Woody, Woodette and Zucchini Bread

Happy Monday! I don't know about you, but I am not ready for Monday to be here. The weekend went by way too fast. To start off, I wanted to tell you about my sad news. There is a house a couple of houses up from me that had this old, dead tree standing in their front yard. It didn't look the greatest, but the people that lived there refused to cut it. Well, they moved and the new people cut it down. You may ask, "why is that sad?" Well, it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Woody the woodpeckers. They had lived there for several years. They were known by the whole street. I loved to sit out on the front porch and watch them peck away on the tree. After they were finished they would usually go back into their little hole (home). But, now Woody and Woodette are homeless. I know the dead tree trunk was a bit of an eye sore, but I hate to see an animal lose his home. I was so sad when I heard a chainsaw and looked out the window to see the tree on the ground. :-( I hope Woody and Woodette were able to find a new home!

Thursday night for dinner was fried yellow and zucchini squash, coconut rice, sauteed mushrooms, and a couple slices of Italian wheat bread from the Farmers Market. For the mushrooms, I chopped up a portabello mushroom and sauteed it in a little balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, and olive oil. For the coconut rice, I used 1 cup basmati rice, cooked in 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water. I also added some minced ginger and lime zest once the rice was finished cooking. The rice was good, but I felt like it was still lacking something.

Friday night was sauerkraut with Tofurky Italian Sausage, Revelation sweet corn and sweet potato casserole. For the sweet potato casserole, I chopped and boiled a sweet potato and then drained the excess water off. I then mashed the potato with a fork and mixed in some vegan butter, agave nectar, a tad of rice milk, and cinnamon. I then put the mixture in a couple of little bowls and topped them with a few marshmallows and put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Just long enough for the marshmallows to melt and get a little brown and crunchy on top. Ummm, I do not believe the marshmallows were vegan. :o(

Yesterday afternoon I decided that I needed to use up the last of my zucchini, so I made some zucchini bread. I made a few changes to my previous recipe, and it turned out tasting great.

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup organic sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup safflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup shredded zucchini

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose unbleached flour

2 tablespoons flax seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 glass loaf pan.

Combine applesauce, sugars, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth. Mix in zucchini.

Combine dry ingredients together and add them to the wet ingredients. Mix in walnuts.

Bake 55-60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing it. Finish cooling the bread on a wire rack.

These two pictures do NOT do the bread justice! It tasted much better than it looks. :o) I need to work on my photography skills.

Oh, the meal planning for the rest of last week didn't really pan out. Things came up unexpectedly and we would end up cooking something fast for dinner. I was still able to make a few of the dishes though. One that I didn't get to make will be made Tuesday night though, so stay tuned for that recipe!

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Peace~