Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread - Tried out a new recipe!

In the past few months since our wedding, we have been having a really fun time trying out all our new kitchen toys!  I have been having a blast baking and cooking and trying out new recipes.  Recently, I ended up with a lot of extra zucchini because I was going to roast them with some other veggies, but then I had a ton of other veggies so then I saved them for zucchini bread!

I tried out a new recipe from America's Test Kitchen and I adapted it a tad to include dark chocolate chips.  I'm not sure I really believe in not including chocolate when the opportunity presents itself.  And so, I made this amazing Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

This bread came out super amazing.  It was flavorful and stayed together nicely.  It stayed moist for a long time and was delicious with apple butter or regular butter.  This bread is great if you have a lot of zucchini lying around so make it before it goes out of season!

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 small zucchini shredded
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves
3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease a loaf pan.
2. Beat the brown sugar, canola oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a large bowl.
3. Shred the zucchini using a grater onto a paper towel.  Cover with another paper towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Add the zucchini to the wet mixture and beat to combine.
4. Add in the flour, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves.  Beat until just combined.
5. Add in the dark chocolate chips and stir to combine.  Pour into prepared loaf pan.
6. Bake for 65 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy :)

Rosh Hashanah Apple Challah

Happy New Year! Well, the Jewish new year that is.  Today is Rosh Hashanah and I took the day off from school so that I could go to services with my family and then have lunch with them.  It is going to be a lovely day and I am excited for some family time.

I kicked off the day with a nice 3 mile run.  This week also happens to be the week before the Chicago Marathon and therefore my final week of taper before the big race!  This will be my fourth marathon!  I can't believe it and I feel so positive and strong.  Running has become so important to me and I love that I have accomplished so much.  It was especially nice to run 3 miles this morning after sleeping in a little longer than usual because of my day off!

Last night, we went to my brother's house for a Rosh Hashanah dinner.  I have been obsessed with my new bread maker and so I decided to make a challah to bring to the dinner.  On Rosh Hashanah, you eat round challah because it represents the end of a year meeting the beginning of a new year.  You also eat apples and honey because you want a "sweet" new year.  So, I made a Round Apple Challah!

Round Apple Challah

Ingredients:
Dough:
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil
3 cups bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp SAF yeast
Filling:
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. I used a bread machine to make the dough and all you have to do is add the dough ingredients, in order, and then press start.  If you don't have a bread machine, you can add all the ingredients to a stand mixer and mix everything together and then knead for 8-10 minutes, let it rest for about 30 minutes, then knead again and let rise in a warm place for an hour.
2.  To make the filling, toss the chopped apples with the lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon in a bowl, and place in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
3.  Once your dough is ready, place it on a lightly floured surface.  Using a rolling pin, roll it out until you have a rectangle about 18 inches by 12 inches.
4.  Place the apple filling on the dough rectangle and press it into the dough.  Then, starting with the long side, roll the dough into a long log.  Make sure the seam side is facing down.  Roll the log out so that it becomes a few inches longer.  Then, wind the log around so that you have a circle.  Tuck the end of the dough under the circle.  Place your round challah in a 9 inch cake pan and let rise for another hour.
5. About 15 minutes before your challah is done rising, preheat the oven to 325 and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.   Sprinkle some sugar over the challah and then, bake the challah for 40-45 minutes.  Let cool for about 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Enjoy :)

Breadmaker 101: My first loaf!

So now that it is summer, I have a ton more time to cook and bake!  I'm still doing camp but I have way less work to take home with me. Camp has been really great so far.  I am the director for three park district camps and they have all been amazing!  The site directors and counselors are doing a fantastic job and that makes my job even easier! 

Today I am going to tell you about my latest obsession: bread!  I got a bread maker at one of the wedding showers and I have been totally obsessed.  I also got a bread making cookbook.  I have already tagged multiple pages of recipes I want to try.  The first loaf I decided to go with was a 1 pound whole wheat loaf.  It came out amazing and I promptly announced that we were done buying bread! 

Whole Wheat Bread in a Bread Machine

I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour and bread machine quick rise yeast.  

This was also a honey whole wheat recipe and I really liked the flavor.  I went with the dark crust option and I think I'm the future I'll go with medium.  I also didn't take the paddle out after the mixing stages and I ended up with a hole in the bottom of the loaf.  Next time I'll change that as well. 

If anyone has any suggestions for me on what I should make or technical things, I'd love to hear it! 

Enjoy :)

Today is Brian's Mom's Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Brian's mom is awesome and I am so excited to celebrate with her later!  I also can't wait to become part of her family later this summer! #LegallyPflaumed (yes that is our wedding hashtag and yes it is super amazing).

To celebrate, we are going to get some delicious pizza at Lou Malnati's for dinner.  I was also asked to make my chocolate chip banana bread.  I was really excited to bake this because I haven't in ages and it is so good! I seriously have the best banana bread recipe ever.  Of course there are chocolate chips in it and for this birthday celebration I went with some milk chocolate chips.  This recipe holds nothing back.  It has white flour, sugar, and chocolate chips.  There are also TONS of bananas in it.  This is actually the only way I will eat bananas.  If you want, you can substitute the flour for whole wheat or add in other mix-ins like fruits or nuts, but if you want something just plain yummy, I would stick with the original.  We are celebrating a birthday so you need to get a little crazy!

You can find the recipe HERE.

Enjoy :)

Pizza Bagels

Happy Friday!

I am so excited about this weekend.  It is Memorial Day weekend so that means no school on Monday AND I am going to Madison with my family.  I can't wait to see all my Madison friends and my bestie, Tamara, and I are running the Madison Half Marathon on Sunday.  This will be Tamara's first half and I could not be more excited to be sharing the experience with her.  This race was my first half three years ago!  It is a great race and I am super duper pumped about it.  The weather doesn't look so great, but that won't even matter because we are going to have so much fun together!

More exciting news: Brian is DONE with law school!  He has accomplished so much and I am so excited and proud.  I know he has worked so hard.  Now he has to study for the BAR exam, but at least he doesn't have any more finals!  We went to Hamburger Mary's in Andersonville last night to celebrate.  This was the place we went after his first day of law school orientation so it seemed appropriate to end here as well.  The food is great (Bri loves their veggie burger) and they brew their own beer.  It is an adorable restaurant and we always love it there.  Plus, Andersonville is a great place to just wander around to check out shops or other restaurants.

Now, I am just counting down the minutes until the end of the school day.  I can't wait to get on the road and head up to Wisconsin!  To celebrate even more, I am sharing this recipe for pizza bagels.  At my wedding shower, the hostesses gave me a cookbook with recipes from all of the people who were invited.  Bri's mom shared a recipe for pizza bagels and so I decided to make them for him! I had to adapt the recipe based on what I had in the kitchen, but they came up super yummy!  I kept thinking that this is the perfect recipe to make for my future children :)

Pizza Bagels

Ingredients:15-20 mini bagels, sliced
6 oz of tomato paste
1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3-4 egg whites, cooked and chopped
pepper and garlic powder, to taste
16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
1. Turn oven broiler on high and make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven.
2. In a bowl, combine the tomato paste with the chopped onion, red pepper, and egg whites.  Season with pepper and garlic powder and stir to combine.  Pour half of the shredded cheese in and stir to combine.
3. Place bagel halves on a greased baking sheet.  Spread a little tomato mixture over each half and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.  Place in the oven and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly (about 4-5 minutes).

Enjoy :)

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

I just finished my last training run for my marathon.  This week was sort of silly, but it was the final week of taper so really it was just about staying loose and feeling comfortable.  At this point in training, you are totally ready for the marathon so this week I just ran 3, 3, and then 2.  I don't want to tire myself out and I want to stay ready.  I just finished my 2 miles and I feel great! I am nervous, but so excited.

In honor of traveling to Nashville for the weekend, I decided to share a recipe for some good-old biscuits.  I saw the recipe on Cook's Illustrated and then I adapted it to use my favorite whole wheat flour.  They came out AMAZING! I ate these with everything! Chilli, butter and jelly, some peanut butter, anything!  They were flaky and super tasty and I was in love.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:
3 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
16 tbsp unsalted butter, frozen for about 20 minutes
1 1/4 cups light buttermilk, cold

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, toss the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Coat the butter with some of the flour mixture and then using a cheese grater, grate 14 tbsp of butter into the flour mixture.  Toss to combine.
3. Pour in the buttermilk and using a spatula, fold until it is combine.
4. Dump mixture out onto a well-floured surface and use your hands to shape the mixture into a rough square.  Roll the mixture out using a rolling pin (or if you're me, a wine bottle!).  You want to create about a 12 by 9 inch rectangle.  Then, fold this into thirds like a business letter about to go into an envelope.  Then, roll it out the perpendicular (see? math!) direction from where you rolled before into a 12 by 9 inch rectangle and then fold into thirds again.  Continue to do this for a total of 5 folds.

5. Roll the dough out into a square so that the dough is about 1 inch thick.  Cut into squares using a sharp knife.  Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Melt the last 2 tbsp of butter and brush the tops of each biscuit with butter.

7. Place on the upper-middle rack of your oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.   Biscuits should be golden.

Enjoy :)

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Last night I made breakfast nachos for dinner.  Yep, it has been one of those kind of weeks...However, that means that you all will learn how to make amazing breakfast nachos in the near future!

This week have been really busy, but full of good things!  On Monday, I did not have school so, of course, I went for a 12 mile run.  It had snowed recently and so that 12 mile run left me feeling very sore.  This led to me not wanting to run indoors for the rest of the week.  Something about a treadmill just makes me so angry.  So, I decided to bundle up and run my 2 other runs outside.  I left early in the morning (5:30) and it was actually quite pleasant.  I sort of like being the only one out and about in Chicago.  It is peaceful and left me feeling calm and relaxed.

School has also been going pretty well this week.  We are graphing sine and cosine in the precalculus group and in AP Calc we are looking into applications of integration.  Volume is a tough one, but today one of the calc students took a quiz on it and killed it!!! I am so proud and excited for her.  Planning for both of these courses has been a lot of work, but the students are so great and I really love working with them.  It is totally worth the effort!

Otherwise, the condo stuff is still moving along.  We are signing a boat-load of forms, showing our apartment to potential subletters, and trying to work out and manage all of our funds.  It's stressful, but I am so excited to move towards closing on our place.  I LOVE it!

So, one thing that has helped me get through this week has been the fact that I had a mountain of leftovers from that time I made Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Sliders.  This was one of the rare times that I made a non-vegetarian meal.  This means that I have a ton of leftovers and no one to help me eat them.  So, I have had some pretty delicious school lunches all this week.  The chicken came out great and super tasty.  Then, I mixed some Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing into some Broccoli Slaw and I used that to put on top of my phenomenal chicken.  YUM!  I am obsessed with this recipe and I can't wait to make it again for some sort of sporting event!  March Madness is quickly approaching and it would be perfect!

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Sliders with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
2 bottles buffalo sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
1 1/2 packets of ranch seasoning
Broccoli Slaw, 1 bag
2-3 tbsp blue cheese dressing (I used a Yogurt/Light one)
whole wheat dinner rolls (24-36)

Directions:
1. Place chicken, buffalo sauce, and ranch seasoning in your crock pot.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.  After chicken is done, shred the chicken using two forks and leave on warm until you are ready to serve.
2. Pour the broccoli slaw into a large bowl and toss with the blue cheese dressing.
3. Serve with your whole wheat dinner rolls!

Enjoy :)

Crock Pot Cinnamon Rolls

Happy Friday!

I am so excited that it is Friday, my students are taking a test, and I have my friend's engagement party to go to tonight!  I am so excited for Caryn and Max and I can't wait to celebrate with them.

Last night, I went to La Principal in Evanston with some of my friends from my old school.  It was so nice to see them and it really made me miss them!  Plus, La Principal was amazing!  I really hope that we continue to have outings like that in the future!

Today, before the engagement party, a bunch of teachers from my current school are going to a restaurant to celebrate the fact that it is Friday.  I'm excited to hang with them and it will be a nice way to kick off the weekend.

You know what is also a nice way to kick off the weekend?  Cinnamon rolls!!! Cinnamon rolls are my ultimate favorite breakfast pastry.  I just can't say no to them.  I know that the world is on a donut kick, but I still say that cinnamon rolls are the best.  I made crock pot cinnamon rolls recently and they came out great!  I made them a little "healthier" so they are probably not as crazy delicious as they could be, but I thought they were delish and it made me feel better to know that they were lightened up.

Crock Pot Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
3/4 cup almond milk
1 packet instant yeast
1/4 cup + 1 tsp sugar, divided
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 egg
2 and 3/4 cups bread flour
Filling:
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1-2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Icing:
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar
dash of vanilla

Directions:
1. Warm the milk in the microwave for 1 minute.  Pour the milk into a stand mixer or large bowl with a dough hook.  Add in the yeast and 1 tsp sugar and let sit for 8-10 minutes.  Yeast should make the mixture frothy.
2. Once the yeast mixture is frothy, add in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, butter, egg and 2 cups of flour.  Beat on a low speed until dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Add in more flour as needed.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes.  Then, place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Line a slow cooker with a lightly greased piece of parchment paper.
5. After 15 minutes, roll the dough out into a long rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.  Spread the softened butter over the dough, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Then, starting with the longer side, roll it up towards the other long side.  Cut into about 12 pieces and place in the slow cooker.
6. Place a paper towel on the inside of the slow cooker right under the lid.  Turn the cooker on to high and let cook for 2 hours.
7. Make the icing by mixing the powdered sugar and milk together in a small bowl.  Once the cinnamon rolls are done, spread with icing or just dip the cinnamon rolls in the icing!

Enjoy :)

Dinner Rolls

This weekend was pretty awesome.  

First, one of my best friends got engaged on Friday night and it was super exciting.  I am so happy for them and I can't wait to help her with the wedding planning shenanigans! A bunch of us went in on buying her a wedding planning book and I am just so happy because I know first hand how much fun and how exciting the next year is going to be for her.  

Then, on Saturday, Bri and I got dinner with some friends from high school that we haven't seen in ages.  All of us ended up living pretty near each other and so we decided that we should all get together.  We went to Lady Gregory's in Andersonville.  I love Andersonville.  Everything is just so darn cute!  Dinner was great and then after, we headed to Hopleaf (go there) for some drinks.  It was a really nice night and I can't wait to get together again soon! 

I made these homemade dinner rolls and they were super yummy.  Seriously, they did not look pretty, but they tasted awesome.  I think it is because I used Almond Milk instead of regular milk so I'm going to try this recipe again with regular milk to see if they look different.  However, they were really good so maybe I'll just deal with their ugliness.  

Dinner Rolls

(adapted from Roxanas Home Baking)

Ingredients:4 cups bread flour
1 1/3 cups milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast

Ingredients:
1. Place the flour in a bowl and create a well in the middle.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, place the milk, butter, sugar and salt.  Microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until butter is melted.
3. Pour half the milk mixture in the flour well and then start to mix using a dough hook. Add in the rest of the milk mixture until the dough comes together.  Continue to knead for about 5 minutes.  Create 12 rolls and place in a lightly greased round baking dish. Cover with a dish towel and let rest while oven is preheating.
4. Preheat oven to 400.  Bake rolls for about 15-20 minutes.  Brush with butter if you want.

Enjoy :)

Homemade Pretzel Rolls

After you run a marathon, you get this special "eat whatever you want" pass.  This can be dangerous with me since I'll crave something weird and then I'll go an make it.  However, this year I didn't really crave anything that strange.  I have been super into pretzel things lately though.  I decided that I needed to make my own pretzel rolls and then I used them to make sandwiches for lunch or dinner.  They were pretty simple to make.  You just need a lot of time since you have to let the dough rise.  As a post-marathon snack.  These guys are great since they are filling and a little salty.  For a school lunch, they are also amazing since they are a little bigger than slider sized.  They made for the perfect sized sandwich when I don't have a ton of time to eat!  

Today I have to go back to school after a long weekend.  That is always a little tough.  However, I am excited to see my students and get back into a routine.  I am also trying to get myself moving again so that I can work through some of my soreness.  So, I am up early and I am going to walk on the treadmill in my building.  I'm hoping that once I start I'll feel better.  

I am also planning on heading over the LA Fitness sometime this week for a morning class.  I haven't been there in a really long time and I feel guilty about having this gym membership that I haven't been using.  So, I am going to pack a shower bag and try out a morning workout at the gym.  

Then, since I'm getting my workouts done in the morning, I will have more time to make these awesome rolls again in the afternoon! 

Homemade Pretzel Rolls

(adapted from Mel's Kitchen)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp active yeast

2 tbsp canola oil

2 cups skim milk

1 1/2 cups water

2 tsp kosher salt

6 1/2-8 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

3 quarts water

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup baking soda

salt for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Heat the milk and water in the microwave for about a minute.  They should be warm.  Then, in a large bowl, combine the yeast, canola oil, milk, water, and salt.

2. Using a mixer, a spoon, or your hands.  Start to add in 6 cups of flour.  Mix until you have a dough-like consistency.  Add flour as needed so that it is not too sticky.  Once your dough comes together, knead for about 5 minutes. The dough should form a ball and be slightly springy.

3. Grease a separate, large bowl and place the dough in.  Cover with a towel and pace in a draft-free area for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size. 

4. Punch down the risen dough and start to peel off pieces to make small balls.  You should end up with 16 balls of dough.  Gently roll each ball and let sit on a baking tray or the counter for about 20 minutes.  

5. While the dough balls are resting, pour the 3 quarts of water, sugar and baking soda into a large pot.  Bring to a boil on the stove.  

6. Take 4 balls of dough at a time, pinch one side of the dough to gather it into a ball-like shape and place in the boiling water.  Let them boil on each side for 30 seconds - 1minute each.  Place each finished piece of dough on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking pan.  Repeat this process with all the dough pieces.

7. Preheat the oven to 425.

8.  Using  a very sharp knife, slice a few slits into each ball of dough.  Sprinkle some coarse salt over each one.

9.  Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy! 

Dark Chocolate M&M Zucchini Bread

Marathon training makes me SO HUNGRY! Seriously, I am hungry all the time.  Plus, my lunch at school is at 1 in the afternoon.  So, when I eat breakfast at 5:30 and run in the morning I feel great, but by the time lunch rolls around, I am practically seeing stars I am so hungry.  I decided it would be a fantastic idea to hide some food in a drawer in my room so that I can discretely munch occasionally.  This was the motivation behind these Dark Chocolate M&M Zucchini Muffins...

This recipe made 24 mini muffins plus a whole loaf pan.  Bri was very excited when he saw what was happening in the kitchen and these guys came out great!  

Dark Chocolate M&M Zucchini Bread

(adapted from The Kitchn)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 small zucchini, shredded and squeezed dry with paper towels

4 eggs

1 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup dark chocolate m&ms

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a mini muffin pan and loaf pan.  

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, oats, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  

3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the greek yogurt and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Beat in the shredded zucchini.  Add in the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.

4. Stir in the m&ms and then spoon into the prepared muffin tin and loaf pan. 

5. Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes and bake the loaf for about 25-30 minutes.  A toothpick should come out clean from both.  Let cool and enjoy!

Caprese Avocado Toast

I have been super into avocado toast lately.  I know that it is "trendy" and it should be.  It makes for a great, quick meal and it is full of healthy goodness :)

I start with mashing up an avocado in a container and then sprinkling in some salt, pepper, and lime or lemon juice.  This is all "to taste."  Then, I just think about what I'm craving and throw that on top of the toast!

I use whole wheat toast, spread some of my avocado on top, and for this guy, I chopped up 3-4 grape tomatoes, sliced about 1 oz of fresh mozzarella cheese, and drizzled some balsamic syrup over the top.  YUM!

I found my balsamic syrup at Mariano's, but you can totally make your own! I think it should be a staple in every pantry.  It is so good! Use it for sandwiches, salads, pasta dishes and so on.  

I hope you are all drooling over this yummy avocado toast idea.  Go make some!  Me, I have to go get ready for another great day of high school!  On today's docket: Calculus quiz, absolute value problems in pre-calculus and some quiz writing for me! 

Enjoy :)

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Happy Saturday everyone! Today is one of my besties birthdays so I gotta give her a shout-out: Happy Birthday Tamara! Tamara, is also one amazing chef and we became really good friends after discovering our mutual love and appreciation for cupcakes :).  She is pretty awesome and she is one of my bridesmaids!  I hope you have a great day, Tamara!

Today is also pretty exciting in that I am picking up my race day swag for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  I am going to be running that tomorrow and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a cool morning and no thunderstorms...Even though the weather is pretty awful right now, I am still very excited!  

Today, Bri and I are also going to see the new movie, Trainwreck.  After that is when we are gonna head over to the half marathon expo, and then we have to scurry back to get ready for dinner at Due Lire with my parents.  My birthday is coming up, so we are starting the celebration tonight with dinner.  I have never been to this restaurant, but I have heard amazing things and I will for sure report back.  

I figured that today was a great day to share this Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake.  I made this a while back, but I was in a coffee cake mood this morning.  I mean, it's Saturday, I'm running 13.1 miles tomorrow, and my birthday is this week.  Is there a better way to celebrate than with a good, ol' coffee cake? 

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

(adapted from Barbara Bakes)

Note: Please go check out her blog for some amazing photos and the recipe.  I changed a few things, so I will tell you about that, but she did a really lovely job with the dough and has some amazing photos of it! 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package of yeast (I used regular as opposed to quick rise)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 eggs
Apple Filling
4 large apples (I used Granny Smith)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp unsalted butter
Streusel Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp skim milk

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Place butter and milk into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Add warm milk to the flour mixture and mix until combined.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and remove dough from the bowl to knead.  Knead for about 8-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.  Place into a lightly greased bowl and place bowl in a warm location.  I turn on my oven to 100 degrees and then leave the bowl in there with the door open.  Let the dough rise until doubled in size.  This took a little over 1 hour.
4. While the dough is rising, peel and chop apples.  Place apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice in a bowl and toss to combine.  Pour mixture into a pan and add the butter.  Saute the mixture for about 10 minutes so that the apples start to soften.  Let cool.
5. To make the streusel topping, combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.  Add the melted butter and combine until your mixture forms small clumps.  Set aside.
6. Prepare two 9 inch cake pans.  Place parchment paper in the bottoms of the pans and generously spray with non-stick spray.
7. Once the dough is ready, divide in half.  Take one half and divide that into two pieces.  One piece should be about 2/3 of the dough and the other should be about 1/3 of the dough.  Take the large piece and roll it out so that it fits into the bottom of a cake pan.  With the small piece, roll it out so that it looks like a long rope.  Use this to wrap around the edge of the pan.  You are basically creating a wall to go around the bottom of the pan.  Repeat this with the other half of the dough for the second pan.
8.  Divide the apple filling into each of the pans and then sprinkle the streusel over the tops.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.  This took about 1 hour.
9.  Preheat the oven to 350 and once the cakes are ready, bake for about 20 minutes.
10.  When you are ready to serve, mix the powdered sugar with the milk to create your icing and drizzle over the tops of the cakes.

Enjoy :)

Stacy's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Last year, my cooperating teacher gave me a recipe for Banana Bread.  It was the best banana bread I had ever had! I just had to share her recipe here since it didn't seem fair that I was one of the only people who knew such great banana bread existed! I tweaked the recipe a tad the last time I made it to use half whole wheat half all-purpose flour, but you can use all all-purpose if you want.  Here it is!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat and half all-purpose)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
5-7 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil (I used 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup greek yogurt)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Whisk to combine.
3. In a large bowl, beat bananas until well mashed.  Beat in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and oil.  Beat until well combined.  Slowly beat in the flour mixture until just combined and then stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 55 minutes or until and inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

Enjoy :)

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My cooperating teacher during my high school student teaching brought in banana bread a couple of times to share with the math department.  This is the story of how I discovered the best banana bread ever!  Seriously, it is amazing! At the end of the year I asked her for her recipe because I just knew I could not live without this bread in my life.  She said that her secret was that she uses a TON of bananas.  Yep, that's it!  So, I've been saving up bad bananas in my freezer for a while now and last night I finally had enough to make the banana bread!

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves
7 medium bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or whatever mix-ins you prefer!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
3. In a large bowl, beat sugar with oil.  Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.  Beat in the mashed bananas.  Slowly beat in the flour until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
4.  Pour the batter into your loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Healthy Banana Bread: No Butter, No Sugar, Whole Wheat

Holy cow! It's Monday again?  This weekend was a whirlwind for me.  My bestie Caryn came in town from DC and we had so much fun! It was so great to see her and we had an amazing time enjoying the beautiful weather and catching up!

In terms of my half marathon training, I ran 12 miles on Saturday! I finished in a little under 2 hours and felt great.  I ran the route that is posted for the actual half marathon except for the beginning and end and it was fun to see what I will be doing in 20 days! At this point, I get to start tapering off a bit for the next few weeks before the big fun.  This is great since in the next few weeks, I have interviews, graduation, and family coming in town! I am going to be so busy, but running really helps me to stay focused and feel good!

Going along with the theme of being healthy and feeling good, this Healthy Banana Bread was a delicious way to have a little treat while staying healthy.  This recipe uses whole wheat flour, no sugar, and natural sweeteners.  Also, you need super ripe bananas because that will help the bread to be tasty and moist!  This was some great banana bread!

Healthy Banana Bread

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and beat in honey, canola oil, vanilla, lemon juice, and eggs.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy :)

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

I just read a really excellent book.  Yeah, that's right, I read occasionally too.  I don't know how I find time, but I make myself read a little bit of a book every night before I go to sleep.  This helps me relax and it makes me feel really good to do something for myself and by myself.  It's a nice way to end the day.

My mom suggested I read this one and it was fantastic.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good read.  It's called 1000 White Women and it was based on true journals of a woman who marries a Native American.  It was a remarkable story.

Also, I recently made the best Zucchini Bread of my entire life and I am quite excited about it.  Bri and I got some fresh zucchinis from the farmers market and then made zucchini bread! It was delicious, healthy, and the perfect way to use up some fresh produce.  So, go out and get this book, make this bread, and read while it's in the oven.  Sometimes we need to do that sort of stuff because its just good for you!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt
2 medium zucchini

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat both sugars with the greek yogurt.  Beat in the eggs until well combined.
4.  Grate the zucchini and then place on a paper towel.  Wrap towel around the grated zucchini and squeeze to remove as much moisture as you can.
5.  Beat dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.  Stir in zucchini.
6. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy :)

Spring Break! St. Louis Adventures

It's Spring Break! I am finally off on Spring Break and I couldn't be more ready to relax.  I left for St. Louis on Friday and I have been having an amazing weekend.  Of course, I kept up with my running and this week officially starts the beginning of my 10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule! I even got in a 7.5 mile run through beautiful Forest Park before St. Louis got hit with a crazy snowstorm! But anyways...

Friday was great because I got to just chill with Bri before heading off to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a bunch of his friends.  After, we hit up FroYo for some great dessert.  I know you must think I am crazy for skipping the cheesecake for froyo, but I just can't handle a dessert that rich.  I know I'm lame, but I wanted to do something light and healthy.  Maybe next time I will splurge a little.

On Saturday, after my 7.5 mile run, Bri and I got ready to head out and check out the Soulard Farmers Market.  It was a ton of fun.  We had yummy mini donuts, bought a ton of produce to make dinner and dessert (more on that later) and then found a great place for lunch!

We had lunch at Blues City Deli.  This was great because they had awesome vegetarian options (I got the Cheese Po Boy and it was amazing) and we heard some great live music! After lunch it was off for a few groceries to complete our dinner.  We planned on Homemade Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with a Spicy Chipotle Avocado Sauce and Zucchini Bread for dessert.

Dinner was a hit.  We had a ton of food leftover for Sunday night dinner and then some! Plus, it was so cheap with all those veggies from the farmers market! After dinner, we got ready to go out and check out a great bar in the area with a bunch of friends.

We went to the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.  It was right by Busch Stadium and had a crazy huge selection of beer as well as wine and other drinks! I got to try two new ciders and both were great.  Then, of course, I got super tired and we came home.

Sunday turned out to be quite snowy.  I woke up and did a little work out in the apartment, and then Bri and I went to Jilly's Cupcake Bar and Cafe for an amazing brunch! It was $15 dollars a person and it included drinks, an all-you-can-eat buffet and a dessert bar.  Oh my it was awesome.  The food was great (definitely get the scrambled eggs and 6-cheese macaroni) and then dessert was fantastic.  They even had a make-your-own cupcake table.  We left pleasantly stuffed and headed home for a cozy "snowed in" Sunday filled with movies and leftovers.

Now, it's time for me to head home for a nice week off from school! Happy Spring Break!

Foodie Friends Friday: Lodge Giveaway

This week, Foodie Friends Friday is back with a Lodge Casserole Dish!  This week you can win from our sponsor Lodge.   Just follow the rules and link up your recipes! Also, host favorites will be featured on Daily Dish!  This week I'm linking up Cosmic Love Brownies and Banana Bread with Brown Butter Icing!

Last Foodie Friends Friday was sponsored by and here were the winners:

And, of course, here were your top 3 voted and clicked recipes!

Most Votes:

1. Strawberry Napolean

2. Strawberry Jam Cookies

3. Oven Tacos

Most Clicks:

1. Munchies Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins

2. Meyer Lemon Cake

3. I Love You Cupcakes

Grab our NEW button! 

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com/" title="Foodie Friends Friday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj628/busyvegetarianmom/FFFDDButtonNEW150Darker_zpse238f637.jpg" alt="Foodie Friends Friday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Enter below and you might be a lucky winner!!

But first, here are this week's co-hosts:

Foodie Friends Friday http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com

Tracy at Busy Vegetarian Mom http://www.busyvegetarianmom.com

Robyn's View http://www.robynsview.com

Marlys at This and That  http://marlys-thisandthat.blogspot.com/

Lois at  Walking on Sunshine http://walkingonsunshinerecipes.com

Michelle at  From Calculus to Cupcakes http://www.fromcalculustocupcakes.com

Cynthia at Feeding Big  http://www.feedingbig.com

Jodie at Binomial Baker http://www.binomialbaker.blogspot.com

R Dawn at Spatulas on Parade http://www.spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

Angie at A lil Country Sugar http://www.alilcountrysugar.blogspot.com

Kelly at Adorned Well http://www.adornedwell.blogspot.com/

Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings: : http://www.cindysrecipesandwritings.com 

Joanne at Winelady Cooks: http://www.wineladycooks.blogspot.com

Marlene at Nosh My Way: http://www.noshmyway.com

Jutta at Hungry Little Girl: http://www.hungrylittlegirl.com/

Erika at Chef Picky Kid: http://www.chefpickykid.com/

Beth at Honey Locust Hills http://www.honeylocusthills.com

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Banana Cake with Brown Butter Icing

There are certain things that I really love to do when I am cooking or baking.

1. Separating an egg.  It's just so much fun!

2. Whipping cream.  I think it's just ridiculously cool how after a few minutes you go from liquid to more of a solid.  Chemistry man, it's awesome.

and 3. Browning butter.  This may be my newest favorite thing, but it is definitely up there on things I just find fun to do while baking.  I love everything about brown butter.  I love watching the butter melt, turning bubbly, and then swirling it until it browns and you get those awesome brown flecks on the bottom of the pan.  It is just great.  Also, it smells AMAZING and tastes even better!

So, when I was craving banana bread, making a brown butter frosting to go on top just seemed like a natural thing to do.

Banana Bread Bundt with Brown Butter Icing (adapted from Bakergirl)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tbsp white vinegar
3 medium bananas, mashed
Icing: 
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp skim milk
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease your bundt pan.
2. In a liquid measuring cup, place white vinegar.  Pour in skim milk until you reach the 1/2 cup line.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk mixture, starting with the flour and ending with the flour.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in the bananas.
5.  Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

6.  Make the icing: Place powdered sugar in a large bowl and whisk.  In a medium suacepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Then continue to swirl butter around the pan until it browns.  This takes a few minutes and keep and eye on it so that it doesn't burn.  Pour the brown butter over the powdered sugar and whisk to combine.  Whisk in the vanilla and the milk.  Add more milk for a thinner icing or less milk for a thicker icing.  Ice cooled cake and top with some good, old chocolate chips.

Enjoy :)