Clean Floors

Today I got a lot done in the kitchen. Cupcakes for a cupcake-cake for Daniel's baptism.... icing for the cupcakes... chocolate chip cake because I made too much icing and wanted to put it on something rather than eat it with a spoon... communion bread... lunch was sandwiches and dinner was leftover spaghetti... and I just finished cleaning the floor. I love clean floors.

Baking Bread

I have discovered over the last couple years the joy of making my own bread. I will readily admit that I do use a breadmachine to do most of the work, but I still find it fulfilling. The bread is usually delicious (sometimes I must mess up the recipe) and I know exactly what goes into it. How much sugar and salt is in a 2$ loaf of white bread at the grocery store? I don't know, but I know that my bread only has 2 tbsp sugar (sometimes I substitute 1 tbsp honey for the sugar) and 1 tsp of salt, and that makes me feel good. I also sub some of the white flour with whole wheat. Plus whenever a loaf comes out of the oven, I can have a hot fresh slice (perhaps with my own raspberry jam!).

Recipe of the Week

I want to share some of the yummy things this family eats, but not everything has a story.
So my plan is to post a new recipe every tuesday of something we ate during the previous week.
Please remind me if I forget.
Just click on the link near the top of the page.

Z is for Zucchini

Ever since my zucchini brownies, Jeff is wary of anything I make... "are there veggies in it?" he asks. I wanted to use some of my frozen shredded zucchini so I made chocolate chip muffins that are clearly zucchini based. No tricks this time. But they are yummy. I have a great zucchini loaf recipe, but with a little tweaking it made a yummy muffin recipe.

I also made rice krispie squares (the recipe is on the box) for a kids' group at church. Jacob helped me, and discovered that marshmallows are delicious. He didn't really want to try one at first. He picked all the sticky leftovers out of the bowl and licked the spoon and then asked for more. When I was busy later on, he got his stool and helped himself to a very large piece right from the pan. It is fun to make stuff with him, and I think he likes it because I usually let him taste as we go along.

Speaking of marshmallows.... today Jacob cut his toe, and to make him feel better while I cleaned and bandaged it (at the kitchen table) he wanted a marshmallow. Usually in this type of scenario I ask if a chocolate chip would make him feel better and it works, but not today. I hope I don't have to start stocking marshmallows in my pantry now!

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3/4 cup cooking oil

1 cup sugar

2 cups zucchini, grated

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 1/2  tsp baking powder

1 1/2  tsp baking soda

1/2  tsp salt

1 1/2  tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

-Beat eggs until frothy. Add oil and sugar. Add zucchini and vanilla.

-Combine next five ingredients in separate bowl. 

-Stir all together to moisten. Add chocolate chips.

-Pour into lined muffin pan.

-Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.

-Makes about 20 large muffins.