Zucchini Bread, Pulled Pork Leftover Magic, and "Coopins"

Molly helping me cook in the kitchen, believe
it or not this is her "smile face." Cracks me up every
time!

So I am starting to get a lot of zucchini lying around the house so I decided to make a zucchini bread for the first time this season. As you may or may not know we don't have AC in this house so I find very creative ways to cook (as much outside as possible, or by using the microwave, toaster oven or this year the BREAD MAKER!) It turned out fantastic, and I see a lot of zucchini bread in our future. The only problem is I am not a huge fan. Walnuts make my mouth swell up, and I am not a fan of the spices in the bread, reminds me of pumpkin pie -which I am also not a fan of. This is why earlier in the summer I was thinking of calling all of my zucchini attempts my "Zucchini Adventure!" (read that in your mind with one of those superhero announcer voices, that's how it sounds in my head when I say it) Anyway I digress, my husband loves the bread, so he is just destined to it all. I keep trying to give my daughter pieces of it and she very politely says, "No thank you." Or, "I don't like it daddy." Which is what she told my husband last night when he tried to slip her a slice. She is very polite for a two year old I think.
Zucchini Bread

1 cup of walnuts

2 tbsp flour

3 eggs lightly beaten

1/3 cup veggie oil

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups zucchini (drain/squeeze excess moisture out with cheesecloth or dish towel)

2 cups flour

1. In a small bowl combine walnuts with 2 tbsp flour, in another small bowl lightly beat eggs.

2. Spray bread pan, place ingredients into the pan in the following order; eggs, oil, flour, baking powder and soda, sugar, cinamon, clove, salt, zucchini, and walnuts with all flour that remains in the bowl.

3. Choose quick bread setting on breadmaker, when finished loosen with a spatula after it has cooled somewhat then carefully remove from the pan.

So I made pulled pork in the slow cooker (another way to save my house from the heat, because although it does put out some heat, it is nothing compared to heating up the oven). When I make this recipe I usually use a 3 lb roast and have a TON of meat left over. Usually the second night you will always find that we have BBQ pizza.

BBQ Pulled Pork PizzaZXZ
Bread maker Pizza dough (can make two cracker thin large crusts, or one large thick crust)
1/4 cup favorite BBQ Sauce
1/4 white onion thinly sliced
1 cup of mozzarella cheese

Pinch of Italian seasoning over the top.

1. Prebake the pizza dough before you put any ingredients on it at 350 for 6 minutes or more, so that you can ensure a crispy crust.

2. Spread BBQ sauce (we even like it on the crust even if you don't put the other toppings on it, the sauce on the crust is always good) layer all the rest of the ingredients evenly, sprinkle with seasoning and I guarantee it will look like any BBQ pizza you might order at a restaurant or buy in a store.

3. Back in the oven for 15 min or more until all cheese is melted, and crust is to your liking.

Even after the pizza I still had left over meat, it is like the meal that keeps on giving! So I pulled out some Rhodes dinner rolls and popped those into a muffin tin to allow them to thaw and rise.  Once they were ready to go I rolled them out on my counter, plopped in some of the pork, folded them over a la empanada style, crimped with a fork, popped into the oven, 350 at 20 minutes until golden brown. You can eat these right away, but I prefer to freeze them and eat as needed, for a snack, lunch, whatever. I pull them out of the freezer pop them straight into the toaster oven with a little cheddar cheese on top for five minutes. The cheese is melted, the pocket is thawed, cooked through with a crispy outer crust. They are simply fantastic! You have to try them. For those of you, like me, that are on a crazy kick to make/pack better lunches for your kids after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution these would be a GREAT addition to a lunch.

Homemade "Hot Pockets"

1 1/2 cup BBQ pulled pork

12 Rhodes dinner rolls (or biscuits in a can, or pizza dough from previous recipe or your local store)

Flour

Rolling pin

1. roll out rolls to about 4 inch diameter circle

2. Fill with pork

3. Fold over, crimp with fork to seal

4. 350 degrees for 20 minutes, serve and eat or pop in the freezer for a go to snack, lunch or meal.

So last night I went to a coupon class, I like to say "coopins" in my head like I am from Northern Minnesota, just a little something I do -can't be explained. The woman that ran the class was super informative, and very funny. If you live in the Pacific Northwest she is a great resource if you want to start, or are into "coopins" (say it with me!) Click here for her site Frugal Living NW Anywho, I am wondering at this point how far down the rabbit hole I want to go. What are your thoughts?