Bread Overload

Had to share my August picture for today.  I stayed up last night and did a bit of baking.  I had some poor planning and made some committments without knowing the dates and a few things all hit at the same time.  Luckily, you can get 4 mini loaves to each regular loaf recipe, and I have 2 Pampered Chef stoneware pans that make 4 mini loaves each.  (I love those pans!)

I love the fact that you can take one recipe and still make a variety of types of bread.  I made:

• Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Zucchini
• Chocolate Chip Zucchini
• Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini
• Banana Bread (with and without nuts)

German Pancakes

Since we have chickens, we always have lots of eggs and I'm always looking for ways to use them in my cooking.  The kids are huge fans of "breakfast for dinner" meals, so tonight I made German Pancakes.

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
pinch salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Optional Mix-ins
1 can apple pie filling
Ground sausage, with or without cheese
Chocolate Chips
Strawberries
Bananas

Directions
Blend eggs, flour, baking poweder, sugar and salt in standing mixer.  Slowly add milk, then vanilla and melted butter.  Let sit for an hour, or overnight (in the refridgerator).

Preheat oven to 425.

In 10inch pan, spray inside and sides completely with non-stick spray.  Place pie or other fillings in pan  (or you can use 2 8" pie or cake pans).  Pour batter over.  Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.  Reduce temperature to 375, bake for 10 more minutes.

Remove from oven, slide onto place, slice and serve warm!

*Notes*
I have teenage boys in my house, and this recipe, which says it serves 4, will maybe serve 2.  If you're lucky.  So, for a family of 6 I tripled this recipe, then used four 8" pie pans.  I would take a measuring cup and distribute out the batter evenly to balance it out.  With all 4 in the oven, I cooked it 5 minutes extra with each temperature.

Scones!

Occassionally I cater in the breakfast for our monthly company call at work.  Traditionally I do breakfast burritos, bacon-wrapped smokies and a baked good of some sort, and fruit.  This time, I wasn't sure what baked good to do, so I requested the opinion of a co-worker who asked for Scones.

I'm guessing they were good since they were all gone! :D

Scones with Variety

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 Tablespoons cold butter
1 cup (8oz) vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup milk

Mix ins for Variety

• Cherry Chocolate Chip
• 1 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate or vanilla chips
• Orange Cranberry Chip
• 1 Tablespoon orange extract or orange juice concentrate
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup cranberries
• Blueberry
• 2 cups fresh, frozen or dried blueberries

Directions

• In standing mixer combine dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Combine the wet ingredients (milk, yogurt and any extracts) and mix until just moist
• Grease baking sheet and pat the dough into a 8'' circle.  Cut into wedges and seperate.  Brush with milk to brown.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Instead of the circle and pie-shape, I also will double the recipe and press it into a bar pan or large cookie sheet and cut into smaller square pieces to serve more people.

Enjoy!

Product Review Wednesday: Pampered Chef's MeasureAll Cup

I've decided to do a weekly Product Review.  There are a ton of gizmo's out there and I will admit to being tempted to try too many of them.  I promise never to buy the Bump-It, but DO love the Ped-Egg.

This is one of my ABSOLUTELY favorite baking items.  I used to sell Pampered Chef products, and I think I spent more for myself than I ever made.  This is the most versitile measuring cup you will ever need.  On one side, you measure your liquds.  And it goes up to 2 cups.  So, when making something that may call for a 1 1/3 cup milk and 1/2 cup water - I can use ONE measuring cup and wash less.  Although, I do have to use math, so it may be a trade-off for you.

The other side is for dry ingredients.  You pull the inner part down to pre-measure, say, 1 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Then you pack it in, and PUSH the brown sugar out in one nicely measured section.  Now, this is ESPECIALLY fabulous for sticky things like Peanut Butter and Shortening.

Also, my friend is a Pampered Chef consultant.  She has an autistic son and specifically sells to make money to cover the added costs of his very particular gluten-free diet.  Her husband is in the Armed Forces, so you can buy something from her and support both Autism and the troops, and you get some amazing stuff!.  It's a win/win/win situation.  http://www.pamperedchef.biz/khutchinson   Hostess name: Katie

When Life Gives You...

Zucchini

When you plant more than one zucchini plant, you need to be prepared to have more zucchini than you can eat. So, what can you do when you have so much zucchini that you can't even give it all away?

Today I'm going to try to find out how many different ways I can utilize zucchini, and I will be posting successful recipes in the coming week.

Here are some of my ideas for utilizing that abundance of zucchini.

• Shred up the zucchini as if you were going to put it into a bread recipe. Then pre-measure it into 2 or 3 cup servings and place in quart-sized ziploc bags and freeze to bake with all winter long.
• Play ding-dong ditch with zuchinni for a variety of neighbors. If you'd like, put a bow on them. Now it's not your worry anymore!
• Scour the internet for unusual zucchini recipes
• Bake lots of zucchini bread. Make mini loaves or mini muffins, then freeze those. Great for snacks when school starts for the kids!

What are some of your most creative uses for zucchini??