Pickles!

I spent part of my holiday weekend canning.  This weekend it was dill pickles.  I had a good bunch of dill in the garden and decided to put it to good use.  In fact I'll have to make another batch to use it all up!

The basic recipe for 4 quarts is approx:
2 quarts water
2 quarts white vinegar and
1/2 cup of salt.
Bring to a boil.

In sterilized quart mason jars place a sprig or 2 worth of dill leaves in the bottom of each jar.  Add cucumber (in favorite shape) or whole if mini pickling cucumbers.  To help prevent softening soaking whole cucumbers overnight in ice water may help. 
Add any additional flavors here.  Whole garlic cloves, mustard seed, chili flakes, chilis, and peppercorns are all favorite addins around here.

Pour brine in jars, top with a couple more dill leaves and place 2 part lids.  Then process in water bath canner for 10-15 minutes. 

Cool till sealed and tighten the lids.  Cool another few hours before storing in cool dry place.  Give them approximately 2 hours before opening to allow flavors to fully incorporate.

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Zucchini Dessert Bread

Zucchini Dessert Bread


1 medium-large zucchini finely shredded
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil or butter (I used a combination)
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup flax meal
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
2 healthy pinches of salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups of AP flour
1/2 cup blueberries

 Preheat oven to 350
Prepare two loaf pans

Mix wet ingredients and incorporate flax meal, spices, and baking soda before adding flower.  Once well mixed fold in blueberries. Bake between 30-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Zucchini Bread

Its that time of year, zucchini over abundance is taking grocery stores and farmer's markets by storm.  At our local market they're only 50 cents each (and these suckers are huge!).  You know you gotta use them up, but what to do with them?

Well, I started testing zucchini bread.  It freezes beautifully, and will give lots of delicious breakfasts for months.  This week I tested a breakfast version, less sugar and more fiber, and a dessert version.  Both were yummy and a hit with the toddler as well as the hubby.

Zucchini Breakfast Bread

1 medium-large zucchini finely shredded
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil or butter (I used a combination)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup flax meal
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
2 pinches of salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups of whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare two loaf pans.

Mix wet ingredients together then add in baking soda and flax meal to incorporate before adding flour.  Split batter between two loaf pans and bake between 30-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

BATCAKE!

For my son's third birthday I made him a Batman cake.  He's a tad obsessed, and while the decorations were a lot of hard work, the cake itself was easy and decadent.

This cake was mostly homemade.  I took some help from the grocery store, and purchased a cheap devil's food cake box mix.  So that's step one for this, step two is throw out the box and do something very different.  I used the cheap cheap box, I can't remember the exact ounces but it was different than the brand name ones, and this seemed to work fine, and should work well with other mixes as well.

To the dry ingredients I added one package of dark chocolate pudding mix
3/4 cup of yogurt
3 eggs (beaten)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of flax meal
 Incorporate well by beating on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes.

Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and then pour into your molds. 

Bake at 350 till a toothpick inserted in the center is clean.  Around 25-30 minutes. 

This cake was so fluffy and light you'll never want to use the directions on the box again!