Zucchini Bread! It's that time of year...

Why do I do this every year?  It gets hot outside and I get the urge to bake.  Last year I got on a homemade bread kick.  Oh yeah.  Let's heat up the whole house.  Great idea!  That way I can make sure that my air conditioner gets its workout.  I exercise myself, my dog, my kid...  why not the A/C?  Environment be damned! 

As you may or may not know, when it gets hot, you'd better pick your zucchini fast or it will take over your garden and your life.  Plus, they get mealy when they are too large.  If they do go Incredible Hulk on you, they won't make nice fixings for your salad or stir fry.  All you can do is bake bread.  That's where I am now.  The ritual has begun.  My mother was a zucchini bread factory during the summers when I was a kid, and that's exactly what I seem to be becoming now that I'm growing zucchini of my own.  

It's not all bad.  It's work, but at least I get some rocking zucchini bread out of the deal.  Here's my adaptation on the New Good Housekeeping Cookbook's Zucchini Bread.  Generally, this is my go-to cookbook.  I love that the recipe makes 2 loaves per batch!  I add more zucchini, because I think it's too dry with the 2 cups in the original recipe, and I lay it on thick with the lemon zest.  I say, the more the merrier.  Plus, I made it with whole wheat flour instead of all purpose white.  Made it twice without walnuts, and it was nice and light.  With walnuts it was like a meal.  Both are wonderful and received compliments from food-savvy friends and toddlers alike.

Angie's Scrumptious Summertime Zucchini Bread
3 cups flour (I use wheat or white whole wheat) 
1 1/2 cups sugar 
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt 
4 ounces chopped walnuts (1 cup), optional 
4 large eggs 
2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola) 
3 cups shredded zucchini (at least, could possibly safely go up to 4, but that might be pushing it) 
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel (at least 2 tsp -- I use zest of a whole lemon, lay it on thick!) 

1.  First, make sure it is a heat advisory outside.  Just kidding!  But really...  no matter what the weather, preheat oven to 350.  Grease 2 9x5 loaf pans.  


2.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and walnuts in large bowl.  In medium bowl, beat eggs.  Stir in oil, zucchini, and lemon zest.  Stir into flour mixture just until moistened.  Don't over mix.  


3.  Pour batter evenly into pans.  Bake about 1 hour.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove from pans and continue cooling on racks.  Serve cool, or warm with a touch of butter.

So easy and delicious!  Makes a great dessert or a breakfast!  My son and I enjoyed it this morning with some fresh strawberries and a glass of milk.  Yummy summer foods!

I can stock the freezer.

Having a deep freeze has changed my shopping, my budget, my cooking, my LIFE.

My husband came home from a garage sale one day so proud of himself you'd have thought he shot a deer from which we could subsist for the rest of the year.  That romantic man of mine bought me a deep freezer.  For merely $40, I have freedom.  Freedom to buy as much of what's on sale as I please.  Freedom to stock up on the ingredients for our favorite meals.  Freedom to have convenience foods on hand for those nights when I just can't muster up the energy to really cook but don't have the energy (or money) to go out to eat either.   Freedom from having to stop at the grocery store every couple of days to get just one or two things. 

Before we had this freezer, we jammed frozen produce, meat, and the very occasional pizza in various arrangements in our refrigerator/freezer on a semi-weekly basis it seemed.  It inevitably ended in failure.  I would open it, and food would fly out like projectile missiles on a mission to kill.  One of my favorite things about our Sam's Club membership is that we can stock up on things (like frozen blueberries and strawberries for smoothies, snacks, desserts, cereal, or oatmeal) and not run out for quite a while.  But that does you no good without the luxury of the space to store those items.  And when I was breastfeeding, forget it.  That thing was stocked with those little bags of b-milk, and space for the liquid gold took precedence over anything else that could enter the precious, chilly real estate. 

Now, things are different.  I won't have to call Alex to check if we have room in the freezer for the 4 pounds of ground chicken that are on sale for $1.29/lb (what a steal!).  I won't be dodging flying frozen loaves of bread from the Oops We Baked Too Much section at the Kroger.  I can calmly open my freezer door and know that it will not result in death or injury to any nearby toddler, adult, or dog toes.  I have fewer random craving trips to the fast food chains to get a burger or ice cream, since I can keep MorningStar Farms Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burgers and generic frozen dairy treats (in more appropriate serving sizes than in the restaurants) on hand.  Hey, maybe this freezer will help me lose the baby weight faster this time around!  It hasn't solved all of my problems...  I mean, it isn't Jesus or anything....  but it sure is nice to have. 

July is a month to celebrate our freedoms.  This year, I celebrate with my freezer.  If you are a Mom and you don't have one, but you have the space for one, start cruising the garage sale ads for one.  You will be so very glad you did.

I can impress my husband with a meal for less than $5.

I just received the best, most unexpected compliment from my husband.  He LOVES the new recipe I came up with.  It is super simple, I think it's fairly nutritious, AND it's cheap.  I came up with it while I was at the grocery store, trying to find creative ways to feed my family well on the cheap.  I recently told  him that I was working on my budget, and he replied saying that was the sexiest thing a woman could say to a man.  Complimenting me unprovoked while gobbling from the baking dish had that same affect on me.  Clearly, we are in need of some excitement in our house...  Regardless, here is the illustrious recipe, with ideas for modification:

Angie's Chicken Pasta Salad 
1 package Ronzoni Garden Delight Vegetable Rotini Pasta
1 can of chunk chicken (or 2 if you like more meat)
Kraft Ranch Dressing to taste 


Boil the noodles as directed.  Drain noodles and rinse in cold water.  Drain the can of chicken.  I like to break up the pieces of chicken into smaller pieces.  Toss noodles, chicken and ranch dressing in a bowl.  Serve room temperature or chilled.  Probably tastes even better the next day if you can keep it in the fridge that long before people eat it all.  

I LOVE that the noodles are made from veggies and that they don't taste like dirt.  You get a veggie serving and a protein serving all together with this dish.  And my toddler likes to stab the rotini noodles with his fork.  It's a challenge, but an achievable one for his little hands.

I have also thrown in diced seasonal veggies from time to time:  tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, avocado, baby carrots...  Do what you want to add more flavor and texture from your garden.  Oh...  some fresh herbs from the garden might be nice too if you happen to have them. 

We are trying to cut fat calories lately, so we may be switching to low-fat or no-fat ranch dressing.  Obviously, this will alter the taste (let's not kid ourselves), so we'll see how that pans out.  A better option might be to try substituting with Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing.  I may go that route first.  

Alex was convinced that I had put parmesan cheese in it as well.  For the record, NO I DID NOT PUT PARMESAN CHEESE IN IT (that's just some strings of the chicken with ranch dressing on it), but it might be a good idea to try putting some parmesan, romano, or asiago (or all three!) in there.  Mozarella is always a hit, too.  Salt and pepper may also prove useful, although I find that there is usually more than enough of that in the store bought dressings. 

This is a quick, cheap, easy summertime recipe that my lazy, 24 weeks pregnant butt can pull off.  You can do it, too.  Don't go out for pizza tonight.  Impress someone you love.  Make this instead.

I can assemble a dump truck cake.

Before the party...

I can assemble a dump truck cake. 

It has been a long while since my last entry, but I shan’t beat myself up about it.  Instead, I look ahead to cooking for not a family of only 3, but for a family of 4 this November when baby girl arrives!  You see…  I’ve been busy…    

My son just turned 2 years old.  We threw a birthday party for him, and the theme was dump trucks, bulldozers… all of the things he usually plays with in his sandbox.  In an energetic moment a few weeks ago, I found directions for making a dump truck cake on www.parenting.com.  Many of the ingredients for the dump truck cake were the same as that of the bulldozer cake.  Why not make both?  I read the instructions over and over.  I studied them carefully.  I waxed and waned…  Can I do this?  Yes?  No?  Surely something will go awry.  But I have a master’s degree.  Certainly I can do this.  But I’m not good at crafty things that involve measurements, and this involves cutting cakes at angles…  I’ve seen those cake decorating shows.  Things go horribly wrong.  Still, I wanted to try.  So, not only did I make the 2 truck cakes, but I made a third cake as a back up.  A double layer chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.  Yum.  It alone would have been enough.  I had never made a layer cake, either, so using that as my back up was probably not wise.  Experimenting when you are expecting guests is always a bad idea, right?  But I’m an artist.  I take risks. 

Well…  I have to say I actually impressed myself.  The cakes looked significantly better than I thought they would.  With the help of my sisters in the assembly process, we successfully made (I say, assembled, since the cakes themselves were technically Sara Lee frozen pound cakes) a dump truck cake and a bulldozer cake.

When my son woke up from his nap, I took him downstairs to see the party decorations that we put up and told him that his friends would be arriving soon.  I showed him the cakes, and…  YES!  He knew what they were.  With a smile and a loving sigh, he said, “Dump truck!  Bulldozer!” as if they were the best friends that didn’t RSVP but that he secretly hoped would come to the party after all. 

The double layer cake also turned out remarkably well.  The risks were well worth it.  Lesson learned:  Take the chance.  You might just surprise yourself.  If not, you and your guests probably won’t starve.  It’s only food.  This is not Hell’s Kitchen. Gordon Ramsey won't be coming to your party. 

These directions actually work when you follow them!   

Dump truck cake:  http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-dump-truck-cake

Bulldozer cake:  http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-bulldozer-cake

Note:  Each boy at the party got to demolish his own cake.  Watching 2 two-year olds play with the trucks and “dirt” (made of graham cracker crumbs), only then to realize several minutes into the process that they were all edible…  priceless. 

After the party...  (aka: the scrap yard)