Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Sometimes when you bite into sweet things and see the color green it can be a bad thing...a very bad thing indeed.

Sometimes you can bite into a sweet treat and seeing green is an awesome, super awesome thing!  This is one of those times!  This cake has 3 cups of zucchini in it!  In my book that makes it a vegetable more than  a dessert. : )  I made this cake for a work function and nobody even noticed there was zucchini in it!  Look at the picture above...can you see the greeness?  Nope.  Wow, chocolate sure is awesome!  Zucchini is super wet so it helps make this an incredibly moist cake...no seriously, it is really moist.

I am about to head out on a road trip with the baby sister to bring her back to college in Florida.  Hum, road trip anyone?  I have done a pretty decent job at avoiding road trips over the last year, so I guess I am due for one.  18 hours in the car...yikes a what?  Guess this is our last hurrah as two unmarried sisters driving across many States together.  She gets married next summer so this will never happen again!  I tried my hardest to get out of it, but my other little sister has flown and driven with me so many times when I moved that I figured it was my turn to drive a sibling super far away.

When I moved from California back to Texas my little sister flew from TX to Cali to drive with me.  It was a crazy road trip.  At one point we were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with no cell phone reception, and realized we were completely out of gas!  We drove slowly and with the windows down, a/c off, praying the Rosary for about 30 minutes and literally rolled into this little gas station.  Scariest thing ever.  Now I pay attention to the gas levels while road tripping...and hopefully this trip is super uneventful!

• Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• adapted slightly from the King Arthur recipe
• 
  
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream, buttermilk, or yogurt
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons espresso powder, instant coffee, or finely ground coffee  (optional but tasty)
• 3 cups shredded zucchini - I shredded mine in my food processor
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until smooth.

Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the sour cream, buttermilk, or yogurt alternately with the flour.

Add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth.

Fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips - mix until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set.

Remove from oven and allow cake to cool completely.

Make cream cheese frosting and spread over cake.

6 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 # powdered sugar, which is about 1 3/4 cup

Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth - about 30-40 seconds.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Spread over cooled cake.  Store in the fridge.

Make this cake, put gas in your car, pray that my sister and I have safe travels, and listen to this song:

Eat your heart out,

Dagny

Easy Peasy Black Bean Burgers

I really don't like heavy dinners.

They weigh you down, makes it harder to go to sleep.

About a year ago I got my braces.  These braces made it difficult to eat meat.  As a result I ate more vegetarian meals than usual.  I also started not eating meat for dinner.  Only veggies and non-meat protein.  It has been awesome.  I lost 15 pounds because of it, and I sleep so much better.

These black bean burgers are one of my dinner options.  You eat them and don't feel gross and full - it is awesome.  I didn't follow a recipe for them, just kind of threw some ingredients into a bowl and called it a burger - turned out so much better than I thought they would!  Love when that happens!  Also, you can make extra - keep the mixture in your fridge and cook them throughout the week, or make them into patties and freeze them for the future.  I tripled this recipe and it made enough to feed our family with 7 people, and then froze 1/2 a dozen.

Black Bean Burgers

1/2 cup ground up oats or oat flour (I ground whole oats up in a food processor)
1/2 large zucchini, grated (on a grater or food processor with grater attachment)
1/2 large onion, grated
1 green onion, chopped small
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed and pureed until smooth
handful of fresh chopped cilantro
1 egg
1/2 lime juiced, or lemon
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano flakes
1/8 tsp pepper
pinch of cayenne

Mix all of the ingredients together in medium bowl until combined.  Scoop out in 1/2 cup measurements and cook on a well oiled frying pan, over medium heat.  3-4 minutes on each side until browned.  Gently flip the burgers - they are not as sturdy as your traditional meat burgers.  Yo can eat them on a bun if you like, but I don't really eat that much bread so I prefer them on top of a bed of greens instead.  Serve with salsa and avocados!  You can also top them with cheese if you eat cheese. : )

Are you ready for Fall?  I sure am!  

Make these burgers, feel good about eating a healthy meal, listen to this song, 

and eat your heart out!

Dagny 

Coffee Cake Cookies

Eat me.

I adore a good hot piece of coffee cake in the morning on the weekends.  Sometimes I want to bring this coffee cake places - but then I remember coffee cake can be messy and crumbly...and end up all over your car floor.  True story.

Here enters the coffee cake cookie!  It is essentially coffee cake batter scooped out onto a cookie sheet and cover with streusal.  Yum Yum.  I was almost 100% sure these cookies would end up being pancakes and still fall apart like the cake.  I was oh so wrong.  These tender little morsels of goodness held up beautifully and did not crumb apart like I anticipated.  Success!!!  I made these for a ministry fair at Church where we were trying to promote our Young Adult group to people - I was hoping these cookies would entice people to approach our table and then we could get them interested in our ministry...but truthfully they were mostly consumed by little boys sneaking up to the table and snatching cookies away in a stealthy manner - pretty sure boys between the age of 5-9 are the biggest fan of church ministry fairs.

These were very easy cookies to make, and I have to admit I have eaten about 10 of them...Lord have mercy - what was I thinking!

COFFEE CAKE COOKIES

Adapted from the Baker's Royale website

Make the Pecan Streusel:

• 1 ½ cups of pecans, toasted, or I used 1 1/2 cups whole old fashioned Oats
• ¾ cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Cookie dough:

• ½ cup of unsalted butter, browned
• 1 egg
• ½ cup dark brown sugar, light will work as well
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cup unbleached all purpose flour

To make pecan streusel:

1. If you are using pecans, place them on a bake sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes or until pecans start to darken slightly and smell nutty.  Chop into small pieces.  
2. Place chopped pecans or whole oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt and whisk to combine. Add melted butter and toss to combine. Set aside.

To make cookies:

1. Heat and melt butter on stove top over medium high heat until it is brown and nutty smelling. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Place egg, brown sugar and sugar in a stand mixer bowl and mix on medium speed with a paddle attachment and beat until mixture is glossy, about 1-2 minutes. Add sour cream, cream cheese, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixture and beat to combine. The cream cheese might leave little clumps - no worries they will eventually break down.  Add in cooled butter and beat to combine. Turn off mixture.
3. Using a wooden spoon or a sturdy spatula, fold flour into wet mixture. Add 1/2 the streusel mixture and fold to combine.
4. Scoop out 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture and light roll into a ball and press into the streusel mixture.  Place on parchment lined baking pans.
5. Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

*Cookies will keep for 2 days in a tightly sealed container

Hey you.  Stop moving.  Take a breath.  

Be grateful for the things you have.  

You are blessed and you are a blessing.  

Life is beautiful!

Have a great weekend and eat your heart out,

Dagny

Paprika Roasted Cauliflower

Either you love cauliflower or you hate it.  For some reason my whole family loves it.  Not too sure why we all like the weird strongly opinionated vegetables so much - like Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and broccoli...but we do, and it is good.

I go through phases as to how I like to cook my vegetables - Roast, boil, saute...hum...which method shall I use today?  I also try to think about which cooking method allows the vegetable to keep more nutrients.  Obviously eating your vegetables raw is the best way to get the most nutrients, but honestly they just aren't as easy to consume when in their raw state...sometimes I feel like I am eating the earth, and this is not pleasant for me.  There are so many articles about which cooking method retains the most nutrients in your veggies - seems like most people are saying microwaving them is the way to go.  Personally I don't like using the microwave unless I have to - so I am going to not use this method...sorry popular opinion.

Putting all nutritional value aside and focusing solely on taste - roasting is the way to go.  Lots of vegetables develop a nice caramelized look and taste to them - which is a flavor gold mine!  The problem with roasting is it takes longer than just throwing them in some boiling water.  So - when I am in a time crunch - which is always - I boil them.  I had a rare day off from all my responsibilities in life so I made this cauliflower and some chocolate peanut butter cookies...which I will also post the recipe for soon!

Figured I should post something that didn't call for sugar.  You are welcome. : )

Cauliflower is weird people.  Honest to goodness it is.  Here are some odd things that make it special:

1)  Cauliflower can be found not only in the white color, but also the orange, green, and the purple (aka "graffiti cauliflower")...CRAZY!

2)  You can also find the "Romanesco" type cauliflower that looks like this strange space plant

3)  I really like how the green leaves wrap around in a safe embrace protecting the cauliflower head - it is a very maternal vegetable - don't you think?

In other news I FINALLY joined the smart phone world - so this might help me post more since I will have easier access to taking photos.  YEAH!!!  I feel so tech savvy all of a sudden. : )

Paprika Roasted Cauliflower

1 large head or 2 small heads of cauliflower, rinsed and green leaves cut away, break into pieces

Olive oil (about 1-2 TBS)

Salt and Pepper (generous sprinkle over all cauliflower)

1 tsp Paprika

pinch of cayenne

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place chunks of cauliflower into a large roasting pan.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne.  Toss to coat.  Roast in oven 20-25 minutes, stirring half way through.  Cook until desired tenderness is achieved.  I don't like mushy cauliflower so I tend to cook it a few minutes less.

Have a lovely weekend my food loving people!

Eat your heart out,

Dagny

Simple Banana Snacking Cake

Whenever I see a rotting banana I feel obligated to make banana bread or cake.  It is clearly the right thing to do.  Nothing beats some lovely toasted banana bread slathered with some cold butter.  Banana bread is simple to make and even easier to eat - trust me, I have eaten many loaves of banana bread in my lifetime.  This is my go to recipe for banana bread.  Of course I make many variations of it - add nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, rum, anything you like to mix in - go to town my friend!  Be sure the bananas are nice and ripe - if they aren't  it will change the flavor of the cake....Browner is better, black is usually they have gone too far, if there are bugs swarming the bananas it is clearly best not to use them.

Can you believe summer is coming to a close?  It went by so quickly!!!!  The heat took a while to really get brutal down here in Texas, only about a week ago did it get insanely hot - the kind of hot you feel in a sauna.  Yuck!  Really looking forward to the Fall!

Banana Snacking Cake

From Martha Stewart.com

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9x5x3" loaf pan or bundt pan and set aside.

Cream Butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs and beat to combine.

In separate medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined - DO NOT OVERMIX!  Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla - stir to combine.  Add the nuts and stir.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean - about 40 minutes-hour, depending upon which pan you use.  Allow to cool in pan 1 hour then remove from pan. 

Enjoy these last days of summer!!!

Eat your heart out,

Dagny

M&M cookies

I sat at the kitchen table staring at an overflowing glass bowl of M&M's.  They were so pretty and colorful peeking through the glass at me.  I could literally hear them calling my name as my hand kept attempting to escape and grab some.  Oh darn.  I considered my options.  A) Eat the whole bowl right then and there. B) Alert the rest of the household of their existence and hope they eat more of them then I do. C) Pour them into a plastic bag and hide them away somewhere - where I will still no doubt be able to hear their daunting little pleas to eat them.  D) Throw them away. E) Bake them into cookies which will help me with portion control seeing as there are only about 6-8 M&M's in each cookie.  Hum yeah.  I am going to choose door "E" for this one.  I measured out the M&M's and they portioned out to exactly 2 cups.  It was fate.  Cookies were in my near future, I could almost taste them.

By the time the cookies were baked I was sick of sugar.  This always happens when there is dough involved.  You think I would have learned this by now and stopped eating the delicious cookie dough.  Somethings in life are just too good to change.  When I die I really hope people throw cookie dough on my casket and not roses - a ball of cookie dough speaks to my soul in a way that a single red rose never could.  Some people don't understand this, then again most people just pretend like they don't understand, but secretly I know they do.

When I over consume sugar all I want is a stalk of broccoli trees to make me feel better.  This is a pattern I have continuously stuck with over the last 30 years I have walked this earth.  Broccoli tree, cookie, Broccoli tree, cake, etc.  If only the rest of life was so easy.  Help a little old lady cross the road, steal candy from a baby - the playing field is even.

I sat at the kitchen table staring at a plate full of freshly baked cookies.  They were so pretty and colorful still taunting me.  Looks like I solved my M&M dilemma, now I have a new one.  Isn't this how it always works? : )

M&M Cookies

adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot water

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups M&M's

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugars. scrape.cream.

Add eggs. Scrape. mix until smooth.

Add vanilla and stir.

Dissolve baking soda in water and add to batter along with salt. stir.scrape.stir.

Toss M&M's with flour and add to batter.  Stir, scrape, stir.

Scoop out with mini ice cream scoop onto parchment lined baking pan (or pan sprayed with non-stick spray)

Bake 8-10 minutes, depends on the size of your scoop.  Always under bake your cookies - they are more chewy this way. : )

I know I have posted this song before, but I love it and always like reminding people of how awesome it is. 

Listen to this song, 

make these cookies, 

figure out creative solutions to your problems, 

and have a cookie.

Eat your heart out,

Dagny

Peach Cobbler and turning 30!

I turn 30 tomorrow.  You are probably wondering how I feel about this?  Or maybe you aren't, but I am going to tell you anyway...this is how I feel...

1.  Eh.  I always feel "eh" about my birthday.  Maybe because I don't like celebrating my own birthday, and I like celebrating other people's birthdays so much more.  I don't really mind the whole "getting older" thing, I just don't like being the center of attention....most of the time : )

2.  Nervous.  My kid sister is planning my "Singin' in the Rain" themed party...I am not involved, and not allowed to know the details...this is driving my "always in charge of everything" side crazy...hum, I trust that I have trained her well though and that she will throw me a smashing party. : )  No pressure Mimi. ; )

3.  Milestone birthdays are always a little more important, and a little more special.  The last milestone was 21-and that went really well, so I have high hopes for my 30th.

4.  I have heard a lot of sad tragic stories recently of people dying young, this makes me grateful that God has let me live this long so far...if you want to give me something for my birthday - pray that God has it in His plans to let me live a heck of a lot longer!

5.  Honestly.  Like most girls I thought by the time I was 30 I would have the typical "dream life" - a great husband with a great day job who was also the lead singer in a Jazz band, a few sweet kids with peanut butter smeared in their hair, the quintessential little house with the white fence-garden in the back-fruit trees everywhere, we would have dinner parties all the time.  It would be grand.  I know my actual life sounds so different in comparison to that dream, but obviously God had another plan for me...and it's not so bad if I don't say so myself.

I have my Faith-which keeps me anchored and grounded in things I should be anchored and grounded in.

I have my family - who keeps me on my toes, makes me feel needed - maybe a little too much, and loves me on most days when I am not lecturing them on their inabilities to close cabinet doors and clean the kitchen.

I have my Man - who makes me feel special, takes care of me when I do dumb things like cut my finger with a fork. and basically makes me really happy.

I have my friends - who are amazing and awesome, and make life a heck of a lot more enjoyable and fun.

I have my job - which isn't at all what I thought I wanted, but somehow it works and most days I don't have to try too hard to drag myself out of bed...except on Mondays...ohh Mondays.

I have my Church Group - which keeps me so busy I don't have too much time to cry about getting old - nice job guys, way to distract me from my crying appointments. : )

I have my health - quirky at times, but overall good...it better be after all the exercising I do and all those darn vegetables I cram into my body....darn you lettuce.

I have a roof over my head (that I don't pay for - yeah to living with the parents and free rent), I have food in my belly (usually lots of it and not the fake stuff but real darn good food), I have clothes on my back (and also on my front thank goodness)

I really can't complain.  So what if I am 30 and not living the life I thought I would have by now - what is important is that I am living and I am happy.  So take that 30 - go shake your almost mid life crisis stick somewhere else I am just going to sit here and eat this delicious Peach Cobbler instead.

Peach Cobbler
adapted from Paula Deen

4 cups sliced peaches - I keep the skin on because I like it, but peel it if you want to do more work
2 cups sugar - divided
1/2 cup water
8 TBS Butter
1 1/2 cups SELF RISING flour*
1 1/2 cups milk
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In large pan stir the peaches, water, and 1 cup of the sugar.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Put the butter in a 13x9 baking pan or a 3 quart baking dish.  Place in hot oven until butter is melted.  Remove from oven.

In medium bowl mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk until smooth.  Pour mixture into pan over melted butter.  DO NOT STIR.  Spoon fruit mixture evenly on top of this, pour syrup over it all.  DO NOT STIR.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Batter will raise to the top while baking.  Bake 30-45 minutes.  Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream.

* Self rising flour is not all purpose flour, it has added leavening agents.  If you don't have self rising flour you can make your own