Zucchini Pie — Another Early Gooseberry Patch Cookbook Recipe Review (plus a giveaway!)

A couple of days ago I shared a yummy dessert recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s new-not-yet-in-stores-near-you cookbook, Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition.  This cookbook is full of yummy, quick and easy recipes — I had a hard time selecting just a couple to make for review purposes!

I love zucchini, year round, and had all of the ingredients necessary for this recipe right on hand.  It was delicious!  Most of the time I am cooking for one (which is not a whole lot of fun).  I try to make at least one dish on the weekend which will make a good Sunday dinner, lunch on Monday, and then provide some leftover which can be frozen for the future (because two days in a row is about all I can take any meal — this way I’m not throwing out food, and I have a variety stocked up in the freezer, especially for the working-through-lunch days, and I’m-tired-of-cold-cereal-after-a-long-day-in-the-office days).

Zucchini Pie

(page 35)

Ginny Paccioretti

Oak Ridge, NJ

Ingredients:

1 cup biscuit baking mix

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 cups zucchini, sliced and quarters

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

 
Directions:

In a bowl, combine baking mix, eggs, oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; Stir in vegetables.

Spread into a lightly greased 13”x9” baking pan.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes.  Serves 6 to 8.

It is not too late … Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores?  Be sure to enter by clicking here!

Tags: Baking, cross-stitch, Debbie, family, Giveaways, Gooseberry Patch, vegetable, zucchinni

Gooseberry Patch Early Review: Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition — Butterscotch Brownies (Plus a giveaway!)

I echo Jen’s earlier post on how excited we were to be asked to be Early Bird Reviewers for new Gooseberry Patch books.  I collect cookbooks, and have been a fan of Gooseberry Patch since my sister-in-law, Rhonda, gave me my first as a gift many years ago (I think it was Celebrate Autumn).

I love their cookbooks (I’ve got 14, and can’t begin to tell you how many I’ve purchased as gifts!) and “cook booklets” (too many to count!).  Unlike most of the cookbooks in my collection (many of which are purchased during our many family travels as souvenirs, and to be honest, contain ingredients I would never purchase and include directions I would never take the time to tackle), the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks are put to good use. I think it is because most of the recipes come from people much like you and I — busy and trying to eat well on a budget! So, Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition was perfect for my turn to be a reviewer!  I’ll be posting several recipes this week which are the result of the sneak peek we’ve been privileged to have for this new book which will be hitting the bookstores soon, and we will even have a copy to give away!  Read through this post to find out how to enter to win a Gooseberry Patch cookbook before it hits the stores.

As soon as I heard from Jen that the books had arrived I started bugging her to get them to me so I could start my review process.  As you can see from the picture below, I didn’t have any trouble finding 2-3 recipes to try-out … the problem was actually deciding what to try!  Best of all, I already had all of the ingredients on hand to try every single recipe I tagged.

And, because life is short, I started with dessert first!  These things were so good that I proceeded to make a second batch to take into the office – I doubled all ingredients and baked in a 9″ x 13″ pan which made the bars just a little bit thicker.

Butterscotch Brownies

(page 197)

Alice Flood

Dallas, TX

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans purchased at Priester’s, one of our favorite stops when roadtripping north on I-65)

Directions:

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat; remove from heat.  Stir in brown sugar until dissolved; set aside to cool to room temperature (cool enough that the eggs don’t start to cook when you add them!).  Blend in egg; add flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well.  Stir in vanilla and nuts; spread in a greased 8”x8” baking pan.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes; let cool.  Makes 9.

Note:  I melted the butter in a small glass mixing bowl in the microwave oven, and then mixed all ingredients with my Kitchen Aid mixer.

Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores?

How to Enter

We will be giving away ONE copy of the cookbook.  If you would like a chance to win, leave us a comment in this post and tell us what your favorite soup, salad or sandwich is.  Leave your comment before March 10 at 9:59 CST.  Don’t worry about being creative in your comment, the winner will be chosen by a random number generator.  Please make sure that you fill out the required fields by putting your first name in the name field and your email address in the email address field.  We do not share email addresses and you will not receive emails from Threaded Together unless you win.

Winners

We will choose ONE winner randomly and announce the results here on Threaded Together on March 11, 2012.

Rules

One comment per person per giveaway post.  Duplicate comments and anonymous comments will be discarded.  Please make sure that the email address in your comment form is valid so that we can contact you (email addresses are never made public).  Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize.  We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology.  No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that Threaded Together reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize.  Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state, and local taxes on the value of their prize.  Relatives of Threaded Together are not eligible to win.

Because this is a family site and we get a lot of spam comments, all comments on this site are moderated.  If you comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry!

Enjoy!!

Tags: Baking, brownies, Debbie, Giveaways, Gooseberry Patch

Poppyseed Cake

It is beginning to look a bit like Christmas … and that means there are all kinds of get-togethers, at the office, in the neighborhood, etc.  This is an old stand-by, one of my favorite “go-to” recipes, especially when I haven’t planned ahead for something special!  I’ve got a meeting at work tomorrow morning and decided I needed to bring something in to share.  I conveniently keep the ingredients for this yummy cake on hand at all times.

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 box butterscotch instant pudding

approx. 1 Tblsp. Poppy seeds (original recipe calls for 2 oz. — a small spice container — but, in this case I think “less is more” and can get 3-4 cakes out of one container)

1 cup water

4 eggs

2/3 cup oil

Powdered sugar

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients (except
powdered sugar).  Add water, eggs and
oil.  Mix on low speed for 30 seconds,
until well combined.  Mix on medium speed
for 2 minutes.  Pour into lightly greased
bundt pan.

Bake at 350° for 40-45
minutes (until tester comes out clean).
Let cool about 10 minutes and invert onto plate.  This also works well in loaf pans. Cool
completely and then dust with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Tags: Baking, Cakes, Christmas, Debbie

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (Cinnabon Style)

I know I have hit the nail on the head when my husband tells me I have outdone myself.  He is definitely a foodie, and VERY honest when it comes to the stuff I set in front of him.  He does not spare my feelings when it comes to his food opinions.  I know in seconds whether the recipe is a keeper in his book.  I also know when I need to immediately toss it, or if it is so amazing he doesn’t even know what to with himself (see the chocolate bomb recipe from the “30 Days and 30 Bites” challenge as well as the peanut butter cupcakes…yum!!!). 

When I made these pumpkin cinnamon rolls, he went on, and on, and on, and on about how delicious every single bite was.  Not just for one roll.  When he had leftovers the next day he did the same thing.  And the day after that.  I have to agree with him.  This is one darn good cinnamon roll.

I adapted the recipe from this one I found at allrecipes.com (you know how much I love that site).  The original recipe is fantastic on its own, so if you are looking for a plain Cinnabon style sweet roll, try it as is.  After having made it several times, I decided to make a few alterations for something just for fall.

This is a dough you can use the bread machine for (below), but you can also make it by hand if you are familiar with proofing yeast and the two rise times needed.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

Glaze:

• 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
3. Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt.
5. Remove rolls from oven and invert on a serving plate.  Leave the pan over the rolls for at least five minutes to allow the caramel from the pan to soak into the rolls.
6. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

I highly recommend making the rolls the night BEFORE.  Who really wants to make these first thing in the morning?  If you make them the night ahead follow these directions instead: Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Also, I only cook six rolls the next day for the four of us.  I freeze the other six for another time.  So here is what I do: Place 6 rolls in a lightly greased 8×8 baking pan (or round). Place the other 6 rolls in the same size freezer-friendly pan.

Place both pans in refrigerator over night. They will slowly rise overnight. In the morning, remove from fridge at least 20 minutes prior to baking to bring to room temperature. Place the freezer-friendly pan in the freezer and save for another day (if you let it stay in the fridge the next day it will deflate so don’t forget to transfer it! To thaw, simply place in fridge overnight and follow the rest of the directions).  Bake rolls as directed in step 4, but you will probably require an extra 5 to 15 minutes depending on how cold they still are from the freezer.

These are simply to die for and you will find yourself making them over and over again!

Tags: Baking, breakfast, cinnabon, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin

Coffee Crumb Cake

I don’t know about where you live, but summer is “officially” here in May despite what the calendar says; and, because we live here  (Visit Pensacola), summer means visitors. What better way to get these visitors ready to spend the day seeing the sights around our beautiful adopted hometown than with a yummy coffee cake for breakfast?  Now, I know Marissa has bragged previously about find the Coffee Cake recipe to beat them all, but this old family favorite will never be replaced as far as I’m concerned…and, if those are surprise visitors, you don’t have to worry, chances are you’ll have all of these ingredients on hand! We’ve even called it “Poor Man’s Coffee Cake” because the ingredients are simple and bound to be found in your kitchen pantry.

 Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 stick margarine or butter

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg, beaten

½ cup milk (I use 2%)

 Optional:

½ cup chopped nuts (I like to use pecans)

½ cup raisins

Directions:

Beat together sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and margarine until you have fine “crumbs” – RESERVE 1 cup of dry mixture. Into the remaining dry mixture (still in the mixing bowl), stir beaten egg, milk, baking soda and baking powder. Add nuts and raisins (optional, but make the cake so much better!).

Sprinkle half of the reserved dry mixture in bottom of lightly greased 8”x8” baking dish.

 Spread the batter and then sprinkle the remaining reserved dry mixture over the top.

Bake 30-40 minutes at 350°, or until pick comes out clean.

And, if you don’t believe this is an old family favorite, take a look at this recipe card … tattered and stained — proof! :-)

Enjoy!

Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Debbie, Entertaining

Hot Cross Buns

I love my bread machine and use it almost exclusively to make yeast breads; but there are two exceptions to that rule — Christmas (Stollen) and Easter (Hot Cross Buns).  Easter is late this year, but for some reason it still seemed to sneak up on me. Knowing Jen and family would be out of town until Sunday afternoon, I decided Thursday night (LATE!) if I was going to make any of these balls of deliciousness I’d better do it and take them in to work to share on Friday (so I didn’t sit at home and eat the whole batch all by myself!). I think they were a hit — only a couple left and I sent those home with co-workers (since I knew I still had some left at home!).

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

1 pkg. yeast

¼ cup warm water

¾ cup milk

½ cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup sugar (granulated)

½ cup raisins

½ tsp. salt

4-5 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. allspice

1 egg

Directions:

 Soften the yeast in the ¼ cup of warm water.

Heat milk on stove or in microwave until scalded (bubbling at edges) – took about 4 minutes in my microwave. Pour milk over butter (cut into small pieces for quicker melting) in large mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Wasn’t thinking and had the dough hook on here — actually need the regular “paddle” for the next couple of steps!

 Stir in yeast mix. Add cinnamon, allspice and 3 cups of the flour. Add raisins. Mix on medium speed until combined.

 Switch to dough hook (yippee for my Kitchen Aid!) or place dough on floured surface, adding additional flour until you have a nice smooth and elastic dough.

Place in a glass bowl, cover loosely with a towel, and let rise for about an hour (I turn my oven on low and set the bowl on top of the stove).

Punch down, divide (a fancy recipe term to say “pull pieces off about the size you want”) and roll into 24 buns. Brush with egg white and cut crosses (I often skip this step – like them just as well soft, without the egg white “crust”). Let rise again. Oops! Forgot to “cut” in the crosses (I did mention that it was LATE Thursday night!).

 Bake at 400° for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden on top. Frost crosses.

Frosting:

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla (use clear flavoring if you want the frosting to stay pure white)

Enough water to make it “drizzling” consistency

Enjoy! And have a Happy Easter!

Tags: Baking, Debbie, Easter, Hot Cross Buns

Three Ingredient Brownies

Are you looking for a delicious dessert to make but don’t have many ingredients or don’t feel like going to all the effort?  This was exactly the case for me last night.  We had an improptu gathering of friends at our house and I wanted something sweet to share (not to mention my husband hates a night with no dessert!).  The first recipe to pop into my head was my mom’s Three Ingredient Brownies which happens to be published in the Country Quick and Easy Cookbook by Gooseberry Patch (who’s blog we were also recently featured in). 

I know I have mentioned before that my daughter, K, loves to work in the kitchen with me.  So of course, this was also a perfect recipe for her to be able to do ALL the work.  There are only three ingredients and all you do is mix them in a bowl, spread into a pan, and bake!  They are a rich, wonderful, different style of homemade brownie and it had been FAR too long since I made them.  Thanks for dessert mom!

sorry about the picture quality, I took it with my phone!

The recipe can be found on page 174 of the Country Quick and Easy Cookbook or here:

Three Ingredient Brownies, by Debbie Douma

• 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 12 ounce bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 14.5 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I was so excited when K, who is only in Kindergarten, read the word “sweetened” all by herself out of the recipe book…such a good sound-er-out-er!)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread into a greased 9×9 baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes (mine took 30 exactly).  Allow to cool completely before cutting.  Serves 12.  Enjoy!

Tags: Baking, brownies, Marissa

Morning Glory Muffins

Good for me, good for you!  Today’s post is another healthy living post, which I am trying so desperately hard to do!  I found this recipe for Morning Glory Muffins on my favorite, of course, allrecipes.com.  It is fantastic! 

And why is it good for me and good for you?  Well, it is full of:

• carrots, great for vision, and lowering blood cholesterol
• wheat flour, packed with calcium, iron, and fiber
• cinnamon, there are too many reasons why this may be good for you to list, so go check this link out yourself :)
• apple and apple butter, one a day keeps the doctor away, right??  check this out
• cranberries (I used these instead of raisins), full of antioxidants and all these other reasons
• eggs, great source of protein and vitamins
• about 150 calories per muffin of all that goodness (I yielded several more than the recipe called for and made a few alterations)

Not to mention, it tastes wonderful!  My alterations: I used craisins instead of raisins because we just prefer them around this house and I only added one TSP of vanilla instead of a TBSP, by accident really, but it didn’t hurt the flavor at all.  I would still put a full tsp in next time.  Also, I did not do the nut/wheat germ topping because I was too lazy and they looked just fine the way they were!

This really reminds me of a recipe I think my mother made while I was growing up and I am sure I HATED them back then.  I don’t remember eating them, I just remember seeing them, and probably wishing they were brownies. :)  Alas, a lot has changed since then and I think this is an excellent breakfast or snack muffin.  Great on the side at dinner too!

Tags: Baking, healthy, Marissa, muffins

Baked Whiskey Tortes

Holy Cow, I have a new favorite cookbook!  Well, dessert book!  Recently, while searching for inspiration, I went to my local library and checked out a few of the cookbooks.  I have been looking for books that will not just give me recipes, but teach me how to bake.  Why baking powder and not soda?  Why eggs or just the yolks or only the whites?  Paddle attachment versus whisking balloon?   Though I LOVE to bake and can reproduce pretty much any recipe, admittedly, I have no idea how these people came up with this stuff.  I am tired of reproducing recipes and ready to start creating my own.  Why re-invent the wheel?  I don’t know…a new sense of ownership in what I am working so hard on all the time?  As you can see, I have a lot of questions when it comes to baking.

Well, now a LOT of them are being answered.  By Sherry Yard.  Although I do not know anything about this woman except what the biography in the book says and the little I have looked at online, I can tell you she is most certainly good at what she does.  Just Google her name and see what you find.  Her book,

is phenomenal.  Not only does it provide wonderful recipes, but for me, the main attraction is the fact that she gives you wonderful details about how to do things, why you are doing them, what you can do differently, and how you can personalize it to make it your own.  I enjoy the way she has the cookbook organized.  One recipe leads to the other with a great fluidity.  For instance, the ganaches are all grouped together, then categorized by soft, medium and firm.  All the recipes that are similar to ganache, or use ganache as a base to build on, are also put in these categories.  She recommends which recipes you can combine and how. It is simply fantastic!

This is no new book, in fact, it was published 8 years ago.  But it is new to me and I am in love!  I will be trying a great deal of recipes from it and checking it out from the library over and over again.

I will go ahead and post the first recipe I made from the book, but I think after this one, I will just continue posting a link to places you can purchase the book.  So go buy it, or go look for it at your local library!

Baked Whiskey Tortes

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (or Pam)
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I purchased the Ghirardelli chips)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons whiskey (I used Johnny Walker Black Label)
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• Whipped crème fraîche for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Adjust the rack to the center of the oven.  Brush the inside of four 6 – ounce (medium) ramekins with melted butter (I used Pam and it did just fine).
2. Using a serrated knife, finely chop the chocolate into 1/4 inch pieces and place it in a medium heatproof bowl (I didn’t do this since I purchased the bittersweet chips).
3. Bring the cream and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Immediately pour the cream over the chopped chocolate.  Tap the bowl on the counter to settle the chocolate into the cream, then let it sit for one minute.  Using a rubber spatula, stir in a circular motion, starting from the center of the bowl and working out to the sides.  Stir until all the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes.
4. Combine the whiskey and eggs in a bowl.  Whisk them together then gently stir them into the ganache.  When the eggs are thoroughly incorporated, pour the mixture into the ramekins, filling them three-quarters full.
5. Place the filled ramekins in a large baking pan.  Carefully pour hot water into the large pan until it comes halfway up the ramekins.  Bake the tortes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they feel firm to the touch (mine took right around 30 minutes I think.  I started watching them at 20 and my finger was still sinking into the torte when I touched them.  I waited until it barely gave at all and didn’t stick to my finger when touched).  Allow the tortes to cool slightly before serving.  The tortes can be made up to one day in advance and rewarmed before serving in a 325 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes.  Serve with a small dollop of whipped crème fraîche (I used vanilla ice cream and it was lovely!).

This recipe was VERY easy to make, even if you don’t know what you are doing.  The chocolate was so smooth going down and blended very well with the ice cream.  Prep and bake time took no more than an hour.  Any company you have will most certainly call you a gourmet baker if you prepare this for them!  Though, it should be noted that this is NOT a low calorie dessert!!!  The recipe makes 4 servings and each one is over 675 calories!  YIKES!  Glad I looked that up so I could plan my whole daily caloric intake around eating one of these tonight!

Tags: Baking, chocolate, Marissa, torte

Marissa vs. Chocolate

Do you ever have those days?  You know, the ones that you wake up totally unaware of how terrible it is going to be?!?!  I certainly do and this day was no exception.  The day proved to bring on a serious match for me. 

In one corner, 5 inches tall and weighing in at 5 pounds, born from a serious love for all things chocolate, the infamous Chocolate Bomb cake.  His opponent, 5’10”, blankety blank blank pounds, brunette, known to her friends as Betty “the Beat” Crocker…Marissa.  The battle began in the early hours of the afternoon.  Marissa started out with a quick mix, tossing all the ingredients she had at the Bomb.  After throwing in some serious heat (350 degrees to be exact), the Bomb took a shot back and came out swinging and burning.  Marissa went at him again, pouring in a whole other round of flour power, beaten eggs and some pudding to make him extra gushy.  She came out ahead after this one and the two proceeded on to the next round.  The Bomb resisted the gooiness of the ganache and went all grainy on Marissa…creating the necessity for ANOTHER repeat.  He was trying to slowly wear her down and stomp all over her gusto and glory.  Marissa, “the Beat,” wasn’t through yet.  Oh no.  She melted the Bomb’s ganache the second time like the Wicked Witch of the West.  She covered the Bomb with a right, then a left, then a solid pass around the top of him.  It looked like there was no hope left and he was done for.  Finally defeated by the super mom.  But wait.  What’s this?  Marissa is getting into the car to leave and what does the Bomb pull out in the final minutes of the match???  That’s right!  He slides to the right and INTO the wall of the ring, smooshing his ooey gooey frosting all over the ropes!  His beautiful icing detail work all a mess!  Marissa has been conquered!!!  She falls to the ground as the crowd is yelling “boos” and “oos.”  She cries back, hands over her eyes “Not right now kids!  Leave Mommy alone!!!!”

That was at 6:32.  The cake was supposed to be in my friend’s hands at 6:30.  I ran into the house, scraped off the damaged buttercream, whipped up a new batch and re-iced the details.  I managed to get it over to her house by 7:00 after threatening my son’s life if he were to tilt, drop or squish that cake.  Well, not really, but I’m sure HE felt that way!

I have made this cake a MILLION times.  It is by far my favorite, and popular with everyone else who has tried it.  I am certainly no master baker, but I am proud of my Chocolate Bomb.  I guess we ALL have our off days. 

Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating