Rhubarb and Walnut Bread

 

Since I think baking should be fun, from time to time, I like to post pictures of my "bakery" on Facebook and see if any of my "peeps" can figure out what the mystery ingredient(s) might be. Well, today, nobody guessed that this bread had diced rhubarb!! I FINALLY stumped them all! I have to admit, it was a pretty tough one to guess.  The poor hubby. I had been promising him since last summer, when I put some diced rhubarb in the freezer, that I would make him rhubarb "buckle." Yesterday, I told him that it would be bread instead. Since I was making this recipe up as I was going along, I wasn't quite sure what the end result would be. When I offered a piece of the bread to the hubby this afternoon, he told me it was a 10 out of 10! He is always willing to be my taste tester and he (almost) always rates my baked goods a 10 - that's one of the reasons why I married him!

Ingredients

2 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sour cream
2/3 cup rhubarb, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 1 1/2 quart loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.  In a large bowl, put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange juice, canola oil, egg, vanilla extract and sour cream.  Mix well with large spoon and then "fold" in the rhubarb and walnuts gently. Mix to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert pan and remove the bread to wire rack to continue to cool. If desired, you can make the cream cheese frosting above and sprinkle a handful of chopped walnuts on top! Store covered in the fridge.

Ambrosia Dessert Salad

Okay, how many of you out there have ever heard of ambrosia? I looked through a handful of my cookbooks to try and determine whether it was a salad or a dessert. In one of my cookbooks, the recipe was in the salad section and in another, it was under fruit desserts. Good grief, which is it?!?!?! How about if we call it an ambrosia dessert salad???? I know, let's call it YUMMY!!! Hmm, with Easter right around the corner, wouldn't this look great (and colorful) on the table? Note: I used a 20-ounce can of pineapple chunks that were packed in juice and a 15-ounce can of mandarin oranges packed in light syrup. By the time I drained out all the juice from the pineapple chunks, I had about a 1/2 cup left (I think I'll use the chunks for a breakfast smoothie tomorrow morning). When I drained the juice from the mandarin oranges, it was exactly one cup! I normally have white marshmallows on hand, but since I didn't, I bought the colored ones the other day at the grocery store - aren't they cool?!?!

Ingredients

1 cup pineapple chunks, drained
1 cup mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup mini marshmallows (white or colored)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (chopped),
  if desired

In medium bowl, put the pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, coconut and marshmallows. Mix gently with large spoon. Add the sour cream and combine thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge a minimum of one hour. When ready to serve, sprinkle with the chopped walnuts or pecans (if you want) and toss lightly.  Serve immediately. Makes five cups.

Scones

If I were alone on a desert island, I could probably survive on just muffins, biscuits and scones!! The word "scone" instantly makes me think of a fancy tearoom.  Since I don't have a "tearoom" in my house, I have to settle for our kitchen table :) This morning, before Dominic and I left to see his private speech therapist, I had one of these scones for breakfast. Since St. Patrick's Day is in just a few days, I decided to sprinkle some green sugar on top. I guess if I wanted, I could have even had an Irish Coffee with the scone. I looked up the ingredients in an Irish Coffee. It consists of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar and cream. Hmm, that drink might be better suited to go with our "traditional" New England Boiled Dinner of corned beef, cabbage, onions, potatoes and carrots that I make every St. Patrick's Day!!

Ingredients

2 cups white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon white sugar (for topping)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, put the flour, baking powder, 2 1/2 teaspoons white sugar and salt. Mix well with spoon. "Cut" in the butter with two knives. Make a "well" in the middle of the batter and add the milk. Combine well and then remove to a lightly floured surface. Knead about 20 times and then flatten out with a rolling pin or your hands to an 8-inch circle. Slice into eight equal triangles and then place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle the one teaspoon of white sugar evenly on the tops of the eight scones. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the bottoms of the scones are lightly browned. Remove immediately to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Zucchini/Coconut Muffins with Pecans

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that is very versatile. You can eat it raw with some dip or steam it to make a side dish. How about tossing some chopped zucchini into a slow cooker along with a bunch of other veggies to make vegetarian chili? Decisions, decisions. Well, my favorite way to use zucchini is making it into bread or muffins! Since I had a bag of shredded coconut in my pantry and some chopped pecans in the freezer, I decided to put a 1/2 cup of each into the muffin batter too!! I was keeping my fingers crossed while the muffins were baking, because I wasn't quite sure how it would taste. Well, I shouldn't have worried at all - these muffins are so yummy! Who knew that zucchini, coconut and pecans would make such an awesome threesome?!?!?!?! These muffins also contain one of my other favorite "threesomes" - cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger! One thing I've learned about baking with zucchini, it is a very wet vegetable! I shredded an entire zucchini and put it into a measuring cup. I then took my fist and gently pressed the zucchini down and then turned the measuring cup upside down over the sink.  So much water came out, that it then became only a 1/2 cup! Good grief. I ended up shredding another whole zucchini and then draining that water out too. I like a moist muffin, but what if I hadn't got all that extra liquid out?? Yikes!

Ingredients

1 cup zucchini, unpeeled and shredded
  (about two medium)
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup sweetened coconut, shredded
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. In small bowl, shred and drain out the extra liquid from the zucchini, until it equals one cup. Set aside. In large bowl, put the white flour, white sugar, light brown sugar, egg, canola oil, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Add the zucchini and mix well with large spoon. Mix in the coconut and pecans and combine until well incorporated. Distribute the batter evenly into the 12 paper liners. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and let the muffins cool for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to continue to cool. Enjoy!