Got Zucchini? Try This!

Anyone else still have that late summer zucchini thriving in their garden? Or perhaps have some stashed in the freezer? That stuff is so prolific, but is one of those things that you just don't quite know what to do with it. Right?

I have been cooking mine occasionally with eggs in the morning (despite my kids thinking that's just pure disgusting), slicing it and dipping it in ranch dressing just like cucumbers and also tried Jamie's cake, which was delicious.

The other week I decided I needed to find another breakfast or snacking option for it that the kids would consider edible. Enter Pinterest, as always. I found it! THE RECIPE of yumminess. It's an award winning recipe and after making it in bread form (you can also do muffins if you wish), I understand why. Everyone here loved it, scarfed it down and most hardly noticed there was zucchini inside.

Ingredients

Zucchini Bread or Muffins

1 Large Egg, beaten

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1 cup grated Zucchini (I used closer to 1 1/2 cups)

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

*Optional: 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)

Brown Sugar Oat Streusel

2/3 cup Old Fashioned or Quick Oatmeal

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbs. Flour

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 cup Butter, cold

*Optional: 1 Tbs. semisweet chocolate chips

** I doubled the recipe to make the two loaf pans as pictured above.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9x5 (or 8x4) loaf pan with nonstick spray. If making muffins, preheat oven to 425F degrees and spray a 12-count pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Make the streusel first by combining the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together in a medium bowl. Cut in the cold butter with two knives or a pasty cutter (preferred) - or you may use your hands. Mix until the streusel resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the beaten egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, zucchini, and vanilla until evenly combined. In a large bowl, toss the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate chips together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Avoid overmixing.
4. Spread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake the bread for 20 minutes at 350F degrees. Remove from the oven and top with the streusel - press it down into the top. The reason you are adding it after 20 minutes is to prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the bread as it bakes. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I covered the bread loosely with aluminum foil after 35 total minutes to avoid the top from getting too brown. Allow bread to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan and serving.
5. If making muffins, fill 9-10 muffin cups all the way to the top. Press the streusel into the tops of each muffin. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F degrees and, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350F degrees and continue to bake for an additional 13-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before serving.
6. Store leftover bread or muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

June In The Rearview

Sometimes looking back makes me realize we did more than I thought and somewhere in the crazy there were memories. Here's a look back at June since the calendar pages turned and I barely recall all the moments until I look back at the photos.

Take a look, shall we?

Earlier in the month was a mommy-son date Saturday. Months ago, Jonah and I signed up for a 4H photography class that was held at a local state park. We spent the day learning simple photography tips and tricks, analyzing photos and taking walks around the scenic landscape to see what beauty we could capture. It was a good day with my boy and we both had an enjoyable time learning.

June we became determined potty trainers and set into full potty training mode. Heck, we even survived! It must have finally been time and the little Miss was ready. Having started and stopped a couple times in the last year or so due to issues that came up, I was hopeful this time around. We're now wearing big girl undies without issues, but we're still working on that #2. It takes time and this one has some constipation issues at times as well, so it will take more effort. Having gone through this three times already, I've had to accept it can take a while before perfection is attained. I'm just so excited to have her eager to go, knowing when she needs to do it and getting there in time. 

From the Baby Files, I'm currently 29+ weeks, but last week's doctor appointment had me measuring at 23 weeks. No, this is not a miscalculation leading to an October birth, but confirmation that I've got another low settled baby. Here's some photographic evidence from a week and a half ago:

From the Cuteness File, my Gianna all smiles and letting me catch her in one of my favorite toddler phases of sweetness. 

As for the big kids, they've spent the last month wandering around wondering how to fill their days without schoolwork. ha! That was part truth. I guess more like they've been enjoying their new found freedom which I happen to think sits on the brink of laziness at times. At least the first couple weeks it was that way and now we're settling in a bit more. Or maybe I'm too tired to care half the time and have adjusted to their lack of schedule. 

They did both have their first round of community ed classes last week and both participated in an Art Class. Being that I'm not really good at the arts nor painting, this is the first class for them to follow the knowledge and instruction of a local artist. They both enjoyed it and it was a good creative outlet for four mornings last week. 

They each did a canvas at first that was guided by the teacher, adding in details as they went along as a class. The last day, they each brought in their own photos from home to do a freestyle painting themselves. Both of them chose photos from our trip to Duluth last fall to recreate. 

Lily's:

Jonah's:

Lily is now eager for her second painting/art class in August and Jonah will be a part of a Lego class then as well. What was I thinking making plans in the last weeks before baby?? Oh well. I won't be going that early, I can guarantee it. 

With the big kids at classes, the little girls and I kept busy with other things like errands, trips to the park and a walk along the bike trail while we waited for the kids. It gave us opportunities for extra girl time and selfies. 

We also took in a movie matinee last week as well. It was our last outing as a family (minus the tween who wasn't feeling up to it at the last minute) with our parish priest and it was his suggestion. We went to see Inside Out and it was Gianna and Margaret's first theater movie. You guessed it, they (and we all) loved it! I think I only took the newly potty trained gal to the bathroom three times during the movie. I highly recommend the movie. I'm kind of sentimental and like Margaret with the memories. I'm also a big Pixar movie fan, so it was another good hit and the outing created another memory of time with our priest for us to lock away.

Just this past Monday, Reed took the day off work for us to take a short day away. We've tried I think three or four times in June to make plans and each time didn't get to do what we'd planned due to uncooperative weather. So off we went on Monday to Brainerd, which as any Minnesotan would know leads to Paul Bunyan territory. We enjoyed the day with its own sets of highs and lows as any family day has, plus I had a couple kids with nuisance colds bugging them. 

On the way home we stopped by Camp Ripley and the military museum there since the big kids seemed intrigued as we passed by on the way to Brainerd. Camp Ripley is a 53,000 acre military and civilian training facility where many National Guards train and enlisted MN military go periodically or monthly for continued training. 

The end to our June came with the saddest part which was our parish priest's official last days. It's been a tough month as we prepared our hearts for his leaving. While change and a new pastor are inevitable, this one is a little more difficult because he wasn't set for a move this year and only recent diocesan developments even put his name on the list. We're also having a tough go of it since he was near and dear to each member of my family's hearts, even down to the toddlers. I wish you could hear how the kids talk about him and the girls draw pictures of him, color him pictures and always wanted to talk with him after Mass. Hopefully we'll be able to make the effort to plan visits (he'll be over an hour away in his new parishes) with him and remain in touch.

Now we're sailing into July and the calendar slots are more full than I anticipated. Part of that is just life activities and added to that is my now every other week prenatal appointments. We're full steam ahead!

On schedule for this month:

* piano lessons continue every other week with a new teacher for a trial period over the summer

* two prenatal appointments with my new midwife (my regular doc recently stopped delivering babies, so I needed to switch for now leading up to and including baby's delivery)

* baby's 32 week ultrasound to check growth and development

* 16 new baby chicks are set to arrive at our house in less than two weeks

* library story hour for the toddlers

* VBS for Jonah and Gianna, plus Lily will be a helper this year

* a parish festival or two that we hope to attend at a couple of our priest friends' parishes

* a farewell/We Love Jamie party that Christine and I are putting together

* patron Saint name days for Lily & Jonah

* 4H project prep for the county fair next month

I hope that your summers are going well and you have a great 4th of July weekend!

Friday Photos

We're winding down our first official week of summer time here at our house. 

It was kind of a rough start for a number of reasons and too many random things going on. 

I'm looking toward next week to iron out some summer guidelines 

and perhaps more restful/peaceful days.

Some of us were quite ready for the official school calendar to close (see above). Teacher included.

In ways it does seem that the new year had begun not that long ago, but that was WAY back here. 

Here are the students and little helpers on the last day of school:

How do they grow up so much during the school year??

Next year we'll have a seventh grader, fifth grader, preschoolers x2, and a newborn. 

I'm gonna need more grace and patience. 

And coffee.

Happy Summer Days!

July Garden

We've hit the end of July and I realized all the photos I intended to take of my blooming gardens this month, never happened. Last month I jumped in on a garden link up, so I thought I may as well keep you posted on my blooms in July too. 

This is the small flower garden Lily is tending this summer. I've had the yellow evening primrose for years now and they are a good, hardy perennial that keeps on coming back. Lily's choice was to add a mix of pink and red/white petunias. These have been a great grower in this location and she's been good at keeping them so prolific.

Natalie's Garden is filled with blooming lilies of all sorts and colors, but many shades of orange and red are currently in season.

The other end of the garden with more lilies and a number of daylilies, spiderwort and hostas. I have a row of Four O'Clocks planted in the very back which should be blooming soon. 

It's hard to tell below, but that would be our potato garden (all 99 hills of it) and then my rows of flowers in the background.

A couple of you mentioned in the combox on this post that you wouldn't mind knowing more about the cut flowers I planted this year. I decided that having fresh flowers for the table would be a nice addition to my gardening so I planted a couple of rows. I don't have the exact specifics on the varieties that they are, but I know I found specific seeds that made good cut flowers. I had a couple varieties of Burpee brand zinnias found at my local country store this spring. This variety is one of them and I also have a variety that is a bigger bloom, but I can't find the name. I am really happy with the choice of the zinnias that are hardy, needing very little attention and have been in bloom for three weeks already. 

The yellow flowers below I cannot recall their name. I am thinking they were a type of daisy, which again came from seed. 

This spring I just really scoured the seed packets to find annuals that could be planted, were little work, long bloom time and could be cut flowers. I'm looking forward to planting more next year so that I have more for home and to take in to church for a part of the summer.

The garden is growing and I've only had to turn the soaker hose on once so far this season. It looks like I'll need to turn that on some more this week though. The beans started out well, but don't seem to be lengthening their growing season at all, which is concerning for our winter needs. The carrots seem to be doing well, the squash vines are climbing the fence and have blooms. While the tomatoes are growing for the most part, some of them already have blight (grr!!) and that may keep down the productivity. Gardening and gardening in MN can be so uncertain based on so many variations in temp, rain, soil, etc. 

Happy August!

Come on back later this month as we wrap up the summer and the end to most of the color in my gardens. 

Signs Of Summer

There are lots of signs of summertime here in Minnesota right about now. There are also signs of summer on this here blog with the absence of any regular posting.

We're all busy and I've learned that we've got to take the steps back sometimes to enjoy the every day. This morning I read Mary's post (thanks, Colleen) and realized small time blogger status is just fine so I shouldn't feel obligated to post. I've also been thinking more about sitting at the stoop front porch and how to settle in each day when there are so many things to be done this summer.

After a ton of work painting, reorganizing, moving and some redecorating, the great bedroom swap is finished. I'll post photos, I'm sure, but in the meantime I still have all of my school supplies that need a new home. Let's not even consider discussing school plans for the fall, okay? Those are very much still up in the air.


Alas, just some photos I threw together this morning to check in with you all. We're thriving and surviving our summer.

Summer Is:

Swimming at home and at a local outdoor waterpark...

4th of July celebrating with family...

Recitation of his 4th of July poem he wrote...

Fun with glow sticks that grandma brought us...

Blooming flowers that splash the yard with vibrant color...

A spontaneous trip to Como Zoo & Como Town yesterday...

Lots of smiles and fun memories...

Next week has a few things on the calendar and following that will be Vocations Camp and County Fair. I've got kids in 4H for the first time, so we've got some projects that need to get completed. Yikes.

I hope you are enjoying summer and finding plenty of time to relax and have fun.

June Garden {link up}

While everyone else is busy posting their Friday Quick Takes, I thought I'd jump in on Cari's garden party a week late. I had taken the photos and had them all ready, so heck, why not?

While winter took near forever to leave, since spring has arrived we've had a lot of rain. It's a good thing, but not for all farmers and gardeners who couldn't/still can't get their planting in.

Thankfully, between some rains a few weeks ago I was able to get our seeds and plants in the ground. I was one of the fortunate ones.

The vegetable garden is fenced in to keep the neighborhood deer population out.

This year in the garden we have yellow and green beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach, squash, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and watermelon (Jonah's request, but we're skeptical our growing season will be long enough to produce).

Moving along in the yard we pass our latest development: a chicken coop. Now if said rains would give us a break so we can finish this project, I'd be happy. I'll keep you posted.

In the front yard, right in front of the wrap around porch are two terraces. The top one has shrubs that provide a bit of a screen for annoying neighbors. What? I've never told you about the campground park across the driveway with loud, nosey, insensitive inhabitants. Ok, I won't tell you today either. Let's pretend I live in a beautiful wonderland with no weirdo neighbors in the summer.

The front terrace has perennials that I have grown there for years and divided a few several times. This spring I divided the hostas thinking I had done my job well. Now that they are leafed out I see that a MAJOR divide will need to happen again next spring. 

For the life of me the name is escaping my brain what the first flowers are called. The pink ones were a new addition last year and are spreading quite well. They are a dwarf creeping baby's breath.

Moving along to the south side, this is my biggest and probably favorite garden. It's Natalie's Garden by name. After years of hard work and expansions, it is quite prolific and thriving even after a hard winter.

I painted that little bench last year from a white and I have so enjoyed the color-pop in with the greens.

A few of my beauties that are blooming already. The dark purple one on the left is spiderwort and it started from two plants but has replanted itself in a few other spots in the garden now too. The light purple one (again, name escapes me and therefore perhaps I shouldn't write posts in the AM hours) was an addition that Reed picked up from a greenhouse last year. It's delicate blooms and greens are pretty this time of year.

These cute pansies are Lily's addition. She had these pansies in her bedroom window last year. She nurtured them and they failed to bloom last summer. Late in the summer she planted them in the garden and we tried not to break her heart when all winter she eagerly anticipated their reappearance this spring. Boy were we wrong! One day, she noticed that these little annuals had indeed survived winter. And lo and behold, they even started to bloom!

She's pretty proud.

My new Mary statue has a few flowers to surround her and more will be coming. I told you she'd be the perfect addition to this garden and she is!

Finally, in the backyard is where the hostas thrive. It's also a mosquito haven so they are most appreciated from the deck or my kitchen window. Again, these hostas were divided this spring. Another divide will happen next year too I guess. Phew. They are so beautiful right now due to the ideal hosta weather I guess.

The creeping white and green leaf in between is dead nettle. A very good plant for ground cover if you would be looking for one.

Behind that hosta box garden is this hosta garden. It has a few petite daylilies, coralbells and mums thrown in there for color. Unfortunately, the coralbells don't seem to be thriving and surviving back there.

I have an old stove under the tree that has a couple of dusty miller and moss roses inside.

I almost forgot! To adorn the front door I have this new addition:

The chair came from my grandparent's house. After they moved to the nursing home last fall and grandpa's passing in December, the family went through their things. A couple of us got these chairs. Each of us have painted them and are using them as accents with flowers at our homes. I just painted my mom's in a candy apple red which is perfect for their yard. This project will get completed when hubs gets a chance. He'll cut out a hole in the seat of the chair so the pot sets in there. Hopefully these trailing plants will then do their job and cascade beautifully over the chair. We'll see.

Hopefully you've enjoyed a bit of my garden tour to kick off your weekend.We'll see how things are growing next month and I'll post more photos.

Remember to click over to Cari's to check out all the other wonderfully creative gardens.

Have a great weekend and enjoy honoring your Fathers and Husbands on Sunday!

Pardon The Interruption

Anyone else just groovin' through summer at rapid speed? 

Right now blogging is taking a backseat to real life living. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to document, let alone LIVE these days that fill my calendar. 

With many days at home, but still busy and other days with obligations and fun, August is sure to pass by quickly. 

A quick check in to let you know what we've been up to and that all is well here at the homestead.

Last weekend we headed to a small town zoo/petting zoo on our way to a parish festival. It proved to be perfect weather and a great day for a short family outing.

A certain almost eleven year old is suddenly quite smitten with cattle. She's begging for a small cow of some sort for her birthday. Kid.you.not. Not sure how we'll fulfill that birthday request.

Last week was VBS for the big kids and they had a blast at Kingdom Rocks VBS. I'm so glad we signed them up, despite Lily's insisting she wasn't going.

This past Saturday the boys (Reed and Jonah) spend the day up in Duluth. They hit a number of fun spots (not documenting any of them since Reed is not the photographer in the family) and most importantly, Day out with Thomas. This was probably Jonah's last hurrah with Thomas and since he's been wanting to go for years, we finally broke down. It proved to be the perfect day for father and son to just do stuff together.

While the boys were away, the girls and I hit up one of the local county fairs. A couple hours walking around smelling the smells of the fair, seeing the animals and I let Lily pick one ride. She chose the bungee one.

In almost all of the buildings full of animals, Miss Margaret sat in her stroller and let out a loud 'MOOOO'.  I guess the cows were her favorite and easiest to imitate.

We finished off the fair with ice cream shakes and Miss Independent insisted on feeding herself the chocolate shake. I was glad we waited to do that just before leaving the fair.

This week isn't too busy, but I'll perhaps continue the frustrating task of potty training. While Gianna seemed ready, she now just doesn't even seem eager or willing. It's a bit frustrating for me because this is my third child that has made potty training the worst task of motherhood for me. Is there a potty training for dummies book? Al of the other ones I've ever read on potty training haven't ever worked. *sigh* This paying for two girls in diapers thing just isn't working out. It doesn't help when Gianna says she's wet and knows she is (even a little bit) and demands a new diaper. The diaper supply runs out pretty quickly, that's for sure.

I'm also planning on meeting up with Mrs. B who will be staying with us overnight, along with her little Elizabeth later this week. She's a new Usborne Books consultant and I'm hosting a home show with her. It should be fun to meet another blogger IRL again. By the way, if you'd like to order any books from my eshow online, send me an email and I'll get you the link. 

In other news, have you read from Colleen? You might want to stop over at my buddy's place and see what's new with her crew. 

Have a great week and I hope to stop back in soon!