Zucchini Brownies

Yep, that’s what I said! Zucchini Brownies. Yesterday I started craving some brownies and stumbled across Zucchini brownies and decided to give it a try. They are excellent! We tried them with and without the frosting. It is good both ways but better with frosting. Without frosting they are yummy but the sweetness is much more mild. They are nice and moist, the texture is perfect and I would never, ever guess they had zucchini in them if it weren’t for the fact that I put it in there myself. Mike ate two of them when he got home and didn’t say a thing, lol. I also didn’t tell him. Tee hee. Camden of course could care less. She watched me put it in there and for all she knows zucchini is always in brownies.

When you make these brownies be aware that the batter will be very dry and crumbly until you add the shredded zucchini. Don’t drain any of the liquid when you shred the zucchini throw it all in with the batter. Mix the batter with your hands, it is too hard to incorporate the ingredients with a spoon. Once the zucchini is in there it gets nice and moist and even more moist when you bake it. They aren’t dry at all. An easy way to get zucchini into the whole family. And unless you tell them no one will know it is in there.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa (unsweetened)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups shredded zucchini (Peel first. I needed 4 zucchini to make 2 cups – my zucchini were fairly small)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting:

6 TBSP cocoa (unsweetened)

1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter, melted

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 baking pan. (I found it easier to line my pan with foil and use cooking spray on the foil. Then the brownies lifted right out of the pan and there was no problem with sticking.)

In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugars and vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and stir until mixed. Combine with sugar mixture and mix by hand (mixture will be VERY dry). Add in zucchini and mix by hand. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (longer if you are using a smaller pan) until brownies spring back when gently touched or when a toothpick or butter knife comes out clean.

To make the frosting: melt the butter and then add cocoa and stir, set aside and cool. In a medium bowl, blend powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Mix with hand mixer. Spread over cooled brownies.

Store brownies in the fridge if you frost them.

Zucchini Brownies with Frosting

Camden enjoying some frosting

Read Full Post »

The Passing of a Family Friend

We were informed just a few hours ago that a family friend was lost in a tragic and sudden accident. Terry Matthews, a long time family friend to Mike’s family and the former Bishop who officiated our Wedding passed away earlier today. He was riding his bicycle and was hit by a car. Terry was transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham but did not make it. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family.

Terry was one of the kindest and most Spirit filled men that I have ever met. He was a pivotal influence in my own Spiritual journey and one of the reasons I began to investigate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He and his wife were present at my Baptism nearly a year after our Wedding date. He will be missed but all that know him will take comfort in the fact that his Spirit carries on. I can only imagine what important tasks that our Heavenly Father has in store for him.

On a personal level I am reminded that our lives here are so precious and that our time is very limited. We don’t know the hour that we will be called home and we are wise to take the advice to live each day as if it were our last. To refine and establish our lives in such a way that they reflect the purpose for which we are here.

Bellingham Herald Article

Read Full Post »

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier

Below is a link for a contest to win a free Ergo Baby Carrier via a random drawing. You only need to answer a simple question about what your favorite parenting website or forum is and why. I loved my Ergo and can’t wait to use it with my next baby.

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

Read Full Post »

The Power of Sunshine

A few weeks ago I opened the rubber maid tub of my daughter’s newborn baby clothes and gasped in horror. More than half of her clothes had awful yellowish brown stains all over them (they were stain free when I stored them). Apparently sitting in the tub for the last few years has allowed all of the spit up stains to rear their ugly heads. I lamented on what to do and how I was going to be able to afford new clothes for this next baby or how this poor baby would be looking very shabby if we were to have a girl.

Then, my friend informed me not to fear that all I needed was sunshine! That’s right, the power of the sun. She said all I needed to do was to wash the clothes and get them wet and then let them dry in direct sunlight. I was skeptical but hey, it was definitely worth a shot. I went to the store and spent a few dollars on some clothespins.

Now, I only wish I would have taken before and after photo’s. Because of my skepticism I did squirt all of the stained clothes with Shout first and then threw them in the wash. Some of the stains faded just with the wash but most of them were still there. I then hung them outside on a cheap freestanding clothes rack which kept proceeding to blow down in the wind which was really, really obnoxious. I couldn’t stand it up against the house because the sides of the house were in the shade. Finally, I got the bright idea to lay a large blanket on the grass and pin the clothes to the blanket and weight the blanket with some rocks. Perfect.

A few hours later I went to retrieve them and brought the clothes inside. I was utterly shocked when I inspected each piece of clothing and found that EVERY SINGLE STAIN WAS GONE. Gone. Just like that. Magic, I tell you! I stared at some of those onesies until my eyes crossed because I was sure that some of those stains still had to be there, but nope, all gone.

I am so excited to be able to save some of Camden’s current shirts that have become stained and tossed aside as “play clothes.” I’ve also heard that this method works just as well for getting stains out of cloth diapers. Something that will come in handy with this next baby, I’m sure.

Read Full Post »

Yummy Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

The kiddo’s wanted pancakes this morning and I wanted to use up my flour since we’ll be going Gluten Free soon (sigh…very sad). Here is a yummy homemade recipe for pancakes and they turned out really good. Sorry no picture.

This takes a little planning ahead so that all ingredients are at room temp. If you are in a pinch, like I was, you can bring the milk and eggs to a warm temperature by putting them in the oven for a minute or two. I just put my pyrex dish of measured milk and a small pyrex bowl containing my eggs on a cookie sheet in the oven just long enough so they weren’t cold.

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

3 cups Flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Salt

1/8 cup Sugar

2 1/2 cups Milk (room temperature)

2 Eggs (room temperature)

1/2 cup butter (one stick), melted

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1. Measure out dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, baking powder, salt & sugar) and then sift. If you don’t have a sifter you can use a mesh colander over a bowl and dump the ingredients into the colander and tap until it is sifted through.

2. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients (melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla). Make sure the milk and eggs are not cold or they will re-solidify the butter. Whisk together.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk sparingly. Don’t overmix. Let sit for 10 minutes before beginning pancakes.

4. Preheat a lightly oiled griddle. We use coconut oil and it gives the pancakes a delicious flavor. Not to mention coconut oil is very healthy for you.

5. Use about 1/4 cup for each pancake. You may want to cut the recipe in half if you are just feeding a few of you. This was more than enough for me and three children and I had to throw some batter away. One of the children ate 5 pancakes :).

In regards to Syrup…

We use pure maple syrup in our house all though the children that I watch are not used to it’s flavor (as most people aren’t who have grown up with syrup from the store). I have learned to dress it up for them. To make it absolutely delicious pour some pure maple syrup (Costco has a great deal on a big jug of organic pure maple syrup) into a pyrex or oven safe bowl. Add some butter, a bit of powdered sugar and a little bit of vanilla and place in the oven, put the dish on a cookie sheet, at about 350 while you are preparing and making the pancakes. Syrup is always better piping hot. Make sure you use an oven mitt to get it out. The kids prefer this over store bought syrup now and this is much better for you than the concoction you’ll buy in the grocery store which is mostly high fructose corn syrup and artificial everything.

Read Full Post »