Zucchini Brownies

It is not a mistake that this recipe does not call for eggs.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 and 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• ....
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" baking pan/dish.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and the 2 cups shredded zucchini until well blended.
4. Combine the 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Stir into the sugar mixture.
5. Fold in the walnuts (optional).  Instead of folding the walnuts into the stiff batter, I just sprinkled them on top before baking and then gently pressed them in a little bit with the back of a spatula.
6. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the pre-heated oven until brownies spring back when gently touched, OR until a toothpick comes out clean.  Do not over bake.

FROSTING?????  IF you want to put a frosting on these, melt together 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter. Set aside and let this cool.  In a medium bowl, blend together 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  Add this to the melted and cooled cocoa/butter mixture.  Mix/beat well until very smooth.  Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

Dutch Blueberry Cake*

To pacify my craving for a blueberry SOMEthing,

I made this snack cake!

Blueberry season is almost here... BUT!!!, I was

disappointed to find out the"closest to here" U-Pick 

blueberry farm will NOT be having any U-Pick

blueberries this year!  You can read why at:

http://www.blueberryhaven.net/

As stated, ONLY "already picked" blueberries can be 

ordered ahead of time and will cost $20 per 5-qt.  pail.

INGREDIENTS:

For The Cake...

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• .......
• 1/2 cup milk
• .......
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• .......
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, or well-drained frozen/thawed.

For The Topping...

• 1/4 cup butter, slightly softened
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

• Grease and flour (or spray) a 9x9-inch baking dish.
• Cream together the sugar, oil and egg until lemon-colored.
• Stir in milk.
• Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and very gently stir into the creamed mixture, just until incorporated.
• Gently fold in the blueberries.
• Spread batter into a greased and floured 9"x9" square baking dish.
• For the topping:  Cut the butter into the flour/sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Mix well and sprinkle over the top.  (I did this in my food processor.)

Below:  This is how it looked before baking...

In pre-heated 375-degree oven, bake for about 45 

minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Below:  This is how it looked when done...

And, later,....it looked like this!

YUMM-O!  (We added a ball of ice cream to this!)

*  Recipe from:  https://www.turkeyhill.com/recipes/lancaster-county-recipes/dutch-blueberry-cake-recipe.aspx  Since the recipe was 

without a picture, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the 

finished product turned out!

Farmers' Pizza Casserole

This seems like a kind of comfort food-- it could 
be because I'm recalling how often we relied 
on casseroles during our busy 
(and often unpredictable) dairy farming days.

Servings 10-12

INGREDIENTS:

• 8-12 oz. egg noodles, cooked just until tender
• 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
• Salt according to preference
• 1 tablespoon green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 14 oz. jar or can of pizza sauce (You could make your own with the same amount of tomato sauce and oregano or Italian seasoning.)
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:

• Brown beef with chopped onion and chopped pepper. 
• Add pizza sauce.  Set aside.
• While the meat is browning, cook the noodles just until tender.  Set aside.
• In med. sized bowl, combine sour cream, cottage cheese and softened cream cheese. Set aside.
• Place just one-half the cooked noodles in a buttered or sprayed  9x13" baking dish. 
• Cover with the cheese mixture.  As shown below, I first dropped dollops of the cheesy mixture on the noodles and, after the heat of the noodles warmed up the dollops, they were easy to spread out... 

• Next, add the remaining cooked noodles...

• Top with beef mixture.
• Cover top tightly with foil, and bake at 350-degrees for 40 minutes.
• Sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese on top and return to oven, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is evenly melted.  Like this...

Enjoy!