Carrot Zucchini Summer Squash Muffins

Heather Jurczyk from HeCooksSheCooks.com shares her recipes with Shindigz

April 25th is National Zucchini Bread Day!

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Shindigz will take ANY reason to celebrate!

And really what isn’t there to celebrate about zucchini bread? It is delicious and makes your taste buds happy. It has zucchini in it! Which, okay, may not sound like anything all that special, but really it is. With the addition of veggies in a muffin you have a healthy snack, and dare I say it, with over TWO CUPS of veggies in these muffins, you can probably eat them as a side dish of veggies and reach your Recommended Daily Allowance of veggies! If you eat the whole batch. Which once you taste these you will want to.

These tasty so delicious that they’ll be the hit at any party, from summer celebrations to bridal showers.  Or how about impressing Mom on Mothers Day, especially with the creative way you’re eating your veggies!

Carrot Zucchini Summer Squash Muffins

Everyone will want your recipe for these Carrot Zucchini Summer Squash Muffins!

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 cups grated carrots, zucchini and summer squash, blotted dry.
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.
In the bowl of your mixer, add the eggs, yogurt, oil, sugar, honey and mix to blend well.In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Slowly add the flour mix and blend till all ingredients are combined.

Mix the carrots, zucchini, summer squash and walnuts together and add to mixture.

Grease or paper your muffin tins. Fill each muffin almost to the top of the tin.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool on rack and then remove from tin.

To glaze mix 1 cup of powder sugar with just enough milk to get a thick syrup. Spoon glaze over cool muffins.

Next week –  a TWO-FER! A drink for the Kentucky Derby lovers and a dish for Cinco De Mayo!

Recipe by Heather Jurczyk, the sassy half of the  duo that make up the cooking team of He Cooks She Cooks. They have a weakness for feel good, down to earth, amazingly tasty eats that almost always include the addition of beer.

From growing their own tomatoes to brewing their own beer, they like to cook from scratch as much as possible. They know what’s important. Love. Food. Beer. Visit He Cooks She Cooks for more recipes.

Nutter Butter Reindeer Cookies

• Nutter Butter Cookies
• Candy Eyes
• Pretzel Tiny Twists
• Red M & M Candies
• Black Licorice Rope
• White Tube Frosting

1. Use a knife to cut the rounded bottom off the tiny twist pretzels.
2. Use white frosting as the “glue” to assemble your reindeer.

Puppy Chow Recipe

Ingredients

• 9 cups crispy rice cereal squares
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate, add peanut butter and mix until smooth.
2. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until coated.
3. Pour powdered sugar into large plastic bag, add coated cereal and shake until well coated. Store in airtight container to stay fresh.

Oreo Peanut Butter Milkshake

• 1 Cup milk
• 3 1/4  Cups (softened) vanilla ice cream
• 1/3 Cup creamy peanut butter
• 8 Oreo cookies
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 fresh strawberries (cut in halves)

Blend all ingredients except the strawberries in a blender until smooth. Top with berries and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Pizza Appetizers

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• 1/4 pound Genoa salami, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound pepperoni sausage, sliced
• 1/4 pound provolone cheese, sliced
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
2. Roll pizza crust dough into an approximately 10×14 inch rectangle on the baking sheet. Layer with Genoa salami, pepperoni and provolone cheese. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese to within 1/2 inch from edges of the dough. Roll jelly roll style. Seal the edge with a fork.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Slice into 1 inch pieces to serve.

Pizza Pinwheels

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) can crescent dinner rolls
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pepperoni
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough and cut into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal.
3. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, bell pepper and Italian cheese blend over each rectangle.
4. Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 6 slices; place cut side down on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Meanwhile, heat pizza sauce. Immediately remove pinwheels from cookie sheet. Serve warm with warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Mini Crescent Dogs

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) cans  Crescent Dinner Rolls
• 48 cocktail-sized smoked link sausages or hot dogs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll both cans of the dough; separate into 16 triangles. Cut each triangle lengthwise into 3 narrow triangles.
2. Place sausage on shortest side of each triangle. Roll up each, starting at shortest side of triangle and rolling to opposite point; place point side down on 2 ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown, switching position of cookie sheets halfway through baking. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Ingredients

• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages microwave popcorn, popped
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 20 large marshmallows

Directions

1. Pour popcorn into a large bowl. In a glass or plastic bowl, combine the margarine, brown sugar, and marshmallows. Cook at 1 minute intervals in the microwave, stirring between each time, until the mixture is melted and smooth. Stir in the peanut butter until well blended. Pour the melted mixture over the popcorn, and stir quickly to coat the corn before it cools.

Banana and Cherry Jell-o Pops

• 1 box (4 oz) of sugar free cherry gelatin (or other delicious flavor)
• 3 bananas
• 1 tsp lemon juice1 8 oz tub of light whipping cream
• 1 can of Apple Cherry juice concentrate
• 1 Cup boiling water1 Cup cold water

• Ice cubes

1. Place cherry gelatin in medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water and stir 2 minutes until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add enough ice cubes to 1 cup cold water to make 2 cups cold water. Add to gelatin and stir until ice cubes are completely dissolved. Pour evenly into 16 plastic cups or popsicle mold. (I used huge wide cups and the popsicles were a little too big. 5 oz cups would have been much better.) Add about 1/4 cup to each cup and freeze for 1 hour.
2. Slice 3 bananas and add bananas and lemon juice to whip cream. Spoon mixture onto frozen gelatin in cups. Stick plastic spoons or popsicle sticks into center of each cup and freeze for another hour. Top off with juice and freeze for an additional 4 hours or overnight.
3. To remove pops from cups, place bottom of cups under warm running water and press firmly on bottom of cup.

 

Hamburger Cookies

Ingredients

• 4 drops green food coloring
• 1/2 teaspoon water
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut
• 48 vanilla wafers
• 24 chocolate covered thin mints
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, combine food coloring with a few drops of water. Add coconut and cover the container, shake until coconut is tinted. Set aside.
3. Place 1/2 of the vanilla wafers, flat side up, in an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each wafer with a peppermint patty. Place in the oven about 1 minute or just until chocolate begins to soften.
4. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle each mint with 1/2 teaspoon coconut (for lettuce). Place another vanilla wafer on top and press gentle. With a clean paint brush, brush the top of each hamburger with just enough water to moisten so that the sesame seeds will stick when sprinkled on top of each cookie.