Independence Day Bread

When life brings you zucchini, make zucchini bread. Well, a dear friend and neighbor brought over a bag of zucchini and eggplant last night and my husband's first statement was "you should make zucchini bread." He grew up loving it, so last year I got the recipe from his mom and made several loaves. While looking for that recipe I found one I had ripped out of Parents Magazine last May. This one includes blueberries too, which I also have in the refrigerator, so I decide to try it. Because I take after my mother, I cannot follow a recipe exactly. There must be some substitutions, so I'll give you the recipe first, and then what I did.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread ~ those gorgeous berries make the zucchini way less noticeable ~ as stated by Parents Magazine, and yes so true. It is very good bread.

• 1 cup all- purpose flour
• 1 cup whole- wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 1 loaf pan or 3-4 mini loaf pans. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl and wet ingredients in small bowl. Stir wet into dry. Carefully stir in blue berries and zucchini. Bake large loaf 1 hour and mini loaves 40 minutes. Ready when toothpick in center comes out clean.

 

MY VERSION

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt ( it's the only "coarse" salt in my cupboard, so I used it)
• 3 liquid eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini picked by a super sweet friend
• 1 cup blueberries picked by my family from my moms bushes

The mixture looks really thick to me before adding in the fresh stuff, but after folding the rest in it seems to get loose enough to work with. I prepared as above and made 4 mini loaves in my first batch which came out rather short, so I made 3 in the second batch and they were perfect. My mini loaves took just 30 minutes to bake. After cooling I placed them each in a ziplock bag and tied a few with some red, white, and blue ribbon I picked up at a yard sale. After supper the girls and I delivered 5 loaves to extra special people in our community to wish them happy independence day, and to treat them as sweetly as my dear sweet neighbor had treated me.

 

The Good Lord said "love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:39

 

If we all did, how sweet the world would be...

 

Gift giving 101

One way that I find it easy to save $ for the family is to buy ahead. When I find a deal on a product I use, I buy as many as I might need in the next 6 months or so if I have room for that many. Luckily I have several extra cabinets in my half bath that I use for my pantry and personal hygiene stock pile. Some may think this is strange, I know my husband did when he first saw where I was keeping the cereal, but in a small home you've got to use storage where you can find it!

Another way I save is buy keeping a gift stock pile, which I store in the attic. Our local Dirt Cheap Stores are one place I find a lot of these items for as cheap as 80% off retail. When I find something that fits our usual birthday party crowd, I pick up as many as I'll need for a year or so. I also sew a lot of my gifts for children's parties and adults alike. Sometimes I ask the mother what item they would like, but more often I just surprise them with something. I do this so often, I think they pretty much expect a homemade gift from us. I enjoy making them and they are just as nice, if not more so than a store bought present.

 

For today's party I almost hate to disclose what I actually paid for the gift, but I guess I will.

The birthday girl and her sister are going on a beach vacation in July, so I pulled 2 beach towels out of the attic and monogrammed their names on them. I paired this with a store bought Melissa and Doug toy that I purchased for 70%off at a local shoe store that has a huge yearly sale - I LOVE the Watermelon Patch!- and viola. Birthday girl gets a fun toy and personalized beach towel, with one thrown in for her sis as well, for only... Wait for it.....$8 plus tax!

Now if I went to the store yesterday and bought just the toy it would have been $20 plus tax. That's why I love my stock pile and why my husband has learned to love it too, even if it is in the bathroom!