Smells good!

I made some zucchini bread that surprisingly smells really awesome. I haven't baked with allspice in a long time, so the refresher is nose-tingling. I started with a recipe from a magazine, but I tweaked a couple of things. I forgot just how watery grated zucchini is. And I was so concerned about being low on flour, wheat flour, and baking spray, that I almost forgot the sugar. Whoops! Being low on flours and baking spray is a big deal for me.

Matt and I are going on a trip for two to Corpus Christi and staying at Emerald Beach this weekend, to celebrate our 5th anniversary. This is the first trip we've been on, just the two of us, since before I got pregnant with Natalee. Loooong overdue. My mom's getting Little Miss Race Car for the weekend, so Natalee's happy, too. Hopefully we'll have some good photos.

And then the day after we get back, I'll be starting my new job at the bakery across the street. I'll be starting out mostly working the counter, but I'm looking forward to playing with industrial size baking toys. Mwahahaha! I'll be working evenings four days a week, from 4 to 8 pm, so I'll get to stay home with Natalee. We'll be saving money and grief from day care. (Natalee had a couple of weeks at school where a classmate decided she was her new chew toy and scratching post. Natalee had teeth-shaped bruises and claw marks on her face that took weeks to heal. I taught Natalee to scream "No, Amara, no! Go away!" any time the kid looked at her twice. It helped. And that's not counting all the sick days.) Plus I have weekends off, so we're free to visit family in Fort Worth area. I'm really happy about working in a bakery, doing something I love, Natalee doesn't have to go to day care, I'll be bringing in a little money, and I'll still have weekends with my family. It seems like a win-win situation right now. As for the long run, I think when Natalee starts pre-school next year, I'm going to go back to school, find a new direction. It gives us a year to save up some money for classes, and I can take them while Natalee's at school, so we won't have the additional expense of day care.

So, anyways, here's the bread recipe.


Choclanutty Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
3 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk (or sour milk/milk+vinegar = 1/4 cup)
3 tsps vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup nuts (I used chopped walnuts)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray and flour 2 8x4 loaf pans, or 4 2x4 mini pans and 1 8x4 pan. (I like using little pans because they bake faster and more evenly, and they're a good size for giving away.)

2. Combine the dry ingredients (the first eight). In a seperate bowl, combine the eggs, zucchini, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla, beating the eggs a little first before adding the rest.

3. Add the wet ingredients (eggs, zucchini, etc.) to your dry ingredients, using as few strokes as possible. (Muffin method, anyone?) Add the chocolate chips and nuts, and then portion into pans, filling 2/3rds full.

4. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let pans of bread cool on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes before cutting into the bread.

Trying to do this for Layla. Not sure if it will work, so here it goes.




Not that I'm sure this well help, since I don't know of many people who read this thing. But I hope it does!



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