The Bad, ugh :(

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Alright, so... I wanted to try out a new bread recipe, a blueberry zucchini one since that was what we had. While the taste of the blueberry plus the zucchini was surprisingly good, the texture and taste of the bread itself was terrible, pooh.

Lessons learned:
1. blueberry and zucchini do taste good together, weirdly
2. don't trust a fruit/veggie quick bread recipe that requires 3 eggs unless it is a big batch
3. don't trust a fruit/veggie quick bread recipe that calls for only white sugar and oil, butter and brown sugar are NECESSARY!! at least I think so.

How I came to these conclusions.. I simply compared this recipe to a couple of my working recipes, so I could be wrong, more trials are probably necessary.

P.S. For all you Newbies, a Quick Bread is a bread which is made using chemical stuff (like baking soda, baking powder) instead of yeast to make it fluffy. The process is generally quicker and more reliable, i.e. Quick Bread.

Ginger, Nutmeg, Vanilla & Coconut

A Mistake!

An apple, pear, and cranberry crumble

The bottom:
I peeled and chopped the leftover apples from the dumpling episode along with some mushy ripe pears. Then tossed in some fresh cranberries and mixed it up with 2tbs. brown sugar and 4 tbs. flour, some nutmeg, and a generous helping of ginger.

The crusty top:
Cut butter (1 c.) with flour (1 1/2 c.), oats (1c.), brown sugar (1 c.), vanilla and coconut flakes. Sprinkle over fruit and bake @ 400. DO NOT take this out too soon (my mistake!!). Wait until this fruity goodness is a nice deep brown on top and then eat your heart out.

Crushed Red Pepper

The Good :)

Courtesy of Food Network (with a few tweaks) was a spinach, chicken, and gnocchi soup. My mother and I made this and are keeping the recipe. It's great and super quick if you have some leftover chicken. But first,

Gnocchi:
What is it? Typically, it is a yummy small potato dumpling. I found mine at Marsh in the pasta aisle.

Back to cooking.. you start by boiling the gnocchi until al dente (slightly chewy). It only takes about 3 min.!! (Which officially makes this the best pasta sub. ever!) Drain. In your other pan you are cooking up some crunchy spinach with garlic, butter, sugar, and crushed red pepper until its all wilty. We added in the chicken broth, chicken, and gnocchi, brought to a boil, and served it hot sprinkled with parmesan cheese. MmmMmmm.

Allspice, Cinnamon, & Mountain Dew

The Pretty good!!

The Dumpling:
For pies and other baking dishes that need apples, Granny Smiths are usually a good pick because they tend to get less mushy. I went the super easy route with the dough and bought buttery crescent rolls which I sprinkled with allspice; apple wedges (peeled and cored) were then rolled up in that buttery goodness. Even more butter (about 1/2 c. + 3/4 c. sugar) got melted over the stove with cinnamon. I poured this heart-attack-prone mixture over top along with a can of Mountain Dew. Bake at 350 until brown and voila, easy dumplings!

About Allspice:
Allspice is so named because it is thought to smell and taste like several spices mixed together, mainly cinnamon, nutmeg, & cloves. So if you don't have this spice, a mix of these three will get about the same result (yay!).

What I wanted to try :(
Cardamom , a spice from India, is one of the three spices usually included in any "Apple Pie" spice mix. It is, however, a bit pricey. Perhaps when I make apple pie in a couple of days, I will splurge on a container. Until then...it will remain a mystery.

Nutmeg & Cinnamon

THE GOOD!

The Cupcake:
An Awesome yummy yellow butter cake mix started this creation off. I added about a 1/3 a c. of sour cream and a tbsp.of vanilla to make 'em super moist and tasty. Sprinkling cinnamon over the tops of these before I tossed them in the oven made the kitchen smell amazing.
The Icing!!
Alright, so I battled through an exploding mixer and several unfortunate mishaps before this perfect icing finally came through. Blending half butter and cream cheese kept it from getting too cheesy while pouring in a pint of heavy cream and then beating the crap out of it gives it a "clouds just melting in your mouth" feeling. Nutmeg, almond extract and the zest and juice of a small orange had me gleefully face planting in the leftovers. I filled these suckers full, topped them off with a dollop...a bite of chocolate (of course:) and called it a day.