Gearing Up For a Good Week

The past few weeks were unexpectedly full. I didn't have any blog posts scheduled so it was pretty quiet around here. With all the running around I wasn't able to roam the blogosphere like I normally do, but I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone this week. And if you're ever looking for me, I always seem to find time to post on Twitter, so feel free to follow me there if you are interested.

In the last few weeks I tried some new recipes and had a few adventures, so now that I'm back on the blog I'll have a few things to write about. I also had an epic wind down on the weekend, where I watched all of season two of Orphan Black in about 24 hours (it was only 10 episodes). It helped me recharge the battery (and also led to some weird conspiracy dreams). That series is well worth your time if you are looking for something new to watch.

So Happy Monday! Hope this week treats you well!

Zucchini Brownies

Using a garden fresh zucchini from my sisters-in-law, I made a batch of brownies. I had never baked with zucchini before, but having two giant zucchinis gave me the inspiration to try.

Following a recipe found on allrecipes.com, I gave these zucchini brownies a shot.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

Method (in photos):

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, and vanilla until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Mix the flour mixture with the sugar mixture. I used a whisk for this too and it worked really well as the mix was really dry.

4. Add the shredded zuchinni and mix to combine. It was hard to mix, so I ended up using my hands.

5. Spread mixture into prepared 13x9 pan. It was really sticky so I used a rubber spatula to spread it out to the edges.

6. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350°F. My brownies took 25 minutes. They are done when they spring back when touched.

Frost the brownies if desired. I only had enough cocoa powder for a thin layer of icing, but it ended up being the perfect amount.

These brownies were so good! I had one at room temperature and it was just okay, but once I had one out of the fridge...I ended up having three out of the fridge. They are really tasty cold! If I didn't know they were made with zucchini, I wouldn't be able to tell, which I think is kinda neat. I will definitely be making these again.

From a Local Garden: Zucchini

My sisters-in-law brought over two giant zucchinis from their garden.

I love zucchini, and I'm really looking forward to eating these. I'm going to try using them in baking, as I've always heard about doing that but have never tried it. I looked up some recipes this morning and think I'll make some zucchini brownies. They sound interesting and apparently the zucchini makes the brownies really moist. I'm excited to see if that's true.

In the mean time I fried some up for lunch, as fried zucchini is a favourite of mine. A little olive oil, a little s+p, and you have yourself a great side dish. Sometimes we even serve it over rice. Yum!

Have you ever baked with zucchini? If so, what did you make?

Long Weekend Photo Round Up

It's a holiday Monday here in Ontario and I've been having a great weekend! Lots of friends, food, fun, and activities - it is what summer is made for.

The weather has been fabulous - really hot and sunny. I started the weekend catching up with my favourite Wizard Detective, Harry Dresden. I'm about half way through and enjoying it so far.

On breaks from reading on Saturday I baked some gingerbread cookies. Always nice to have treats around on a long weekend.

Yesterday my parents came up and we went on a short visit to the beach and walked around the Elmvale Sales Barn looking for deals.

We picked up lunch at Perky's Fish and Fries, which never disappoints. I got the haddock and chips, Mom got a burger and onion rings. MMMMmmmmm....

After Mom and Dad left, my sisters in law came over on their way to the beach, dropping off garden beans and romaine. The. Best.

Adding to our fun filled day, we hosted gaming night and played a little HarnMaster style RPG and enjoyed some treats.

I made caramel corn which was a big hit.

Our friend Bryan brought some treats to share that he brought back from a trip to Ohio. I don't think you can get this stuff here, so it was neat to try.

The remainder of the weekend will be spent reading and relaxing and probably eating a lot of garden beans. Perfect!

Applebee's With Mom #FoodPicFriday

I had a nice visit with Mom last week and we went to Applebee's for lunch. We got the Two for $25 deal, which included an appetizer and two entrées. We started with the spinach and artichoke dip, which was hot and yummy. The chips were so crispy and even the salsa that came with it was fresh and full of flavour. We could have snacked on this all day!

I got the chicken fingers as my main meal and could only eat one, as I was completely full of chips and dip. The one finger I ate was good and the rest came home with me and were enjoyed by John.