Summer Squash Bread

Recipe #5 Summer squash recipe round up.

With so much squash on our hands, finding recipes that Scott and I will both enjoy has been quite a challenge. We have had our share of hits (this bread) and misses (squash cakes - which won't be featured). Scott's favorite is by far the fried squash but this amazing bread takes a very close second!

When I made this bread I was letting it cool while I was Skyping home and decided to take the first taste test while video chatting with my mom. I offered Scott a piece which he quickly and politely rejected. My mom's reaction was priceless, she said "Is he really not going to try that?!" Scott looked at me with puppy eyes and replied "I'll try it, give me a piece." Followed by "This is pretty good!" I am not sure if he thought it was going to be like a wheat bread or what because after trying it he was so surprised to find it was sweet like dessert.

The recipe's I found online were all very similar to zucchini bread, and until Nora suggested I try it with the squash I hadn't even thought of it! Of course it would be good, after all in my opinion the only difference in the summer squash and the zucchini is the color of the skin.

My go to recipe has always been this one from allrecipes.com so it only made sense that this is the one I tried for the squash.

Summer Squash Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2 1/4 cups white sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups grated zucchini

	Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
	Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
	Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini until well combined. (Now if we are going to be honest, I just dump all the ingredients into a bowl and stir until combined, less mess and I can't tell a difference in how it turns out.) Pour batter into prepared pans.
	Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Enjoy with lots of real butter and a cold glass of milk :)

German Pancakes

I try really hard to incorporate a little bit of home here in the South so I don't feel so far away and out of touch. Sometimes it is a little harder with food, especially when you have some picky eaters on your hands (I've said it before and I'll say it again - Scott is such a trooper). 

The other day I made oatmeal (homemade of course), nice and thick with brown sugar and cream, they way I grew up eating it. That didn't go over so well, Scott grew up eating it with white sugar, milk and super runny. 

I decided to make some German Pancakes, also known as Dutch Babies. Yum!

Usually I eat mine with powdered sugar and lemon juice or maybe some freezer jam. Scott didn't seem to interested in eating it either of those ways so this is what he came up with. 

Chocolate sauce! He said it tasted like a funnel cake :) I had already eaten more than I should have so I didn't try it, but I'll take a bite next time!

Here is the recipe I use. 

German Pancakes

4 eggs 1 cup milk 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon almond extract

1 pinch salt 1/2 stick butter 1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting

1.	Place a 10 inch cast iron skillet inside oven and preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
2.	In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until light. Add milk  & almond extract and stir. Gradually whisk in flour and salt.
3.	Remove skillet from oven and reduce oven heat to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt butter in hot skillet so that inside of skillet is completely coated with butter. Pour all the batter in the skillet and return skillet to oven.
4.	Bake until puffed and lightly browned around the edges. Remove promptly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Bread Pudding

I had some leftover Mexican pastries that got a little stale and knew they would make a perfect personal sized chocolate bread pudding!

Years ago AJ made this bread pudding with croissants and chocolate that was the inspiration for this little beauty. Here is what I did.

Personal Bread Pudding
2 eggs beaten
1/4 c milk
2 T sugar
1 stale cinnamon & sugar pastry
Splash of vanilla extract
Splash of almond extract
Sprinkle of chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients and place in a small buttered ramekin. Bake at 350 until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Flea Market

One of my new favorite things to do is go to the Thursday Flea Market in town. They have everything your heart desires and then some! I roped Scott into going with me much to his dismay, he even carried my watermelon (anyone?!)!

Scott packed his angry eyes. He is such a good sport! 

This week everyone and their dog came out to find some hidden treasures. I am not sure if it was because it was the first day the sun showed it's face in awhile or what but it was crazy busy!

Don't these people have jobs?!

I've been going for weeks and have never seen this many people! The market is on the fair grounds and Scott said that it isn't even this crowded when the fair is going on.

Toys, antiques, jeans, chickens, gloves & bathroom essentials. 

Each time I go there are more vendors and this week I happened upon a Mexican pastry booth just down the isle from the horchata & fish booth!!

All of my favorite things!

I can't wait to see what new treasures are to be found next week!

Peach Trees - Spring Blooms

Spring has finally sprung and along with it my allergies are in full gear! If you remember Scott and I spent the better part of a day preparing our peach trees for this years harvest (if you forgot you can read about it here). I am happy to report the trees look great!

**Side story, one of my best friends moved to Arizona shortly after she got married and in their new backyard they had lemon, orange and grapefruit trees that just didn't want to produce. We got out there and trimmed the crap out of them as well as a few massive aloe plants. Well a few weeks later new buds were forming and they had a great harvest that year! That was one of the first times I got the urge to have a backyard farm :)

Anyway, the two trees Scott and I were really able to trim look beautiful! The leaves are green and healthy and the blooms look great! On the other hand the other trees that didn't get as much love are full of blooms but no green leaves yet. I now it seems like the trees with the more blooms will be better, they will after all have more fruit, but our trees will produce a better quality fruit.

The trimmed peach tree. Notice all the green leaves. 

Untrimmed -  Almost all buds.

This year will kind of be a bit of a test. Because we cut back the limbs so drastically this years harvest may be a little small, but I have high hopes it isn't about the quantity but the quality. I can't wait for pies and crisps and cobblers! I also am anxious to try and freeze the peaches like Cheryl and Mary used to do in syrup! Eek - I love keeping traditions alive!

Feel free to send peach recipes my way  :)

Southern Living

Sometimes the South just sneaks up on you... 

I usually don't drink much other than water but every now and then some sweet tea really hits the spot. In my opinion, the sweeter the better! If I keep it in the house, I know I'll drink it all so I treat myself on special occasions. The occasion here? The sun was out :)

Happy Easter!

What a wonderful Easter we had in the rainy South! While it was sunny and hot in Oregon, we suffered through the cold and rain. On the up side the drains Scott and I dug out seem to be working well!

The festivities started off with decorating eggs. I wanted to try using beet juice to dye the eggs since I had some in the fridge from Pa-Paw's delicious homemade pickled beets! I guess I should have read up on it a little because they didn't work out quite as I was hoping. Scott had never drawn on his eggs with crayon, can you believe that!? Me either. We didn't make many eggs as Scott doesn't like them and I knew his Aunt Kuawana was bringing deviled eggs for Easter lunch. After we did our best to draw out any artistic abilities, we popped those bad boys in the beet juice and moved on.

The 3 stages of egg decorating.

Next up? Cupcakes of course! It wouldn't be Easter, or any holiday for that matter, without a little sweet treat! A few years ago I perfected my carrot cake recipe (you can find it here) and knew that this was just want I wanted to contribute to lunch. I shredded carrots until my fingers and cutting board were stained orange, whipped up the batter and filled my most Easter like cupcake liners. I don't know if I was just really in the mood for cream cheese frosting or if it really was just that good, but for some reason I feel that this batch was the best I've ever made. Scott not only cleaned the beaters for me, he also sucked out the rest of the frosting from my piping bags!

Yummy!

After the cupcakes were frosted Scott helped me set up the make shift buffet table with plates cloth and napkins so it was one less thing to go in the morning. Man I love a good reason to pull out my party planning skills! Poor Scott doesn't know what he is getting himself into...

Table set up.

After a very long day it was finally time for bed. I made Scott go into the bedroom and close the door so I could hide his Easter Basket - another thing he has never done, but was a trooper about it and hid mine too.

My Easter basket full of my favorite things!

My sisters will be the first to tell you, I am always the first one awake. If a holiday is involved I wake up even earlier. It is like my body just knows that there is something special waiting for me as soon as the clock strikes midnight... I let Scott sleep as long as I could an finally made him get up so we could start our day. I searched for my basket first and missed it initially, Scott's was a little more out in the open (behind the pillows on the couch). I was thrilled with the Easter Bunny. New shoes, seeds for the garden, candy and hair ties (the only kind my hair likes!)! Scott made out with candy, a new CD and Farkle - a ridiculously fun dice game I've played with Krystal's grandparents.

Scott's basket.

After church Scott's family and Rachel joined us for Easter lunch. As I said, Scott's Aunt made lunch and brought it over, his mom Vanessa made Coca Cola Cake. Everything was delicious and I am so grateful that Scott's family has been so good to me.

These are a few of my favorite things from today! 

It was a pretty perfect day in my opinion topped off with a late afternoon nap, Dirty Dancing, and Disney movies!  

Beer Bread

When my mom and sister April helped me move from Portland to Charlotte - 9 months ago - they bought a 12 pack of bud light. The days were long and hot, like 107 degrees hot, so I don't blame them. When they caught their flight home I was left with 11 beers in my fridge where the sat for 9 months. I was craving a taste of home and remembered that my Cousin Melanie makes the best beer bread so I searched out a simple recipe.

There are tons of variations of beer bread, which I hadn't realized! You can add herbs, cheese, honey, even garlic! Why had I not thought of this before?! I decided a sweeter bread was want I was in the mood for so after comparing a few recipes this is what I came up with.



Sweet Beer Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 12 ounce can or bottle of beer
• 1 stick butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F

In a medium bowl sift together all dry ingredients.

Add beer and stir with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. You don't want to over mix.

Pour 1/2 of your melted butter into your loaf pan.

Pour beer bread batter into pan, add remaining melted butter over the top of the beer bread batter.

Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

The bread comes out so crusty and sweet, but not overly sweet. This also makes great toast! The once the direct heat hits those sugars, magic happens. I can't wait to try some of the other variations I've read about and maybe even a few of my own! 

Moo-Moo Mini Golf

Always looking for something new to do, Scott suggested a round of mini golf and ice cream. Of course I wasn't going to object! So we headed to a new part of town to get out putting on. 

It was a cute indoor course with cow/movie star theme attached to an ice cream parlor. The course was actually pretty challenging, well as challenging as a course could be I guess, with lots of little twists and turns. Maybe we were just a little out of practice :)

After Scott beat me, just barley, we treated ourselves to a sweet treat. They had ton's of flavors to chose from and they are all made just down the road at their creamery and although I wanted to try them all, we stuck with some fun sundaes Some of us had trouble keeping the ice cream in our mouths...

We had a blast. Sometimes it is nice to break from the normal grown up chores and try something new.

I can't wait for our next date!