Don’t tell the other seasons, but I’m pretty sure fall is my favorite. So much about it makes me happy – the crisp air, Halloween and Thanksgiving, and, of course, the continued plethora of produce.
Confession, though: I’m not a pumpkin girl. And while pumpkin gets all the love on other blogs, I wanted to make sure my first recipe of autumn focused on one of my fall favorites – sweet potatoes.
Continue readingI feel like we’re in this weird place in between summer and fall. We’re prepping for a beach trip – but also getting ready to start school. It’s warm enough to swim, but cools down at night enough for a sweatshirt.
Should I be posting fall dishes here? Or keep rocking summer?
This cornbread is a little of both – a great side for a summer cookout or a big bowl of fall chili. And really, is there any better side for either?
I’ve shared a few fun cornbread variations before – Amish Cornbread and Jalapeno Cornbread – but this is my favorite basic recipe. It’s gritty, but moist. Crumbly, but soft. Slather it with some honey butter and you’ve basically got heaven on a plate!
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Grease and flour a 9×9″ pan and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, melt the butter, then remove from heat. Immediately stir in sugar, then the eggs and beat until well blended.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and buttermilk. Stir into the mixture in the pan.
Stir in the cornmeal, flour, and salt until just a few lumps remain.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Is it even summer if you don’t end up drowning in zucchini at some point? I think not.
Between our garden and our CSA, we always have plenty of zucchini around. I have, of course, been experimenting with lots of new, fun recipes – but I just keep coming back to zucchini bread. It’s a classic.
This loaf is our favorite. It’s a little heavy on the nutmeg which gives the loaf a nice spice. Pecans and chocolate chips are mixed in, too, to add a little sweetness and texture.
This recipe does make a big batch, so it’s great to share with neighbors – or freeze a loaf for later!
And if you’re looking for more ways to use up your garden zucchini, I suggest Zucchini Scones, Zucchini, Chile & Red Onion Frittata, or Cheesy Zucchini Enchiladas – all family favorites!
Thanks Ellen from Family Around the Table and Christie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures for hosting our Farmer’s Market Event!
Thursday Farmer’s Market Week Recipes
Makes 2 large loaves or 5 small loaves
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pans and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking powder.
In another bowl, beat the eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla together. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the zucchini, pecans, and chocolate chips.
Divide batter between loaf pans. Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean – about an hour for large loaves or 35-45 minutes for smaller loaves.
adapted from The Taste of Home Baking Book
Beer bread has become of one my go-tos. Minimal ingredients make this quick bread a winner.
And even though I’m not a fan of beer itself, I think it tastes awesome – and so do the kids.
Disclosure: I received products from Barlean’s free as part of #RecipeMakeover week. All opinions are my own.
While I’m pretty decent at whipping up a healthy dinner when need be, my baking projects are decidedly different. Tackling a makeover of one of my most-frequently-baked items – banana bread – seemed like the perfect challenge.
As I was working on this recipe, I turned to products from #RecipeMakeover sponsor, Barlean’s. Their Butter Flavored Coconut Oil can be subbed 1:1 for butter – so that was a great place to start. Roasting the bananas brought out some more natural sugars, and using Barlean’s Digestive Blend punched up the flavor while adding some good-for-you stuff to the bread (it’s a mix of ground flaxseed, chia seed, quinoa, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a pumpkin blend that is remeniscint of pumpkin spice!) My added sweetener here was a local cranberry honey (fun fact: New Jersey is the 3rd biggest cranberry producing state in the US!) – I Iiked the flavor it added, but if you don’t have this available any honey would be great in this recipe.
The result? A banana bread that was really good – and much better for you than my usual go-to loaf.
Cranberry Honey Banana Bread
(a Kate’s Recipe Box original)
Makes 1 loaf
4 medium bananas
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Barlean’s Digestive Blend
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup melted Barlean’s Butter Flavored Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Cranberry Honey (or regular honey)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil. Prick the banana peels with a fork, place them on the baking sheet, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, Barlean’s Digestive Blend, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, Barlean’s Butter Flavored Coconut Oil, and honey until well combined. Mash bananas and add to the wet ingredients – stir until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until the everything is just moistened.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
I’m a one-note baker when it comes to quick breads. And that one note is banana bread. I honestly can’t remember the last quick bread I made that wasn’t banana. When Heather picked breads as the theme for this month’s What’s Baking? challenge, I knew it was the perfect excuse to finally try something else.
This bread was awesome – a nice crunch to the crust while being soft and fluffy inside. It’s not too sweet so it could pass for a breakfast bread but it’s just sweet enough to be dessert, too. Also, it makes for some pretty amazing French toast. I’m sure this will be making several repeat appearances during blueberry season!
You can check out the roundup of the breads made by other bloggers at Heather’s blog, Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks, later this month!
Blueberry Quick Bread
(slightly adapted from Crunchy Creamy Sweet)
Makes 1 loaf
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a 9×5″ loaf pan with parchment and grease the parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix in blueberries.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, oil, egg and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined – it’s fine if it’s slightly lumpy.
Pour batter into prepared, lined pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until golden on the outside and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.