Announcing the Birth of...

My first ear of corn! Wow, that's exciting, I know, try to control yourselves. Eh, it's my first attempt at corn. Eight plants in the ground, seven survived the onslaught of the deer (don't ask about the tomatoes) and eight ears, minus this one, on the stalks still growing. With mostly neglect, I got a cute little crop. I'll plow under the front 40 next year and do a whole field. Or maybe a dozen plants. Something.

Here are the baby pics!

Knee Deep in Zucchini

I leave on vacation and return to zucchini on steroids! Here's a great recipe for all those extra zucchini. Really tasty loaf, moist, freezes well.

A note about the sinking in the middle zucchini bread: This happens all the time with this recipe. I don't mind it, but I found a good article about why it happens and how to prevent it.



Zucchini Bread

This recipe makes TWO loaves.

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup oil
3 tsp. vanilla

Combine (sift) these dry ingredients in separate bowl and set aside:
3 cups flour
2 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 large)
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts), optional (tossed in 1 Tbl. flour, to keep from sinking in batter)

Grease and flour TWO loaf pans. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 325F.
To large stand mixer, add sugar and oil. Beat well until sugar is creamed, on medium-low.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
Add the combined dry ingredients in three batches.
Add the zucchini and nuts, mix well.

Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 1 hour at 325F.
Test for doneness with toothpick inserted into center of loaf.
Cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove. Continue cooling on rack.
When cooled, loaves may be wrapped well in plastic wrap, then foil and frozen.


Recipe from Lisa at the American Cancer Society. Thanks, Lisa!

Vacation!

On a break from the blogging. No sand in the keyboard!

Writings

Slacking on the blogging duties lately...like butter scraped over too much bread...that, and I finally got a freelance article in my local paper. Hopefully it's the first of many to come. Enjoyed writing this one. Well, actually, I enjoyed researching this one. The writing was a bit more challenging than I thought. It's a piece on stay-at-home moms. Here it is.

Balloon Fest: Sprout Creek

Annual Balloon Fest launch at Sprout Creek Farm, Lagrangeville.

Happy Independence Day