Pumpkin Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

I came up with this recipe after looking at several different recipes for Pumpkin Bread and Zucchini Bread but wasn't able to find just what I was looking for.

This is a delicious bread to have with your morning latte. I like mine lightly toasted. Using applesauce in place of the oil cuts down on the fat and the pumpkin & zucchini are just plain good for you! And of course you can't go wrong with the addition of the mini chocolate chips!

Did anyone else over-stock on canned pumpkin when there was talk of a shortage last year? I still have at least 4 cans to use. We'll be making this bread often!

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips
Serves: 32 | WW PointsPlus 3 per slice
2 regular sized loaves* or 4 mini loaves

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two loaf pans. (I use PAM for baking)

Shred zucchini and squeeze in paper towel to removed excess moisture.

Mix together egg, egg whites, and sugar. Add vanilla, pumpkin, and applesauce. Mix well.

Stir together dry ingredients and slowly incorporate into wet ingredients. Mix well.

Stir in zucchini and mini chocolate chips. Divide evenly between loaf pans. Bake 50 minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

*once cooled I like to cut each large loaf in 1/2 and keep individually wrapped in the freezer so we don't eat it all at once!
The mini loaves are the perfect size for gifting to friends & neighbors.

Recipe Review: Plum-Kissed Pear Jam

I've been bitten by the canning bug. I had no idea making your own jelly and jam was so easy, and could turn out so tasty. Earlier this week I had a few very ripe pears on hand and was looking for something interesting to do with them. After scouring the internet I decided on this recipe for pear jam with a hint of plums. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe, and have a few more I'll make if I make this again. It's not that often that I have a bunch of pears that are super sweet and ripe and ready to use.

Plum-Kissed Pear Jam
adapted from Allrecipes.com

3 cups chopped ground pears (although if yours are as ripe as mine were you wouldn't need to grind them up - mine boiled away into oblivion)
1 cup of chopped ground plums (I used 2 small plums and a pluot. I think apple would be good here too, but wouldn't add the pretty pink color I had from the plums)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice - next time I would add another Tbsp.)
1 pkg pectin (Sure Jell)
4 cups white sugar (this should be reduced by 1/2 cup or so)
1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 tsp. Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon (this could be increased to 2 tsp. or even 1 Tbsp. if you like cinnamon)
*Hot water bath & clean, sterilized canning jars, rings, and tops

Wash, peel, core, and chop up 3 cups of pears. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Wash, peel, pit, and chop 1 cup of plums. Place in a large stock pot. Add pkg. of pectin and bring to a boil. Add white sugar and boil for 1 minute. Skim foam off top of pear/plum mixture, remove from heat and stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Quickly ladle into prepared canning jars. Boil in hot water bath for 10 minutes. Pull from hot water and place on a kitchen towel. Allow to set 24 hours. Check seals.

*Follow safe canning procedures for preparing canning jars, rings, and tops.

I got 4 8oz. (1/2 pint) jars and 4 4oz. jars from this recipe.

This is the yummy sample that wouldn't fit in a canning jar. Mmmm. As I tasted it I was wishing for a fresh made scone or biscuit to put it on.

Next on the list is homemade bruschetta. What could be better than fresh summery tomatoes, mixed with garlic and spices and canned for winter! Oh dear. I see a possible need to convert one of my pantry shelves to just home canned items. I think I'm hooked! This is going to be fun!

Alaskan Fireweed Jelly

Growing up in Alaska I thought fireweed was "our weed." (note: first photo of bouquet was taken at about 8:45pm - our sunset is still after 11pm at this time in the summer) It's everywhere here, I just didn't think it was anywhere else (yes, I need to get out more). On a recent trip to Washington state I found it grows there too. Then I found a review of a book that talks about wild edibles and mentions it grows in Canada too. This all makes perfect sense I just hadn't thought it through. It probably grows in other Northwest locations, I just haven't taken the time to look that up yet.

The fireweed here is about 3/4 through blooming right now. It starts with a green stalk with long leaves and usually grows a couple of feet high before it starts blooming. The blossoms start 6-12" below the tip of the stalk and bloom from there to the top over a couple of weeks. All over Alaska you'll see fields of bright pink fireweed. You'll also see it growing along side the highway, or in a yard or garden, or in the park. Go to an outdoor summer wedding and you'll see vases of freshly picked fireweed decorating the tables. Go to the farmers market and you'll find fireweed honey and jelly. I also found this blog that talks about eating the shoots when they start to come up (that will have to be next year). Even the big box stores and chain drugstores here sell fireweed edibles, lotions, teas, and candles in their souvenir section.

Short on time, but always with a long list of things I want to try, I knew if I was going to make fireweed jelly it was now or never. Not really never, but I would have to wait until this time next summer anyway. So last night I picked a bunch of fireweed. Then I thought about how I probably didn't have enough, so I picked a bunch more. The second batch I picked at my nieces house and found that she has some fireweed along her driveway that is over 6' (yes feet!) tall!

It took about a 1/2 hour to remove the blossoms from the stalks, and another 20 minutes or so to boil the blossoms into this beautiful deep purple stock. I refrigerated the juice overnight simply for time sake. It was late by the time I had gotten to this point. The juice refrigerates well and can also be frozen for a later date. I love the progression of color loss in the petals as it cooks out. The strained petals have almost no color left in them!

My jelly came together quickly. I haven't made jelly before and was surprised at how simple it was. I can see a lot of homemade jellies in our future. :-)

I found several very similar recipes online, but ended up using this one from food.com. It was quick and simple. I've already made 2 additional batches of juice, including one with lavender buds added to the fireweed blossoms. I'll post a pic of that one when it's done. The straight fireweed jelly is fantastic. It has a very subtle floral flavor, something I haven't had before and can't really describe well. I hope the lavender doesn't overpower the fireweed in the other batch. I think I may enter one or both into our state fair that is coming up in a few weeks.

Fireweed Jelly
original recipe from Food.com
makes 4 half pint jars

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups fireweed juice*
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon butter
1 (1 3/4 ounce) packages dry pectin - Sure Jell for best results
3 cups sugar

Directions

*For fireweed juice:
Harvest about 8 packed cups of fireweed flowers. Rinse thoroughly and put in 2 quart pot. Add just enough water to make water level just below top of packed flowers. (Juice should be a deep purple color when finished. If too much water is used in boiling process, juice will be a brownish color. More water can always be added after flowers are boiled to increase amount of juice.) Boil flowers in water until color is boiled out and petals are a grayish color. Ladle juice into jar through cheesecloth to strain.

For fireweed jelly:
Warm fireweed juice, lemon juice and butter on stovetop.
Add Sure-Jell, bring to boil and boil hard for one minute.
Add sugar and bring to full boil for one minute. Skim top of jelly.
Pour into pitcher(makes it easier to fill jars)and skim again.
Fill sterilized jars leaving 1/8 inch space at top.
Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Remove from water bath and cool completely at room temperature.

Chocolate for Breakfast

Today was one of those days. I woke up with a great idea and knew I actually had the ingredients to give it a go. Sunday mornings are when I want to bake and actually make something for breakfast. For me it's usually something sweet. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. It's hard to find something sweet that is actually too sweet for me. This was no exception. I didn't find these to be overly sweet or overly chocolatey. The icing on top was really good too. The only thing you might say was "wrong" with them, was that my hubby said they looked like little ham steaks - which he shared with everyone on Facebook. He also said they were delicious so I can deal with the ham comment.

Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Serves 5 at 7 WW points plus each

Ingredients:

	2 cup(s) Betty Crocker® Fiber One® Pancake Mix Complete pancake mix
	1 1/4 cup(s) water
	3 Tbsp Hershey's Cocoa - unsweetened baking cocoa
	2 Tbsp vegetable oil
	1 oz food coloring, RED coloring to desired color
	1 1/2 oz Weight Watchers Reduced fat cream cheese spread, 1 1/2 small WW cream cheese cups
	3 Tbsp powdered sugar
	1 Tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Light Soft Margarine

In medium bowl combine pancake mix, water, cocoa, oil and food coloring. Mix thoroughly. Using scant 1/4 cup batter each make approx. 15 small pancakes.

For icing: combine cream cheese spread and butter spread. Heat gently (10 second intervals in microwave) until easy to mix. Combine with powdered sugar. Place cream cheese mixture in zip top baggie and drizzle over pancakes as they are served.

Make yourself a big pile 'o pancakes sometime and let me know if you like them! They don't look like ham, do they?