It's a Betty Crocker Kind of Day

I am not sure what has gotten into me this week. Maybe it is the "start of the school year" excitement, or the fact that I am not waiting for someone to show up to do something in the kitchen, but I have been loving doing things around the house. No the dusting isn't done, and the floors still need to be mopped, but I am making some progress in getting the house back into order.

I'm even finding time to do some extra stuff, like baking! This is a big thing because I am a self-professed non-baker. Most of my tries are serious flops. Not true this week. I have been working hard to find some easy breakfast ideas that the Misses will actually eat. A long time ago I found a recipe for Vanilla Muffins. It seemed like a good thing to try this week. I had some fruit or chocolate chips to add in if the Misses wanted. I thought "special order" muffins would entice them to eat a little more.

We made the first batch while my Dad was here, and it went okay. The Misses were very excited to choose the additives, but were not so excited when the muffins came out. Evidently the taste was okay, but the muffins were just too big. Yesterday I tried again but with mini-muffin cups. I made 22 muffins this time, and they were all eaten before lunch time. And I only ate 4. At one point Miss S came into the office and proudly announced that she had eaten 6 muffins.

I made another batch of mini-muffins this morning, and both girls dug in with relish. Miss M even requested some more muffins for snack. I think we have a winner!

One note about this recipe - freezing the batter really does work. I used batter from the fridge yesterday, and frozen batter today. The muffins tasted the same.

After the muffins were baked and devoured, I got to work on the leftover produce from the community garden. I stumbled onto a great website yesterday that has all kinds of information for those of us who want to do the "pick your own" thing then freeze those fruits and veggies. PickYourOwn.org will even help you find a PYO farm in your area . How cool is that?

I blanched, cooled and packaged my okra and threw it in the big freezer. I cannot wait for a dreary winter day to fire up the oil and cook a little fresh summer!

After that I embarked on a zucchini bread project (recipe below). This is generally my husband's job as he would eat his weight in zucchini bread if he wouldn't get sick. He absolutely LOVES the stuff, and i cannot make it fast enough. Today I tried a different tack. I made 4 mini-loaves instead of one big loaf. When it was cooled, I offered some to the Misses. They proceeded to eat the entire mini-loaf minus the 2 heels that they allowed me to have. Hmm ... I think I should have gotten/frozen a lot more zucchini while it was in season.

Now I am taking a breather from peeling, slicing and freezing peach slices. Guess I ought to go back to it. I'm on a roll. :)

Zucchini Bread

1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped nuts (we leave these out)

Beat all ingredients. Add nuts.
Pour into greased pan.
Bake at 325 F for 60-65 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Cool completely, wrap and store in fridge or freezer.