if i had a garden...

I would grow zucchini just so I could make this double chocolate zucchini bread I found online. OMG. So tasty but not even remotely healthy tasting which meant everyone in the house enjoyed it.

I used to hate when my mother fed us vegetables masquerading as dessert but, then again, I ate my vegetables. So while I'm troubled by the trickery and remain a chocolate purist at heart, some tough love is in order for the picky guys in this house. 

Anyway, I made just a few tweaks since I was using what I had in my pantry but it looks like Under the High Chair modified her recipe from Joy of Cooking so it all works out :)

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup grated, raw zucchini (I used 2 medium size zucchinis)
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped up bakers chocolate, which is what I had) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5x3″ loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini using a medium sized grater. (I used a cheese grater.) Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a hand mixer until well blended. Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The original recipe suggested about 55-65 minutes. I found this way too long for my oven and pulled it at 45 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

it's been a long week...

Most of SATC2 sucked but there was one moment when Charlotte freaked out and locked herself in the pantry to get away from the kids. I watched the movie on a flight from L.A. to NYC and teared up while watching her meltdown - thanks god no one was paying any attention to my blubbering over such a crap movie with this one redeeming motherhood moment. Anyway, I had that moment today. Only instead of locking myself away I started hacking at a 3-pound Valrhona chocolate slab we have in the baking cupboard, (which was inevitable since we don't have any other kind of dessert in the house right now and we're out of liquor and/or wine).
Part of the frustration is I made some healthy-ish oatmeal cookies with B. earlier today (recipe below). He loves oatmeal so the idea behind this was to make a portable snack, sort of like a homemade granola bar, that he could enjoy. And he was totally into helping me add and stir ingredients. Only he refused to try the cookies once they were baked. So take that all you parenting books and blogs that say kids will try anything they've had a hand in making. Not true!
And then dinner (chicken sausages, pizza bread, which is basically homemade focaccia, and roasted brussel sprouts) went totally unappreciated by all dudes in the house--sidebar: I wasn't expecting anyone but me to enjoy the brussel sprouts--until I literally threw a piece of sausage in B.'s mouth while he was yawning (he was otherwise gritting his teeth) and then he loved it and ate a bunch. Except instead of being grateful that he was finally eating and enjoying the sausage, all I could think was, "You little mother effer, I knew you'd like it. Why couldn't you just trust me and eat it in the first place." Like I said, it's been a long week. So after chomping down on a bunch of Valrhona, I hacked up some more chocolate and added the chunks to the leftover oatmeal cookie dough. Somehow seems like a fortuitous salvage of the neglected cookies and my Friday night.

Oatmeal Cookies

The inspiration for these came from the awesome Smitten Kitchen blog but I cut down on the sugar and added some applesauce since I figured B. might not like the raisins suggested for this recipe.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce (or half of one of those little Knotts containers)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups instant oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, applesauce and vanilla and blend well. Smitten's blog says to whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a separate bowl before mixing with the wet ingredients but I just measure and dumped them straight in because I hate washing extra bowls.
Because the applesauce makes a fairly wet batter, I refrigerated the mix for about an hour before baking. I use a Silpat mat (nothing EVER sticks, it's amazing) but the original recipe calls for parchment paper. And then baked for about 12 minutes.

DISCLAIMER: T. ate two cookies and then decided he didn't like them. They are on the healthier side. So don't make these if you're expecting the full fatty version. I do have a richer oatmeal cookie recipe somewhere that I'll post later.

best banana bread ever

Now that we need to keep the house constantly stocked with food (funny how babies want to eat every fricking day) I always have bananas around. But we don't always get to them before they go bad. So have been perfecting my mom's banana bread recipe to deal with all the overripe fruit and I think I nailed it with this one (baked during B.'s one and only nap Sunday). Plus I baked it in a bundt pan, which takes less time and guarantees it'll be cooked in the middle when you take it out.

Banana Bread
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2 eggs
2-3 ripe mashed bananas (seriously the darker the better)
2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream (sorta optional but makes WAY moister)
*chocolate chips (very optional and I don't use when baking for Ben)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and mashed bananas and blend all together. Add half the flour and all of the salt, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until just combined. Add the milk, vanilla and sour cream and beat until just combined. Add the rest of the flour and beat until just combined. Add chocolate chips at this stage if you want. Pour into a large bundt pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top if firm and a straw comes out clean.