Zucchini Bread

I got the recipe from a friend, and of course I tweaked it a bit when I made it. 

Bonnie's Zucchini bread
3 eggs
1 c oil
2 c sugar
2 c blended zucchini (peeled and seeded)
3 t vanilla
Beat eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla. When blending zucchini, you may add a little water if needed.
3 c flour
3 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; mix well. Bake at 1 hour @325. Makes 2 5x8 pans. Freezes well.

Jana's Version of Bonnie's Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 c oil
1 1/2 c sugar
2 c blended zucchini (seeded, not peeled)
1 T. vanilla
Beat eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla. I used a food processor to blend up the zucchini, I didn't have to add any water.
2 c flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; mix well. Bake at 1 hour @325. Makes 2 5x8 pans. Freezes well.

 My little helper, what a goof

 1 good sized zucchini

 take out the seeds and the spongey area surrounding them

 cube up zucchini and put it in the trusty food processor

 scrape down sides and blend again

 measure out the 2 c you need 

* I made two batches, so I measured 4 c. here

 My helpers! Cook with your kids, they will love it!

 Add 3 eggs 

 Add 1 c. oil

 Add 1 T. vanilla

*Note: 3 t. vanilla is the same as 1 T. vanilla, 

so save yourself measuring 3 times and measure once!

 Add 1 1/2 c. sugar

* I cut out 1/2 c. sugar, it is still plenty sweet

 Mix

 Add 2 c. flour and 1 c. whole wheat flour

* I like to add a little whole wheat flour when I can,

It gives it more texture and added goodness

 Add 1 T. cinnamon, 1 t. salt, 1 t. baking powder and 1 t. baking soda

(what a silly girl!)

 Mix well

 Place in two 5x8 inch bread pans

TIP OF THE DAY: cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the bread pan, lay it in the bottom, spray sides and bottom with cooking spray, add dough.  When you go to take the bread out of the pan, you will not have any problem with it sticking on the bottom, and the sides come loose with just a quick once around with a bread knife.

 Bake at 325 for about 1 hour

 The mess! 

And this doesn't even include all the food processor pieces.

 Baked up and ready to eat, YUM!

 It is so good and moist, it doesn't even need butter!

Healthy Vegetable Soup

This is a soup I made Friday night for supper, it turned out really good. It is based on this recipe that I got off of Shannon A.'s - We're Eating What? blog.

Shannon's recipe

Jana's Version
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Saute until onions are golden, then add:
3 leeks, rinsed, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
Saute for another minute, then add to pot with:

1 bell pepper
3 roma tomatoes
4 large russet potatoes
2-3 carrots, I used about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup lentils
6 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
additional water to fill the pot
4 bay leaves
Lawry's season salt
ground pepper

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 min.
Remove bay leaves, then add:

1 c. frozen peas
3-4 handfuls of spinach
1 lb. crispy fried bacon, chopped

Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve.
Makes 7-8 quarts of soup.

All the ingredients, looks very healthy, doesn't it!

Peel onion

Slice one way

Then cross chop

rinse leeks

Lay leek flat and cut in half down the center

There will still be dirt between the leaves, even after rinsing

Bend the leaves backwards so the splay apart and you can easily rinse in between them

All the leeks cut and rinsed

cut the leaves off where they start to get dark green

cut off the root and check the first couple of layers for dirt, rinse if you find any

slice down the center

Cross chop

3 leeks makes about 5 cups of chopped leeks

Pretty bell pepper

Cut out the stem

Quarter and remove the white flesh and seeds

slice and then cross chop

3 roma tomatoes

Remove stem ends, cut in half, slice and then cross chop

Carrots, I used the baby cut carrots, all you have to do is chop

about 1 1/2 cups, you can use more if you want

4 big potatoes, peel

cut in half and then I sliced each half into 8 sticks,
cross chop and you get nice cubes.

If you cube potatoes ahead of time,
put in cold water to prevent oxidation, turning brown.

6 cups chicken broth, 4 bay leaves, Lawry's, ground pepper

Saute onions in olive oil

until golden brown,

6 peeled cloves of garlic

Add leeks and garlic to onions and saute for another minute

Add lentils, tomatoes and red bell pepper to pot

Add onions, leeks and garlic to the pot

Add potatoes and carrots to the pot

Cover, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes

Add peas, handfuls of spinach and bacon
(*bacon was unfortunately unable to make it to the photo shoot)

Mmmmm, the finished pot of soup

Served up

Enjoy with fresh bread and friends!