Fudgy Zucchini Brownies {aka what to do with all that zucchini}

We didn't plant a garden this year [tear] for the first time in quite a few years. It was largely because our house is for sale and we didn't want to do all the work and not get any of the fruits of our labor (see what I did there).

While it's been nice to not worry about weeding and watering, we've missed bringing fresh produce in from the garden. And based on the way Liza likes to weed and water our flowers, we know she'd be a rockstar gardener!

Fortunately we go to the Farmers Market most Fridays and have our CSA on Tuesdays to get our fix + shop local.  So when we stopped by our favorite farmer's booth and saw the plethora of zucchini we snagged a bunch of it - you know so we could pretend we have a bumper crop! This weekend we made two of my favorite zucchini recipes: zucchini lasagna and zucchini brownies. I pretty much just follow this recipe from the Biggest Loser for the lasagna.

For the brownies, I found a recipe last summer and have been tinkering with it since to get a chocolaty fudgy brownie but without all the processed gunk.

So here goes...

Zucchini Brownies

Adapted from All Recipes

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup agave

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

3/4 to 1 cup chocolate chips


[1] Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 x 13 pan.

[2] Mix together sugars, agave, vanilla, and applesauce.  In a separate bowl, combine flours, soda, cocoa powder, and salt; stir with a whisk to evenly distribute.  Add to sugar mixture.

[3] Then, fold in zucchini (before you do this, you're going to think these brownies will taste like bricks because the batter is so thick, but the zucchini adds lots of moisture!!).  Add chocolate chips.

[4] Pour into pan and spread evenly.  Bake at 25-30 minutes.

Now, at this point, you can totally eat it without frosting.  In fact, they were great with a tall glass of cold milk.  However, you can also add cream cheese frosting.  I don't follow any specific recipe for frosting, so here's what I 'sort of' did: 8 oz cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 4 Tablespoons milk, and powdered sugar till it comes to the consistency and sweetness that you like.  I don't think that cream cheese frosting has to be overly-sweet, I prefer some of the tang from the cream cheese to come through.

Anybody else with a boatload of zucchini lately?  What are you doing with it??

FOOD Friday.

Hooray for it being Friday!

We are super-excited about the weekend we have coming up: Art in the Park, breakfast out, work on Liza’s room, and most definitely some cottage time (since it’s supposed to be in the high 80s and that’s hot for us)!  Plus we'll probably hit up our garden too seeing as we got some goodies from it last night...

But first, let me share with you our awesome dinner last night. We had chicken and veggie stir fry which might not sound like a huge deal, but was actually pretty awesome.  Here’s why: we had carrots, scallions, snap peas, and peas from our garden, kale and broccoli from our CSA and the only thing to come from the store (veggie-wise) was a red pepper!  Talk about knowing where your food comes from!  We also kind of followed a brown sauce recipe from Food Network Magazine (wish I could show you an exact recipe, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on their site)…but of course we added a little spice!

So here’s the recipe:

What you’ll need:

1/3 cup carrots, chopped

1/3 cup broccoli, chopped

1/3 cup snap peas, cut in half

¼ cup peas

1 ½ cups kale, chopped

¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup red pepper, chopped

1chicken breast, thinly sliced

1 cup rice

2 cups water

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons ginger, minced

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon Sriracha (if you like spicy, add some more)

1 ‘shake’ red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

What to do:

[1] Get your rice started – if it will take 35-40 minutes to cook.  If you use instant rice, you can hold off for awhile.  Follow the directions on the package to cook. 

[2] Chop up all your veggies and the chicken breast (on a separate cutting board obviously).  

[3] Add 1 teaspoon coconut oil to a wok over medium heat.  Add the chicken, sautéing for 1-2 minutes until meat is no longer pink (it doesn’t have to be totally cooked through, you’ll add it to the heat again later).  Set chicken aside.

[4] Add rest of coconut oil to wok.  Add garlic, ginger and half of scallions and sauté for 30 seconds – 1 minute.  Then, add the vegetables starting with the ones that took the longest to cook (I did broccoli & kale, then carrots, then red pepper, then both peas and then the other half of scallions). 

[5] Mix up sauce ingredients (chicken stock-red pepper flakes) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

[6] Once the veggies are close to being done add the chicken back to the pan.  Then add the sauce and cook until the sauce thickens (make sure to keep stirring)!

[7] Then, you pop some rice in a bowl and top it with some of the veggie-chicken-sauce mixture.  I garnished ours with some toasted sesame seeds I had in our pantry!

DELISH.  I just love using food that comes from our garden or our CSA!!

And, we're starting to use coconut oil more in our cooking...and as a lotion.  

Think I'm kidding?  A

fter I spooned out a few heaps last night for dinner, I got any extra from the spoon and rubbed it into my hands.  AMAZING moisturizer and I love that it's edible.  Makes me feel good about putting it onto my body and then into my body as it's absorbed through my skin!

Anybody else getting some luck with their garden?  I promised a post about drying basil soon...expect that one tomorrow :)

Thankful Tuesday

It's kind of a gray Tuesday...and I'm feeling a bit under the weather, too.  But I've decided we definitely have lots to be thankful for lately, so here goes...

1~ A beautiful baby on the way - We really can't wait to meet our little Liza Ann :)

Yep, she's a thumb sucker and ankle crosser :)

 2~ A husband who goes out of his way to be sweet and cute - even if he does pick me a daffodil and put it in a Heineken bottle.

3~ A garden that's underway...pending no more huge frosts or any other crazy weather.

Yay for fresh veggies all summer long...hopefully!

4~ A sweet puppy who likes to snuggle with me in the morning once JW leaves for work.

5~ A whole container of cookie dough in our refrigerator.  Goodness our baby is going to love cookies :)