Florida Zucchini, Georgia Pecans, & Kentucky Bourbon Cake

With zucchini taking over my life I decided to make a bundt cake using the zukes and it just got crazy from there.  The inspiration for this cake came from a rum cake recipe that used zucchini.  I thought why not use that bourbon we bought last month when we went on vacation to Kentucky.  Make it a zucchini bourbon cake. 

Kentucky is a beautiful state and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail took us to many rural parts of the state.  Even though we are not bourbon drinkers, the history of the distilleries and the beauty of the farmland was worth the trip.  We purchased a small bottle of bourbon at one of the distilleries as a souvenir. I decided this bourbon would be perfect for my cake.

Another addition to this cake was a cup of pecans.  During the fall my aunt picked up pecans from the trees in her yard, had them cracked, and my mom cleaned and bagged them for the freezer.  Of course they shared them generously with me.  Georgia pecans seemed to be the perfect nut for this cake.

Combining ingredients from these three southern states made a totally delicious southern cake. I do not know if I would call it a  Florida zucchini cake, a Kentucky Bourbon cake, or a Georgia Pecan cake. Whatever you decide to name it I have to say it is worth baking and I hope you will try it.

Here is the recipe for my three state bundt cake.

3/4 cup softened butter                                                              

2 cups white sugar                                                                     

3 eggs                                                                                         

2 cups grated zucchini                                                                

1/3 cup Kentucky bourbon

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

 1 1/2 tsp baking soda'

1 1/2 tsp salt

 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour Bundt pan

2. Cream together sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time. Stir in the grated zucchini and the Kentucky Bourbon

3. In another bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.  Stir this into the sugar, butter and egg mixture until well combined.

4. Pour in Bundt pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cake and then invert in onto a cake plate.  Drizzle with bourbon glaze or a plain glaze.  Bourbon glaze is made by combing confectioners sugar with bourbon.  Or make a plain glaze made with milk and confectioners sugar if kids will be eating this cake.  No bourbon for the kids please. 







Peter Piper Picked a Pepper--Not yet but Soon

While the squash, zucchini, and potatoes are producing like crazy it is exciting to see the peppers are really growing too.  All the pepper plants were planted in our vertical hydroponic system on March 11, so they have been growing for seven weeks in the hydroponic system.  Here is the Cubanelle Pepper.

 

This is our first year growing cubanelle peppers.  They are sweet like a bell pepper but with a slight heat.  I am looking forward to my first stuffed pepper.  Looks like a few more days and they will be the perfect size.

 

The California Wonder only has one large pepper but I am sure it will be a good producer this year.  The pepper is getting to be a good size and I have it tagged it for my Ratatouille I plan to cook later in the week.  I am waiting for the eggplant to get a bit larger before I use it in my ratatouille dish. Here is my recipe for this dish

 

1 large yellow squash cubed or sliced

1 med size zucchini cubed or sliced

1 large onion chopped

1 large bell pepper chopped

1 eggplant cubed

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 can tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Saute onions and peppers until soft then add the remaining ingredients and cooked until all the vegetables are soft.

 

A simple dish but loaded with flavor that even the kids love.

 

The Jalapeno bush is loaded.  We have been out of salsa for several months.  I am looking forward to making salsa with these jalapeno, our fresh tomatoes, and the onions from our garden.  I follow the directions for making salsa at www.pickyourown.org. 

 

This is a tiny little Cayenne pepper but there are many blooms on the bush.  I am going to try my hand at a Tabasco type hot sauce this year. 

 

So while Peter Piper may not have picked a pepper here at my little farmhouse it won't be long before we will be picking a peck of peppers. 

Wednesday Harvest

Look what I came home from work to find ready and waiting for me.  Eighteen pounds of new potatoes, five and half pounds of yellow squash and eight pounds of zucchini. 

The potatoes are the perfect size for french fries so that is what I am working on again today.  There are a few small potatoes which are perfect for boiling.  I will save these for dinner during the week.

 Yellow squash cooked with onions will go perfect with the boiling potatoes.  I just slice the squash and sauté them in olive oil with chopped onions until they are tender.  There are many ways to use yellow squash but by far this is my favorite.

 I decided to make zucchini chips from one of the large zucchini. The zucchini chips are made by slicing them very thin and dehydrating them.  I picked dill weed from the garden and layered it on top of the zucchini.  This gives the chips a dill flavor that the kids like.  It takes very little salt and it is very easy to over salt the chips. I only sprinkled a large pinch of salt to each tray of chips. Hopefully this will be enough and not too much salt.

I set the dehydrator to 135 degrees and check the chips after about three hours to see if they are getting crisp.  Once the chips are dehydrated I will store them in an air tight container. Of course the kids will have the chips ate as quick as they come out of the dehydrator.  This is a great snack for kids and one they really love and a lot better for them than the batch of cookies I made for them earlier. 

Another great day at the farmhouse.  Hope you had a good day too.

Homemade Frozen Fries

This year we finally grew some large potatoes. Potatoes are hard to keep so I had to find ways to preserve our crop.  After searching the web and watching youtube I finally decided it was easy to make your own french fries and freeze them for later.

I washed the potatoes and cut the fries with my french fry cutter.  Since I didn't peel the potatoes this part of the process was simple.  Next I sprinkled the cut potatoes with olive oil and some seasonings.  The seasoning included salt, cumin, paprika,and  a little pinch of chili powder.  I then spread the potatoes on a cookie sheet and baked in the oven for 20 minutes.  The fries should be cooked until the potatoes are almost done but not browned.  After the potatoes cooled on the cookie sheet I placed the cookie sheet of potatoes in the freezer until frozen then I removed them from the cookie sheet and put them in a ziploc bag.

Later these can be oven baked or deep fried.

If you do not grow your own potatoes this can still be a money saver.  Several times a year potatoes are sold at a very low price.  When you find a great price on potatoes buy several bags and try freezing your own French fries.  Try making plain fries or be creative and make up your own spice blends for seasoned fries. With potatoes the sky is the limit on flavors that work well. Try parsley fries, garlic fries, or try a spicy chili fry.  What is your favorite seasoned fries?

What!! A Zucchini Smoothie??

Yes a chocolate zucchini smoothie for breakfast.  Dave at ourhappyacres.com posted a recipe for a chocolate zucchini smoothie that is quite tasty. I found this recipe on his blog during the winter.  I had a few packages of frozen zucchini in my freezer so I made this for my breakfast several times.  Then I ran out of zucchini.  I could hardly wait for spring and for my zucchini to start producing. Finally the zucchini are producing  and I am going to make sure I have enough zucchini for smoothies all year long. 

 

 

I sliced my zucchini into circles and blanched them in boiling water and then put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Then I drained the zucchini in a colander to let any excess water drain off.  I layered the zucchini on a baking tray and placed in the freezer until frozen.  This keeps them separate and easier to use later. 

Dave says you can use yellow squash with the same tasty smoothie if you do not have zucchini. 

Here is how I made my smoothie. It is slightly different from Dave's recipe but it works for me

8 oz skim milk
1 cup frozen zucchini
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 frozen banana

Place in blender and blend until smooth. The zucchini and banana are frozen so there is no need to add ice which would make the smoothie too watery tasting.  If too thick just add more milk.


Be sure to check out Dave's recipe on his blog.

What a great way to get vegetables into your diet even at breakfast.  This is such a delicious smoothie that it seems more like a dessert instead of a meal. When I drink this smoothie for breakfast it seems to hold me over until lunch.  No sugar is needed because of the sweetness of the banana but stevia can be added if you prefer it sweeter.

OMG Brownies -Did we say Zucchini

We do have a lot of zucchini in the garden already and as much as I love this vegetable I also love being creative with cooking it. Today I made zucchini brownies with an old fashion peanut butter icing. It was crazy good!!!

To make the brownie I used the following ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cooking oil

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded zucchini 

Mixed together sugar and oil

Another bowl mix the dry ingredients 

Add dry to sugar and oil

The mixture will be very dry together but this is okay

Fold in the zucchini 

Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish that has been greased and floured

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes 

To make the icing 

In a large sauce pan ( large because the mixture will foam up) 

Add to sauce pan the following

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring

1 tablespoon butter

Cook this mixture on the stove top until it reaches the soft ball temp

Remove from heat and add 1 cup of peanut butter

Stir until smooth

Pour this over the brownies and wait until cooled to cut

My grandmother would make this peanut butter icing and use over a yellow cake. It has always been my favorite cake.  I knew that putting peanut butter icing on these brownies would be scrumptious and I was right. 

I hope you will try this recipe with or without the icing these brownies are moist and delicious.  

Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes

  Today I am going to make a stew from beef chunks and all of these beautiful vegetables. The onions are still small but will add a great flavor to my dish.  Since the red potatoes are freshly dug it takes little effort to remove the skins.  Usually rubbing the potatoes with you're hands or a vegetable brush is all that is needed to remove the skins. Carrots are my families favorite vegetable and they add such flavor to the stew.

  

 It is very exciting to always have a variety of food in my back yard.  In the fall and winter the green veggies such as broccoli ,Brussels sprouts, and all the other greens are abundant and then spring comes and the menu changes.  

  This week we have been lucky to have fresh yellow squash, zucchini , potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and onions from our own backyard garden.  

 It only takes a small space and a few plants to have a variety of fresh vegetables every day.  I hope I   inspire you to have a garden in your yard or patio.  

Peach Jam

Sunday as I was shopping I saw peaches for only a $1.00 pound.  Right away I knew I had to make peach jam since we have been out for months.  Peach is the kids favorite jam and it doesn't last long in this house.

The recipe says to purchase three pounds of peaches, then peel, remove pit, and chop. Place the chopped peaches in a large pan with juice of lemon, and one box fruit pectin.  Once this comes to a boil (a boil that can not be stirred down) add five and half cups of white sugar.  When this comes to a rolling boil cook for one minute longer, then remove from heat.  

Be sure to remove any foam on the top before ladling jam into sterilized jars.  Add seals to jars and place in water bath for ten minutes.  

The jam turned out a beautiful color and the jars seals are popping (which means they are sealed and ready for storage). Storage isn't for long in this family but jam should last on your shelf for a year.

We Have New Potatoes

Finally the spring crop is coming in. Today I was so excited to pick yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and best of all we dug some potatoes.  

Last week I made homemade butter with garden fresh herbs.  Tonight we are having squash, zucchini , and roasted potatoes with my herb butter.  The veggies will be chopped, put on a baking sheet with a little olive oil,salt and pepper and put in a 375 degree oven until tender.  A few slices of tomatoes on the side and I think the meal will be complete.  

Homemade Butter with Garden Fresh Herbs

Today I decided to try my hand at making butter.  According to all the sites I have read on making butter it is as simple as adding heavy cream to a jar and shake until the liquid separates from the fat. 

 

Directions says shake for twenty minutes or longer

 

Sounds easy but after five minutes my hand was already tired, so I decided to try another way.

I put the cream in my food processing bowl with the dough blade. Pressed the power button and the dough button and waited to see what would happen.

I looked inside and this is what was happening-- it was getting thick so I put the top back on and pushed the power button again

 

The next time I looked it was butter.  The liquid had separated and I had butter.

 

It made a nice log of butter but then I decided to make herb butter since I have so much cilantro and parsley in the garden.

Chopped the cilantro and parsley and added half to each. The butter was soft so it was easy to blend the herbs into the newly made butter.

 

Next I put the herb butter in my ball herb container and placed this in the freezer. 

 

Since I still had half of the cream left I decided to make another batch of butter and just use it plain.

When I finished I had a pound of butter and one and half cups of what I call skim milk.  The cream cost $3.69 for the quart and from this I got a pound of butter.  May not be a cost saver but it is exciting to be able to make my own butter. 

 

As soon as the potatoes in the garden are ready they will be tasty with my herb butter.