Pineapple Zucchini Bread

How can on plant produce so much zucchini! The other day I checked on the zucchini and they were still a little small so I decided to wait a few days more. Well I think you can guess what happened. I came home from work and there was this giant zucchini sitting on the kitchen counter, I asked Richard where did that come from he said our garden. Wow! Those things grow fast! So I guess it time to start baking again.

This time I decide to make pineapple zucchini bread. It was my first time adding the pineapple to my recipe and let me tell you it won’t be my last. It turned out so most and delicious. Now what am I doing with all this bread.

I cut the bread into slices then wrap each piece in plastic wrap and place then into storage containers and then into the freezer it goes.

 I now have containers of apple, zucchini and pineapple zucchini bread in my freezer.  Now we get to enjoy all these yummy breads for months to come if they don’t get eating before then!

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Prepare 2 loaf pans with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, blend together, oil, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in zucchini and pineapple.  In another bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg and nuts. Stir dry ingredients into zucchini mixture just until blended. Pour batter into loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; turn out on a cooling rack to cool.Pin It

Apple Bread

What am I suppose to do with this bag of apple? Ariel asked me a few weeks ago if I would buy her some granny smith apples. You see I always keep Fuji apples in the house because they are mine and Richards’s favorites. But Ariel likes Granny Smith; it used to be my favorite also. That was before I tasted my first Fuji apple. But when it comes to baking I like to use the Granny Smith.

So what recipes could I prepare from my collection that would help me with this little problem of a bag of apples. Will I decided to start with one of my favorites Apple bread. And I know that this will be a favorite of yours to. And soon your house will smell just as delicious as mine!

Apple Bread

2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chopped, peeled apples
1 cup chopped walnuts

Grease 2 loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar, oil, and eggs. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Add the vanilla, apples and nuts. Pour the batter into prepared pans. Bake in 325⁰F for 1 hour.

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Zucchini Bread

My beautiful little garden that I talked about on my other blog has started to produce zucchini.

And if you have every planted a zucchini plant before than you know what is about to happen. I will be having zucchinis coming out my ears. That can be a blessing as well as a curse. On one hand my family gets to eat zucchini bread and all the other dishes that I can come up with. But one the other hand they might start yelling No more zucchini, Please no more zucchini! But as for now I will start them off with some zucchini bread.

 I love the sweet smell of zucchini bread baking in the oven. And that first cut the end piece, oh how I love that crunchy end piece!  But I also love the soft texture of the center pieces and that always leads us to another end piece! Oh no! Now I am out of zucchini bread I guess I will have to make some more. Good thing I have a zucchini plant in my garden!

Zucchini Bread

1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups flour
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl beat oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and flour. Stir in zucchini and walnuts. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans; bake at 350⁰F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Sweet Potato Bread

What do you do when your friend gives you 40 pounds of sweet potatoes? I gave away some to my co-workers and I asked Richard to bake some for supper, he bake 10 and there is only the 3 of us. So I turned my favorite pumpkin bread recipe into sweet potato bread. We ate one loaf and I gave the other one to my friend Susan, that’s because she was the one who gave me the 40 pounds of sweet potatoes. She loved the bread; the little piece she got to eat before her family got a hold of it and ate it all.

So give this recipe a try and make sure you get to eat a piece before your family eats it all to.

Sweet Potato Bread
2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.Pin It

Banana Bread

What to do? Oh! What to do? When you bought way too many bananas and no one is eating them. Now that could be a problem for some people, but not for me. When I see them ripening on the counter I start dreaming of banana bread, banana muffins or even banana cake. Well a few weeks ago my friend Susan asked me if I would post my recipe for banana bread. Just banana bread no fancy twist on the recipe, just banana bread. Well here it is my banana bread recipe.

Banana Bread
½ cup oil
1 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup chopped nuts, your choice

Grease a loaf pans. Cream the oil with the sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add the mashed bananas, stirring to blend. Ina separated bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter, mixing well. Add the nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in 350⁰F oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.Pin It

2 Point Pumpkin Spice Muffins

20 pounds ago when I was a Weight Watcher leader this muffin recipe was one of the recipe that I would repeat over and over again for my members, It also happens to have been one of my daughter Ariel’s favorites. Will a few weeks ago I went back to Weight Watchers to drop the 20 pounds before it turned into the 40 I original lost over 5 years ago. It’s funny how the weight can sneak back on when life gets in the way. You cake use any cake mix to make these delicious muffins the points come from the cake mix not the pumpkin!

2 Point Weight Watchers Muffins

1 box spice cake mix
1 (15 oz.) can 100% Pure Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350⁰F, Spray 24 muffin cups with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a large bowl combine cake mix with canned pumpkin mixing until well combined. Divide batter between prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

1 muffin =2 points or 1 point each if you use a mini muffin tin.Pin It

Sweet French Morning Muffins

When Richard and I first got married he had a collection of recipes that one of his teachers gave him, they were a collection of home economic recipes. I have made these recipes many times over the years; I have even featured a few here on my blog. This particular recipe I have misplaced over the years, but thanks to the internet my family and I can now enjoy them again. I found this recipe on many different sites on the web. And now thanks to the many people who post on the web not only my family but also yours can enjoy these muffins in the morning with a nice hot cup of coffee.

Sweet French Morning Muffins
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
1/3 cup butter; melted

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Lightly greased; a 12 cup muffin pan.
In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In another small bowl slightly beat egg; stir in milk and melted butter; add liquid mixture to dry ingredients; stir slightly batter should be lumpy do not over mix. Fill prepared muffin cups half way full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. While muffins are baking prepare topping.

Topping
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Place melted butter in a small bowl; set aside. In another bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon.
After baking immediately dip tops of muffins into butter and then into sugar cinnamon mixture. Serve warm.Pin It

Blueberry Pancake Muffins

Wow I have now posted 100 recipes on my blog! It has been an adventure in cooking, baking and blogging. What better way to celebrate than with a new recipe that my family will be enjoying for years to come. Thanks for all the great comments that I have received from family and friends and from my new blogging friends.


I buy my pancake mix by the bulk from Costco; and I sometimes wonder what else I can use it for besides pancakes and waffles. I went to Krusteaz web site and found a muffin blueberry muffin recipe; they used a pancake mix with the blueberries already in the mix, which I don’t have. So I change the mix to their regular pancake mix and added more water and frozen blueberries. My family says that they taste just like a blueberry pancake, I ate one with syrup and one with out I like the one with the syrup just a little bit more, Richard ate his without the syrup; Ariel ate 2 and that is saying a lot because she doesn’t care for blueberry pancakes, she is a pancake purest she loves to eat her pancake with nothing but maple syrup. I will defiantly be making these muffins again.

Blueberry Pancake Muffins
2 ½ cups pancake mix
¾ cup water
½ cup sugar
¼ cup oil
1 egg
1 ½ cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Spray 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl combine pancake mix, water, sugar, oil and egg; fold in blueberries until well combined. Fill muffin cups evenly with batter.
Bake for 20 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.Pin It

Cheddar Cornmeal Biscuits

If you are looking for something different to serve alongside a bowl of navy bean soup or a good bowl of chili than look no farther; this twist on a biscuit will do nicely. When I made navy bean soup the other night for supper I wanted something different to serve than what I usually make “cornbread” I thought why I couldn’t add cornmeal to ordinary baking mix. Following the recipe on the back of the box all I did was substitute some of the baking mix with cornmeal and added cheddar cheese. Instead of rolling out the dough I dropped large tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets. Ariel says that they are so addicting you can’t eat just one. I will be baking these again, I think next time I will try them without the cheese so that I can eat them with honey and butter.

Cheddar Cornmeal Biscuits

1 ½ cups baking mix
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450⁰F.
Combine all the ingredients in a medium size bowl until well blended. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until a golden brown.Pin It

Twisted Garlic Cheese Bread

One of my favorite pizza parlors is Round Table Pizza; I love their garlic cheese bread. I decided to try and make my own. I served them with spaghetti for supper, and the family loved them I am not surprised how can you go wrong with cheese and bread.

Twisted Garlic Cheese Bread
1 (13.8 oz). refrigerated pizza crust
¼ cup butter, melted
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 425⁰F. Unroll pizza dough onto cutting board. In a small bowl combine melted butter and garlic. Spread butter and garlic mixture over pizza dough. Sprinkle cheeses and Italian seasoning over half of the dough;

 fold other half over the cheese half.

 Cut into small rectangles,

 carefully twist each rectangle and place on a baking sheet spacing about 2 inches apart.

 Bake 9 to 13 minutes or until a golden brown.

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Blueberry Coffee Cake

I love blueberries! I made this coffee cake a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post it. I was looking through my files and found it, better a late posting than no posting at all. You will enjoy this coffee cake for breakfast with a nice hot cup of coffee. I know that I did!

Blueberry Coffee Cake
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, soften
½ cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Crumb Topping
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375⁰F. Grease a 9-inch baking pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a spoon or spatula until light and fluffy. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients blend until smooth. Spread batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with blueberries; set aside

To prepare crumb topping mix together 2/3 cup sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter in a small bowl with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over the blueberries in baking pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes on a wire rack before serving.Pin It

French Toast Waffles

My two most favorite dishes to have for breakfast are waffles and French toast, when I found this recipe in my Joy of Cooking cookbook I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. What a fun way to serve French toast, no wait or is it waffles. Whatever you want to call them I just call them, DELISIOUS!

French Toast Waffles
3 eggs
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
6 slices white sandwich bread

Preheat waffle iron. Whisk together eggs, milk and butter. Coat the bread well in the egg mixture.

 Place in the hot waffle iron, close lid, and cook until the bread is a golden brown.Pin It

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

When I was getting my lunch ready for work today I saw that the bananas were getting pretty ripe. I told Richard not to eat them because when I got home from work today that I would make banana bread with the bananas. Well as I driving to work I started thinking about the banana bread. I use to talk to Richard on my cell phone as I drove to work but now that my car is a No Phone Zone thanks to Oprah. Now that I had some free time to think, I was thinking that maybe I would add chocolate chips to the batter, then I started thinking about my favorite sandwich peanut butter and banana, yes you read it right this southern girl loves her peanut butter and banana sandwiches, some people here in California including my husband think that my favorite sandwich is a strange combination. I say to them give it a try you will love it. Just as much as I know you will love this bread.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 medium) bananas, mashed
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup peanut butter
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Grease the bottom only of 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar, bananas, butter and peanut butter. Add milk eggs and vanilla to mixing bowl and blend together. Add flour, baking soda and salt until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely.

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Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Corn Bread

I didn’t want to make just any corn bread to serve with my 13 Bean Turkey Chili I wanted something different so I added jalapenos and cheddar cheese to the batter before cooking.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Corn Bread
1 ¼ cups yellow corn meal
¾ cup flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (remove seeds before hand for a mild flavor)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs
¼ cup oil
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 400⁰F. Grease pan (9-inch or muffin tin).
In a large bowl combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, jalapeno pepper and cheese.

In another bowl combine eggs, oil and milk.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a golden brown for the 9-inch pan
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a golden brown for the muffin tin.

For mild muffins remove seeds from the jalapeno pepper before chopping.Pin It

Pizza

Making your own pizza can be so much fun I highly recommended it. Yes I know it cost more to make your own than to buy it from your local pizza parlor, but homemade is so much better and you know what you are eating.


The recipe for the pizza crust came with my bread machine many years ago. The crust has so much flavor you could also use it to make breadsticks. The pizza sauce recipe I found on All Recipes a few years ago I changed it up just a little mostly because the ingredients I had on hand. As far as toppings are concerned everyone has deferent taste for what they like on their pizza, so top your pizza with whatever you love. My favorite is Italian sausage, onions and mushrooms. YUM! Now the question is how will you top your pizza.

Pizza Crust
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons bread machine yeast

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
Select Dough/manual cycle.
Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 400⁰ F. Grease 2 cookie sheets or pizza pans. Divide dough in half. Pat each half into prepared pans with floured fingers. Top with pizza sauce then, add your favorite pizza toppings.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until crust is light brown.

Pizza Sauce
1 (6oz.) can tomato paste
6 oz. warm water
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Salt to taste

In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, parmesan cheese, garlic, honey, onion powder, Italian seasoning, black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper and salt; mix together. Allow the sauce to sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors; spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

My favorite pizza toppings Italian sausage, mushrooms and red onions.

Ariels favorite all meat and alot of cheese.Pin It

Garlic Bread Biscuits

Can biscuits are so versatile there are so many different recipes you can make with them the sky is the limit. This is an easy way to dress up the taste of an ordinary can of biscuits. Serve them with your favorite soup or pasta.

Garlic Bread Biscuits
1 (7.5 oz.) can refrigerated biscuits
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400⁰F. Place melted butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl mix together parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.

Dip each biscuit into butter than into cheese mixture. Place into ungreased round baking pan.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until a golden brown.Pin It

Petite Caramel Pecan Rolls

I found these seamless Pillsbury Crescent dough sheets at the store the other day and started wondering what I could make with them. I went to the Pillsbury website and found this recipe. I didn’t have any pecans but that’s ok because Ariel doesn’t like nuts in her food. They turned out so yummy; they remind me of pecan twirls. I have been eating pecan twirls since I was a little girl, oh how I love pecan twirls. I would love it when my stepmom Gen would make them. They were her way of baking; she would add a dab of butter on top of each roll then heat them up in the oven. I could eat the whole pan back then just like I could have today with the petite caramel pecan rolls if I didn’t have to share them with Richard and Ariel.

Petite Caramel Pecan Rolls
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, butter and corn syrup; blend well. Spread in bottom of ungreased 8- or 9-inch round cake pan.

If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough and separate dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough and cut into 4 rectangles.

In small bowl, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture evenly over rectangles. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the pecans over each rectangle.

Starting at shorter side, roll up each rectangle; pinch edges to seal. Cut each roll into 4 slices. Place cut side down over brown sugar mixture in pan.

Bake 20 to 27 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 1 minute; turn upside down onto heatproof serving platter or foil. Serve warm or cool.

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Pull Apart Garlic Bread

When my girl’s were young they would have a sleep over for ever birthday. In the mornings for breakfast I would make Monkey Bread, it became a birthday tradition and all their friends would look forward to it every year. I will share that recipe one day but today I made Pull Apart Garlic Bread. I came up with this recipe when I wanted a bread to serve with pasta. I thought why not change the cinnamon and sugar in the monkey bread for garlic and parmesan cheese. It turned out great and I love dipping the bread into the pasta sauce. I know you will enjoy this bread as much as my family does.

Pull Apart Garlic Bread
2 (7.5 oz.) cans refrigerated biscuits
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400⁰F. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
Cut can biscuits into quarters and place into medium; toss with melted butter.

In a small bowl combine parmesan cheese, garlic powder and Italian seasonings;

 toss with biscuits and butter in medium bowl.

 Pour into loaf pan; spread and flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a golden brown and done in the middle

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