Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

 My family pretty much kills every plant they grow but amazingly, our garden grew two huge zucchinis! (Probably because my grandparents took care of them). A couple weeks ago our neighbor gave us two zucchinis and we already made the standard zucchini bread and muffins. This time, my mom suggested making zucchini chips. My sister actually made this whole recipe (surprising, because she can't make anything) with only one zucchini, but it was so good, I ate like three quarters of the whole batch. So she decided to make another batch and I'd take pictures. My sister's the one who's been taking all the pictures, but she's going off to college in the fall, so she taught me how to take them myself manually - I'm very proud of these pictures! :)


Start by slicing the zucchini into coins about a fourth to an eighth of an inch wide.

My sister took this picture, not me..

Lay them out on a baking sheet trying to make sure there's little overlapping.

Layed out on a baking sheet.

Drizzle olive oil evenly over the zucchini. Sprinkle coarse salt and pepper to taste. Scatter thinly sliced pieces of garlic all over. If you want, you can add freshly grated parmesan cheese (my sister did it over half the batch). You can even add any blend of spices you want - paprika, cayenne, basil, oregano - go crazy!

Right before going in the oven.

Pop it in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes at 350°F.

They're kind of burnt, but taste nice and crispy!

These zucchini chips are everything you look for in a chip! Thin, crispy, and salty...I'm not normally a chip person - in fact, I hate chips, but these are soo good!! The thicker ones are still a little soft but even those are juicy and again, salty. If you're someone who enjoys salty chips but want a healthier version, these are the chips for you! Even a chip hater like me likes them!

Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

An original recipe

1 zucchini

2-3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, optional

olive oil

coarse salt 

pepper

any blend of spices to taste (like paprika, cayenne pepper, basil, or oregano), optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Slice the zucchini into coins about a fourth to an eighth of an inch wide. 

Spread them out on a baking sheet (being careful to avoid overlapping).

Drizzle olive oil evenly over the zucchini.

Sprinkle the coarse salt and pepper to taste, as well as whatever spices you want.

Scatter the garlic pieces atop the zucchini.

Grate the parmesan cheese over the zucchini, if using.

Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy.

Makes approximately 60 chips.

Serve as an appetizer or a snack.

Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

Hey, so this is my third post and I realized I haven't posted any chocolate recipes yet...and chocolate is part of the blog name! So I decided to make a mini version of Martha Stewart's Molten Chocolate Cake. I've made it many times before, and it's a family favorite. Molten cakes are basically half-baked cakes, so they have a solid outside but a molten, gooey, delicious inside! The recipe is actually incredibly easy; I think the hardest part is making sure you don't over bake them. I love cutting into a chocolate molten cake and seeing all the gooey chocolate oozing out onto the plate! The trick is definitely in the baking time - I over baked it once, and it came out as a really moist chocolate cake (which was still delicious).

For this recipe, you need bittersweet chocolate - I would recommend using anywhere between 70% and 90% cocoa content. I used 90% and it's not very sweet, so use a lower percentage if you want something sweeter.

Lindt 90% Cocoa

The original recipe makes 6 standard muffin sized molten cakes, and made 20 mini muffin sized molten cakes for me (it may vary depending on the size of your muffin tin). Make it in two batches if your muffin tin only holds twelve.

buttered and sugared mini muffin cups :)

I would start with melting the chocolate in a double boiler and setting it aside to cool.

The chocolate starting to melt in my makeshift double boiler.

Then you cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time, and beat in the flour and salt. Lastly, you mix in the cooled melted chocolate (make sure it has cooled completely so it doesn't cook the eggs..believe me, that's not a pretty sight).

Finished batter (I only made half, so that's why there's not much).

Now, you pop it in the oven and five minutes later you have twenty mini molten cakes! Keep a close watch it, because you want to avoid over baking it.

The centers should still look moist and unbaked like this.

I think these molten cakes taste best after being left in the fridge overnight. When you bite into it, you get the same moist chocolate cake-y outside, but the center is creamily solid chocolate and it's sooo good! If you want it served warm, pop it in the microwave for twenty seconds and when you cut into it, it's this nice gooey center. But I still think it's better served cold. :)

ooey gooey center :)

Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (with anywhere between 70% and 90% cocoa content)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for muffin tins

1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for muffin tins

3 large eggs

1/3 cup all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat and it turned out fine.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F and use a brush to generously butter 20 mini muffin cups. Dust with granulated sugar and shake off excess. 

Using a double boiler or a bain marie, melt the chocolate and set aside to cool completely. 

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. 

Crack in the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour and salt until just combined.

Pour in the cooled melted chocolate until just combined.

Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet; bake until tops no longer jiggle when the pan is shaken - about 4 to 6 minutes. 

Take it out of the oven and let stand for five minutes before overturning onto a flat surface. 

Makes 20 mini molten cakes.

Serve warm out of the oven or cold out of the fridge with powdered sugar and whipped cream.

Whole Grain Pancake Mix

Hey, so today I'm showing you how to make the best pancake recipe I have ever tried! I'm one of those people who think breakfast is the most important meal of the day - if your breakfast starts wrong, your whole day is pretty much a failure. This pancake mix recipe practically guarantees that you'll start the day off right!

For the longest time, I've been using Krusteaz Honey Wheat Pancake Mix because I thought it was healthier... But I recently checked the ingredients and whole wheat flour is the second ingredient after enriched bleached flour! Plus it contains high fructose corn syrup, which isn't too good for your body. The thing is, I'm not the hugest fan of waking up early before school to make from-scratch pancakes (is anyone?), and I loved how easy it was to make variations since all you had to do was add water. I literally had a routine down to seven minutes from start to finish!

So I decided to make my own healthy pancake mix so I could control what exactly the ingredients are. It's completely whole grain (and you can mix it up with different flours), it's good for you (no more feeling guilty about eating pancakes for breakfast!), it's pretty simple (one-bowl recipe), and it's tremendously versatile -- you can easily make substitutions and add things like blueberries or lemon zest and ricotta! Oh, and did I mention this mix can be used for waffles too? Seriously, you have to try it!!

To make the mix, you start with six cups of any whole grain flour (I used three cups white whole wheat flour and three cups oat flour). Tip: To make oat flour, just grind up quick/old fashioned oats in a blender. Make sure you measure after blending. Oat flour has no gluten in it, so you have to make sure you use regular flour with gluten when baking anything with oat flour.

The two types of flours - oat flour is on top.

Next, you add in five tablespoons of sugar. I did a mixture of brown sugar and white sugar, but any granulated sugar mixture should work. Now add in two tablespoons baking powder, one tablespoon baking soda, and two teaspoons salt.

I added the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

That's it! Just mix it all together, and you have your pancake mix!

I wrote the recipe on the back of the paper so anyone can make it!

Now to make the actual pancakes. To one cup of mix, add one cup of either buttermilk, sour milk, liquid whey, a mixture of yogurt and milk, or any type of milk (see I told you it's versatile), plus one tablespoon applesauce or oil, and one egg. Simple as that!

Everything you need to make the best pancakes in the world!

It's a cinch to make variations on this recipe. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Banana-nut pancakes: Add in one mashed banana and half a cup of chopped nuts.
• Lemon-ricotta pancakes: Add one tablespoon lemon zest, and substitute a quarter cup of ricotta and three quarters cup of buttermilk for the buttermilk mixture. (You don't have to use buttermilk; you can use any of the ingredients listed above.)
• Blueberry cinnamon pancakes: Add in half a cup of blueberries and one teaspoon of ground cinnamon. 
• Carrot cake pancakes: Add in one cup grated carrots, three tablespoons chopped walnuts, one teaspoon ground cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves, and a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
• Flax-nut pancakes: Add in a quarter cup of ground flaxseeds and a quarter cup of chopped nuts.

Whole Grain Pancake Mix

Adapted from Weelicious

For the mix:

6 cups whole grain flour

5 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

Combine all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.
Note: Refrigerate if using oat flour, as it tends to go rancid quickly.

For the pancakes:

1 cup pancake mix

1 cup buttermilk*

1 egg, whisked

1 tablespoon applesauce or oil

Fold all ingredients together until just combined. Heat a large pan or griddle over medium heat and grease with either butter or oil. Pour in a quarter cup of the batter and cook until the sides start to brown and bubbles form on the surface. Flip, and cook for another two minutes or until cooked through. Repeat until all the batter is over.

*Can substitute sour milk, liquid whey, a mixture of yogurt and milk, or any type of milk. 

Makes six batches of pancakes - each batch serves 4.

Garlic Basil Pesto

Hey, welcome to my new blog, The Girl Who Cried Chocolate (In case you don't get it, it's a play on "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", plus I adore chocolate!) This is my first blog, so it's kind of nerve racking! I created this blog for fun so I can share with you all the amazing food I am and will be making. 
Last weekend we had two full 4 ounce containers of basil from Trader Joe's that were starting to go brown - my sister and I went and bought a box and then later the same day my mom bought another box thinking we had none in the house! I figured what better way to use up extra basil than with pesto? Plus, I love pesto: it's my favorite pasta sauce, and you can use it in about a million different ways - on top of bread, drizzled on top of a pizza (or even used instead of pizza sauce), made into a vinaigrette (by thinning it with a little olive oil), and so much more!

Finished pesto!

Pesto is traditionally made with sweet basil leaves, pine nuts, any hard cheese, and olive oil, which is how my mom always makes it. You can easily substitute any type leafy greens (such as arugula or kale), any type of nuts (like pecans or almonds), and any type of hard cheese (Pecorino Romano or parmesan), which makes pesto an extremely versatile recipe that you can make with practically any ingredients you have on hand! I made it with basil (plus a handful of about to expire arugula), walnuts, parmesan cheese, garlic tops (more on that later), garlic cloves, and olive oil. You can even adjust the amounts to your taste (if you like it more garlicky, more cheesy, etc). 

All the ingredients you'll need

Over the weekend, we went to a place that sells farm fresh veggies (it was basically a beaten-up looking barn with rows and rows of crops behind it, so they were quite literally farm-fresh), and they were selling these purple flower-like things made up tiny little buds that apparently grow on the top of garlic plants - you can see it in the picture. I tasted one of the little buds, and it was extremely pungent, about three times more pungent than a regular garlic clove. I wanted to use it in a pesto recipe, so I scraped off the buds of one garlic top plus I used three garlic cloves.

(slightly blurry) closeup of the purple garlic top

I found a lovely little recipe from Tartine and Apron Strings after quite a bit of searching. So without further ado, here's the recipe:

Basil Walnut Pesto

Adapted from Tartine and Apron Strings

4 cups sweet basil leaves (or any leafy greens), rinsed and patted dry

3/4 cup hard Italian cheese (such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana; I used Parmesan)


3/4 cup nuts  (I used walnuts, but you can use any type of nut)


6 cloves garlic (you can adjust to your taste)


olive oil (I used 3-4 tablespoons) 


salt to taste




Put all the dry ingredients in a food processor and blend, pouring in the olive oil as you go. The olive oil will make it easier to process the ingredients, but add as you go so you don't add too much! 


Makes approximately 3 cups. 


Serve with pasta, bread, chicken, vegetables - the uses are endless!