Z is for Zuchini Bread-Zippety Do Dah!

April 30 is here already! First, I'm trying to figure out what happened to the month of April! And, second, it means this is the last day of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. I can't believe I made it through the entire month. 


I've gone the entire month without sharing any recipes. (Ususally, recipes are my backups when I can't think of anything to blog about. Opps, I just spilled my secret. Don't tell anybody, OK?)


In honor of the letter Z, I will share will you this luscious recipe. And also, just for today, I will declare that there are zero, zilch, zip calories in this bread. So, make it today, because tomorrow, the calories will be back in!


Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
 (Courtesy of Paula Deen)


3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. orange zest
Whipped cream for serving


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (2) 9 by 5 inch loaf pans. 
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices, and baking soda.
In large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream!! 


One bite of this will have you exclaiming "Yum!" (Opps, that was yesterday's word.) One bite of this will have you exclaiming "Zippety Do Dah!!"

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WOW - BON!

Today's my birthday! Well, not really, but it feels like my birthday! Today is my day to shine as the BON (Blogger of Note) at WOW (Words of Wisdom).  I want to start out by thanking Pam and Sandy for featuring my blog, and welcoming everyone from WOW.  I've been blogging since January, and am still trying to "find my way", and be a better organized blogger. I'm not sure how much wisdom will be found in my blog, mostly because I'm so forgetful, but, maybe from time to time, there may be a smidgen. I'm not usually the one being out in the spotlight, but rather, standing somewhere in the shadows. I like it there. It feels safe. But today, the shadows are gone. So, I will do my best to shine brightly. (Even though my palms are sweating as I type this.)

So, with that all said, I'll share with you my latest adventure in baking. I've been out of the kitchen way too long. It's been about five weeks or so since I've cooked a meal.

Hubby and I have been doing some work for family members, who all live about three hours away. I paint and he does handy work  The first job required that we be gone about two and a half weeks. We were home for two days, then left on a two week road trip out West. (I promise to post pictures in the somewhat near future.) We were home one day, then left for another three day stint of more painting and handy work for another family member. We came home from that, then left the next day for a weekend family reunion. And the day after we got home from that, we discovered a produce auction, and we came home with three bushels of green peppers, three pecks of yellow peppers, 16 dozen ears of corn, two pecks of onions, two pecks of cukes, and three pecks of green tomatoes. So this week I have been freezing corn, and grinding everything else to make a sandwich spread, and salsa. Oh yes, and on top of all that, my Dad gave me some zucchini from his garden.

I have a really good recipe for zucchini bread, but I thought I would try something different. So I thought I'd hope onto the good old internet and quickly print out a new recipe. But, first I have to check my email, and I might as well see what's happening on facebook. Oh yeah, I'm looking for a recipe. About an hour later, after wandering around like an ant on different interesting looking sites, I finally stumble on a chocolate chip zucchini bread. Sounds like a winner. (Thank you Paula Deen!) And, I have just enough chocolate chips remaining that haven't been gobbled up from a chocolate feeding frenzy.

I printed off the recipe. What? Are you kidding me? Why is the print so stinkin' small? It looked like this:

I mean, I can read it, don't get me wrong. But, it does put a strain on my eyes. I could try and find my reading glasses, not that I need them, of course, but that would take too long. Unbelievably, Hubby knows how to enlarge the print  reprint the recipe so it is readable.

So, I start making the zucchini bread. I feel like a stranger in my own kitchen because it's been so long since I've used it. Things are going well. I'm mixing up the batter in the mixer, adding the spices. One tablespoon of orange rind. This was dried, and in a spice container. I measure it out, have it right above the batter, about to pour it in. For some reason, I stop and look at it. Hmmmmm. I double check. (Highly unusual for me). Holy cow! I nearly put in one table spoon of nutmeg! That was a close call.

I continue mixing everything else, add the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into the mini loaf pans. It seems a little runny, but I've never made it before, so I continue on. Put it in the oven, set the timer. I take a taste of the batter. Yum, it's good. I decide that Hubby might like a little taste. On my way to take him a taste, I walk past the bag of flour sitting on the counter. Hummmmmm. Flour? The warning lights are flashing. Flour! Flour!  Oh, shoot! The bowl of dry ingredients are sitting on the counter. I quickly pull the "bread" out of the oven, pour the runny batter back into the bowl, then add the dry ingredients.

In spite of the near disaster (twice!) the zucchini bread turned out to be quite tasty. It's served chilled with a dollop of cool whip.

If you have made it to this point, here are a few other stories you might enjoy.
The time I was almost arrested for stealing a car  
What are fudge farts? 
Unusual house guest

 Thanks for stopping by.

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