Zucchini-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flattened Cookie (left) vs. Unflatted (right)

My aunt has been known to say that you can tell those that don't have many friends in the grocery line as they are the ones buying zucchini.  Well thankfully my mom is a great friend and sent some my way as she had a surplus in her garden!  Otherwise I would be one of those friendless sad people in line having to buy my zucchini!! Anyways, I found this great zucchini chocolate chip cookie recipe on pinterest from a blog called Cooking Classy - I've linked the original recipe here.  (The pics on that site are way better!)  My boys aren't a fan of zucchini but they LOVE it in these cookies!  


Zucchini-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar (1/2 cup in original recipe)
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (from about 1 - 1 1/2 medium)
1 1/2 cup quick oats (1 cup in original recipe)
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 2/3 in original recipe)
(3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts - I omitted)

Mix the first four ingredients together in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars together, then add the egg and vanilla.  Once well mixed, add the zucchini.  Next, slowly add the dry ingredients to your wet mixture and once all incorporated, add 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.  As in the original recipe, I saved 2/3 and added the remainder on top of the cookies to make them a little more enticing to my boys!  Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet with 2" space between them.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-14 min.  **My first dozen I baked for 20 minutes as they didn't really flatten, so my 2nd dozen I flattened with a fork and they came out perfect at 12 minutes. 

Unflattened x5 cookies on left and the rest flattened!

I omitted the nuts due to allergies in our house and added an extra 1/2 cup of oats to substitute.  

We went through a half a dozen cookies before the next dozen was pulled from the oven!  Using my medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop, this recipe made 25 cookies.

Egg Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello friends!
So my youngest has an egg and peanut allergy, thus leading me to find new adventures in baking.  I am cautiously optimistic that he will outgrow these allergies, but in the meantime I've been experimenting with substitutions in some of my favorite recipes.  My (and my kids') favorite muffin recipe is from my dear friend Camille - her delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, which I previously blogged about here. I only did one small teeny weeny change to it, and that was to substitute the egg for ground flax seed mixed with water!  That's it!  So here is the updated recipe:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups white sugar (I only added 1 cup actually)

3 TBSP milled flax seed 

9 TBSP water

1 cup applesauce

2 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup chocolate chips or however much you want! (optional)

Flax Seed and Water

Mix flax seed and water together in a medium bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.  Grease 2 muffin tins (skip this step if you're using paper liners). Beat together sugar and flax seed mixture, then mix in apple sauce. In a separate larger bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Make a well in the center and add your wet mixture to your dry mixture, and stir only to mix (don't over stir or your muffins will be heavy!).  Mix in mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Pour (or fling if you're so inclined) into muffin tins or paper liners until cup is about 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.  This recipe only made 18 muffins, while the original recipe made 2 dozen!  

I phoned Hershey's, and was happy to find out that it will definitely say if there is a possibility of cross contamination between the chocolate chips and any nuts on the back of the chocolate chip package.  So I can use this brand with confidence, but will still be double and triple checking the label every time before use it, I'm sure!

Broccoli and Cheese Tarts

Wow! It's September already - a whole 8 months since the last time I posted.  I've definitely been keeping track of new recipes that I've tried but just haven't had the time (or energy) to actually go through the act of posting them.

So Reed is now 7+ months old and is thoroughly enjoying chowing down on any and every food I put in front of him.  I've really been embracing the Baby Led Weaning philosophy and Reed has jumped on board.  I do still give him some purees like apple sauce, yogurt, and Baby Gourmets, but the majority of his foods range from sucking the juices out of a big piece of steak to sweet potato and beet sticks and chomping on a cob of corn (sans corn).

I recently came across this recipe for Broccoli and Cheese muffins used it as a mini-tart recipe instead.  Grayson loved them and I can't wait for Reed to try them in the morning!  Click here to go to the recipe.

Changes:
 I didn't have self rising flour so I used my plain all-purpose flour and added 2 1/2 tsp baking powder.  I also added 1/3 grated Parmesan as well as 2/3 cup grated old cheddar and added some pepper for seasoning.  I definitely did need to add the milk as  suggested in the recipe and baked it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.  This recipe made 36 mini-tarts for me.

Next time I will mix it up with the spices and flavour combo's.  I'm thinking of using feta, dill and spinach in place of the broccoli for a nice little Greek twist on it.  Broccoli and spinach are both high in iron so this just makes it doubly good for my little one!  I really like that the recipe uses yogurt in the mix - a little added calcium and protein never hurts.

Pulled Pork Turnovers

I find when I make pulled pork, I can never make a small quantity and there are always mass leftovers.  These leftovers never seem to be used up in a timely way, so I always end up tossing them into the freezer.  I was cleaning out my freezer before Christmas and found a forgotten about container of pulled pork leftovers and thought to myself, "How will I get Grayson to eat this?"  He really likes being able to pick up his food instead of needing a fork or spoon, so I thought making them into a turnover might just work.  Well... it didn't work, Grayson wouldn't even try them... but Mike and I sure enjoyed them!

Pulled Pork Turnovers

Pulled Pork Turnovers

1 roll of puff pastry, thawed in the fridge overnight

2 cups leftover pulled pork

1 cup grated cheddar

1 egg

1 TSP sour cream or cream or milk

Roll out puff pastry, cutting into 6 triangles.  Place 2-3 TBSP pulled pork on each puff pastry triangle and top with a sprinkle of grated cheese.  Fold the edges of the puff pastry over to make a triangle, making sure it's sealed tightly. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (or non-stick tin-foil or even just a greased baking sheet) and slice a couple of vent holes in the top of each, allowing for steam release.  Beat the egg and cream together and brush the egg wash over the top of the turnovers.  Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned.  

Tip:  Because I was using left over pulled pork that had been frozen, my pulled pork was quite watery.  I found the best results if I let the pork drain a bit and squeezed some of the excess moisture out.  

Peanut Butter Snowballs

I suppose I should preface this post by saying that Grayson is a very picky eater.  He turned 2 in November and for his birthday, I wanted to make something special for him.  One problem... he doesn't eat cake.  Doesn't eat cake you say?? Is he crazy?? Well.. he's 2.. and he's stubborn to try new things... and well... he's 2.  Around that time, one of his staple foods that he loved was peanut butter.  He would carry the jars (one crunchy, one smooth) around with him asking for a spoon and a butter knife.  So naturally I was looking for a recipe for something sweet and delicious that had peanut butter in it and that wasn't cake.

As luck would have it, my Kraft What's Cooking magazine showed up about a week before his birthday, which had a couple of different peanut butter dessert recipes included.  The recipe for Peanut Butter Snowballs seemed incredibly simple and like something that would be a big hit. (Click link above for recipe.)  Despite Grayson's love for peanut butter, his stubborn streak showed itself and he refused to even have one bite of the peanut buttery goodness.  We've made them a couple of times since (delicious and gets rave reviews every time) but he has yet to try one.  

Peanut Butter Balls

The tip Kraft gives is to roll the balls in the chocolate using two forks.  This worked well but was the most time consuming part as you had to let each drip the excess chocolate off before placing on your wax paper lined cookie sheet.  All in all though, it was a super easy recipe and it's definitely a favorite!

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

The world may have already known about this but I just figured it out!  Welcome, Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!  Mike is not a fan of cauliflower in the best of times (drizzled with cheese) so I wasn't sure how this dish was going to go over.  Have no fear - he loved it and was so impressed that he couldn't even taste the veggies!  As did Gray, as he's a huge fan of mashed potatoes and didn't bat an eye when he ate this.  I can't remember where I got the idea for this but I literally treated this dish like I was making plain old mashed potatoes!

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes  
4-5 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut up into chunks
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
S&P to taste
garlic powder to taste
3/4 cup grated cheddar

Boil potatoes and cauliflower in a big pot until both are fork tender.  Drain the water, add the rest of the ingredients (except cheese) and mash until smooth.  Give this a good final whip to make sure you have all the lumps out.  Add the grated cheese and stir to combine.  Cover until ready to serve.  Serve to your family and don't tell them that they are eating vegetables!!!

*My recipe is enough to feed a family of 4-6!  Cut this recipe in half if you have nobody else to feed and hate leftovers.

Vietnamese Cold Rolls

This was my first time making Vietnamese Cold Rolls and I was extremely impressed with how easy they were and how delicious they turned out!!  I've had rice paper in my pantry for over 3 years and threw it out the last time I moved without it ever being touched.  I bought some again about a month ago, determined that this time I would actually use it.  (I checked the best before date on it just in case they did end up sitting around for a while and they're good until 2013 -- phew!)  I got thinking today when discussing these with a colleague, that it would be really easy to "North Americanize" these rolls as well.  You could fill it with whatever suited your fancy at the time -- Honey Garlic Chicken? Sure why not!  Lemon Pepper Shrimp?  Yes, please!   Montreal Spiced Steak? ooh Mike would like that one.  Anyways, enough with my rambles, here is my recipe (which I didn't actually use a recipe, but I did follow the directions on the back of my rice paper on how to 'cook' it!

Vietnamese Cold Rolls
*1/2 pack vermicelli rice noodles
8 rice paper circles
1 raw carrot, peeled and grated
1/2 cucumber, grated
1/2lb ground pork
S&P to taste
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder - or the real deal if you have some handy

(You can easily adjust these spices to suit your tastes! Like it spicy?  Add some cayenne or some hot sauce)

Scramble fry the ground pork with onion and spices until cooked through and no pink remains.  Set aside.  Boil a pot of water, remove from heat and add the vermicelli.  Let sit for 5 minutes until soft, then drain.  Fill a pan (large enough for your rice paper to dip in) with warm water.  Immerse one sheet of rice paper in warm water for 5 seconds.  Remove and lay flat.  Starting at the bottom of the circle of rice paper, fill with two TBSP each of pork, carrots, and cucumber.  Add generous amount of vermicelli noodles.  Fold the left and right sides over the filling and then starting at the bottom, roll it up until it is completed sealed.  Repeat filling and rolling until all the mixture is done!  Serve with peanut sauce for dipping or any other kind of sauce that you would like!

*The vermicelli rice noodles that I bought (Double Happiness Brand) actually were separated into bricks inside, which made it super convenient to only cook half.  I've purchased other brands that the whole package was one brick and impossible to divide it up.