My Vacation Is Almost Over--Boo Hoo!

I've been on vacation all week, and I hated to see Friday come. When I'm at work, it can't come fast enough, but not this week.

I spent the week doing my favorite thing--cleaning, deep cleaning. And yes, that was a joke, not the cleaning part, but it being my favorite thing. But it's done, and I can enjoy having a clean house for a while. The sad part is, my body is paying for it. When I got up this morning, I was stiff as a board, and my hands and feet were swollen something awful.

We played cards here last night-now you know the reason for the cleaning- and even though I did most of my cooking ahead, I still had a lot of last minute things to do. One of those was to make zucchini bread. Recipe at the bottom.

A friend from work brought me a very large zucchini. I was a bit worried that it was too big and wouldn't make good bread. So I decided to peel it and remove the seeds to see what I had.

Here are the results. I needed 2 cups loosely packed, and I ended up with 7 and 1/2 cups. I put the rest into ziplock bags, marked them and froze them.

This is my list of ingredients. I've learned to gather everything together rather than to get them as I need them. It sure makes it handier(is that a word?) than having to constantly go fetch what I need. It also helps me make sure I have everything before I start. Notice the clock in the upper left. It says 6:30, and it was 6:30 AM. You may also notice the rock on the left side. A friend and I were in Palm Desert, CA a few years ago and I picked it up on a mountain we rode a tram to reach the top. I collect rocks, some a bit larger than that one, and some much smaller.

The recipe makes two loaves, and here's how they looked just before going into the oven.

And here they are out of the pans. Don't they look yummy? Believe me they are, and I have an almost empty plate to prove it. I froze one for later.

My fear of the zucchini being too big to use was groundless. They turned out just fine, and the texture and taste were wonderful.

Here's the recipe I used. I found it on the internet, and as I gathered up my ingredients, I noticed there are no spices in this recipe. I think the next time I make it, I may pour half the batter in one pan, then add some cinnamon, or something else in the remaining batter to see if I like one better than the other.

Zucchini Bread.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded zucchini - loosely packed
1 cup chopped walnuts(black walnuts are my preference), I think you could use pecans too.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and oil. Stir in eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition(I cheat here, I put them in all at once and where the recipe says 'stir', I use the lowest setting on my mixer), stir in vanilla. Blend this misture into the flour mixture, adding in the sour cream; stir just to combine. Fold in the zucchini and nuts. Mix all together(I did use a spoon to do this)

Pour evenly into pans, bake in a preheated oven for 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Mine baked up just fine in about 60 minutes.

I let them set for a few minutes in the pan, then turned them out onto a wire rack. I put them into gallon zip lock bags.

Even though I've worked hard on my house this week, I've enjoyed being home. But it will be back to the grind on Monday.

Have you tried a new recipe this lately? I also made two sausage, egg recipes to go along with my other food for my get-together last night. I'll post those soon, and Oh Christina, they were both very good. I've had a couple of calls from the girls who were here last night telling me how good the food was. I think every one had a good time, and they all went home with a jar of my peach preserves. And thanks to Mary for making the chocolate gravy. It was quite a hit as well.

Hope you are having a great Friday. Love one another.