Zucchini Muffins

This is our favorite thing to do with our garden zucchini.  I just put the whole lot through my food processor with the shredding blade and bag and freeze it in 2-cup portions.  My freezer is still full of shredded zucchini... as we are contemplating this summer we think we may not plant very many, if any at all!

Zucchini Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 T cinnamon

2 cups finely shredded zucchini
2 cups white sugar
1 cup oil or applesauce (or any mild-tasting fruit-puree- pear works too)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 T vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the dry to the wet, mix until no more white streaks appear.  Spoon into a well-greased muffin tin (or use liners- I grease my liners too), about half-full should give you 2 dozen muffins.  Bake at 350 for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs.  This largely depends on whether you choose oil or applesauce as your "fat" in the recipe.  Applesauce gives a more moist texture, while oil makes it almost chewy.  Just as long as no raw dough comes out, you're good. :)

Catch up.... from forever ago!

Well, it's been forever and then some... Sorry!  Here is what our family is up to... with my promises hopes that I will be posting more often now!  I want to record the sweet things that are happening to our little family.  

Audrey is loving Sunbeams and being in Primary.  It is so sweet to see how she is growing up and turning into a girl!  Not a toddler anymore!  She loves singing time and she loves to see Mommy in Sharing time (I am the secretary in Primary).  Ethan doesn't love Nursery so much, but once you get him there he does just fine.  Our church is at 11, which means by the time he gets to nursery he just wants to be at home, eating lunch and sleeping.  Ethan is definitely not a baby anymore, but he still likes to snuggle so I pretend he's a baby sometimes... They are both getting so big!  I am without a camera cord to transfer pictures to my computer currently, so you'll just have to be patient with me on that.  

We are also very excited that we are expecting another baby!  I'm due at the end of June and feeling great.  Just over halfway now, so this is the easy part of pregnancy!  Not huge, not feeling sick, but enjoying the baby kicks and baby bump. 

Thomas' job changed recently from being a part-time employee to being basically 100% self-employed.  The company he works for was sold to another company, and he gets to keep working for them, but he is now a consultant doing project-based work instead of a guaranteed 25 hours a week.  He works a few less hours and if there isn't any work to do, he doesn't have work.  MissionShoe is more of our primary income source now, and things are going well with that.  It is interesting to experience a different dynamic with Thomas' job- it's kind of scary and requires a lot of faith that the Lord will take care of us.  It also makes us stretch and grow in new ways, which is what mortal life is all about.  :)  Things are going ok- we are just living simply and trying not to spend any more money than we have to.  I really don't feel like we want for anything necessary at all- we just learn to do without or replace it with something else.  It's kind of neat to just NOT spend money, even if we run out of something that a few months ago, would necessitate a trip to the store to get immediately.  It really makes me grateful for tithing and for food storage.  We just eat lots of beans and rice and homemade bread!  So don't look for too many fancy recipes on my other blog... or at least don't expect that I'm currently making all the recipes I post!  I'm so grateful that we really don't want for anything.  It makes me appreciate the little things!  :)  It also makes me really appreciate what we HAVE, instead of always wishing for a better this, or a newer that.  Not that I spent a lot of time doing that- but I just realize my thoughts have changed from negative to positive.  Most of the time. :)

This winter in Rexburg has not been so white!  It's been more of a brown winter because it's been unnaturally warm.  We finally got some winter-type weather this weekend, and ther are still a few inches of snow on the ground but I'm not sure how long it will last.  I'm guessing two days.  We have a bunch of geese (a gaggle?) that hang out in the field across from our house.  They fly to and from the river a few times a day.  It's kind of neat to watch them.

Well that's all for now.  I will post a few pictures next time because I just found my camera cord!

Brownies

I just invented this recipe and I think it's my favorite brownie recipe that I've made yet.  I'm definitely a box-brownie fan, because I love the denseness and the chewiness and I've yet to replicate that in my kitchen, but this sure does come close for me.  It's moist (and stays moist- I ate one today and it was still super soft and moist) and it has the denseness I love.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

Brownies

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, chopped (you can use margarine here too- but it changes the texture a bit.  I used margarine last time and it was fine)
4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
chocolate chips (opt)
nuts (opt) 

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Melt the butter and chocolate together, either on the stove or in the microwave at 30 second intervals (stirring between) until it's melted.  Set this aside to cool.  

Beat the eggs with an electric beater about 3 minutes, until they are frothy.  Add in the sugar and vanilla, beat until combined.  Add the chocolate and butter mixture and mix well.  

BY HAND, stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  If using, add chocolate chips and/or nuts now to your liking.  Stir til just combined, don't overmix it!  

Pour the batter into a foil-lined, greased pan.  If you use a 9x13 pan, bake the brownies for 20-25 min.  If you use a 9x9 pan for thicker brownies, bake for 40-45 min.  Either way, don't overbake them.  They are done when the tops are glossy and cracks start to form.  You can check them with a toothpick- there will be a little bit of moist crumbs on the end but that's ok, just as long as it isn't raw batter. 

Cool completely in the pan before lifting the foil overhang out. Cut into squares and eat them!