Zucchini Bread with Honey Cinnamon Butter

Zucchini Bread reminds me of summer. I’ve been craving it for weeks but was holding out for a Le Creuset loaf pan that I (not-so-subtle-ly) been hinting to B for a birthday gift.

My man is good to me.

Finally this morning I woke up and made myself breakfast. It only took an hour and a half but summer is here, so it was worth it.

You’ll need:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups of grated zucchini (moisture wringed out)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

In a mixing bowl, blend eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and salt. When combined, add the flour mixture and blend until just combined. Fold in the zucchini.

Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then turn over onto a cooling rack.

Try to let it cool as much as possible before you dig in. Try is the operative word. I got impatient and went ahead and topped mine with some Honey Cinnamon Butter using this recipe from 33 Shades of Green.

Waterfall Braid

I’ll never forget the day I figured out how to french braid.

It was during a basketball game my sophomore year of high school. As a cheerleader, my go-to hair style was often just a plain old ponytail. But during this game, I stared at the hair of my squad mate who was sitting in front of me until I figured out how her perfectly french braided hair was achieved. (Yes I do realize there was a sporting event going on, but it’s basketball. I’m easily distracted during basketball).

I went home and french braided my own hair for the first time. In college, I became the go-to for french braids among my girlfriends. Then LC from the Hills started rocking single  sidebraids and I jumped on board.

The other day, I came across several photos on Pinterest of waterfall braids. Next thing I know I’m staring at the braid so intently, I could swear I was hearing our high school pep band and the squeaking of basketball sneakers. And just like that, I repeated it. I think I have a gift.

Honey Cinnamon Ice Cream

California weather has been a little strange. Where are my 80 degree days? And aren’t we supposed to be in our 4 months without rain season? Isn’t that why I moved out here?

Oh wait… I moved out here because the love of my life got a new job. Well, regardless, I’m ready for summer.

No wonder I’ve been loving my KitchenAid Ice Cream mixer attachment. I don’t think I’ll buy ice cream from the store again. Except for maybe an It’s It ice cream sandwich. Another perk of moving out here.

After trying a cinnamon and honey truffle from Wine Country Chocolates in Sonoma last month, I’ve been obsessed with the flavor combo. This Honey Cinnamon ice cream is amazing.

You’ll need:

• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 1/4 c. heavy cream (Divided)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2/3 c. honey
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp cinnamon and sugar blend
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cinnamon stick

Prepare freezer bowl per manufacturer’s instruction.

Whisk eggs, honey, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in small bowl.

Pour 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream in a large bowl. Set aside.

In medium saucepan, bring milk and remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream to a full simmer.  Lower heat. Add tbsp of simmering cream to egg mix and whisk well. Repeat a few more times until egg mix is tempered. Slowly pour egg cream into remaining simmered cream. Whisk until a custard forms.

Strain mixture with a sieve into bowl with heavy cream and stir well. Add a cinnamon stick and chill for 3 hours.

Remove cinnamon stick. Prepare in ice cream mixer and freeze until solid.

*personal photo

3 Months

Let’s consider this the obligatory “I haven’t blogged in almost 3 months” post.

I’m going to play around with my style and format on here until I find something I like and feel motivated to keep up with. Stay with me.

Also, I jumped on the Pinterest train. Follow me.

photo from our wedding day by Korver Photography

Simple Lasagna

Not too long ago, I made the delicious Spicy Kale and Goat Cheese Lasagna from No Eyeballs Please. B loves lasagna so he was pretty excited when he heard the word “lasagna”. Then he took a bite and his excitement faded. For the record, it tasted great (one of my favorite recipes I’ve tried in the last few months) but B was thinking more traditional lasagna. So his first bite was sort of like taking a sip of what you think is Sprite and it ends up being tonic water.

I promised I’d make a more traditional lasagna to satisfy the craving. And first bite was B-approved.

You’ll need:

• 1 jar of your favorite Pasta Sauce (I used tomato, garlic and onion)
• 2 cups kale – stems removed
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 6 lasagna noodles (no bake/oven ready)

Preheat oven to 400.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the kale and spinach, cook for 2 minutes until just wilted. Drain then wring the greens in a paper towel. Chop.

Mix the ricotta, 1 cup of mozzarella, parmesan and the egg in a small bowl.

Pour a thin layer of the tomato sauce in a square casserole dish (I used 8×8). Next add two lasagna noodles side by side. Top with half of the ricotta mix then half the chopped greens. Add another thin layer of the tomato sauce. Add two more noodles then repeat layers. Finally add last two noodles and the remaining sauce and last 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes.

This is a simple, tasty lasagna but I definitely recommend the kale and goat cheese version too!

Strawberry and Trefoils Ice Cream

Turns out my love for Girl Scout Cookies does not stand alone.

Claremont Road gave a shout out to the Lemonade cookies. And I can’t help but agree with elefantitas alegres about having a glass of white wine with cookies as a simply good thing.

Cupcakes and Cashmere and A Year of Slow Cooking have both been inspired by Thin Mints.

And cookies and cups had my mouth watering for Samoa Popcorn.

As for me? I decided to go to the traditional Trefoils shortbread cookie and mix it up with one of my favorite ice cream flavors: strawberry!

First off, I have to say that I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer ice cream attachment! Secondly, I love The Perfect Scoop recipe book. This recipe was adapted from the book’s recipe for Strawberry Sour Cream ice cream.

You’ll need:

• 1 lb fresh strawberries rinsed, hulled and sliced
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp citrus flavored vodka
• 3/4  cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 10 Trefoils – or other shortbread cookies – chopped

Start by stirring the sliced strawberries, sugar and vodka together until sugar dissolved. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

In a blender or food processor, puree together the sour cream, heavy cream, lemon juice, strawberries and their sugared juices.

Chill mixture in the fridge for at least an hour.

Churn mixture per your ice cream maker’s instructions. After 20 minutes or so, add in the chopped cookies. Store in a freezer-safe container and chill for at least 2 hours.

Serve in a waffle cone or in a dish with another cookie!

In my opinion, most all Girl Scout Cookies would be great in ice cream. Thin Mints are an obvious choice for an ice cream mix, but I think that the Trefoils were great! I also think that this mixture could be made with vanilla vodka (instead of citrus) and vanilla extract (instead of lemon juice). I plan to try that in the future.

Do you have any favorite Girl Scout Cookie-inspired recipes?

HTP’s Pancake Truffles

This morning my normal breakfast of Special K just wasn’t doing it for me. I have been wanting to try these Pancake Truffles form Healthy Tipping Point for awhile now, so today I did!

I changed things up a little bit, and used:

• 1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
• 1/3 cup whole wheat pancake mix (I used Eating Right)
• 1 egg white (I used liquid egg whites)
• 1/4 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4.5 inches of banana (cut into three 1.5 inch pieces)
• 1/4 cup almond meal (in place of the pecans)

Follow the instructions on Caitlin’s blog and enjoy!

What Caught My Eye This Week

I’m a 30 for 30 dropout.

I lasted three weeks with my 30 for 30, but then this week… I was a rebel and didn’t pick clothes from  my pile of 30 for 30. It started out innocently when I got dressed for work on Tuesday. I wore a few things from my 30 for 30, but then when it came to the part of putting a cardigan, I asked myself why should I wear one of my allotted sweaters when I have a perfectly good – and better outfit match- two feet away. Wednesday I was back on track but then Thursday, all was lost.

The weatherman has been claiming SNOW in the Bay Area and I think I got sidetracked trying to dress warmly and so, my remixing was done.

But I still haven’t shopped. And I’m going to try extra hard not to for as long as I can.

Oh, and I went the entire work week without posting. This wasn’t intentional – I actually have about 3 recipe posts I was planning to do and a few others. I was just lazy.

There. Those are my true confessions.

Meanwhile, this is what caught my eye this week:

• Whole Grain Strawberry PopTart Scones posted on Eat, Live, Run
• Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole posted on Gina’s Skinny Recipes
• Braised White Beans with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Potatoes posted on The Way the Cookie Crumbles
• Samoa Popcorn posted on Cookies and Cups
• Philly Fluff (Cream Cheese Pound Cake) posted on Make it Naked

Oh, and guess what caught my eye in real life?

A townhouse! B and I found a townhouse to rent nearby, starting in April. I am so happy to get out of our 1 bedroom apartment and ready to head to a “home” with a kick-ass HUGE patio. And I’m looking forward to decorating an entire place. Anyone have any design blogs to recommend?

Schuyler Fisk: BSB to The Good Stuff

I’m at the point where I need some fresh music on my iPod. Usually I download songs as I like them and then listen to the same playlists for a good six months. But lately I’ve been looking for some new (to me) or older music that I’ve forgotten about.

Most recently, I’ve added some Mike Doughty, Brandon Flowers, Adele, The Pretty Reckless (it’s decent! don’t judge!) and some old school Aerosmith.

Then today, I got sucked into the movie I’m Reed Fish and (re) discovered Schuyler Fisk:

Photo from Vanity Fair

I have to say REdiscovered because the Schuyler Fisk I know was Kristy Thomas from BSB:

Photo from iVillage (That’s Schuyler Fisk as Kristy on the left, right below Larisa Oleynik aka Dawn aka Alex Mack)

Turns out the girl can SING. I went ahead and downloaded her entire album The Good Stuff – something I usually don’t do – and I quite enjoy it.

Have you (rediscovered) any music lately?

What Caught My Eye This Week

I almost didn’t have a post for this week! I didn’t star a single blog post until I was down to 2 unread posts in my Google Reader today. Then I found this and finally had a “what caught my eye this week” post:

• Filet Oscar Crostini posted on Confections of a Foodie Bride

I may be inspired to do something similar in the next week.

Meanwhile my list of  things on my “I would if I could but I can’t shop” list is growing! The predicament grows further in that I love the items but can’t decide on a color for anything.  Good thing I can’t click “add to cart”.

I love this sweater/jacket but can’t decide what color I like better: walrus or black? The dress is great too!

And this cami: coral or blue?

Have a good weekend!