Tasty?

Followers of The Pioneer Woman (or, as she's known to some of us, PDub) know that she's launched a new recipe website called The Tasty Kitchen. It seems like a great idea - home cooks who are internet savvy sharing their recipes. So clearly this calls for an experiment.

I had half a loaf of french bread left over from dinner, and it got a bit stale. What better to do with stale bread than to make a bread pudding? Yum! Now when I was 15 the words "bread pudding" would have filled me with pure terror, but who knew?! My mom was right. Now that I'm OLD, I like all kinds of foods I never thought I would. Except for beets. Mom's still wrong about that.

I went to The Tasty Kitchen and searched for bread pudding recipes. There were a couple to choose from, but when it came down to it I went for the chocolate (surprise!) instead of the raisins (no surprise!). This recipe has a rating of 4.07 mitts. Notice, however, that the reviews that are posted are from people who haven't actually prepared the recipe. Honestly, that blows. How can a rating system work when people flaunt the commonly accepted guidelines in such a cavalier manner, I ask you?!

Anyway.


It turned out okay. Nothing crazy good, but not bad. Definitely 3 stars, not no 4.07 mitts. My kids liked it, but they'll eat just about anything with a chocolate chip in it.

He's a handsome devil.

When someone asks you if you want a homegrown zucchini, say "Yes." Or even "Yes please!" Or possibly even "HECK YES!" You won't regret it.

Because here's the thing about zucchini. You can make zucchini bread with it.

It's been a year or two since I visited zucchini bread. This time around I really wanted to try something different, maybe even vaguely healthy. And heaven knows, with such a gorgeous specimen I certainly have plenty of opportunity to experiment.

I've seen recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Bread, which, of course, begged for a try. But the other thing I wanted to experiment with was cutting the amount of sugar and oil that most recipes call for. So. I scoured the internet for appropriate recipes and found these likely candidates:

Smitten Kitchen's Zucchini Bread
Joy of Baking's Chocolate Zucchini Bread

BUT. I cut the amount of sugar in both recipes in half. Anything can be tasty if you add enough sugar, but you take the chance of losing the real flavor. Plus it makes my kids crazy. Also, in the Smitten Kitchen recipe I took her advice and used 1/2 applesauce. Here are the results.

I took the candidates to work with me and introduced them to the ladies. And they willingly sampled a bit of both. Here's the verdict: regular is better. The Smitten Kitchen recipe is really, really awesome. Excellent flavor and texture, even with the changes. The Chocolate Zucchini is just, well, chocolate and zucchini. It's not bad, it's just not as good as old faithful. Probably with the addition of the extra sugar it would have been a lot better, but, as I've established, that's cheating. At any rate, they're both gone, so they must have been okay.

Anticlimactic.

I hate baking a lot during the summer. My kitchen gets hot and I get cranky. But yesterday I had the itch, so to speak, so I made my family a little coffee cake. Now, I have to confess, I'm famous for adding chocolate chips to anything I possibly can. So when I found a Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake recipe, I just knew it was meant to be.

So here's the Anticlimactic part. I don't have a picture.

See, the whole thing is gone. Scarfed. My family has apparently been more deprived than I originally thought because they devoured the whole darn thing. Tears may have even streamed down my daughter's face at some point as she sighed, "This is the BEST thing I've ever put in my mouth!" By the time my camera battery was fully charged, there was nothing left but crumbs.

Anyway, try it. I definitely give it 4 stars. While I try not to adjust recipes too much, I did add 1/2 a cup of applesauce (as suggested by those intrepid reviewers!) because there's nothing worse than dried out coffee cake. Plus that makes it healthy, right?

"If you're feeling sad and lonely...

There's a service I can render...


Tell the one who loves you only...


I can be so warm and tender...

Call me. Don't be afraid. You can call me. Maybe it's late but just call me. Tell me and I'll be around."