cooking with it. It may be the consistency and the melting potential of skim. Let me know if I am completely wrong. 

Directions:
In large saucepan, cook pasta according to package directions; drain and retun to the pan.
Stir in tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and sausage.
Heat through.
Stir in 1 cup mozzarella and cottage cheese
Top with remaining mozzarella.
Cover and heat over medium heat for 2-5 minutes or until mozzarella is melted.

This was a super simple recipe and it was DELICIOUS! I was a little skeptical of the cottage cheese because I am not a big fan. But once you get it in there and stir it around, you can’t tell it’s there.

This dish has that smoky taste because of the fire-roasted sauce and a bit of spice to it with the sausage and fire-roasted sauce, but it’s not too much. Speaking of the sauce, I had no idea how any different spaghetti sauces there were. I knew there were a few, but goodness, this one is very specific. I was afraid that Walmart wouldn’t have it. Then I was smited for disgracing Walmart’s integrity. And I’m not tomato connoisseur (because I was allergic growing up),  but isn’t a tomato a tomato? What is the difference between Italian and not Italian? Obviously I have a lot of learning to do before P.Diddy asks me to be the chef at his next restaurant, or the family even asks me to bring something more than ice to a gathering!

I am always nervous about cooking, just for the fact that my husband is the food critic in the house. I know I am bound to completely destroy something and I can always whip up a box of mac and cheese and make it through the night. I don’t want him to have to do that, so I always aim to impress with my lack of culinary skills. Plus, he’s the cook in the house. He can make anything and specializes in homemade biscuits and gravy. Mmmmm He can cook the main courses and I will make dessert. I am happy with that!

Let me know if you try this!

I seriously think I’m a 60-year-old woman trapped in the body of a 24-year-old girl (I still consider myself a girl, yes I do). I prefer to sit at home in my pjs, with a book and a cup of tea or coffee in hand than being at a rowdy party. I know, it’s a sign of growing up, but I went from 18 to 80 in the matter of a couple of years. I’m not complaining though. I get quality reading and writing time and quality picking on my husband time, which we all know if the best way to keep the marriage fresh. Nothing like a little staring contest on a Friday night. I stare at him, he does his best to ignore me

I get off on a tangent so easily! The point of this post is TEA! I guess I was trying to say in the above paragraph that I love tea! My dad makes a mean sweet tea that I’ve never been able to perfect and have given up on duplicating. But I am becoming a little queen of hot tea. Last Christmas, my sister-in-law got me a really cute red teapot that matches our kitchen. I used it a few times, but mainly just let it sit there and look cute.

But now….

This my friends, is my new teapot and new tea cup! These were souvenirs from when my husband went to Japan. I love them. The teapot has a strainer that fits right under the lid for tea leaves.

I apologize if I sound like a novice when explaining this, but, I am. I’ve always liked tea, but have been a tea bag in the cup kind of girl. But now, I’m getting into it! My only problem was, I didn’t have tea! And there weren’t many places in my area to get it. I’m sure if I searched far and wide and didn’t care to make a road trip out of it, I wouldn’t have a problem. But I wanted tea and I wanted it now. That’s where my friend Kelly came along. She’s been a tea kind of girl for years. I asked her what some good flavors were and she surprised me with these:

Kelly got these at a little shop in the Short North area of Columbus. I’m glad she dropped these off because even after I saw them, I wasn’t like “Oh yeah, that’s what I needed.” I would have been searching forever for tea leaves. It’s good to have good friends, with good taste and good tea.

I have tried a couple of these and loved them. I tried the Pomegranate White Tea, which I could drink every day for the rest of my life. It was so sweet and delicious! I also tried the Chamomile Lavender. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one and it was definitely different. I liked it and think with a lot my cups, I could love it. I was really spoiled by the Pomegranate first though.

Tonight my goal is to curl up with my Snuggie, my Nook, my laptop and a cup of tea and do some major reading and writing. And tonight, I think I’ll go with the chai! I’m actually a lot more excited than I think I should be!

So I decided if I am going to keep cooking, might as well come up with a new feature. I think Kari in the Kitchen works well! I hope you enjoy it, but don’t expect it very often!

Today I have you for, my adventure in making lemon cupcakes with strawberry icing.

All of my ingredients...almost

First we start with the ingredients. I always like to take a picture of these before I start, and of course this time, I left out the eggs and oil, but you get the point lol.

Ingredients for the cupcakes: 1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake box
3 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Lemon peel

This recipe made me a little nervous. I wasn’t quite sure how many lemons to get, or even if I had a grater. I found a really nice one, must have been a wedding present.

Finished cupcakes

I only got three lemons, I would suggest at least getting 5 to get the full 3 tablespoons. I ended up having about 2 tablespoons, but the cupcakes turned out pretty good and you could still taste the lemon.

Icing ingredients

Icing Ingredients: 4-6 medium strawberries, hulled
1 container Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White Frosting

I wasn’t quite sure what the making of the icing was going to be like. I had to look up what it meant to hull something:

To remove the green stalk and cup (calix) from fruits such as strawberries, or the pods from peas or broad beans.

Yeah, that doesn’t help much. All you do is take a knife and cut around the stem to get it out, you cut down towards the center of the strawberry.

Mixing the icing

Once the strawberries are hulled, you put them in your blender, or Magic Bullet in my case (I love that thing).

You mix them until you get a nice little liquid mixture like you can see to the left in my mixing bowl. When you have that, you just stir it into the fluffy icing – and bam, strawberry icing! Who knew it would be so easy to make a flavored icing?

And lets eat!

Friends, there you have the finished product.  The one problem with these cupcakes, there is no easy way to eat them. I ended up eating mine with a fork. The icing was pretty sticky and I always transport them in my cupcake pan. I should get a travel case.

I hope you guys have a chance to make these. They are the perfect summer cupcake! Let me know how they go!