Eat Your Vegetables!

We're Lutheran

Get two Lutheran's together

And each will have a cup of coffee

And you can't have coffee without a "nosh".

Our church is early

9:00

And after, we always have coffee and treats

(We have coffee before, too,

but we forego the treats until after church)

We take turns in bringing treats

And I try to sign up once each quarter

A week ago, it was once again my turn..

It's summer, there is a plethora of vegetables at the Farmer's Market

tomatoes, zucchini and butternut squash

It's always fun to think of different ways to use this fresh produce.

My solution was for Sunday treats!

I made a sign

I didn't want people to think that these were unhealthy muffins.

Oh, no

And we're a small church

And in summer, often a smaller church

But I did spent Saturday

making muffins

Seven dozen in all

And between communion and benediction,

Husband Jim and I were busy in the kitchen

 We put up our sign

Put the muffins on a tray

Got out the coffee fixings . . . 

The tomato, the zucchini and the butternut squash

And we refilled the trays over and over again

For although the crowd was small

The crowd was hungry

Most had more than one muffin

(But who was counting . . . certainly not me!)

I brought home a few

which I froze for breakfast for the following week.

It was a fun treat.

Lots of comments

And the kids, debating between a treat or a vegetable

chose the treat

And often came back for a second.

The muffins are all easy to make

and I've made them many times

(although the tomato one is really a tea bread -- I just baked it in muffin tins)

The chocolate ones were the first to go!

Just goes to show that at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning

Chocolate is always welcome!

The recipes:

BUTTERNUT SQUASH MUFFINS WITH A FROSTY TOP

14 ounces butternut squash, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 1/4 c. light brown sugar
4 large eggs
salt
2 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
handful of walnuts, chopped
1 t. ground cinnamon
3/4 c. olive oil


For the Frosted Top:
1 orange, zested
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 lemon, zested
1/2 c. sour cream
2 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
1 t. vanilla


Preheat the oven to 350. Line your muffin tins with paper cups. Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar and eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whit together until well beaten. Fill the paper cups with the muffin mixture. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove fro the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool. To make the frosting: Place most of the orange and lemon zest and lemon juice in a bowl. Add sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla and mix well. When the muffins are cooked, spoon the topping onto the muffins.

TOMATO SPICE BREAD

2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. sugar and 1/2 c. dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and pureed to make 1 cup
1/4 c. sliced unblanched almonds
Preheat oven to 350 and butter and flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and mix. Combine the oil, sugars and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the pureed tomato. Gradually add the flour mixture
blending well after each addition. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle the top with almonds. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes, then remove bread and continue to cool on rack.

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

2 c. flour
1 c. cocoa, sifted
1 t. allspice
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. melted butter
3/4 c. oil
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 cups zucchini, grated

Preheat oven to 350. Line 20 muffin cups with muffin liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, allspice and cinnamon. Set aside. In medium bowl beat the sugar and melted butter. Add the oil and eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla and add buttermilk and dry ingredients alternately until well mixed. Stir in zucchini. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and muffin tops are springy to the touch, 20 to 24 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.