Blanket anyone?

This is the pile of blankets I bring up every morning to my living room. My children's rooms are downstairs and I have to carry both kids, pillows, blankets and their two favorite dolls up with them or it is like I am leaving them behind forever. So on days I don't feel I work out enough, I remind myself of the endless amount of weight I pull upstairs every morning....

Zucchini History and Recipe

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 Zucchini is staple at my house right now. We have Zucchini at least 5 days a week. The Zucchini we know and love is from Italy. And as little as 30 years ago was hardly known here in the States. Columbus was one of the first people to bring the summer squash to Africa and the Mediterrian areas to start the slow world domination of the delicious and versatile veggie. (Another little known fact, Columbus was an Italian. We sometimes assume he was Spanish)

Zucchini plants have a tendency to grow very large and the large leaves spread out where there is room. Many people tend to give it away because they get more produce than they know what to do with. I just shred or chop it all and freeze it. It freezes wonderfully. And here and there I give some to people that do not grow it because who does not love Zucchini Bread? If you do grow it, it is better to keep the fruit not too large, because it tends to get too firm to be enjoyable. 

So what do you do with this yummy green goodness?
Breads, desserts, soups, grill it, they roast great, through in the crock pot, bake, freeze for later and the list goes on! Something we are starting to see is people dipping the flowers of the plant (that later turn into the fruit) in batter and frying them. I want to try this just a lot...

Some of the nutrional elements of Zucchini:

The zucchini vegetable is low in calories (approximately 15 food calories per 100 g fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (384 IU [115 mcg]/100 g. 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese. (Source)

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And, as promised I am attaching my beloved Zucchini Muffin Recipe! This is the Link! If you want them to be chocolate, just add 3/4 a cup of baking cocoa. I have added Pears before to the batter and they stay really moist and almost uncooked in a way but still tasted amazing. My next stop is to put in some apple and turn it into a cupcake... wish me luck and have fun with your Zucchini!

Breakfast for Dinner? Yes Ma'am!

There is something taking over my backyard right now... it is Zucchini and Pumpkins. I have more Zucchini then I ever imagined I would. But I could not be happier. I have an amazing recipe I found online last year (I will be posting it on Monday) for Zucchini Bread Muffins. I have used it in pasta sauce, brownies and a few other things. We have it 5 days a week!

Above you see my dinner from the other night. Zucchini Applesauce pancakes with strawberry jam and syrup. And some eggs on the side. If you don't go crazy with the condiments, this was a SUPER healthy dinner! I know your mouths are watering right now. And so is mine... I have some in the freezer that might need to be eaten. Right. Now.

Happy Weekend!