summer baking

I love baking...I think it is in my blood...and around my thighs and hiding my ripped triceps. But, the summer is a hard time to bake when you don't have air conditioning and it is 94 degrees. Despite this, we have a camping week with family ahead and I wanted and needed to bake. I figured if I got started early enough it wouldn't be too beastly. It is 3:36pm and I pulled out the last thing and was able to shut down the oven for today...it is still beastly but worth it!

A fellow baking-fanatic friend of mine has been sharing all of her summer squash recipes since we are up to our eyeballs in zucchini, yellow squash, and q-ball squash from the farm. I have been messing around with one she shared and I am most pleased with the outcome of today's experiment. So, if you have some yellow squash around, grate it up and give this a try...

Original Recipe:

Summer Squash Bread

Beat 3 eggs until fluffy

Beat in:
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c oil
2 tsp vanilla

Sift together in another bowl:
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Gradually mix flour mixture into egg mixture

Fold in 2 cups shredded yellow squash

Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes.

Or this can be poured into a 9 inch x 13 inch pan and baked for 45 minutes.

(This version - I am told - is very cake-like.)


My new version (you gotta start somewhere right?):

Blueberry Squash Bread

Beat 3 eggs until fluffy

Beat in:
1 c turbinado (or raw organic sugar)
3/4 c oil
1 T vanilla

Mix together in another bowl:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg (I use more like 3/4 tsp because I am not a huge nutmeg fan!)

Gradually mix flour mixture into egg mixture.

Fold in 2 cups shredded yellow squash.

Fold in 1 1/2 c blueberries (mine were frozen)

Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes.


I plan on continuing my experimentation with this recipe. I would like to eliminate the wheat flour (including the white) and use an oat or barley flour instead and I would rather use butter than oil so I will figure that out at some point. If you have any suggestions, please share.

Baking is going to be part of what I enjoy in heaven. I am sure of it!

addition

I got a new addition to my kitchen this weekend and I am pleased as a peach about it! If you have ever seen my kitchen you may not have noticed the counter space...because there is none! Okay, that is a little exaggeration. There is approximately 3 feet. 1 foot to the right of the sink beside the refrigerator and 2 feet to the left of the sink before you run into the corner beside the stove.

So, at some point at the end of last week I got an idea and Mark made it happen. Now, I have 6 ADDITIONAL FEET of counter space AND another cabinet. I look ahead to the days of canning and fall/winter baking with much delight!

In other news on additions, my midwife this morning had me laughing. At my last appointment, she listened to the baby's heartbeat and said, "Well, if I go by the old wives tales, I would guess it's a boy." Today, she listened again and said, "Well, if I go by the old wives tales, I would guess it's a girl." I said, "Last time you said it was a boy." She said, "that is why I don't go by the old wives tales!"

swimmers

This is incredible...




Untitled from vaporlife on Vimeo.


Untitled from vaporlife on Vimeo.

tagged

I participate in this game of tag to promote sisterly affection. Although I must admit to laying in bed this morning trying to think of random things...

The rules are that I have to share 6 random things about me and then tag 6 others (Lisa, you only tagged 5. What is up with that?)...

Let the randomness begin...

1. I wonder about stuff.

2. When I was 6 I participated in a "Little Princess" contest. At the final moment, when the announcement was made I was crowned and sash-ed only to have them both immediately taken off because they put them on the wrong little princess.

3. I have never been kissed... (hard to believe, huh?)

outside of the United States of America (but I totally had you there for a second!)

4. I don't have favorite things (except for one). I get tired of things too fast to decide on "a" favorite. (My one favorite is Mark!)

5. I (like Lisa) have always thought a career on the stage would be fun. However, my dreams have always surrounded being a back-up singer! We recently saw a Phil Collins concert on DVD and those back-up singers were smokin'!

6. I think I would thrive in a communal living situation and hope to participate in one at some point in my life.

I tag...
Mark, Joel, Dave, Ryan, Wes and Andrew (my cute nephew!).
I would like to know some random things about you guys!

i knew the day was coming

farmies, like roadies, but farmies

We are loving our farm days. They are early mornings...we have to leave the house at 5:45am...and we are really tired at the end of them but we love it! I wasn't able to get any pictures of Ethan because he was off on adventures: catching crickets for Quentin's bullfrog, feeding the cows, visiting the pigs, finding the cats, playing in the dirt, harassing the chickens, smashing squash, eating green beans, peas, carrots or whatever looks good from the share baskets or just general meandering about the farm with a small and extremely cute gang of boys and girls covered in dirt. But, here are my two other farmies...

Audrey sticks close to gather any stray veggies she can scarf down

Owen and part of his posse negotiating over shovels and buckets just outside the barn

st. mary's glacier

Yesterday, about mid-morning, we packed a lunch and headed to the mountains for a hike. Our destination was St. Mary's Glacier. It was one of the hikes listed in the kid's "passport to adventure" books that we are working through this summer from REI. All of the hikes/bike trails are "kid friendly" and we are finding them pretty "adult friendly" too. After we accomplish 5 hikes/bike rides the kids get a compass/whistle tool to hang on their backpacks.



On our way there the sky began to get darker and very foreboding. We drove through some heavy rain but I think our short time away from this glorious place had us very thirsty for the beauty and "space" of the wild we knew we would be enjoying. So, we kept going even if it meant we only picnicked in the high country. The sky cleared somewhat and even though Mark took some coaxing (the weather was VERY unpredictable and there was plenty of thunder to warrant his caution) we decided to go for it and make the ascent to the glacier. It was beautiful and rugged and wild. We did get rained on but no one cared. And our van and the picnic lunch that awaited us when we returned were a great comfort!






One thing I took notice of in my heart yesterday was that I am very prone toward thinking "larger and a bit more rebellious" thoughts after I have been in the wild. I find that I have a little more space to consider life in a different way. This happens nearly every time. I just finally noticed it yesterday. I love this place to be.

leap

I feel like I just took a leap from a cliff.
I called Littleton Public Schools for information about registering Ethan as a home-schooled kindergartener...make that a blind-folded flying leap in the dark.

I think it feels like a leap because of two things...
1. I can't believe I am saying Ethan and school in the same sentence...where has the last 5 years gone? How has he grown so fast?
2. This is my first action step toward actually home-schooling...as opposed to talking, thinking, praying about home-schooling. We might actually do this! Crazy!