Friday Favorite: Frosted Zucchini Brownies

July 27, 2012 By 11 Comments

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Budgeted. The whole point of this feature is to share some of our favorite finds. Anything is game. Food. Cleaning supplies. Kid stuff. Garden favorites. Recipes. Anything that I really like and want to randomly post about.

Reminder/Disclaimer/Whatever: Everything in Friday Favorites is something that we use and bought on our own.

 

A few weeks ago, I started searching for a recipe for Zucchini Brownies. I found one by Mommy I’m Hungry that was inspired by one from blogchef.

So I started to make the recipe … I had written it down and everything and then it didn’t look right to be brownies so I started changing the recipe. This recipe makes a cake-y brownie. If you like a fudge-y brownie you might try the original recipe!

This picture isn’t going to win me any awards but it does show how yummy these brownies are so I hope you keep reading!

Frosted Zucchini Brownies

½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups white sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups zucchini (shredded)
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 eggs

Chocolate Frosting-

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
½ cup 2% milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with the spray+flour (or flour after spraying). Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Add flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix in zucchini and walnuts. Spread into the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

In a small saucepan, over low/medium heat melt together the cocoa powder and butter (this took a lot of stirring and I upped the heat some to get it moving along but kept stirring so it didn’t burn!)  Let cool (so you can touch it and not think it is hot). In a medium bowl mix confectioner’s sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Pour over the brownies and move the pan around to cover the tops. This icing pours out over the brownies and super yummy. I loved. Brian didn’t. The second time, I used less milk 1/4 cup and it was more of a traditional spreadable icing that Brian liked better. (I still loved the poured version as it reminds me of the icing my mom puts on her Texas Sheet Cake!)

What have you been making with zucchini? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Meatless Monday: Vegetable Lasagna

August 15, 2011 By 11 Comments

Today’s Meatless Monday is coming a bit late. Yes, this is a Beth post and No, I didn’t make this. I just want to be honest and up front about all of that. I did chop the carrotts, stir up the ricotta layer, and pick out the tomotoes from the bin. Hey, I take credit where I can. After Brian made this dish that was dinner, I took what was left and made a smaller version in a bread loaf pan. That pan went straight into the freezer so a desperate night or just a night where dinner doesn’t happen as planned … even with the meal plan!

So here it is …

 Vegetable Lasagna

 

The recipe … well Brian based it off Pioneer Women’s Vegetable Lasagna Recipe but made the clean it out what we have fridge version. It had zucchini, patty pan squash, carrots, canned mushrooms, tomotoes, and onions. The zucchini, patty pan squash, and tomotoes all came from our CSA, Liberty Mills Farm. If you don’t want to do all of that, just buy a jar of veggie tomatoe sauce … I like the chunky ones where you can see the veggies!;)

Just to add to the appeal of this dish, it is a kid-friendly dish. Our girls ate it up and Sophie even asked for seconds! (Dude apparently was taking the evening off from eating and skipped dinner … shocker! He must of had a HUGE lunch!)

Oh and this was served with a garlic bread from the fresh bread made today. They are cutest little loafs of bread. Watch for those to come as another post as I think they will be staple in our house. Now hopefully Brian can get over his burned hand (he grabbed the pan he had in the over with bread AFTER he put in the sink to cool. Dimbo.) and he can do better with next week’s Meatless Monday since this a short and sweet Beth-version!

Hopefully that picture at least leaves you drooling!;) What do you like to put in your vegetable lasagna recipe?

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Meatless Monday: Zucchini Fritters

August 8, 2011 By 4 Comments

Does anyone out there still have as much zucchini as I do?  How about tomatoes?  If so, this will be another quick and easy Meatless Monday.  We serve up some simple zucchini fritters with pre-made marinara sauce.  Serve a few as a nice appetizer or serve a few more with a crunchy side salad for a light summer dinner.

As a bonus:  We made the Simple Marinara Sauce using a Pinot Noir that flipflop wines sent to us for review.  You can find the company’s description of the wine here.  Personally, I found the wine very easy to drink.  It was just barely on the dry side (which is nice because I prefer my reds a little drier, but Beth likes them sweeter…we could both drink this).  The wine was not overpowering, which means it would pair well with a number of different dishes.  It is a lovely little sipping wine.  On top of that, the subtle flavors really helped out with the marinara, keeping the focus on the fresh tomatoes, adding just enough of that….”what is that? factor” to accentuate the sauce.

NOTE: We were sent a bottle of this wine  in support of this review.  No other compensation was received.  All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

As for the recipes, here they are!

 Zucchini Fritters with Marinara

Zucchini Fritters

Crispy with a soft center, these fritters will have you and your kids asking for more zucchini.  Just check out our Sophie chowing down below the recipe!  Serve them with our Simple Marinara Sauce.

Ingredients

4 C shredded zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)
2 t salt
1 t black pepper
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 large egg
3 T all-purpose flour
canola oil for frying

Directions

Place shredded zucchini into a colander and cover with 1 t salt.  Allow to drain into sink or bowl for about 30 minutes.

After zucchini drains, combine zucchini, remaining salt, and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Heat an inch of oil over medium to medium-high heat.  Place spoonfuls of mixture into the hot oil and cook 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Drain well before serving.

 Sophie Eating Zucchini Fritter

Simple Marinara Sauce

This long cooking sauce is a bit of a time commitment, but is easy to make ahead and only gets better as it sits in the fridge for a couple of days.  Serve with our fritters, with calzones, or on pasta.  YUM!!

Ingredients

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion
2 t garlic powder
3 T fresh herbs (oregano, thyme, etc.)
1/2 C red wine (we used flipflop Pinot Noir)
8 C peeled and seeded tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Cook onions until translucent and just starting to brown, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and herbs and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add wine, cooking another 2 minutes before adding tomatoes, salt, and pepper.  Cook until bubbling slightly.  Turn heat down to low and allow to simmer for about 2 hours.  Use hand blender or potato masher and blend sauce until desired chunkiness.  Serve warm.

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Meatless Monday: Zucchini Parmigiana

July 18, 2011 By 17 Comments

We had such a great response to our Zucchini Tacos last week (if you missed it, find it here) that we decided to go all in and offer up another recipe this week so that you all can use up those mountains of zucchini.  We get ours from our local CSA at Liberty Mills Farm.

In this variation on the classic parmigiana, we use zucchini that has been fried and layered in a casserole dish with tomato sauce and covered with mozzarella  cheese.  It is served with a side of whole wheat pasta dressed in olive oil and basil.  It takes a little time, but is so easy and so good!  As a bonus, all three of our little ones (even our 2-year old) ate this up like nobody’s business.  If that’s not a selling point, I don’t know what is!

For more information on why you should participate in the Meatless Monday movement, click here.

Layered Zucchini Parmigiana

 

Ingredients

3-4 large zucchini
3 C all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3 C seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper
water
oil for frying
1 large jar pasta sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut ends off of zucchini and cut zucchini into 3-4 inch sections.  Using a mandoline, slice the zucchini lengthways very thinly and set aside.

Prepare a breading station.  Pour flour into one long, shallow bowl or casserole, season liberally with salt and pepper.  Mix eggs into a second long, shallow bowl or casserole.  Add a touch of water and season with salt and pepper.  Lastly, pour bread crumbs into a third long, shallow bowl or casserole.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a heavy pan over medium to medium-high heat.  Prepare a casserole dish by laying down a thin layer of pasta sauce.

Coat zucchini 3 or 4 at a time in flour.  Dusting off the flour, coat in egg wash, then move to bread crumbs.  Coat thoroughly and dust off before placing carefully in the hot oil.  Let fry 2-3 minutes on each side.  Remove from oil to paper towel.  Place into casserole dish. Repeat.  Fill up bottom of dish with fried zucchini, then lay down a thin layer of sauce.  Continue until you have run out of zucchini or room in the casserole.  Cover with mozzarella and place into preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Note:  You will find a bit of a system here.  I would do about three at a time.  I would put 3 in the oil and ready the next batch.  When the next batch went in, it was time to flip the old batch, by the time I prepared the next batch, it was time to remove one batch and flip the other.  It was constant, but pretty simple work.

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