Friday, July 20, 2007

Baking away a surplus

The giant zucchini we pluck from the garden this week left me in squash overload.  We’ve already had grilled zucchini, stir-fried zucchini, and baked zucchini parmesan this week.  The DH admitted after the third meal that, before I planted this garden, he didn’t even really know what zucchini was!   Well, I think he’s been thoroughly educated on the subject…  It was time to take action.  So, last night as my zucchini, onion, summer squash and free-range chicken dinner marinated, I shredded the giant zucchini, mixed it with local eggs, organic flour, and a host of conventional ingredients I had left in the cabinet and baked my first batch of zucchini bread.  The one monster squash supplied enough for 6 mini-loaves.  There was only one snag in my baking plan…the recipe called for vanilla.  When I opened the bottle, it yielded approximately 1/3 of the amount I needed…oops!  I subbed some maple flavoring.  Hopefully it will be just as yummy. J  I also whipped up a batch of cantaloupe bread.  Odd sounding, huh?  I needed to use the rest of the overripe melon my sweet husband bought me this week, and this seemed like a reasonable solution.  As weird as melon bread sounds, I’m having it for breakfast…and it’s amazing!!!

Last night I skipped my typical late-July drinking-wine-on-the-lawn-of-the-art-museum for a power house-cleaning session.  All of my sewing projects of late (see two of them here – more to come when I find the battery charger for my camera!) have left us with a carpet full of loose thread and fabric scraps, plus goddess-knows how many pins just waiting for bare feet.  I washed and dried the remaining laundry (too humid to line-dry, plus no wind L), folded and stored away all the clothes I’d laundered throughout the week, sorted and stashed all the fabric covering my guest room bed, as well as the numerous costume pieces strewn here and there, vacuumed, dusted, and just generally exhausted myself.  I also managed to bake the 8 mini-loaves of bread mentioned above, made some progress on the Turkish vest for my latest costume project, sorted recycling, vacuumed out my car, and started packing for this weekend’s trip.  After I finish packing up this afternoon, I’m off to Sedalia, MO for the Jim Boz bellydance workshop.  Maybe I’ll squeeze in a nap on Sunday… J