Fall Favorites - Zucchini Bread

Oh fall baking, how I love you! Today I made one of my favorites from when I was a kid, zucchini bread. I changed up the recipe a little, and the only thing that would have made it even better is if I had had some walnuts to add to the bread, but it was still awesome.

Zucchini Bread

2 c sugar

1 c olive oil

3 eggs

3 c flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 c shredded zucchini

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 c chopped walnuts (if desired)

Mix all ingredients in the order listed. Bake in two floured and greased loaf pans at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Quick breads make great gifts, too!

Zucchini and other squashes are freezable. I have bags of measured shredded zucchini and squash in Ziploc bags in my freezer right now. It makes for a quick way to enjoy a favorite bread or other treat when zucchini is not in season.

The Three Little Bears

We ran out of bread. I only had one package of yeast left. One package of yeast is enough to make one loaf of bread, but I felt like trying something different. Instead of bread braids, like I usually do when I want something different, I thought I'd try bread bears. Not so useful to make, say, a sandwich, but oh so cute! You could do this with any kind of bread dough, even store bought frozen dough if you're not keen to make it yourself but still want some cute little edible bears. You could do cinnamon-raisin bread with raisin eyes (my oldest doesn't like cinnamon and I don't like raisins, so it wouldn't go over so well here). You could do chocolate chips. Oh I have so many ideas! In fact, you could do any other animal you want. How fun!
Anyway, I just used Betty Crocker's basic crusty white bread recipe again, except I made half the recipe since I had just one package of yeast. This made three bears.

And as I said before, one of my favorite things is punching down the dough. And no, my sweater sleeve is not touching the dough, although it does look like it in the picture. And no, that's not a mole on my finger...it's food coloring from an earlier baking project today that I'm hoping to share with you tomorrow.
After punching down the dough, you can shape your bears. Or pigs. Or elephants. Or whatever your little heart desires. Ooh, you could even make hearts!

The bears then have to sit in a warm spot and double in size...about 30 minutes.

I then baked them at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes, took them out, drew eyes with a food marker, and voila! Three little bears!

So cute! Be careful when shaping the bears though...all the cracks that show in the dough show ten-fold after it's baked.

Add a honey bear, and you have a cute breakfast for your cubs.

Oh, and by the way, we ate Dinner #3 of our Fifty Dollar Food Week tonight, but it was just leftovers, so no new pictures. I'll have some tomorrow, though; tomorrow is hubby's birthday, so I'm making a good one!

Eating Through the Pantry, Day 2

We didn't exactly eat from our pantry today, since it was college football Saturday (which involved pizza for the hubby and his friends), and I took the girls to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3D (which involved movie theatre food for us). But, I did make some preparations for the coming week's small food budget and plans to eat from home. So, I'll plan on Sunday-Saturday, $50 food budget. I have some peppers, onions, and corn on the cob in the fridge still, and tonight I baked bread. There's nothing funnier to me than rising bread dough. For some reason it makes me laugh, and the recipe direction to "punch down" the dough always makes me giggle too.
But, there's nothing better than the smell of baking bread and the taste of homemade bread. I didn't do anything fancy or season the bread, since this is going to have to be it bread-wise this week, for sandwiches, etc. I figured a good, classic, crusty white bread would be best. I use a basic recipe for the good ol' Betty Crocker Cookbook and then change it up with whatever I add to the bread. I may make a seasoned bread braid later in the week to go with dinner one night, since I only have one package of yeast left (and it expires next month). Bread is so amazingly simple, yet it takes so long to make because of the rising, and forming loaves, and rising again, and then the baking time.

I've got a few meals planned for the week, and with a trip to a good grocery store or a farmer's market I'll have vegetables and fruit for around $25. That leaves me $25 for milk, eggs, some snacks, and a few other odds and ends for the meals planned for the week. I'll update how I do, hopefully nightly, with what we ate that day and how much I've spent at the store.