Cooking Club #13-15

*Cooking Club is coming up soon, and now that I'm blogging, I want to share these moments but I thought I should play catch-up first. So without further ado, here (and in other posts) is what we've been up to. Enjoy!


#13 July: Red, White and Blue

The Menu:

         Appetizers
Turkey Brie Bundles
Stromboli Minis
        Main Course
Roasted Chicken Breasts with Red and Blue Salsa
        Desserts
Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Red Velvet Crepe Cakes
Cherry and Blueberry Pie

Cooking Club Turns 1!

Happy Birthday!

It was my turn to choose the theme for this month's Cooking Club. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the colorful fireworks at night, family barbecues and the colors. I was feeling a little red, white and blue, and there are tons of recipes that can fit this theme. My recipe for this month was Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, which showed up in my email one morning. Oh, Taste of Homes, how your eye-googling recipes continue to fill my inbox.

Raspberries, yum.

Cream cheese, heaven.

Isn't it beautiful? Don't you want to take a swim in that pan? I do. This cake is moist and full of flavor.  The raspberries jump out as you cut into the perfect slice. I can't help smiling and drooling every time I look at this picture. I.Cannot.Help.It.

I have no words. Check out the recipe and make it today! [And invite me over for a slice.]

Kelly's Turkey Brie Bundles were my second favorite on this month's menu. So good. The brie melted perfectly.

Jessica's Red Velvet Crepe Cakes took center stage for our one-year birthday celebration. It turned out beautifully, and she earned bonus points for incorporating all of the colors, but it was a little.too.rich for my liking.

The frosting = Amazing.

Check out all of those crepe layers! [Yes, you need patience for this kind of cake. Something I seriously lack. So I definitely won't be making this any time soon.]

#14 August: Special Diet

The Menu:

       Appetizers
Green Stuffed Appetizer Shells (Vegetarian)
Barbecued Baguettes (Vegetarian)
Party Stuffed Pinwheels (Vegetarian)
       Main Course
Italian Zucchini Pie (Vegetarian)
       Side
Coleslaw (Sugar Free)
       Dessert
Vegan Cupcakes

Jessica had the theme for this month. Lately, we had been talking about trying more vegan and gluten-free recipes because some of our family members have special diets. However, the ingredients for "special diets" can be quite on the expensive side. And when you're on a tight budget, it's not the easiest to do. Hence the reason most of us chose to go vegetarian for this month's menu.

I was excited to skim through my vegetarian recipes, hungry to try something new. After much consideration, I chose the Italian Zucchini Pie, out of The 1,000 Best Recipes.

My husband and I have been on a huge zucchini kick lately. I've used it shredded, fried, baked, in patty form and, Mr. B's personal favorite, Zucchini Chips (<--- find this recipe here).

Zucchini and cheese in a pie, yes please. It sounded delicious. It looked delicious. It smelled delicious. The filling was delicious...the crust...was a little hard.

I'd make this again in a heart beat, but with a different crust recipe.

Italian Zucchini Pie
*adapted from The 1,000 Best Recipes

Serves 6


2 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp
1/3 c olive oil
1 egg, beaten + 3 eggs & 1 egg, lightly beaten for glaze
3-4 Tbsp iced water
1 1/4 lb zucchini, grated
5 oz provolone cheese, grated
4 oz ricotta
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp finely chopped basil
pinch of nutmeg


In a large bowl, mix flour and salt and make a well. Combine oil and beaten egg, and almost all of the water and add to flour. Mix until mixture comes together in beads, adding more water if needed. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Heat a baking sheet. Grease a 7" pie dish. Toss zucchini with 1/4 tsp salt and place in colander for 30 minutes to drain. Squeeze out any excess liquid with your hands. Place in a large bowl and add cheeses, 3 eggs, garlic, basil and nutmeg. Season well and mix thoroughly.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry until large enough to line base and side of pie dish. Spoon zucchini filling into pastry shell and level surface. Brush exposed rim of dough with lightly beaten egg. Roll out remaining dough to make a lid. Cover filling with it, pressing edges together firmly. Trim edges. Crimp rim. Prick top all over with a skewer and brush with egg.

Bake on hot sheet for 50 minutes or until golden.


*My other favorite this month was Jenny's Coleslaw. I usually like my coleslaw a little thicker and not as sweet, but I found it to be quite tasty.

[Oh, and if you couldn't tell by now, I forgot my camera. Fail.]



#15 September: 5-Ingredient Fix

The Menu:

          Appetizer
Homemade Apple Butter on Toast
          Side
Orzo with Parmesan and Basil
          Dessert
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I'm not sure who came up with this month's theme, but the stipulation was the recipe could have no more than five ingredients. Unfortunately, I missed this Cooking Club (so I don't have pictures of the other dishes), but I was able to try the recipes the next day at work. Later on, I brought the recipe I had intended to make into work for everyone to try. I made Homemade Apple Butter in my crockpot. The apples slow-cooked their way to a chunky mess of butter-like goodness.

Apple butter is my absolute second favorite topping on toast; right behind cinnamon-sugar. Growing up there were always jars of this stuff in our refrigerator. And we usually purchased ours from the Amish Country. But as I've grown, the apple butters I've had recently are just too sweet. The last jar I purchased back in April actually hurt my teeth. I've never had apple butter as smooth as butter. I like mine a little chunky. And I've been meaning to try my hand at it for a few months now.

So when I was given the 5-ingredient only assignment, I went to work in my kitchen to make a delicious apple butter. But my main concern was the sweetness. I did not want mine sweet. I decided to pass on adding actual sugar, and replaced it with maple syrup. Added some spices, cinnamon (well, because apples and cinnamon, duh) and nutmeg (which is my favorite spice), and juice, and a couple of hours later I had a tasty, luxuriously, chunky apple butter for my morning toast.

Homemade Apple Butter


4-5 lbs apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1/2-3/4 c apple juice
1 c maple syrup
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

Add all of the ingredients to your slow cooker. Cook on low 5 1/2-6 hours. During the last 2 hours, stir the mixture every half hour to break up the apples. After cooking, if apples need broken down any more, use a potato masher. Then cook on low another 1/2 hour with the lid off, stirring frequently, or until desired consistency is reached. Store apple butter in containers in the fridge. Enjoy!

P.S. I definitely plan on sharing this homemade apple butter with family and friends.



**I hope you enjoyed these Cooking Club snippets. I've finally caught up! I hope these themes, and even Cooking Club itself, inspire you to gather with your friends and family in the kitchen, and make sweet moments (and delicious food) of your own.

***I've only included the recipes to the dishes I made. Only because I'm unsure of where everyone got theirs...and hey, we gotta give credit where credit is due.

[If you have any questions about the other dishes, I'll ask the other members where they got their recipes and pass it along!]

Check out our previous meetings!
Cooking Club #1-4
Cooking Club #5-8
Cooking Club #9-12

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi