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Monthly Archives: October 2014

Biscuit baby

The other day, I got home really late.  I had left super early in the morning and got back really late.  The dogs were displeased.  They were hungry and bored and probably lonely even though they have each other to talk to and they were displeased.  And they decided to show their displeasure by escalating some of their usual antics, like shredding the cardboard boxes I leave out for them into extra fine bits and hiding their Kongs so I can’t find them to refill for the next day and in Horse’s case, by acquiring a biscuit baby.

What is a biscuit baby, you may ask.  Well, it is exactly like a food baby but made entirely of biscuits.  For you see, while I was away, Horse and Yaris decided to get into my closet where the extra biscuits are stored and rip open the box.  It’s a Costco sized box.  It contains a lot of biscuits.  The two of them ate fully half of the contents of that box.  There were crumbs everywhere.

Yaris was appropriately guilty and apologetic when I found out (and also because she’s vain, she did not have a biscuit baby because that would ruin her figure).  But Horse…Horse had the biggest belly ever.  He had a biscuit baby.  And then it was my turn to be displeased.

I make! Berry zucchini bread edition


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I continue to have too much stuff and need to find ways to get rid of it before it spoils.  This time, zucchini.  I thought it would be a good idea to buy a Costco-sized bag of zucchini.  Mind you, it would only be me eating this zucchini and I’m hardly home long enough to cook.  So of course, I had this massive amount of zucchini that was starting to go soft and I really needed to get rid of it.  And thus I made a whole bunch of berry zucchini bread and foisted that off on people.

I made a version of this recipe that I found and it’s pretty good.  I had people hoarding slices for breakfast the next morning.  I bet it would make really good French toast.  Anyway, it’s definitely something I will make again when I have too much zucchini.

Here’s my adaptation.

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1.25 cups white sugar
  • 3 cups shredded zucchini
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 0.25 teaspoon baking soda
  • 0.25 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 pint mixed berries
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Procedure:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
  4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated and then add 1/2 the zucchini and mix until incorporated.  Repeat ending with the dry ingredients.
  5. Fold in berries and walnuts (if using).
  6. Transfer to loaf pans and bake for 70-80 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
  7. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Notes:

  • I might do a mix of granulated and brown sugar next time for a hint of a molassesy flavor.
  • I increased the shredded zucchini to 3c, which is about 2 medium zucchini (you don’t understand, I made A LOT of zucchini bread).
  • I’ve made it with and without the walnuts.  I think I prefer the texture with walnuts.
  • I don’t remember how big my loaf pans are, but the recipe yields 2 larger loaves (as opposed to 4 mini-loaves).  But I did have to increase my baking time to about 70-80min.