Carrot Zucchini Bread with Raisins and Walnuts

Let me preface this by saying that this is going to sound a little crazy. Bear with me. For the past 25 years, I have owned various food processors that, for one reason or other, have not contained a shredding disc. I never really considered that to be of great importance until my most recently purchased food processor (read: about 10 years ago) conked out and I had to get a new one. I decided to get one with a little larger bowl due to reasons I will not disclose here. It came with both a slicing and shredding disc, so I decided to give that shredding disk a workout. I couldn’t believe all that I had been missing over the years. Somehow I felt as though life had shortchanged me. Suffice it to say that within the course of about five minutes I had shredded 4 pounds of carrots. Don’t ask me why. I just couldn’t believe the speed at which I was getting this done. It never occurred to me that I was actually going to have to use those carrots. As a consequence, I have been making carrot EVERYTHING. First stop is this delicious, carroty, appropriately seasonal zucchini bread. It is loaded with so many delicious bits and bobs, that it just has to be good for you. As far as the taste, fabulous!

Carrot Zucchini Bread with Raisins and Walnuts

1½ c. flour
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
½ t. baking powder
½ T. ground cinnamon

¼ t. allspice
1/8 t. cloves
2 large eggs
½ c. vegetable oil
¾ c. granulated sugar
½ c. brown sugar, packed
½ T. vanilla extract

1 c. grated zucchini

1 c. grated carrots

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325° F. Spray a 9” x 5” loaf pan with Baker’s Joy.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves; set aside.

In a large bowl beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars until creamy. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating well. Fold in zucchini, carrots, raisins, and nuts. 

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until loaf tests done. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

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Thanksgiving Savory Side Dishes - Vegetables

Seeking a sumptuous, savory side for your Thanksgiving meal?  Look no further!  These four vegetable side dishes are unique, tasty, colorful, and make a wonderful segue from summer to fall.  You can access the recipe of each dish by clicking on its name.

Buttered Carrots and Snow Peas

Sweet and crunchy, the perfect complement to your roasted turkey.

Haricots Verts with Bacon and Chestnuts

Elegant, woodsy, and delicious, and perfect for the winter holidays.

Pan-Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios and Dried Cherries

The sweet/tart flavor of the cherries is a delightful accompaniment to the sprouts; the pistachios provide the perfect amount of crunch.

Baby Cauliflower with Spicy Béchamel

Colorful and dressed in a spicy béchamel, this dish is always a winner.

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sundays

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Foodie Friday

Buttered Snow Peas and Carrots

 I am a big fan of vegetables. I get this from my mother. She used to say that she could eat an entire meal of just vegetables. I could too. In fact, the whole time I was making this dish (that took all of ten minutes) I kept thinking about her, and about how much she would have enjoyed this dish. 

If you're the type of person who thinks that snow peas are meant solely for use in Asian dishes, this will change your mind. Tender crisp with a slight sweetness provided by the carrots, this pretty side dish would pair nicely with a slice of quiche at a summer luncheon or alongside a steak at an evening meal. 

A mandolin makes slicing the carrots a breeze. Start your pot of water boiling while you're slicing the vegetables so it's ready when you are. Or, clean and trim your snow peas and slice your carrots ahead of time and keep them in cold water in the fridge. Drain and sauté just before serving. 

Buttered Snow Peas and Carrots

Gourmet, January 1993

3 to 4 carrots, cut crosswise on the diagonal into 1/8-inch slices 

(about 1 cup)
1/4 pound Melissa’s Snow Peas, trimmed, discarding the strings 

(about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a large saucepan of boiling water cook the carrots for 3 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender. Add the snow peas, cook the vegetables for 30 seconds, and drain them well. Return the vegetables to the pan, add the butter and salt and pepper to taste, and heat the vegetables over moderately low heat, stirring, until the butter is melted.

This post is linked to:

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Amaretto Carrots

When Mr. O-P and I went out to dinner last month to celebrate his birthday, he had a choice of two sides to go with his salad and steak modiga: cavatelli with broccoli or amaretto carrots.  He jumped on the pasta like he was putting out a fire. Me? I’d have been all over those carrots. In fact, after this dinner I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I happen to like carrots a great deal, love the bright, rich color they give to the plate, and, consequently, am always looking for new ways to serve them. When I spotted this recipe on Food.com I had to try it. These carrots are wonderful! They are easy to prepare, have the perfect hint of sweetness without being cloying, and the subtle almond taste gives them a rich deliciousness that will have you stopping yourself from gobbling up the contents of the entire pan.  Seriously, they are that good.

 

Amaretto Carrots

1 lb. Melissa’s sweet baby carrots

 3 T. butter

2 T. sugar

¼ c. Amaretto Liqueur

Salt and pepper (Optional)

Drop carrots into a medium-large pan of boiling water.  Cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking.  Heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add carrots and sugar and heat to caramelize the sugar, about 6-8 minutes.  Add Amaretto and cook to reduce sauce to a glaze, about 5-6 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.  (I used no additional seasoning as I thought they were perfect as they were.) 

 Serve immediately.

Glazed Rainbow Carrots with Dill

Let’s talk side dishes, shall we?  I know what you’re thinking…vegetables.  Yes, you’re right.  We all know that we’re supposed to have a nice combination of five fruits and vegetables each day.  We also know that it’s not always so easy to work these five servings into the course of three meals (although I am personally campaigning to include the Bloody Mary among this group, what with the tomato juice and celery and all).  Largely vegetables come in green or white.  Dull.  And, also largely, children tend to flee from them in packs.  So the best way to perk up the plate, and your family, is with lots of taste and bursts of color.

I’ve tried for years to grow carrots, with rather sorry results.  My interest was in growing the heirloom variety with multiple colors.  While I can’t seem to manage to do it, Melissa’s Produce can.  I love these colorful carrots!  They are so pretty and deliciously sweet, and look how beautiful they'll be on your table.  Honestly, who could resist these?

I really have no particular recipe, but for the sake of carrot virgins, will jot one below.  My experience is that even non-carrot lovers will quite enjoy these.

Glazed Rainbow Carrots with Dill

1 lb. Melissa’s Rainbow Crunch carrots, cleaned, peeled, and 

cut into ¼” coins

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon apricot preserves

Pinch of Kosher salt

Pinch of curry powder (optional)

Pinch of turmeric (optional)

Snippings of fresh dill (or dried, if you must)

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a full boil.  Drop carrots in all at once and return pan to boil.  Cook for 4-7 minutes until just fork tender, and by this I mean barely fork tender as they will continue to cook after draining and you don’t want them to turn to mush; better to err on the crunchy side.  (The cooking time varies with the size of your carrots, so do test them – I use the tines of a pickle fork).  Empty into colander to drain thoroughly; set aside.  In same saucepan in which you cooked the carrots (and that should still be warm) place butter, and melt it over low heat.  Stir in apricot preserves and brown sugar until everything is well blended.  Add carrots all at once and fold together until carrots are glazed.  Throw in a pinch of salt and, if your family likes the taste of curry, a pinch of curry powder gives these a lot of zing, ditto for the turmeric, but I’ll leave both up to you (though do keep in mind that Turmeric is one of the super foods and this is a great way to slip it by your family with no one the wiser).

For more vegetable inspiration, I highly recommend this book:

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Tutorial Tips & Tidbits

Boston Market Cornbread

As lazy summer days approach, time in the kitchen is displaced by [sunblock-laden] fun in the sun.  Meals should be quick and easy, and there is nothing easier than what I put together for tonight.  Hands-on time, including making the cornbread, was about 12 minutes.  I’m not kidding.  TWELVE!

The menu consisted of boneless beef short ribs, carrots, and those delicious little potatoes from Melissa's Produce, slowly cooked in a beef/wine broth, with a hunk of freshly-baked cornbread on the side.  I used a 1.5 quart Crockpot, into which I poured 1 cup of beef stock, 1 cup of red wine, a packet of onion soup mix, a pinch of salt, and generous grindings of fresh pepper.  The ribs (1 pound weight) went in next (I turned them to coat with the mixture), and simmered on low for about 5 hours.  At this point it was time to add the washed potatoes that I nestled alongside the meat.  I allowed them to simmer for 45 minutes, wherein I dumped what was left of a bag of baby carrots, adding another 30-45 minutes of cooking time (depending upon the size of your carrots, spear them with a fork to test for doneness).

Clearly this has to be assembled early in the day, but that’s the beauty of it.  When you are freshly out of bed, having your coffee and planning your day, this can be thrown together and you’ve finished the dinner preparation for the day.

The cornbread is a clone of Boston Market’s recipe.  Nothing could be easier.  It’s sweeter than what you may be accustomed to, but it’s a favorite of mine; I found it paired very well with the beef and vegetables.

 

Boston Market Cornbread

2 (8.5-oz) boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

1 (18.5-oz) box yellow cake mix

5 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until combined. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here is our little dinner for two.  Looks delish, no?  It was!  Try it for yourself, and enjoy your day off.

This post is linked to:

 Seasonal Sunday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday