Brussels Sprouts?

So...just the very thought of 'brussels sprouts' kind of gives me the heebie jeebies - memories of having to try them in my childhood and the nasty taste involved. And here we were, with a bag of them from the farm with our last CSA pickup of the season. I do hate to waste anything and as I've gotten older I'm more willing to give stuff a try. As luck would have it, Chelsea got her latest issue of Cooking Light magazine in the mail and lo and behold - there was a recipe for brussels sprouts. Being that it included bacon, we figured it was worth a try - bacon makes everything good, right? And it WAS good - I actually had seconds. My mom would be so proud. : ) If you'd like to try it out - here's a link to the recipe: Brussels Sprouts Gratin Enjoy!

and...Pumpkin Roll!

Keeping up with family recipes here - I'm posting this for my niece Andrea who wants to make her mom's pumpkin roll recipe. It's pretty yummy too. I can't decide whether I like this to go with Thanksgiving dinner more than pumpkin pie or not. Why not have both? :D

Pumpkin Roll

3/4 Cup sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 Cup sugar
2/3 Cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 Cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 15x10x1 jelly roll pan. Line with wax paper. Grease and flour the wax paper. (0r be lazy and just use parchment paper and spray like I do)

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice onto a piece of wax paper. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until thick and fluffy; beat in pumpkin. Stir in sifted dry ingredients all at once. Pour into prepared pan - spread evenly with rubber spatula. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until center springs back when touched lightly with fingertip. Loosen cake around edges with a knife. Invert onto clean damp towel dusted with sugar - peel off waxed paper. Roll up cake and towel. Place seam down on wire rack. Cool completely.

Cream Cheese Filling

Beat together 1 Cup 10x sugar, 1 80z package of cream cheese (softened), 6 Tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth.

Unroll cake, spread with cream cheese filling. Re-roll cake. Refrigerate.

Zucchini Bread!

As the weather is cooling off, baking seems like a good idea. And since there's still zucchini available locally I like to bake zucchini bread. Not to mention, grating up zucchini and freezing it for the winter baking. I've gone through a pile of recipes - none seemed quite right. I remembered a darker, richer tasting bread but none quite measured up. And then, after cleaning out some of Mom's old stuff in the kitchen I found it - my sister Theresa's zucchini bread recipe. THIS is the one! So I thought I'd share it so everyone can enjoy it : )

Zucchini Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees - Grate up enough zucchini to make 2 cups. Drain off excess water. In a large bowl beat:
3 eggs
1 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup unsulphured molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat until thick and foamy. Combine in a separate bowl:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup whole wheat flour (or use all reg. flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Add to egg mixture and stir just until blended. Gently stir in zucchini, 1 Cup raisins and 1 Cup chopped walnuts. Divide batter into 2 greased and floured 5"X9" loaf pans. *I used the 3 small pans above, plus 1 reg. loaf pan*

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (less for small loaf pans, approx. 35mins.) Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove to racks to cool completely.