Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Breakfast!

Christmas is always such a busy time full of gatherings with friends and family. It's the time of year to gain a few extra pounds but luckily (if you'd like to call it that) I've been sick a total of 5 times since October. 2 colds, 2 bouts of nausea/vomiting and 1 nasty flu. All of that has allowed me to eat lots this holiday season and LOSE WEIGHT! That's right, I've actually lost about 5 pounds. =) Not the best way to lose weight but I'll take it. It's not as though I can tell my body to not suck and get a better immune system. Today I finally caved in and bought a big bucket of Cold FX for $50 at Costco. Now fingers crossed that I remember to take it everyday! This Christmas, all of our family gatherings worked out really well. On Christmas morning we had breakfast at my parents house. We made waffles with berries and whipped cream and bacon. I used the waffle recipe from Julie's blog but just left out the savory items. We still have 1/2 a jug of buttermilk left so Jamie and I will have waffles again for breakfast tomorrow(likely lunch cuz I'll be sleeping in). 

Friday, December 24, 2010

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

We're off to Christmas dinner with my relatives tonight and I can't be more excited! I love turkey and all the trimmings. After the feast, a few friends are coming over to go tobogganing! Yes, that's right. Tobogganing tonight. We did a bit of tidying but our house is always a mess so really, it doesn't look like we did anything! After the tidying, we both decided to do some baking. Jamie was making his famous gingerbread cookies because our sister-in-law, Cynthia, loves them. Plus we can bring them to another family dinner tomorrow! I wanted to use up the zucchini that was in our fridge for 3 weeks! I know it sounds gross but boy, the new fridge we got really keeps our produce fresh a lot longer. I've made chocolate zucchini bread before but couldn't find the recipe so I went onto allrecipes.I didn't know if the loaves would turn out since I tried to make the recipe healthier. Jamie said, "You alter recipes way too much". I'm happy to say it turned out to be pretty tasty! I don't like the chocolate chips in the loaf if I'm eating it at room temperature because it's a hard bite in the middle of soft yumminess but it's definitely tasty if you heat it up! 

Ingredients:

  • 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate I used 1 and hated it so I'd omit this next time. 
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups white sugar 1 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup of fat free sour cream & 1-2 tbsp of vegetable oil
  • 2 cups 2 1/2 cups of grated zucchini
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • I also added 1 tbsp of cocoa powder

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease Line two 9x5 inch loaf pans with parchment paper. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate until melted. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth. I tried that but it doesn't work with the cold sour cream that I substituted in so I'd omit it.
  2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated zucchini, vanilla and chocolate; beat well. Stir in the flour baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. I took the advice of others and coated the chocolate chips in my flour mixture before folding them in. Not sure if it's necessary since the batter seemed thick enough to hold the chips in place. 
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. It baked a lot faster for me and that's with Jamie opening the oven every 6 minutes for gingerbread cookies! 


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Mac N' Cheese!

Tis the season for lots of eating! Jamie's work is no exception. The problem with his workplace festivities is that he's part of two teams which means he's got twice the number of goodies to eat. The first work Christmas potluck he made ribs. Now his second work potluck he's making mac n' cheese. He found a quick and easy recipe online at allrecipes
He made a few changes. He decided to use skim milk instead of the can of evaporated milk. He also added onion and garlic powder for extra flavor. I was quite impressed that we actually had onion and garlic powder. I'm always thinking I should buy some of that powder to add deliciousness to our cooking and magically we found some in our cupboard! Don't worry though, it really isn't that old. I do recall purchasing it in the last year (and it still smelled good). 
 After Jamie added half the sauce into the pasta, we realized two things. First off, we had way too much sauce for 1 package of rigatoni. Second, he forgot to add some buttery goodness. Can't skimp on those calories! 

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Hello World!

My name is Sandy. I met a boy named Jamie. We fell in love, bought a house, bought a dog and now we're engaged. This blog was created to share a bit of our chaotic lives. Posts will be random and likely the author will be mostly myself but I hope you enjoy what we have to share! 


Tonight we finished up the last of our Christmas baking (literally finished at 11:32 pm). We started this tradition since we purchased our little home. Over the last 3 years, we've gotten to know a few more neighbors and we're more than happy to add them to our baked goodies list. When we first moved in, I loved having my very own kitchen and so I baked often. Then as the tiny kitchen got old, Jamie replaced me as our home's baker. Today he said, "Greater things have been made in smaller kitchens" and although I agree, I still can't wait to finish renovating our kitchen. 
These were the last of the bunch: Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Instead of raisins though I always put Craisins because I always have those in my baking cupboard. We love our cookie scoops and Jamie asked today if we ever baked without them. I assured him, I indeed did bake before the oh so handy scoops. It was called 2 spoons. 
This year's haul is a bit small compared to previous years but I'm sure it'll do. Jamie bought a mini gingerbread boy cookie cutter this year. Can you spot the little boy? Merry Christmas everyone!