Still have zucchini from your garden? Thinking about Fall? This baked treat is a perfect combination.

I was having thoughts of Fall this weekend. Fair season is starting up and all things pumpkin will be here before we know it! However, I'm still in full on zucchini mode over here, so my search for a combination of the two led me to this recipe.

I added a few spices and cinnamon chips to bring on even more Fall flavor. These muffins are super moist, and are going to be the perfect comforting treat for those long work and school days this week.

Here is what you'll need:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg 
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 24 muffin cups with baking spray, or alternately line with cupcake liner, and set aside.

Combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until well combined.

Add dry ingredients to bowl of stand mixer. Mix on low until just incorporated.

Add zucchini and cinnamon chips to batter and mix until incorporated.

Pour evenly into muffin cups (approx. 1/3 cup per cup). Reduce oven to 325F degrees and bake for 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (or with a few crumbs, but no batter). Remove from oven and tilt each muffin in it's muffin cup to cool. Makes 24 muffins.

Alternately, you could bake this in 2 loaf pans for 50-60 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Spend with Pennies

This month's What's Baking is hosted by Jenna of Jenna's Cooking Journey. Jenna asked us to bake our favorite quick bread. If you've been following me for while, you know that I've made quite a few quick breads. This is mostly due to my fear of yeast. I love how easy quick breads are to throw together and I find they are very difficult to mess up, unlike plenty of yeast experiments that have ended up in the garbage.

I wasn't in the mood for a sweet bread which I generally gravitate toward. A quick Google search taught me that Beer Bread is in fact considered a quick bread. I've made Beer Bread before, however, it was from a box mix. I didn't realize how easy it was to make from scratch. I served the Beer Bread as a side to homemade vegetable soup which was a perfect meal for the early autumn chill in the air. I think this would be great with some fresh herbs mixed into the batter, I'll probably add chives next time I make this.


Be sure to check out Jenna's Cooking Journey to see the roundup of quick breads. I'm sure there will be some great ideas to make for gifts for the upcoming holidays!

Here is what you'll need:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Slowly add beer and mix until just combined, being careful not to over mix (the batter will be lumpy).

Pour batter into greased loaf pan. You will need to use a spoon to evenly distribute the batter in the pan.. Spread butter over top of batter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on iron rack. Makes 1 loaf.

Source: Epicurious

I can't believe I'm posting a recipe that involves baking. It's been way too hot to bake in the last few weeks, but a few weeks ago I did heat up the house to make this banana bread again. I originally made it on Easter for both of our family gatherings, and at both it disappeared in a flash. JR was disappointed it went so quickly and has been requesting it ever since. He describes it as "the best banana bread ever" and "bangin' good".

Whenever I buy bananas we never eat them all so I always have some on hand in the freezer. I freeze them as is with the peels on. When I need them in a recipe, I take them out and place them in a bowl of cold water until they begin to soften (generally less than 10 minutes). Peel, mash, and now they are ready to use!

Enjoy!

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 cup flour
• 3⁄4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup oil
• 1⁄3 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease loaf pan and set aside.

Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add dry mixture and mix until just combined, being careful not to overmix.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Source: Adapted from Saveur and What's Cooking Chicago via Carries Sweet Life

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside.

Using a mixer, blend butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Add salt, flour and baking soda and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix.

Add bananas, almond and vanilla extracts, and mix until combined.

Add chocolate chips and stir by hand until combined.

Evenly distribute batter among the 12 muffin cups. Place in oven and bake 25-30 minutes.

Source: Slightly adapted from Cooking with Ivy Drive

This month's What's Baking is hosted by Angela from The Tiny Tyrant's Kitchen.  The theme she chose was Fall Flavors.  My inspiration for Fall Flavors was Thanksgiving.

Have you started thinking about Thanksgiving?  I have, mostly because I'm shocked I haven't received a call from my Dad to make plans.  Why am I shocked?  Because he usually call no less than 5 times to plan, what I don't know.  We eat the same.thing.every.year, and we each bring the same dishes too.  At any rate I'll report back to you how many phone calls occur to plan for Thanksgiving.

While this will not be served at our Thanksgiving, remember we don't vary, it does includes sweet potatoes, which we will eat.  This would be a great dessert to serve at your Thanksgiving or any Fall celebration.  Generally, I would consider this a dessert too, however, Sweet Potato Bread makes a great side for the Beef Bourguignon we ate early this week.

This wasn't my planned What's Baking post, but it served as a great alternate.  You see, my original post was supposed to be Herb and Apple Cranberry stuffing, and well, that post will have to wait for another time since the photo was ridiculously unrecognizable.  The only reason I'm mentioning this is in case you're looking for a great Thanksgiving stuffing.  My photo was horrid, but the stuffing itself was very bright and flavorful!  I'm not a stuffing lover, I actually skip in on Thanksgiving (so I can eat more pie), but I would make, and eat, this stuffing again. 

Here is what you'll need for the Sweet Potato Bread:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar (omitted, I did not have any)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and powder, and salt.

In a separate large mixing bowl, combine eggs, sweet potatoes, oil and water.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined, do not overmix.

Spoon mixture into loaf pan.  Top with vanilla sugar.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.  Serves 12.

Source: Penzeys Spices November 2011 Catalog, pg 53

I have a lot of cookbooks, and it seems that each one has just a few recipes that I like.  Weekend Cook was a gift to me and a lot of the recipes use cream of x soup, etc. so there aren't many recipes in it I use, however this one banana bread uses whole foods and is great!  Not only does it use minimal ingredients, it's quick to mix up and is a nice change from the average banana bread.

The first time I made this I thought there was no way the end result would be a bread.  I had everything mixed in the bowl and it seemed soupy, but I thought I followed the directions so I hoped for the best.  I was amazed at the result, a real bread!  After a few times making this I realized the recipe calls for ground rolled oats, but I've never ground them and I like the texture so I've kept them whole.

There have been times when I've only had 2 bananas, so I added a chopped apple or peach and it's worked beautifully.  I've also made this with and without pecans.  I prefer with pecans, but without works too (like today).

You'll want to keep a close eye on this toward the end of the baking time because the edges get dark very quickly.  I think this is due to the honey, however, dark edges don't stop me from enjoying it.

Here is what you'll need:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 bananas, chopped
• 1 cup pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.  Pour mix into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely before slicing.  Serves 10.

Source: I was not able to find a link to this cookbook online.  It is a collection of recipes contributed by individuals and was a fundraiser in support of local home economics programs.  This recipe is credited to Kay Atkeison, Brookland H.S., Brookland, AR.

Every Christmas I make Cranberry Bread and this year when I saw this recipe I knew I needed to try it.    I'm trying to move away from as many processed foods as I can, so this was a perfect fit since it uses fresh cranberries vs. cranberry sauce which is in my usual recipe.

I really liked this bread, it tasted very "fresh", and was a nice change from all the holiday sweets that seem overly sweet (does this make sense?)!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 3 mini loaf pans.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in orange zest and cranberries. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, and egg until smooth.  Stir in orange juice.  Beat in flour mixture until just moistened.

Pour into prepared pans.  Bake for 1 hour, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched.  Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  Store wrapped in plastic wrap.  Makes 3 mini loaves.