Zucchini Cake

I’ve made this recipe twice now.  It’s a great recipe for Zucchini Cake.  No one will ever know it has zucchini in it.  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups zucchini, blended
3/4 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, optional

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered supar
milk, to desired consistency
1 tsp. vanilla

Cake:  Cream butter, then add oil and sugar.  Mix well.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour.  When cool, melt butter and stir in cocoa for the frosting.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and beat until desired consistency.

Zucchini Brownies

I actually couldn’t decide what to make today with my zucchini, so I tried both the cookies and the brownies.  Mine turned out more of what I would classify as cake-like, than brownie-like, but they were delicious.  If you cut the brownies into 24 pieces, they are 4.5 weight watcher points.  

Ingredients:
For the brownies:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini (1 large or 2 small zucchinis)
up to 1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

For the frosting:
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir. Fold in the zucchini. If your mixture is still very powdery, add up to 1/4 cup hot water (start with 1 tablespoon and work up from there, stirring well after each addition). The batter will be crumbly, but shouldn't be powdery. Add walnuts, if desired.
4. Bake 25-30 minutes until the brownies spring back when gently touched.
5. To make the frosting: Melt butter and cocoa together, stir and set aside to cool. Stir together milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies. Cut into squares.

Oatmeal Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s that time of year when Zucchini seems to be in abundance.  I didn’t even get a garden planted this year because of our move, however, I’ve still managed to get a hold of zucchini.  Today I tried these cookies.  I really like them because they are not overly sweet, yet soft and chewy like an oatmeal cookie should be.  My daughter is doing weight watchers right now, so I did figure out the points on these cookies.  I got 45 cookies out of this batch because I use a small cookie scoop.  For each cookie, it is 3 weight watcher points (just in case anyone else is interested).  I like to blend my zucchini, it makes it more moist and less obvious it is in the cookie.  If you decide to grate your zucchini, cut your flour back to one cup.  I used half wheat, half white.

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup cocoa powder

3 cups quick oats

1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small)

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray them with nonstick cooking spray).

2.       In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa. Set aside.

3.       In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, oil, and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix on low speed until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients.

4.       Add oats and mix on low speed. Continue mixing on low speed and add zucchini. Mix until well combined.

5.       Scoop uniform balls onto cookie sheets. (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.) Bake 11-14 minutes until center of cookie no longer looks wet. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing.

Bacon-Swiss Tossed Salad

You will love this light, fresh, tasty summer salad.  I love bacon and the dressing is a little on the sweet side.  It tastes so good with the swiss cheese and croutons.  I’m perfectly content with it as my dinner, but I did make it as a side salad with some halibut.  It tasted delicious.

Ingredients:
Romaine lettuce, torn
shredded swiss cheese
bacon, crumbled
Croutons
Cashews

Dressing:
3 TBSP. brown sugar
2 TBSP. water
2 TBSP. red wine vinegar
2 TBSP olive oil
1/4 tsp. dried minced onion
1/4 tsp. poppy seeds
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
dash salt

Mix up dressing and toss to coat the salad right before serving.

Raspberry Bars

Delicious raspberry bars.  Not so good to have laying around though, because if you are like me, you keep picking at them until they are gone!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cubes butter

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup pecans, chopped fine (optional)

3/4 cup raspberry jam

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

1 TBSP. lemon juice

Directions:  Preheat oven to bake 350.  Prepare crust by mixing together butter, salt, sugar and flour.  Reserve 1 1/4 cups of mixture.  Press remaining mixture on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Take the remaining 1 1/4 cups of flour mixture.  Add the oats and pecans.  Set aside.  

In a mixing bowl, mix together raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and lemon juice.  Immediately upon removing crust from the oven, spread raspberry mixture over crust and sprinkle oatmeal crumb topping on the top.  Return to the oven and bake for an additional 22 minutes.  Allow to cool.