Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

I love zucchini bread!  As much as I would like to convince myself how healthy it is (it has a green vegetable in the title!) most recipes are high in sugar and oil and low in actual zucchini.  This is my latest version in which I have tried to up the veggie portion and lower the oil and sugar portion.  I have to say I think it turned out quite good!  As you can see above my favorite way to prepare them is in mini-muffin form.  This makes for great snacks for all and easy finger food for my littlest.

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups flour (I like a combo of whole wheat and white whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
4 eggs beaten
1/3 cup of water
4-5 medium zucchini grated
3 carrots grated
1 tsp lemon juice
*chopped walnuts or pecans or shelled sunflower seeds (optional)*

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar

3. In another bowl combine eggs, oil, applesauce, zucchini, carrots, and lemon juice

4. mix wet into dry, fold (don't overmix)

5.  Bake: loaf pan = 1 hour, muffins = 20-25 minutes, mini-muffins = 13-17 minutes

Quad Camera

I love my iphone!  I am always looking for new, fun, and cheap apps, so I was quite excited when another mom at preschool shared her latest find with me today.  It is called quad camera, and it allow you to turn those quick camera phone pics into little works of art!  You set how many photos you want to take, the timer speed and some basic color settings.  The results are awesome!  Here are a few examples from today:

Veggie Pancakes

 

Lena is at that age where she just wants to feed herself.  This is both freeing and restrictive.  It is great having her able to eat along side of us and being able to eat myself!  But with only 2 teeth, I also find myself limited in variety, especially in the veggie department.   Recently I came upon this great recipe on Parents.com.  The results were awesome!  Silver dollar corn-cakes full of veggies that both my kids have eaten!  They also freeze great.  Next time I think I am going to try spinach and maybe carrots or sweet potatoes.  Please try it out and let me know what other combinations worked for you!

Veggie Corn-cakes

Ingredients

1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix

1 egg

6 tablespoons of water

2 medium zuchinnis shredded

1/2 can of chopped canned beets

2 tablespoons of canola oil

Mix everything but oil together in a medium bowl.  Drop silver dollar sized pancakes into hot canola oil.  Cook until brown (about 2 minutes) on each side. Makes about 24 pancakes.

Book Review Monday- Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Dr Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904.  During his career he wrote over 40 children's books. By the time of his death in 1991, his books had been translated into 15 different languages and sold over 200 million copies. In honor of Dr. Seuss today's Book Review Monday will be a little different.  Instead of reviewing a favorite book I am going to share with you how we plan to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday tomorrow.

No Dr. Seuss birthday party would be compete without reading Green Eggs and Ham and then eating some!  For our birthday breakfast we are going to make a green eggs and ham scramble.  To make just add some green food coloring and chopped fried ham to your scrambled eggs.  Finish them off with a candle and sing happy birthday.

 

Then it is time to make some Oobleck, like that which rains down on the Kingdom of Didd in the Dr. Suess classic Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

Ingredients:

2 cups cornstarch

3 drops of green food coloring

1 cup water

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in a bowl adding water slowly (you may not need the entire cup)

After playing and experimenting with the oobleck then read the book together.

UPDATE: Here are some pictures from this morning