I’ve never been one to conform to rules.
Perhaps it’s my homeschool education or my modern dance background…
Perhaps I just understand that they are meant to be broken.
Or are they?
When it comes to the kitchen I am especially liberal. Following a recipe to a “t” takes much of the pleasure out of cooking for me; I love to create food that is uniquely mine.
Often this works out for me.
Berry Bliss Tart
And sometimes it doesn’t.
Apple Ginger Zucchini Bread
While at the beach last month my girl friend and I whipped up two zucchini breads. We didn’t have enough chocolate for both so we looked around the kitchen for possible add-ins for the second one. Apple and ginger were our best option.
We expected the fruity version to play second fiddle to the melty chocolate but in the end the apple ginger was gobbled up first. Maybe it was the splash of dark rum that was added for good measure but I think it was more about the spicy ginger and tart-sweet apple chunks that made this bread a winner.
I’ve been wanting to recreate this baked good ever since returning home. Yesterday was the day. As I looked around the kitchen I noticed a few possible road-blocks to come between me and the bread. No flour and no eggs. “No problem!” I thought as I pulled out the rolled oats and flax meal.
Another bump in the road; I didn’t want to use any refined sugar in this bread.
What do you get when you combine oat flour, flax, yogurt, zucchini, molasses, dates, baking soda, baking powder, salt, fresh ginger, cinnamon, stevia, coconut oil, and apple?
A brown blob. 🙁
Not much to look at...
When it first came out of the oven my heart sank; it was straight up ugly. Even liberal amounts of leavening couldn’t give rise to the dense oat flour.
The first bite confirmed my suspicions. It was heavy and moist. But the second bite was better, the flavor was actually really nice and I somehow I managed to get down most of a mini loaf…
When I revisited the bread for breakfast I enjoyed it even more, especially when I stopped comparing it to other zucchini breads and saw it for what it was, a spicy-sweet and doughy treat!
Sweet. Spicy. Fruity. Moist. Dense. Nutritious.
Have you ever had a totally un-salvageable kitchen fail? Lucky for me and my rule-breaking ways Tate will eat just about anything and neither of us like to waste food. I don’t remember ever throwing something away…
Do you break the kitchen rules? Most people stray from recipes when it comes to the stove top but stick to the formula for baking, I probably should but I don’t. 🙂
All the time! Most recipes need to be cleaned up before I make then (unless Tiffany or Tosca have already done it ;)). Sometimes they are epic failures (in my house we refer to the time I put way too much flax seed in the chocolate brownies as ‘the flaxident’), but most often they are more wonderful than I imagine the original recipe was!
I don’t like to throw food away either.
Fun post!
I’ve had many a “flaxident” in my kitchen! HA!
I’m grateful that my husband is a good eater and very good natured-he never makes me feel crazy for my concoctions.
Thanks!
I’m so with you on not following recipes…I don’t know what it is but I just can’t help substituting stuff. And no matter what something looks like, it seems there is always someone willing to eat when it tastes amazing. Who says food needs to be pretty all the time?