One of my favorite things about having this blog is when people make my recipes. Sometimes people leave me comments telling me about their experience, including who they made the recipe for and why (like this one yesterday). Sometimes I see people make notes about my recipe on Pinterest. And sometimes, my family makes one of my recipes and then serves the finished product to me. But, no matter who you are or why you decided to try out a TCL recipe, know this – I really think that’s one of the coolest things ever. It’s always an honor to me when anyone takes the time to try out one of my recipes.

I know this may seem weird since I post recipes all the time, but I don’t ever really expect people to make any of the recipes I post. I hope for them to, but unless I see a comment about it, I just assume no one did. But here’s the thing, if I can share a recipe and even one person finds some sort of happiness or any ounce of helpfulness from it, I consider that a win. In fact, reading comments with success stories about my recipes makes me so happy. It’s like blog fuel – it keeps me going.

My sister actually did something cool recently – she adapted one of my recipes into something new. It actually happened somewhat by accident. She said she was trying to make my Green Monster Muffins, when she went to get the spinach out of the refrigerator and discovered that there was none. Doh! Apparently, my parents almost always have spinach in the house, so she assumed it would be there. When she realized it wasn’t there, she found a quick back-up – acorn squash. Not sure how the acorn squash was selected, but apparently, it worked!The result was apparently a big hit with my family, and she made them again for me to try when I was in town this past weekend.

In addition to subbing out the spinach with acorn squash, she made a couple other adjustments in types and amounts of ingredients. Plus, she changed the nut topping to slightly more streusel-like mixture. The adapted muffin was definitely a winner.

Acorn Squash Muffins with Sweet Walnut Topping {Recipe}
(by my sister, adapted from my Green Monster Muffins)

When my sister was midway through making a batch of my Green Monster muffins and realized there was no spinach in the house, she made a substitution using acorn squash instead. These delicious muffins are the result, and they offer another way to sneak a little bit of veggies into anyone’s breakfast or snack.

PS: The ingredient list looks long, but these are really easy to make. I think the most difficult part is processing the acorn squash to get it grated!

Yields: 12 muffins

*Vegan options below*

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose (unbleached) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg (or use vegan substitute, like a flaxseed egg – 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water – let sit for about 10 minutes)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 single serving applesauce (or 1/2 cup), preferably no-sugar added
• 1 cup finely grated acorn squash, no skin (about 1/2 an acorn squash processed in food processor)
• 1/4 cup milk (we used skim) (or use vegan substitute, like soy, rice, hemp milk, etc.)
• 3 tablespoons canola oil (or other oil of choice)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Sweet Walnut Topping Ingredients (optional):

• 1 tablespoon melted butter (or use vegan substitute, like Earth Balance)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.
2. Add whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
3. Whisk to beat egg and sugar together till light (I did this by hand for just a couple minutes).
4. Whisk in applesauce, acorn squash, milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
5. Pour dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, and stir gently just to combine – careful to not over-mix.
6. Pour muffin batter into muffin tin cups – about 3/4 full each. If using walnuts topping, mix butter, brown sugar and walnuts together and evenly sprinkle walnut mixture on top of each muffin.
7. Bake for 18-22 minutes until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Cool at least 10-15 minutes, or until safe to eat, before serving.

You may also like:

• Healthy {Oatlicious} Zucchini Bread/Muffins
• Mini Matcha Green Tea Banana Nut Muffins
• Summer Strawberry Muffins (with Oats & Flaxseed)

Thanks Sis. Happy baking! And thank you again to everyone who’s ever tried a TCL recipe. You guys keep me inspired to keep cooking, baking, and blogging.

***

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Thank you for reading!

I realize in this chilly weather that an ice-cold smoothie probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind, but since we’re still in cold & flu season, this one may…

I was feeling a little run down the other day and in need of a big blast of Vitamin C to ward off any approaching sickness. So, I blended up this little concoction to help the cause.

I call it Tropical {Vitamin} C Blast Green Monster Smoothie.

I picked fruits {and some other goodies} that I had in my freezer and kitchen that I thought were good sources of vitamin C: pineapple, mango, orange juice, bananas, spinach, and…wait for it…parsley.

We’ve talked about the health benefits of spinach before, but did you know parsley is a good source of vitamin C? Yup, it’s not just a pretty face…er…garnish.

Here’s a snippet from whfoods.com:

“In addition to its volatile oils and flavonoids, parsley is an excellent source of two vital nutrients that are also important for the prevention of many diseases: vitamin C and vitamin A (notably through its concentration of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid, beta-carotene).”

Tropical {Vitamin C} Blast Green Monster Smoothie

This smoothie takes me to the tropics flavor-wise, but it’s good for you, too. The smoothie contains a few ingredients that are good sources of vitamin C to help fight off colds and the flu: pineapple, mango, bananas orange juice, spinach, and parsley. Yes – parsley! Just a wee bit. I will warn you – parsley has a strong flavor. If you don’t really like it, you may be better off leaving it out. If you want to add some, err on the side of less-is-more. And if you’re a regular juicer, then, you’ll probably think lots of parsley is delicious.

Total Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 – 2 cups loosely packed spinach (or sub 1/4 cup frozen spinach)
• 1 small sprig parsley (about 3 leaves) – see note above for suggestions, optional
• 1 banana (a frozen banana will give you a thicker consistency, but non-frozen works, too)
• 5 small pieces of frozen mango, about 1/4-1/3 cup
• handful of frozen pineapple pieces, about 1/4-1/3 cup
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• soy milk (or milk of choice, but dairy may curdle with the acidic fruits), as needed to reach desired texture
• sweetener of choice, to taste, optional (but you probably won’t need it – the pineapple and bananas are very sweet naturally)

Directions:

1. In order: place spinach, parsley (if using), banana, mango, pineapple, and orange juice in the blender.
2. Cover and blend until ingredients are processed and smooth, about 1-2 minutes (if you need, stop and add milk and blend again until smoothie starts blending and/or reaches desired texture). Taste test and if desired, blend in sweetener of choice to taste.
3. Enjoy!

***

How’s everyone doing with Eat in Month? Things are going pretty well on my end, especially since hubby is really into the challenge this year. With my work hours being pretty insane right now, he’s really been helping out with cooking and cleaning. Bless him!

I’ve updated the Eat in Month Challenge post (click) with links to blogs for those who left comments on the challenge page saying they were participating. I added names (sans links) for those who are playing but do not have blogs/web sites. I noticed a couple other people playing who left comments on other posts here on TCL, so once I find them, I’ll get you added.

If you haven’t commented yet, but you’re playing and you want to see your name in the EIM Challenge participant list, just leave me a comment, and I’ll add it!

Ooh, and fun news on the food front…I saw a neat feature in Real Simple where they did 5 take-out style meals you can easily re-create at home, and I’m working on some of my own so help you EIM-ers curb your take-out cravings.

What are your favorite things to order for take-out?

Put some frozen pastry dough in your fridge tonight, because you’re going to want to make these tomorrow…

Quick Cinnamon Rolls – no yeast or kneading required! It’s true…read on for details – see the end of the post for the recipe.

Frozen puff pastry dough is the key to this easy recipe. You can defrost it however you want, but I found placing a sheet in the fridge the night before was easiest and didn’t really leave me waiting like the “quick” method does. The dough was waiting for me in the morning when I was ready to bake.

You don’t really have to roll the dough out, but I opted to.

Brush the whole sheet with melted butter.

And spread with brown sugar…

…and cinnamon. I thought about adding nuts, too, but I didn’t want the crunchy texture today. If you want, you could add them easily with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

You’ll want about 1/2 inch border on 3 sides and 1 inch on another.

But, it doesn’t have to be exact.

Start on the end with the 1/2 inch border and begin tightly rolling the dough up.

When it’s all rolled up, pinch the end of the dough to the roll to help seal it.

Trim off the uneven parts from the ends.

Cut the dough in half.

Cut each half into thirds.

Just look at all the cinnamon-sugar goodness!

Spray a standard-sized muffin/cupcake tin with non-stick spray.

And here it is after baking only about 30 minutes. Golden deliciousness!

While the rolls cool, you can make the icing. I kept it simple with just powdered sugar and milk, but there are fancier versions out there (just a google search away!) with mascarpone and cream cheese.

Top your rolls with a bit of icing.

You can dollop it or drizzle it. You can even make more icing if you want it extra-sugary. Whatever you do, consider enjoying your “hard” work while it’s still warm (but not too hot – don’t burn yourself!). Mmm…now go sprinkle some flour on your face so people think you worked hard at this and stuff and serve them some breakfast all Martha-Stewart-like.

Quick Cinnamon Rolls {Without Yeast}

While I prefer a yeasty cinnamon roll, with its tender-swirled layers, I don’t always prefer all the waiting and kneading and what not involved. These are the lazy-gal version of the classic cinnamon roll, and frozen puff pastry dough is they key. You’ll have to let the dough defrost, but if you plan ahead, you can put it in the fridge the night before, and it will be ready for you in the morning. Or, you can do the quick defrost recommended by the package instructions if you forget. Do note that the rolls are a little on the small side. I thought they’d be a little larger for some reason, but they were only about 2 inches in diameter. They were small in size but plenty delicious.

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Easy Sticky Buns

*Vegetarian*

Prep Time: 10 minutes (not including time to defrost the dough)
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 rolls (but you can easily double the recipe); serves about 2-3 people

Ingredients:

• non-stick spray
• flour, to prevent puff pastry from sticking
• 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted (follow package instructions)
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon milk, plus additional, as needed

Directions (see photos above for tips):  

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a standard size muffin/cupcake tin with non-stick spray.
2. Lightly flour a large flat surface (I used a cutting board), and place puff pastry on top with folds/seams running horizontally. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough out a bit so it’s stretched horizontally by about 1 inch…unless you’re feeling particularly lazy and then just skip the rolling out step.
3. Leaving a 1/2 inch border on the top, bottom, and one side and a 1 inch border on the other, evenly distribute the brown sugar and cinnamon. Working toward the 1 inch border side, tightly roll the dough up, pinching the seam to seal.
4. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces – I like to cut the dough in half and then cut each half into thirds.
5. Place each dough piece, swirl side up, into one of the muffin/cupcake cups and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is nice and golden brown.
6. While the rolls cool, make the icing – in a medium bowl combine powdered sugar and milk and whisk to combine. If needed, add additional milk (just a wee bit!) and whisk till the icing is the consistency you want.
7. When cinnamon rolls are safe to touch, move them to a plate and top with icing – add a dollop or drizzle the icing over top.
8. Enjoy!

These rolls don’t get the same doughy texture you get with the yeast version, but considering the time savings, they are a great quick-fix replacement.

We had ours with eggs and bacon…yum!

Happy baking!

After leaving the Tasting Pavilion, we decided that we had enough time to make a quick trip to Tartine Bakery before the Gala dinner.

We cabbed it over and got in line. Even around 3pm-ish (forgot what time it was exactly), the place had a wait.

Everyone huddled around the display case as they made their way through the line.

And you may be able to tell why from these photos – look at those sweets!

Want.

We were there for chocolate croissants primarily, but they were sold out! So, we picked up a couple things instead.

I’ll have to come early enough to get a table sometime so I can enjoy a piece of this yummy-looking quiche.

Mara and I split a gougere.

And I had a plain croissant. So buttery. So flakey. So right.

***

Soon enough, it was time to get ready for the gala dinner. I was sad it wasn’t going to be at the Ferry Building like it was last year, because that was so stunningly gorgeous with all the lights and high ceilings. But, I was happy that this year’s gala was in our hotel since it meant not having to walk very far in heels and rain.

{me, Lori, Christin, Karen, Maissa}

The gala started with french fry appetizers by Alexia, the sponsor for the evening. The fries were actually created using several blogger-created recipes by fellow Foodbuzzers.

{Teri & Me}

We had a special treat for the evening – a cooking demo by Tyler Florence.

Appetizers

Salad – bibb lettuce, honey-roasted pears, glazed pecans, blue cheese vinaigrette

Main course – Brandt Beef Farms Filet Mignon and Meyer Lemon Roasted Prawns – heirloom carrots, celery root puree and peppercorn demi glace.

I thought everything was cooked nicely and the steak was super tender. I really liked the prawns, as well.

We got not one, but 3 desserts! The San Francisco Trio – Sourdough Bread Pudding, Cowgirl Creamery Cheesecake, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Mousse. They were all nice. I would have preferred the bread pudding warm, but the flavor was nice. I thought the chocolate was rich and light all at the same time, but the cheesecake was my favorite.

Phew – after all that yummy food I was stuffed. Again, some people went out for a night on the town, but I headed back with my roomies to chill in the hotel room and relax. We had one event left, and I’d be heading to the airport before I knew it.

I actually spent some of the night packing my bags, setting aside my honey badger travel outfit, and calling in a reservation for an airport shuttle. I like taking the BART to the hotel and something more direct for the way back. After a pretty productive night, I hit the sack.

***

In the morning, I headed out with my roomies to the last event of Foodbuzz Festival – the farewell brunch.

The brunch was sponsored by Godiva Chocolatier, who gave us some pretty sweet swag in our swag bags – 2 bags of flavored coffee, a travel cup, and chocolate.

They had a coffee station, a cold buffet, hot buffet, as well as speciality Godiva coffee drinks available upon request.

I wasn’t much in the mood for eating since my anxiety was starting to build with the thought of hopping on an airplane in just a couple short hours, but I found a couple tasty things to eat.

And before I knew it…it was time to go.

I bid adieu to my friends – old and new…to my roomies…

…and to the crazy-hilly streets of San Francisco that I love so much…

I walked back to my hotel, got my bags, and waited for the shuttle. The shuttle service was really awesome. It picked me up from the hotel and dropped me right off to gate I needed at the airport. I loved how stress-free it was. For $16 (plus tip), it seemed worth it.

I grabbed a quick lunch at the airport and charged my phone before boarding the plane.

The flight took off at 1:30pm San Fran time and was roughly 4 1/2 hours long. The Foodbuzz swag came in handy as a snack. I really enjoyed this Bunny Bar by 18 Rabbits.

I thought it had a nice mix of oats and dried fruit. The flavor was good, too, and the texture was chewy.

I bought wi-fi for the flight home and caught up on emails and blog stuff. It turned out to be a good distraction from the flight itself. I even helped a football-loving couple next to me keep tabs on their team who was playing while we were in the air. Things were going pretty good until the crew announced that two of the bathrooms weren’t working (when we were about halfway through the flight). Then all by the first class worked. Finally, they announced none of them worked. Yikes! Luckily, by that point, we only had about 45 minutes left in the trip. I was just glad it was the bathrooms not working and not something more serious that could interfere with the flight of the plane, ya know? Anywho, we landed safely and early around 9pm Eastern time. It kind of sucked to lose the whole day to traveling, but I think it was better than doing the red eye like I did last year. I would have liked to squeeze in a couple more restaurant visits on Sunday, but since I’m low on vacation days for the rest of the year, I’m trying to save them for the holidays.

All in all, I had another great trip to Foodbuzz. Thank you to Foodbuzz Festival!

And to all my Foodbuzz friends new and old – it was so much meeting you and hanging out with you. I hope to stay in touch on the blogosphere and see you at another conference soon! I have all the cards I collected gathered, and I can’t wait to check out your blogs!

One of my favorite things to do when I have guests over is make them TCL-style eats. My sister is the easiest to please because she always comes prepared with a list of things she wants to try.

I decided to make a few of my most popular recipes for my friends Beth and Bri.

Basic Green Monster Smoothies

I even decided to do a play on one of my faves for entertaining – mini frittatas.

This time, I made them sans rice and just with parsley and parmesan…and served them with Individual Blueberry Breakfast Crisps.

Parmesan Parsley Mini Frittatas

These easy mini frittatas are not only great for sharing…they whip up in under 5 minutes and take only about 10 in the oven. Switch out your favorite mixins to suit your tastes.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Serves 4 (makes about 16-18 mini frittatas)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F and prep a mini tart/frittata pan with non-stick spray.
2. Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl. Stir in cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper.
3. Use a mini ice cream scoop (or melon baller) to fill tart/frittata cups about 3/4 full.
4. Bake 8-10 minutes until the eggs are cooked through (I usually wait till the tops are just starting to brown lightly).

Hello gorgeous!

In the afternoon, I did a super-fun kickboxing-inspired workshop that my friend Megan was leading with another friend Ashley.

And post workshop, I went with my friends Sarah and Bri to Mac’s for some casual afternoon eats.

We shared a basket of fried pickles. I’m starting to think that Mac’s makes the best fried pickles I’ve ever had. They’re nice and crispy with just the right touch of spice to let you know it’s there without burning your tongue.

Hubby stayed home to watch football, but he requested I bring home leftovers. So, I ordered the small (haha – do you see that photo?!) combo, which yielded plenty of leftovers.

After such a big lunch, I just whipped up a simple bowl of udon-noodle soup for a light dinner.

I had to save room for dessert…two desserts!

First up…a hefty slice of cheesecake that my friend Sarah made (thanks Sarah!). She first made this tasty dessert way back when for my housewarming, and I still rave about.

Plus, I had caramel apples, which were birthday gifts from Megan and Erica (thanks guys!).

They gave me four fun flavors, but I decided to crack open the pecan pie first.

It had a lovely layer of chewy caramel with crunchy nuts and warm cinnamon.

Delish! I think I’ll be ordering more of these in the upcoming holiday season. I mean…is it just me or do caramel apples scream “holidays”?!

All settled in for a cozy night at The Chic House.

Fried Pickles: Yay or Nay?

Reader Question: Do you like caramel apples? Have you tried any interesting flavors?

Important question for you guys – remember to check the end of the post!

***

My friend Kayte and I made plans to hang out Sunday afternoon.

FIrst on the agenda – eats!

We hit up The Flying Biscuit. Luckily the wait wasn’t too long.

I decided to order something new-ish. I usually get the High Flyer, but I wasn’t feeling the oatmeal pancake. So, I got the Bacon and Eggs breakfast instead. I love the turkey bacon in the Southern Scramble, but turkey bacon by itself usually tastes weird to me solo. I think next time I’ll either get the chicken sausage or soysage.

After brunch, we went shopping! I’m in the market for cross body totes. I’d like one dressy one (for going out) and one casual one (for everyday as well as use on trips – needs to fit my DSLR, though!). We looked at a few gorgey bags in Nordstrom. I especially liked this Marc by Marc Jacobs.

We also swung by Neiman Marcus where I promptly fell in love with a Chanel quilted, patent leather wallet/cross-body purse. *le sigh* A girl can dream, right?

And to finish our fun afternoon – froyo!

***

Fashion Blogging

So some of you guys know that I used to run a fashion blog called Shopaholics Anonymous. I’ve really been missing fashion blogging (which I actually did before I even started The Chic Life), so I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to start doing fashion blog posts again. I’m thinking of either putting them here on TCL and making it easier for you guys to sort those in/out depending on if you’re interested. I’ve also considered just restarting Shopaholics Anonymous and picking up where I left off. Thoughts? Would you be interested in seeing fashion/shopping/outfit posts here on TCL or would you rather I link to an external blog?

Please answer yes/no for the following foodie questions:

• Are you looking to do something with all that summer zucchini around right now?
• Are you looking for an easy baking project for this weekend?
• Are you crazy about zucchini bread?
• Are you still drooling over the zucchini bread/muffin photos I posted on Facebook earlier?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, then I have the perfect recipe for you!

Healthy and Oat-licious Zucchini Bread and Muffins. Ooh la yum!

I have a few squash plants in my garden outside and they are producing like crazy. I accidentally let one get a little on the large side.

For a split second, I was sad that it probably wouldn’t be good in a stir-fry (or soup)…until I realized that the large zucchini in my hands would be perfect for one of my favorite breakfast treats – zucchini bread and muffins!

All I needed was some flour, apple sauce, eggs, lemon, and a couple other pantry ingredients.

Ooh and a food processor (to finely cut that zucchini) and a stand mixer (though you could easily do this by hand).

Mix a little of this and a little of that and before you know it, you have…

Warm, sweet, delicious zucchini muffins and bread (perfect weekend brunch eats). I like doing both the muffins and the bread because I get to enjoy a little variety.

Ok, ok, and my impatient side likes the instant gratification of baking muffins since they take a fraction of the cooking time of the bread (and if I time it right, I can be eating muffins while the bread finishes baking away). It’s like having your cake muffin and eating it, too!

Now, I haven’t always been such a zucchini bread fanatic.

I distinctly remember the first time I heard about zucchini bread (or at least my reaction to it). I was a young kiddo back in elementary school, and I didn’t like vegetables nearly as much as I do now. The only kind of sweet breakfast bread I ever wanted to eat was my mom’s piping hot banana bread.

I don’t really remember the exact conversation around the zucchini bread, all I remember is they (they=adults) said something about zucchini bread, and I was instantly disgusted. Vegetables? In a sweet bread? Whoa. I couldn’t imagine how that could be a good thing. (If only I knew back then that I would one day develop a sweet bread/muffin recipe made with spinach!)

The adults around me claimed that the zucchini bread tasted like banana bread, but I refused to accept that truth. What child listens to an adult, right? In fact, it wasn’t until a few years later that I finally caved. I’m stubborn like that sometimes.

But you know what, I enjoyed every last bite of that first slice of zucchini bread. I even asked mom to make it! And of course, she did. And thus, a love for zucchini bread began.

It was a long time before I decided to try making zucchini bread on my own (mostly because I didn’t have a food processor for a long time). When I finally did, I was so pleased to find this tasty recipe (click) by Cooking Light.

I made a few changes the first couple times I made that Cooking Light recipe, but a week or so ago, I decided to do a few more:

• I subbed white wheat and oat flour for the all purpose to utilize less-processed, cleaner ingredients
• I made the overall flavor less sweet by reducing the amount of sugar used (hello Not So Sweet recipe!)
• I don’t like egg substitutes (unless it’s going to be a flax/chia seed egg), so I just used real eggs
• I reduced the amount of oil used by subbing in some applesauce
• I increased the amount of lemon zest used because it is truly one of the signature ingredients of this recipe and deserves to stand out a little more
• I topped my bread/muffins pre-baking with oats and nuts so you can really see what’s inside – I think it looks cool
• And finally, I increased the amount of nuts used in the recipe

The result – pure deliciousness that middle-school-me would have been proud of.

Healthy {Oatlicious} Zucchini Bread and Muffins

This easy and healthy zucchini bread/muffin recipe has a light flavor with full satisfaction. Feel free to use any flour (or combination of flours) that you’d like. I just used less processed ones because I like that they’re better for you and don’t detract from the tender texture. Be sure to use all the lemon zest suggested in this recipe for full flavor. Bakes 2 loaves, 24 muffins, or if you’re like me – the best of both worlds – one loaf AND 12 muffins. Note: muffins and bread will be a little shorter than most recipes I’ve seen, but they will be just as tasty as ever.

Also, please note, this is a Not So Sweet recipe. I’ve reduced the sugar by a bit, so if you like a sweeter bread, you may wish to add about 1/2 cup of sugar back in.

Adapted from this Cooking Light Zucchini Bread recipe

*Vegan if you use vegan options indicated below* *Vegetarian*

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white wheat flour (or flour of choice)
• 1 cup oat flour (or flour of choice)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 large eggs (or vegan egg substitute, for example: flax/chia seed egg)
• 1/4 cup canola oil (or oil of choice, preferably a non-flavored one)
• 2 teaspoon lemon zest (be sure to not skip over this ingredient – it’s the key)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (or nut of choice), toasted (if you want), plus more for topping, about 1/2 cup
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Pre-pare baking containers of choice (see recipe notes above for options) – I used one loaf pan and one muffin tin – with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine white wheat flour, oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Whisk till evenly combined.
3. In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, eggs, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk till evenly combined. Whisk in sugar. Stir in zucchini.
4. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine, just till all dry ingredients are mixed in (careful to not over-mix). Fold in 1/2 cup pecans, if using.
5. For muffins and loaf (like I made) – Using an ice cream scoop, put one scoop worth of batter into each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin (should fill muffins cups about halfway up the sides). Repeat if making 24 muffins total. Otherwise, pour remaining batter into your prepared loaf pan.
6. Sprinkle oats and reserved nuts, if using, over batter evenly. Bake muffins for 14-17 minutes and bread 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin or loaf comes out clean. Note: I chose to put both my muffin tin and loaf pan in at the same time, removing the muffins when they were ready while my bread finished in the oven (so I could enjoy the muffins whilst waiting for the bread to finish baking).

Other recipe options:

• If making all muffins, evenly distribute batter between 24 muffin cups.
• If making all loaves, evenly distribute batter between 2 loaf pans.

You may also like:

• Green Monster Muffins (similar to this recipe but with spinach!)
• Green Monster Muffins (vegan version)
• Spelt Banana Bread
• Mini Matcha Green Tea Banana Nut Muffins  
• Individual Apple Breakfast Cakes

Did I mention the muffins (or bread slices) are tasty on their own or served with a lovely cage-free fried egg and some bacon and OJ? Yummm…hello weekend brunch!

How old were you when you first tried zucchini bread? Did you think the name sounded weird, too?

So the last couple times hubby and I have been to Durham, something has been missing.

I haven’t been getting my occasional dim sum fix! And you guys know how I feel about dim sum. So, this weekend I managed to talk hubby’s family into visiting my Durham-fave – Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant.

Have you guys ever tried dim sum? I’m thinking of writing a pocket-guide or how-to for dim-sum-newbies. It is a bit intimidating if you don’t know the ropes. But, I’d be happy to help you navigate your first experience with confidence.

I always get hot tea with my dim sum. But if you can’t drink hot tea without sugar, you may want to skip it. Hot tea here is served sans sugar.

We normally go to the restaurant right at opening, but hubby and his brother were watching the new X-Men at 10:30am. So, we met at the restaurant at 1pm.

Normally, I have to wait for one of my faves – roast pork bun, but today, since we were there later, we got it first!

And though I normally get Chinese broccoli, we decided to try something new for our veg – baby bok choy. Aren’t they cute?

Yes…cute…and tasty!

Another fave of mine – har gow (shrimp dumpling).

And with a couple more orders, our lazy Susan was really filling up.

Sticky rice (I usually either get this or the lotus leaf version).

And hubby’s brother requested this tofu, which was really tasty (never seen this one before!).

At this point, I was pretty much done. lol But we still ordered a couple more things for hubby and his fam…

Fried shrimp/crab balls.

Spring rolls (I never eat these at dim sum since they’re so readily available at every.single.Chinese restaurant – why waste the stomach space when you can try something new?), but hubby loves them, so he got them.

And another hubby fave – calamari. I must admit, they have a wonderful calamari here, though I still only end up eating a couple small bites.

And for dessert, I split these sesame balls for dessert with hubby’s mom.

I’m totally eying this for next time – hot/cold soybean milk! I wonder if they make it themselves here? That would be cool!

This little Durham dim sum restaurant is turning into a favorite. The food is always wonderful and the servers are so helpful and nice.

***

After lunch, I went with hubby’s mom to a consignment shop. As we started browsing the goods outside, they stepped out to tell us they weren’t open, but they were still working and to let us know if we saw anything. Since there were a couple baskets of plateware, I had to take a look.

And wouldn’t you know my eye was drawn right to a brilliant, TCL-blue plate at the bottom of a heap of (beat-up) glassware.

Turns out it was a cup and saucer of vintage fiestaware! And upon inquiry of the price, I found out there were 2 more sets, plus 4 plates! Shibby!

I also scored a small pink Depression bowl.

Yes, only I would manage to purchase stuff from a closed consignment shop. lol. Actually, hubby’s mom bought the plate-goodies for me. Thanks!

***

Hubby and I came home, packed up and headed home. We had grand plans to grill out, but we got rained out instead by a giant storm with lots of scary lightning. We’re planning to raincheck the meal for Monday night. Instead of BBQ, we had pizza.

***

Do you like to shop at thrift/consignment shops? What do you look for there?

If you’re just catching up, I spent the weekend in Atlanta! You can check out the first post here, an amazing Atlanta dining experience here, the whole reason for the trip here, and an amazing holistic cold remedy thanks to my Filipino roots here.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve grown up visiting my family in Atlanta. I don’t know where the tradition started, but since I can remember, almost every single time we go to Atlanta, we have a very important restaurant we must visit.

We’d always go with our cousins to the Oriental Pearl in Chinatown for Sunday brunch aka dim sum.

For the first time ever, Sis and I (now all grown up and stuff) went by ourselves! We usually go with cousins and our fam and roll in with a big group of 8 or 9, but today it was just the two of us.

Don’t get there early enough and you’re bound to wait. We decided on a lazy morning with our fam, so a wait was a guarantee, but it was so worth it!

Lucky #15!

The scene inside.

Inside, things were busy as ever.

We actually went to the Oriental Pearl couple years ago, and they had converted the place to a Chinese buffet! We were SO disappointed. Dim Sum is not served buffet style. Part of the greatness of dim sum is the whole experience – the food being rolled around on carts.

Sis and I quickly grabbed some food from one of the first carts around.

Plus we had hot tea! This is where I learned to drink hot tea sans sweetener. There isn’t even sugar on the table!

First up – sticky rice (the one served in a glass bowl)

And from the first cart of steamed foods, we picked…

shrimp and vegetable dumplings.

Quickly followed by sticky rice in a Lotus leaf.

Nom!

Then, we saw something we’ve never seen before – a large wooden container with tofu inside!

After talking to the waitress, we found out it was hot tofu with a sweet ginger sauce – a tofu dessert!

Although we weren’t ready for dessert, at dim sum, you have to jump when the food comes around or risk that they may run out. Since we had already gotten there later than normal, we decided to try it. It was really tasty! I’m going to have to try to remake this one. It seems easy enough.

Dozens of carts passed by but Sis and I were trying to be selective so we didn’t fill up before getting the items we really wanted.

From one of the next steamed carts, we got one of my personal faves -

Har Gow – aka Steamed dumplings. I accidentally ordered this one in Chinese. I can only imagine what my terrible accent actually sounded like to the poor lady pushing the cart. lol Anywho, this is actually the only dim sum dish I know in Chinese, but I’d really like to learn all of them. It’s so much easier to order them in Chinese. Otherwise, you may not know what you’re asking for.

For example, I tried to ask our friendly waiter for 1. roast pork buns and 2. Chinese broccoli. He scribbled this (above) down and took off for the kitchen. Sis and I guessed what we had actually ordered. A pork and broccoli stir fry? Or worse? Something completely wrong like octopus? We had to play the waiting game to see.

Meanwhile, Sis got her fave – steamed pork buns.

Happy eater!

And I finally had one of my faves roll around – the roast pork buns I’d been looking for! Rather than wait for the waiter, I went ahead and got an order of these…especially since my mom had asked us to bring some home, I had to go for it!

Nom encore!

And what did the waiter this we ordered? We’re not sure 100%, but he definitely though we wanted this roast pork. Sis and I were way too stuffed to eat it and started to tell him it wasn’t what we ordered. The poor guy looked so sad and tried to tell us the pork was good (in broken English). So, we decided to take it to go and give it to the fam back home. I tasted a bite and he was right – it did taste good!

Sis really wanted sponge cake, but they sold out before we could get some, so we got these steamed red bean cakes. I love red bean based Chinese desserts, but it seems like a lot of places like to use yellow beans instead. The red is so much better!

The view from our table.

And a coin for this statue for good luck on our way out.

After our filling and delicious brunch, it was time to hit the road!

Did you know Jackson County means business? Neither did I until I passed this water tower.

Back home, we found our the fam had all had HUGE lunches and were too full for dinner! Doh! Sis and I were hoping to do a big Sunday dinner for Mother’s Day but in true mom-style (or at least style for our mom), she just wanted to spend time with us. Flashy things and fancy gifts mean so much less to my mom than quality time. I only wish I could have taken that Monday off like I wanted to spend it with her. Guess I’ll have to do that on another time. It doesn’t have to be on Mother’s Day, right?!

I had frozen and re-heated Chicken Cacciatore for dinner…

…with some of aunt’s bread toasted with real butter.

Plus sweet rice for dessert!

And a couple days late because I’m catching up on blog posts, but Happy Mother’s Day to the most kind, loving, and wonderful mom ever! I love you!

Do you have any places (restaurant or otherwise) that you just have to visit every time you go to a particular city?

Saturday started off a bit groggily thanks to only 2 hours of slumber from the super fun royal wedding celebration day.

But, it also started off with total deliciousness thanks to brunch at the Flying Biscuit.

Hubby and I decided to try the brie appetizer.

It wasn’t exactly what I expected. I’ve had brie wrapped in puff pastry and baked before, but this one was doused with a sweet, creamy sauce and topped with raspberry sauce and peaches. It was pretty good, but I like my pastry flaky and dry. It’s a texture thing.

Hubby and I also split the High Flyer breakfast. Can you believe this photo shows a half portion!?

After brunch, hubby and I swung by the farmers market. We decided to not get any veggies since I’m going out of town this coming week, but I did pick up one thing – a sweet banana pepper seedling!

We have one square left in our square foot garden, and this banana pepper will fit perfectly.

We also took a moment to talk to our vendor about possibly signing up for a CSA. I’ve never done a CSA before, but I have done the home-delivery of organic produce. We did ok with the delivery, but it was sometimes challenging cooking with the veggies we were less familiar with or cooking them at all during our busiest weeks. Of course, I also actually liked the challenge of cooking with unfamiliar ingredients and having a reason to eat in. So, we’re still thinking about the CSA.

I planted the seedling as soon as I got home.

And while I was in the garden, I plucked some swiss chard leaves for lunch.

We don’t have much in the fridge right now, so I just pan-fried some Canadian bacon, re-baked a rye bagel, and sauteed the swiss chard.

Have you ever had garden-fresh swiss chard? It’s unbelievable! Try it!

After running some errands in house, it was time to get ready for a couple special events!

Reader question: What do you think about CSAs? Any tips or words of advice?