Zucchini Bread

 

Its a good thing we love zucchini bread because we have plenty of the prime ingredient tucked away for the winter.  Currently, I have 17 bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer. Thats enough for 34 loaves of bread.  Yikes!  I am sure glad that one of my zucchini plants died early in the spring...one plant is plenty. 

I promised to share my Grandma's recipe.  As yummy as it is, sometimes I like to experiment with reducing the fat content, substituting honey for the sugar, and blending in some whole wheat flour (mostly- we eat it just like Grandma makes it). Once you've had it "her" way it is hard to get used to the texture of the "healthy" way. I'll post it in its original version and let you play with it. This recipe makes two loaves which is great because then you have one to give away!

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 C veggie oil

2 t vanilla

1 t grated lemon peel

3 C flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 t cinnamon

2 C shredded zucchini

1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.  Combine eggs and sugar.  Beat in oil, vanilla and lemon peel.  Combine the dry ingredients separately and add to sugar mixture.  Mix well.  Stir in zucchini and nuts.  Divide evenly between two loaf pans.  COVER WITH FOIL.  Bake 30 min and then remove foil- bake additional 15-20 min or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and slice.  Enjoy!

**I always invert my pan and cool the loaf by itself (out of the pan) on a rack- mostly because we are ready to eat it the second it won't burn our mouths anymore :)

yogurt 101

Okay, so we all know that my 30th birthday  was a bit rough. However, one thing that that really spruced it up was opening the package that my Dad sent me.  He is a great gift giver.  Last year for my birthday he bought me this.  For Christmas he gave me my camera which many of you have asked about- a Nikon D40.  This year for my birthday he sent me...

a yogurt maker!  It is pretty sweet.  You might be asking yourself, "Why doesn't she just buy yogurt at the store? Why go to all the trouble of making it yourself?" Well, a gallon of organic milk where I shop is about $4.50/gal.  There are 16 cups of milk in one gallon.  With 16 cups of milk you could make 18 yogurts.  Eighteen yogurts that are organic, with no added sugar, and fat free (if you want them to be- I use 1%) healthy and CHEAP!!! 

It really is super easy to make, here is how I do it:

First you need a yogurt starter or culture.  I buy mine from the local heath food store.  They store it in the freezer section.

Next you need to heat 4 cups of milk (culture directions vary) to 180 degrees or "just boiling". I clip a candy thermometer on the side of my pan to watch the temperature.

Once the milk boils, you then need to cool it somewhat in order to support the culture. Too hot and they fry, too cold and they are not "active".

To speed this process I pour the milk into a measuring cup that has chilled in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. The temperature range that you are shooting for is between 108-112 degrees F.  This takes a while so its best to have something to do in the meantime (ie. dishes, laundry, chocolate eating, sit-ups). Don't forget to stir your cooling milk every now and then to avoid that nasty skin that can form. 

I mix the yogurt culture with 2 T of powdered milk (in that little white bowl) to improve the consistency of the yogurt.  My kids won't eat it if it is too watery. When the temperature is right, I add about 1/2 cup of the milk to the culture/powdered milk mixture and stir, stir, stir. When everything is dissolved I pour the cultured milk back into the measuring cup with the rest of the milk. Again, stir.

The hard part is over.  Now just fill your jars- I use a funnel because without it I make a complete mess.  Then, set the time to incubate.  I usually keep mine in the machine for about 7-8 hours.  I pretty much have it down to a science now.  Get the milk into the machine by 3pm, its finished by 10pm, pop the jars in the fridge, and by morning...

Wha-la!  Sunny peaches piled high on top of yogurt, sprinkled with Uncle Sam Cereal and drizzled with honey or my favorite Agave Nectar.  Agave Nectar(again found at the health food store) is so great on waffles.  My kids don't even know that I have replaced their colored corn syrup with this gem.  Marvelous.

Three cheers for homemade yogurt!  Thanks Dad.

kitchen helpers

That afternoon stretch from about 1pm to 4pm is tricky to navigate around here.  It is the time of day when I am grieving the loss of naps for some (who said that they could give those up as they got older?) and trying to find a bit of quiet for myself.  So, in effort to buy some of that valuable time yesterday- I gave the girls some helpful tasks.

I have gotten rid of most of the plastic around here and so bamboo and wood make up the bulk of my cooking tools and cutting boards.  After several trips (literally thousands) through the dishwasher, they were looking pretty worn. The girls each got a little cup of mineral oil, basting brushes and off they went.  Warning** this is a very messy project!  Old clothes/aprons are a must!  We had to do a bit of swabbing with paper towels on some of the items because of the excess quantities of "paint", but all in all it was fun for them and helpful for me.  We were on a roll.

Next, I trusted Emma to shred up the zucchini and store it for the winter.  She certainly did shred!  It became a race for her to see how quickly she could make one zucchini disappear.  Hannah's job was to measure green stuff into 2 cup portions (that's what my recipe for zucchini bread calls for) and put it in freezer bags.  She was gagging the whole time her hands touched the cold slimy "guts".

Thanks girls...I think.

Have you heard of this stuff?

It is a fruit puree that you can use in place of the fat (oil and butter) in your recipes. I found it in the baking isle at the grocery store. So far, I really like it!  It worked great in my zucchini bread recipe, and considering that it calls for 1 cup of oil (!!) I was glad to find an alternative.

My curtains are coming along SLOWLY and I am not really sure that I even like them.  Isn't that just the pits to invest time into a project that doesn't turn out how you had hoped?  After cutting 540 squares I am not quite ready to scrap this one yet though.