Sunday's Sunshine

As a practice of contentment, I believe that it is important to stop and appreciate what we have been gifted with in this life.  The sun is always there, even when hidden by clouds. Sometimes we have to push away the clouds in our world to find the bright spots.  This week’s bright spots are bolded.

This week was particularly bright, not just with accomplishments and family time, but also with the weather.  We’ve had sunshine, light breezes and warm temperatures all week. I think this may be the first week this summer that’s been this nice.  To match the sunshine and beautiful weather I seemed to be full of energy and motivation which came down to lots of fresh produce finding its new home in the freezer.  I also spent lots of time outside hanging laundry to dry.

GBaby has been great this week with taking naps, but Friday morning was the best as she settled in for a lap nap since some installations at our home were a bit disruptive of the sanctuary of her crib.  We hadn’t really done this much in the last few months but the cuddly time was great!

As I sit on the back porch, I am filled with the joy of the fulleness of my life.  Join me in the practice of finding bright spots in your week and share them as a comment below.

HV Spiced Applesauce Bread/Muffins

Updated 9/16/2010 -Hi!  If your visiting from LifeAsMom's Ultimate Recipe Swap - Welcome!  I posted this last year about this time and it's time to add this one to the menu again. Enjoy :)

Once I drag myself out of bed, I usually hit the ground running.  The chore list, dirty diapers, and well being of GBaby usually take priority over a lingering breakfast.  For me breakfast needs to be something that I can grab quickly and will fill me up for a while.  I enjoy hearty breads recipes that can be made as loaves or muffins and easily enjoyed fresh or frozen.   This recipe can be made as muffins or as a loaf and is great warmed or toasted.  For an extra energy kick, it's also very good with cream cheese.  Enjoy!

HV Spiced Applesauce Bread/Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Applesauce

1/2 cup Squash or Zucchini Puree

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

2 cups Flour (may substitute up to 3/4 cup Whole Wheat flour)

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Ground Allspice

Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup melted Margarine or Butter

1 cup Oats

1/2 cup Flour

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.  Beat Eggs, Vegetable Oil and Sugars.  Add Applesauce and Squash Puree and mix thoroughly.

3.  In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients and add to the mixture of liquids and mix thoroughly.  (Or if you are comfortable with cheating, dump in flour(s), then spices then baking soda and baking powder and then mix until thoroughly combined.)

4.  Spoon batter into a greased loaf pan or muffin tins (1 loaf or 18 muffins).

5.   Mix up the crumb topping and spoon on top of loaf or muffins.

6.  Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes, and loaf 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.

Nutrition Facts from http://caloriecount.about.com

Freezer Friday: HV Yellow Squash & Green Beans

This week has been a much more productive week in terms of getting produce into the freezer.  The 4 quarts of blueberries made it to the freezer as well as 7 quarts of green beans and lots of yellow squash and zucchini cubes.  The mountain of squash that had taken residence on my kitchen counter earlier this week has been conquered, pureed and sent to the freezer!

I cooked and pureed the yellow squash for the use of hiding it in baked goods this winter.  Since my garden is yielding quite the zucchini crop and the yellow squash were 3/$1 at the local produce market, I got to work.  I found that 1 cup of chopped squash yielded about 1/2 cup of puree.  This is an adult serving of summer squash according to MyPyramid.gov.  The process is the same as the process for making baby food, only frozen in different portion sizes.  I froze the pureed squash and zucchini in 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup portions so that they can easily be thawed and added to my recipes later.

I also froze green beans this week. Mine were purchased due to a munching critter in my garden this year.  As HandyMan's taken to saying: "There's always next year".  I used the directions from PickYourOwn.com with a couple variations.  I have a pasta kettle with a colander insert.  This works great if you are needing to do more than one batch so that you don't have to wait for a fresh set of water to boil.  The other difference is that I just used cold tap water to cool mine and it worked just fine.

What did you get to your freezer this week?

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Grilled Zucchini Packets

Grilled vegetables are such an easy side dish in the summer and there are so many different ways to prepare them.  Below are directions for Grilled Zucchini Packets.

Grilled Zucchini Packets

Ingredients:

2 Medium Zucchinis, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

¼ cup Italian Dressing

¼ cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1.  Spread out one piece of aluminum foil.  Turn edges up about ½ inch.

2.  Toss zucchini, onion, dressing and cheese in a bowl, then place on the foil.



3.  Place a second piece of foil on top of the veggies, fold edges of bottom foil with top foil twice to seal it up.  Place a 2 inch slit in the middle of the top piece of foil to allow some of the steam to escape while grilling.

4.  Place packet over low to medium heat or coals for 12-15 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked to tender.

5.  Remove packet from the grill, carefully open and transfer contents to a serving dish and enjoy!



Click here for a printer friendly version of this recipe.

Click here for more ideas on how to use abundant zucchini crops!