Zucchini cupcakes with Cream cheese frosting

Baking these cupcakes reminded me of when my mom would harvest the last zucchinis from her vegetable garden as Summer came to an end, and baked her famous Zucchini bread.

It's been ages since I'd had my mom's Zucchini bread, and while I was reading Kayln Denny's article, "Zucchini Madness, the Final Chapter: Zucchini Bread, Cakes, Cupcakes, and Muffins", I came across Garrett at Vanilla Garlic, and his recipe for Zucchini cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting . What I love about these cupcakes, is the plump raisins, and the turbinado sugar, give it a natural sweetness, not that sickly sweet taste, and the cinnamon gives it, it's warm Summer flavor. And how could I forget the cream cheese frosting. The recipe for the frosting is so easy, I'll never buy store bought again. You just blend butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar.
The best part about it, is my kids love them. So, they don't know exactly what's in them, but all they care about is how good they taste.

Here's a recipe from All Recipe's. I subsituted the walnuts for raisins, and left out the chocolate.

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar for about 10 minutes or until thickened and pale. Blend oil into the beaten egg mixture.
In a small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended. Stir in zucchini and raisins. Spoon in batter into 24 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling the cups 1/2 full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until fork or toothpick inserted in a cupcake's center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool completely. Spread with cream cheese frosting.

I hope you enjoy not only baking them, but savoring their Summer goodness.

What's for Dinner? Briam,Macaroni and Cheese, Meatloaf, and Cheesecake Marble Brownies

Above is my Summer comfort foods dinner. Our family loves macaroni and cheese, but it wasn't until I made this recipe for Baked Macaroni and Cheese from Alton Brown, that I told myself, even though it's more expensive than Kraft Macaroni and cheese, there is no comparison in how good it tastes. It really is a comfort food.

My husband loves vegetables, and I get tired of broccoli, and green beans, when yesterday Ms. Cellenia posted about Briam a Greek side dish of roasted Summer vegetables. I'm not a huge fan of eggplant and tomatoes, but when roasted in beef broth and olive oil with garlic, it becomes a very satisying and very healthy side dish.

What can I say about meat loaf, as a child growing up there was something about meatloaf I just didn't like. Most of my dinners I use ground beef, beef stroganoff, enchiladas,spaghetti with meatballs, but meatloaf is one of those versatile dishes, that you can add anything to ground beef to make it. In mine I used eggs, seasoned bread crumbs, parsley, dijon mustard, ketchup, worchestire sauce, salt and pepper and onions.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe has the best of both worlds, Cheesecake, and Brownies. What dessert can be better than that. Here's the recipe from Epicurious.com Cheesecake Marbled Brownies.

See if you can eat just one!

Blog Review- Coconut & Lime

My first thought after finding Rachel's Coconut and Lime, was what beautiful photos she takes and how delicious everything looks. What is also really cool is the photos in her sidebar are linked to their corresponding recipes, making it really easy to find what I want to EAT. My favorite photos are of East Meets SouthEast Barbeque Pulled Pork Sandwhich, ShotGun Wedding Soup, and I love Steak, Onions and Zucchini, but how creative to put them all together into a Crepe. Besides all the great recipes, and beautiful photos, Rachel also has some fantastic How To tips. My favorite would be How To Make Ducle de Leche. If you are looking for some 'creative tips and original recipes' than you would definetly enjoy Rachel's Coconut and Lime.

Blog Review-Chocolate and Zucchini

When I first came across Chocolate and Zucchini written by Clotilde Dusoulier, a 27-year-old Parisian woman who lives in Montmartre, almost three years ago this was the first post I read
Confiture d'Abricot aux Amandes, translated means Apricot and Almond Jam. What I was looking for was a recipe for Apricot Jam, and what I found is this gem of a blog. It's not just her collection of simply the best recipes, or her beautiful photographs, but what I love are her stories that go along with her recipes and her photographs. She ties them all together, for a truly phenomenal blog . In addition to her blog she has just recently published her very own cookbook Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen . With it being perfect time for Summer here is another one of her post about Apricot Coffee Cake. I hope you enjoy reading her blog as much as I have.