Zesty Cook » baked

Apple Filled Granola Topped Muffins

zesty — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:14:35 +0000

Happy Monday! A while back, I was fooling around with muffin recipes and I made an apple granola muffin that was a 6-7 out of 10. Apples were a little bland and they were nothing to facebook and tell your friends. This time around I altered the ingredients slightly. I used organic hemp granola with a pumpkin flavor and added nutmeg into the mix for some more flavor.

Results…. ummm these are delicious! Give them a try and let me know what you think.

I have been craving homemade muffins without a huge amount of oil. I recently picked up a new box of hemp granola (pumpkin) so I thought I would incorporate that into a basic muffin mixture with some apples. This is what I came up with. A delicious muffin, moist on the inside with a little crunch on the outside from the granola.

I was really impressed with the texture of the muffin, last time I thought that maybe the apple was a little “BLAH“. This time, I added some nutmeg to the apple before hand and I think it was the final tweak.

Ingredients

2 Large Apple (Peeled and Cored)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
2/3 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Granola
4 Tbsp. Canola Oil
1 Large Egg (beaten)
1 Cup Skim Milk

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12- hole muffin pan.

Place the apple and half the sugar in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.

Sift together remaining sugar, flour(s), baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Stir in granola (reserving some for top of muffins).

In a small bowl, beat together remaining ingredients. Stir this liquid into the dry ingredients and lightly stir together.

Divide the mixture among the holes in the muffin pan, filling each about 2/3 full.

Top with remaining granola.
Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown.
Remove the muffins from the oven and turn out immediately onto a cooling rack to cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When mixing the dry ingredients with the wet – be sure not to over mix, lumps and some flour still showing is OK. If you over-beat the batter, the muffins will be flat.

So next time you are on the hunt for a muffin – give these a try. I beckon they would work great with any fruit if you are in a pinch. Have a great start to your week and stay tuned for some garden chatter.

Take care

zesty

Bread and A Banana… Or {Banana Bread}

zesty — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:00:01 +0000

The end of the week is here! This week flew by, hard to believe we are in May already. Guess what I just remembered last night? It is mother’s day on Sunday. Opps sorry Mrs. Zesty – I will get on it as soon as possible and surprise you for Sunday. I have a couple of ideas in mind so it will just be a matter of execution
on Saturday.

As for this sudden craving I had… banana bread. I had some lonely looking bananas hanging in the freezer that were just aching to be warmed up and cooked. What better way to use up bananas with on of my favorite breads in the whole world. Moist, tender, soft, fluffy banana bread! Give this recipe a try if you have a craving like I did and I am pretty confident you will not be disappointed.

Today, I thought I would share with you my take of a classic bread – Banana Bread! One of my all-time favorite loafs and a great way to use ripened bananas.

Every now and again I feel the need to add some nuts to my Banana Bread recipe for a different texture and flavor combination. With this loaf I chose the “Walnut”.

Ingredients

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tsp. baking soda
1/4 Tsp. salt
1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup white sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
4 Mashed overripe bananas
1/4 Cup walnuts

Method

Preheat Oven to 350°.
Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and white sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended, then toss in the walnuts.
Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let bread cool in pan for a bit, then flip it out onto a wire rack.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When bananas are on their last leg on your counter, a great place to store them for either smoothies or baking is in the freezer. They freeze very well and it will help prolong their useful life.

I hope you get some time in the near future to try this banana bread. As I mentioned earlier, it is one of my favorite loafs to make and eat. A slight problem is that I tend to eat the whole loaf. I especially love the two end pieces. Do you like the end pieces?

Weekend is upon us… any big plans for you? I hope you have fun with whatever you choose to do and I will see you back here on Monday!

Oh, one last thing, if you haven’t checked out our recipe e-book yet, you can download it here for free.

Take care

zesty

A Smashed Potato

zesty — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:00:26 +0000

Scrambling with work and Disney preparations – I decided to recycle one of my new found favorite ways to serve potatoes… Let me know if you like them.

Growing up on PEI, potatoes are everywhere, and I have grown to love them. Whether they are mashed, baked, french fries, scalloped, pan fried, boiled, microwaved ( umm a bit sketchy) I eat them all. Over the years I have tested many techniques and added different flavoring to potatoes to kick it up a notch. When looking for a comfort side dish I tend to lean towards the method seen below.

Now do not dismiss the fact I truly adore mashed potatoes with butter and cream but lately I have been all over SMASHED potatoes. It is a two step process to make it happen but will never disappoint.

Ingredients

Potatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Method

Start off by boiling the potatoes until almost fork tender.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Once the potatoes are finished boiling remove them from the water and let stand for a minute.
Prepare a cookie sheet or roasting pan
Using a heavy bottomed pot, smash the potatoes gently to just break the skin and press the potatoes down.
Once flat, add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven until golden brown and slightly crispy. About 25-35 minutes.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: In the boiling stage, be careful not too overcook the potatoes. You just want them softened slightly so you can “smash” them with the back of a pot.

Well I hope you enjoyed the potato talk. Do note that they are potatoes and very versatile. Switch it up and keep it fresh. Another great alternative is the beloved sweet potato. All the techniques stay true to a regular potato. As I am typing this, I think someday I should talk about all the different types of potatoes and why some are good for baking versus boiling etc. Maybe another time!

I am scheduling some guest posts while I am on vacation next week and not bringing my laptop… can you believe it?

Take care

zesty

Whole Wheat Butter Biscuits

zesty — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:00:46 +0000

Happy Monday! Life seems to be back to normal, holiday season is behind us, regular work days are back in order. How is everyone doing? Hopefully everyone’s new years resolutions are still on track – I feel I am having a pretty good start to the new year so all is positive.

Remember last week when it was all about pork? With the pork chop pot roast and the old fashion baked beans? Well, it is hard to have homemade beans without some sort of homemade bread to dip into them. With that said, I whipped up a batch of whole wheat biscuits with butter that worked just fine.

Pretty simple recipe and the flavor of the whole wheat flour was very nice. Usually for biscuits – I am a white flour kind of guy but I will be honest, these biscuits were really tasty.

Ingredients

2 Cups Whole Wheat flour
1 Tbsp. Baking powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. White sugar
1/3 Cup Butter
1 Cup Milk

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used.
Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Warm the milk in the microwave before adding to the dry ingredients ( Momma zesty told me that). I always like to rub the tops with some left over milk as well prior to cooking to help the tops become golden brown. If you have buttermilk… even better.

Another biscuit story… Have you ever heard of frozen butter biscuits? Apparently Michael Smith does a recipe with frozen butter where he shaves it into the batter and they turn out amazing. These are next on my biscuit list! Did I ever tell you I love biscuits? Have a manic monday and I will see you all for the hump of the week.

Take care

zesty

A Little Piece of Soda Bread

zesty — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:00:22 +0000

Happy Monday from a snowy PEI. As I sit at the dining room table the snow is falling, the trees are white, the ground is covered in snow and oh yes…. the snow plow just rolled down the road and plugged our driveway. Welcome to the first significant snowfall of the winter. Am I excited? I would be lying if I said yes. Are the kids over the moon that they get to go out and shovel? you better believe it!

I am going to share with you a fun, quick recipe that you can whip up anytime to give you the nice comfort feeling of… HOMEMADE BREAD. I had some of the family over last night for dinner ( ham, sweet potato casserole and some seared broccoli) but I also made a loaf of this soda bread. I was browsing the Joy of Baking yesterday afternoon when I stumbled across this Irish Soda Bread recipe. I happen to have all the ingredients on hand and about an hour before the ham was ready – so I said… What the heck.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
1 1/2 Cups Whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. Granulated white sugar (optional)
2 Tbsp. Old fashioned rolled oats (optional)
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk (soured milk)

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet or cast iron skillet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, oats, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add most of the buttermilk.
Using yours hands, or a wooden spoon, mix (adding more buttermilk if necessary) until you have a soft moist dough.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into a 7 inch (18 cm) round that is about 1 inch (2.54 cm) thick.
Place the round on your prepared baking sheet and then, with a sharp knife, cut a 1/4 inch deep “X” across the top of the bread.
Bake for about 40 – 50 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
ENJOY!

I may just love bread and Jam - had to test it out after the guests left…..

Zesty Tip: Craving raisin bread? If so, throw in a cup of raisins into this mixture and keep smiling. If you do go the raisin route, you may want to add a 1/2 cup of cold butter cut into the dough mixture.

Well I think my name is being called to get my snow gear on and go help shovel, build snowmen, fall down on the ground and make a zesty angel. Have a super Monday and I will see you on Wednesday. Oh I forgot to ask you…. How was your Christmas? Mine was absolutely fabulous…. amazing food, surrounded by family and friends and time to relax. No better time than this.

Take care

zesty

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, oats, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add most of the buttermilk. Using yours hands, or a wooden spoon, mix (adding more buttermilk if necessary) until you have a soft moist dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into a 7 inch (18 cm) round that is about 1 inch (2.54 cm) thick. Place the round on your prepared baking sheet and then, with a sharp knife, cut a 1/4 inch deep “X” across the top of the bread.

Bake for about 40 – 50 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. You can also test that is fully baked by tapping the bottom of the bread – it should sound hollow. Remove from oven. This bread is wonderful when served warm with butter and jam. It also makes great toast.

Banana Walnut Bread

zesty — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:00:39 +0000

Happy Wednesday! WOW what a week. I am pretty excited to see the holiday around the corner for tomorrow. I had a lot of fun this week especially the blogging aspect of it. Despite the fact that work and zestycook.com consumes a large majority of my waking day… I love it! No complaints from being busy over here. Do you like being busy?

Today, I thought I would share with you my take of a classic bread - Banana Bread! One of my all-time favorite loafs and a great way to use ripened bananas.

Every now and again I feel the need to add some nuts to my Banana Bread recipe for a different texture and flavor combination. With this loaf I chose the “Walnut”.

Ingredients

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tsp. baking soda
1/4 Tsp. salt
1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup white sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
4 Mashed overripe bananas
1/4 Cup walnuts

Method

Preheat Oven to 350°.
Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and white sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended, then toss in the walnuts.
Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let bread cool in pan for a bit, then flip it out onto a wire rack.

ENJOY!

Holiday is upon us… any big plans for you? I hope you have fun with whatever you choose to do and I will see you back here on Friday!

Oh, one last thing, if you haven’t checked out our new recipe e-book yet, you can download it here for free.

Take care

zesty

Indian Inspired Parmesan Baked Pita Chips

zesty — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:10 +0000

Hollar! One heck of a weekend over here… it flew by but lots of fun was had for sure. Cookie baking activity on Saturday, pumpkin decorating on Sunday for the kiddos, an new side dish recipe that I am sure we will talk about in the days to come and the weather has been super warm. I love warm weather…. Did you know that?

Wanna know something else I love? Chips. Chips of any kind, any type, any shape with dip or without – it doesn’t matter. I am a CHIP Lover/Addict. Today i want to share with you a fun little recipe that was well received at a recent House gathering. These are simple pita chips with a couple of twists. Super easy to make and very fun to eat… CCCCRUNCH!

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. Olive oil
3/4 Tsp. Ground cumin
1/4 Tsp. Ground red pepper
5 Large whole wheat or white pitas with pockets
1/2 Cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
Salt (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In cup, with fork, mix oil, cumin, and ground red pepper.
With knife or kitchen shears, cut each pita in half. Brush 1 side of pita halves with oil mixture. Cut each half into 8 wedges.
Arrange wedges, oiled-side up, in non greased sheet pans.
Sprinkle with Parmesan, and salt if you like.
Place pans on oven racks and bake crisps 12 to 15 minutes or until golden, rotating pans from upper to lower racks halfway through baking for even browning.
Cool chips in pans on wire racks.
Dip with your favorite Hummus or Bean Dip
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If there are any leftovers, store chips in tightly covered container or large self-sealing plastic bag up to 1 week. They will stay crunchy – I tested out 2 batches!

The cumin flavored combined with the slight heat of the red pepper was a fantastic combination. I feel the simple oil mixture elevated a somewhat boring piece of Pita Bread into an exciting bite for the guests.

Kick start your week with a super day today. Let’s see if we can do something fun. As you know I am not a huge user of twitter but when I squeeze in a minute or two I try to hop on and give something a tweet. With that said, whoever has twitter and reads this post – give it a re-tweet and than let me know. I will start the tweeting off in a minute. Do you think I could make it to 100 tweets? I am not sure a post of mine ever made it to 100.

Have a super Monday and do note that I will be going back to my normal schedule of posting Monday, Wednesday and Fridays not that Help the Students event is complete. I will talk to you on Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Brown Bag Oven Fries

zesty — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:00:25 +0000

Help The Students Event: Day 1

Welcome to the kick off of Help the Students event. For the next month you will be seeing recipes that are student friendly. Recipes that use simple, easy to find ingredients. Recipes that are straight forward and easy to prepare. You will also find tips, tricks, shopping ideas, economical ideas and special guest posts from fantastic food bloggers.

I thought I would kick off day one with a simple homemade oven fries recipe. This guys are so versatile and great at anytime of the day. Yes you read it right! Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – these are a hit! My Dad used to tell me growing up that fries in brown paper bags are the best.

I have had them a few times at restaurants and I do agree with him. A fun novelty that you can for sure create at home.

Ingredients

3-4 Baking Potatoes (sliced)
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Tsp. Garlic powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Black pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper
Slice potatoes and then rinse well and pat dry with paper towel.
In a large bowl add potatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, black pepper and mix well
Pour out on a cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes turning occasionally until golden brown.
Remove from oven and serve on plate or in a brown paper bag.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Ensure the potatoes are very dry before starting the baking process. If any amount of liquid is present, the potatoes will steam and not become crispy. Once they come out of the oven and screaming hot… hit them with a little bit of salt.

Freestyle Variation: Add some heat if you are in the mood by tossing with a little cayenne pepper or a few dashes of hot sauce. A nice finishing touch is to add Parmesan cheese with about 5 minutes to go in the cooking process.

I hope you enjoyed Day 1 of Help The Student event. Feel free to send along your recipe or tips if you would like to be featured this month. Students all over the world will benefit from your experiences. Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

2 handful baby potatoes ( halved )

2 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 Tsp. Chili powder

1 Tsp. Garlic powder

1/2 Tsp. Celery salt

1 Tsp. Black pepper

One Helluva Wholewheat Lasagna

zesty — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:00:35 +0000

Happy Friday and thanks for everyone that has participated in the amazing Mandolin Slicer Giveaway! I have been hearing rumors that is has been successful so that is GREAT. In addition to good news - I have some more good news to share with you today. I am posting my first ever Wholewheat Lasagna Recipe with full step by step instructions for you to follow along, print out at home and try it for yourself.

The results from this recipe have been very positive. The steps are simple and easy to follow – one of my trademarks because I am sometimes “SIMPLE” and the huge benefit I see to this recipe is the ability to swap flavors very easily and either remove the meat altogether or swap in some ground turkey etc.

This dish should appeal to the masses. I really feel the highlight to this dish is taking the time to create the filling/mixture from scratch and ensure the flavor is just the way you are expecting.

Ingredients

1 package of Whole Wheat lasagna noodles
2-15 Oz Cans Crushed/Diced Tomatoes
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Large chopped onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tsp. Oregano
1 large container Ricotta cheese
2 Cups Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/2 Tsp. cracked black pepper
2 eggs
1/4 Cup freshly chopped parsley
3 Cups mozzarella cheese
1 lb. Ground beef
2 Cups mushrooms
3/4 Cup Hot water

Method

Saute onions, and garlic in olive oil until translucent.

Add mushrooms and continue to cook for another 6 minutes.

Add black pepper and then toss in the beef and cook until no longer pink.

Add tomatoes and let simmer for 20 minutes. This will allow the flavors to come together.

Crack eggs and beat lightly. Add Parmesan cheese, cottage cheese, , and the 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese. Add the 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushing it between your fingers. Mix all ingredients well.

Turn oven to 350 degrees. Spoon in a little sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Place uncooked lasagna noodles in a baking dish. Measure 1 1/3 cups of the meat mixture; using a rubber spatula, spread it over the noodles.

Use a spoon to spread about half of the egg cheese mixture over the meat mixture. Place 3 more uncooked noodles on top of the egg cheese mixture. Measure another 1 1/3 cups of meat mixture and spread it over the noodles. Spread remaining egg cheese mixture over meat.

Top with 3 more uncooked noodles and the remaining meat mixture.

Measure hot water. Pour into the baking dish, pouring around all 4 edges of the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Press foil to sides to seal.
Bake for 1 1/4 hours. Remove, and carefully pull foil off (the steam is hot!). Broil for a few minutes until cheese is golden and bubbly.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Water and moisture is the key to a great lasagna… oh well let’s not omit flavor. By adding the hot water to the sides of the pan – it acts as an agent to keep things moist as well as prevent the lasagna from sticking to the sides of the pan.

With all lasagnas, I seem to classify them in 3 categories:

Too Dry
Too Soupy
Just PERFECT

This one falls closely to the just perfect category as far as texture. One thing i skimped on was the cheese quality. I bought a no name brand mozzarella cheese by accident and we noticed it did cause the top layer of the lasagna to have a rubbery characteristic in places. I know lasagna is a pretty popular dish and there are a million variations on it out there in recipe books. I would love to hear your tips and or favorite techniques on creating the perfect lasagna.

Weekend is approaching and I have plenty of items on the to do list. I will check back in with you on Monday.

Take care

zesty

Just Another Garlic Basil Cheeseburger!

zesty — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:22 +0000

PHEW what a week! Happy Friday to you and thanks for stopping in again for another food filled post. I was unsure as to what to have for dinner on Wednesday night as I was getting ready for work in the morning – when I remembered that I had some lean ground beef in the freezer. Every time I would open the freezer it would make a little chirp to me that it was too cold and wanted to be cooked. I could only take that for so long so finally I took it out to thaw and here we are today.

I was kind of in the mood for a cheeseburger but was unsure because we had no whole wheat buns to go with it and really any toppings outside of mustard and ketchup but I convinced myself…. GO FOR IT!

What a reward…. take a look at this. I topped a few with cheese and left a few without for a leftover treat that you will see next week. I may have even impressed Mrs. Zesty to a whole new level.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs Lean ground beef
2 Cloves garlic ( chopped)
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. Dried/frozen basil
Cheddar/marble cheese
1 Tsp. Chili powder
1 Tsp. Dried Thyme
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Black pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a large bowl, add ground beef and all the dry ingredients and mix well together.

Have you ever tried this frozen basil before. It is amazing. So fresh and so convenient especially in the off season.

Form patties and place on roasting rack.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until no longer pink inside the meat ( you can peek if you need to)

Remove from oven and top with cheese; place back in the oven until melted.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When baking ground beef, I like to use the roasting pan with slats in it to allow the grease to follow away from the meat. This ensures you are getting the leanest most healthy form of that particular meat.

This little treat goes well with a side of salad or just on it’s own between your favorite whole grain bun. Heck I just eat them by itself. Sometimes you can’t just beat a homemade cheeseburger. What is your little trick you put in your ground beef/turkey/chicken before cooking it to add that flavor you love?

Around the Blogsphere

Well as I have been wandering around the blogsphere this week…. I have bumped into a couple of wicked recipes that are must try’s in my books. Take a look over here and let me know what you think.

A recipe for stove-top granola by the Hungry Yogini. This will knock your socks off for sure and I cannot wait to try it.
A somewhat genius idea for salad dressings can be found over at Choosing Raw. This I have to sink my gums into.
And last but not least… I found two things I love wrapped into one over at Joy’s site – Can you believe an Avocado Pound Cake? YUM!

That is all I have for this week. I hope everyone has a decent fun filled friday and a great weekend. Today is the last day you can tell all your friends about the Blog Makeover giveaway so “Let it out” and I will be announcing the poor soul that has to work with me for a makeover on MONDAY!

Take care

zesty