Belly of the Beest has moved!

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Classic Zucchini Bread

This is my go to recipe for using up zucchinis. It is a spicy, soft and satisfyingly sweet bread. It can easily be made vegan if that's your thing or you can use the eggs. This calls for 1 cup of oil, which might sound crazy, but keep in mind this is for two loaves of zucchini bread so it's really not that much per loaf.

I'll be making tiny versions of this bread for our party guests this weekend. We are having family and family friends over to show off the house and to have an excuse to cook/bake for a crowd. The tiny zucchini loaves will be part of a gift bag of veggies each guest will receive. So without further delay, here's the recipe.

3 eggs (or 6 tbsp of cornstarch)

1 cup veggie oil

2 cups white sugar

2 cups grated zucchini

3 cups all purpose flour (or half white, half wheat)

3-6 tsp ground cinnamon --depends on you taste

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 nuts or raisins if you'd like to use them.

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease and flour two loaf pans. I like to use bundt pans because they are prettier and give you more crust.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. combine flour cinnamon, soda, baking powder and nuts if you use them; stir into the egg mix. Divide the batter into the prepared pans and then bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have made zucchini cookies in the past and found them to be too cakey to be cookies and too much like cookies to be a cake or muffins. This recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies changed that belief, though they must be eaten relatively quickly or they do become quiet soft and begin to stick to each other in the cookie jar.

I have not read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, because, well, I actually don’t know why I haven’t read the book. But I am now tempted to take a look and at least see what other recipes are available. This barely uses any zucchini and is really just an excuse to eat chocolate chip cookies with a different texture. They are delightfully textured when they first come out of the oven, soft, chewy, with a little hint of cinnamon.

I never noticed how much I used cinnamon until I started using the tag cloud. The cinnamon, dessert, bread and holiday cooking tags are awfully big. I wasn’t surprised by any of them except cinnamon….I think I cook with it a lot because the aroma is so welcoming. I like putting the food in the oven, heading upstairs, and then being gently coaxed downstairs again by the smell. These use a sparing amount of the spice, but it still comes through nicely.

If you aren’t into chocolate chips, I recently found out about these little cocoa chips. They taste a bit like coffee beans, aren’t too sweet and maintain their crispy texture when baked. The woman at the Spice House said they make a good substitute for nuts in recipes. Good to know since my husband is allergic to all nuts. More on that soon, for now we will focus on the zucchini chocolate chip cookies.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Combine in large bowl.

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture:

1 cup finely shredded zucchini

12 oz chocolate chips

Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

Zucchni Pancakes

Zucchini Pancakes with tomatoes and sour cream

Inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Aarti today, I decided to post about these little pancakes. We were in Michigan picking peaches and raspberries (recipes to follow in the next few days) and she mentioned she had made zucchini latkes!

Nick and I had these for dinner some day last week, but I hadn’t gotten around to posting about them! So here’s another recipe that uses zucchini, or any summer squash really. Zucchini season will be with us for a few more weeks so if you are looking for a quick, non-baking recipe to use up your squah, these zucchini pancakes are worth a try. Nick and I enjoyed them and I think Aarti enjoyed her version as well. Aarti is this similar to the recipe you used?

These little guys are pair well with a patio, a warm summer night and some wine–pure summer bliss.

Servings: 4 as a side or 2 as a main dish
2 medium zucchini, grated
2 shallots, finely chopped**
1/4 cup fresh chives
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6-8 tbsp whole wheat flour
kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste
olive oil

** If you do not have shallot on hand a combination of garlic and onion will do. A good starting point is to mix onion and garlic in a 2:1 ratio.
Grate zucchini using the large holes of a cheese grater and place in a large bowl. Add flour, shallots, garlic, basil, chives, eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and grease the pan. Drop tablespoons of the batter into the skillet. Cook about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm. Add oil to the skillet as needed, and continue with remaining batter. Makes about 20 small pancakes.

Dill Pickles

Dill Pickles

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too
from the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1974)

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too
Went for a ride in a flying shoe.
“Hooray!”
“What fun!”
“It’s time we flew!”
Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle was captain, and Pickle was crew
And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew
As higher
And higher
And higher they flew,
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,
Over the sun and beyond the blue.
“Hold on!”
“Stay in!”
“I hope we do!”
Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle too
Never returned to the world they knew,
And nobody
Knows what’s
Happened to
Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Whenever I say or hear the word ‘pickle’ the first thing that comes to mind is that poem by Shel Silverstein. For a while when I was a kid I only read “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “I Wish I had a Computer that Makes Waffles.” That book is SO awesome. Out of print though, so you need an awesome brother-in-law to find you one…but back to the topic at hand:

Cucumbers. What do you do with hundreds of cucumbers once the thrill of eating cucumber sandwiches wears off? You make pickles! This year we had a lot of pickle cucumbers– which is perfect because this year I found a couple pickle recipes I wanted to try–one for dill pickles and one for bread and butter pickles.

The trick with making pickles is salting them before you pickle them if they are sliced. That way they lose some water and retain their crunch. If you don’t do this, they will be rather limp and unappealing. If you are using whole cucumbers for the recipes, don’t worry about salting them. The first round of dill pickles was a little too salted and we ended up with very, very salty pickles. The second round was much better.

These wonderful pickle recipes come from Carol Grant in Meadow Grove, Nebraska. I’m sure they are from a church cookbook or something like that…Anyway, the recipes are very easy to follow and the pickles are better than store bought! But don’t bother making your own pickles unless you enjoy canning, because you really aren’t saving any money unless you have a million tiny pickle cucumbers piling up in your refrigerator. We’re going to make more this weekend.

These recipes are typed as they appeared in the cookbooks. I think they have a funny cadence, sort of like they were using the minimum amount of words to get their point across.

Fresh Kosher Dill Pickle Recipe

30-36 3-4 in cucumbers

3 c vinegar

3 c water

6 tbsp pickling salt

fresh dill

garlic

mustard seed

Wash cucumbers. Make a brine of vinegar, water and salt. Bring to a boil, place a generous layer of dill, 1 clove of garlic (sliced) and ½-1 tsbp mustard seed in the bottom of the jar. Pack cucumbers, more dill, and complete packing the jar. Fill the jars within ½ inch of the jar top. Add boiling brine. Seal with 2 piece lids, screwing the bands tight and process for 5 minutes in boiling water. Use good vinegar, fresh cucumbers and be sure to use pickling salt.

Delores (Lewis) Hannes

We actually spread the dill, garlic and mustard seeds throughout the jar so the flavor would be more evenly distributed.

Bread and Butter Pickle Recipe

Slice cucumbers medium thin, also an onion, and let stand in salt water 1 hour. Drain.

2 c vinegar

1 c sugar

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

Boil with pickles 5 min. and seal.

Bertha Lewis Lemon

Tomato salad

Tomato Salad

The slow trickle of tomatoes has begun and it will soon be an overwhelming tide. So while I’m still excited about them, I wanted to make a dish that would highlight the brilliant taste of the first tomatoes of summer. I was thrilled when I found this amazing recipe for tomato salad. A recipe that didn’t require cooking was key, because I will be canning pasta sauce in a couple weeks and I didn’t want to use all my tomatoes for the same purpose. This recipe is perfect, both for it’s lack of cooked tomatoes and it’s simplicity. The dressing for the tomato salad enhances the tomatoes without overwhelming them. When making this tomato salad be sure to get the sweetest tomatoes you possibly can. Red currants are my current (ha!) favorite.

Here’s the recipe for Tomato Salad, from Nigella Lawson’s cookbook Forever Summer:

1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 heaping tbsp of all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup plus 2 tbsp whole milk (use full fat or the dressing will be quite runny)
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
A plate full of cherry tomatoes, halved
Chives for garnish

Half fill the sink with cold water.

Combine the mustard, flour and sugar, with about a teaspoon of salt and a generous amount of pepper, in a heavy-based saucepan. Add a little milk and stir to make a smooth paste, then put on a gentle heat and keep adding milk, slowly, and stir as you add.

Once the milk has been added, add the beaten egg and vinegar and keep whisking/stirring until it begins to thicken. When the mix has the texture of light cream, whisk in the oil then plunge the pan in the sink of cold water and keep stirring. When it is cool, cut the tomatoes in half and arrange them on a plate. Drizzle the dressing, not too much, over the tomatoes. Then throw a few chives on and you’re set! Hopefully you have a nice patio, backyard, or park near your house where you can enjoy the tomato salad outside on a nice warm summer day.

Cherry Peach Jam

Cherry-Peach Jam

My sister and I were talking about "spirit animals" a couple weeks ago and I decided my spirit animal was the pika. They are small rodents that live in the mountains and have an amazing ability to store food for the long, harsh winter months. Seriously follow that link. They are so cute! What amazes me most about the storage is how they stack the food neatly into piles so they know which food to eat when. They store food that would be poisonous if they ate it right away, but the poison keeps the food fresh through the winter, and with time, the poisonous food become edible. Incredible, as the commentator says....This week, my pika instincts kicked in.

I went to the farmers market the other day and the fruit vendors had the most beautiful displays of peaches, berries, cherries, and grapes. I can’t believe how perfect the fruit has been this year. I know the sweet little jewels’ stay is brief so I’ve been working hard to preserve some of the summer for the long haul that is winter in Chicago.

This is another jelly recipe, I know, I know, lots of jelly this year, but we use it every day! It is prefect for our oatmeal in the morning and if you make it thick enough, it is perfect for cookie filling. I’ve also been freezing a lot of fruit, but there is no recipe for that so I’ll just let me know when I make something with that stuff this winter…

Inspired by delicious jelly I had from a vendor at the market, I had to find my own recipe for Cherry-Peach jam. I also made more fresh blueberry rhubarb jam. This is what I’ve come up with. It is a universal recipe for pure fruit jam. Universal recipes are the best since they just give you the outline and you get to fill in with whatever food you are obsessed with at the moment.

I don't remember what cookbook I found this in,but I believe it was called "Homemade." What I love about this recipe is that there is no added sugar, apart from the juice. That's what kills me about jelly recipes, you take perfectly delicious fruit and coat it in sugar! It makes no sense. This does. Enjoy!

Blueberry Rhubarb Jam

Pure Fruit Jam
This recipe yields 6 8oz jars of jam

4 cups of pitted, peeled and chopped very ripe fruit (peaches in this case)
1 cup of pitted, peeled and chopped barely ripe fruit (cherries in this case)
1/2 c apple juice concentrate, thawed
3 tbsp white grape juice
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz (1/4 c) liquid pectin

Combine the fruit, all three juices, and the vanilla in a heavy pot over high heat. Add pectin and cook, stirring constantly for 20 minutes or until it comes to a full rolling boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 5 minutes, or until slightly thick.

Remove from heat and pour into sterilized jars. Then vacuum seal them by inverting the jar for 5 minutes. After that time is up, turn the jars up right and them on a cooling rack to set for at least 24 hours. Do not disturb the jars during that first 24 hours or you might break the seal.




Tomorrow: More canning!