Zucchini Bread Recipe

I have to say I have created what I would consider the definitive zucchini bread recipe. Sorry for being so immodest, but I really think this is yummy. A few years back during another mountain crop of zucchini I tried at least a dozen or more recipes from all the standard cookbooks and websites none turned out the way I thought this bread should. Sweet but not too sweet, moist with a bit of spice. Out of frustration I took what I knew from making quick breads in the past and came up with this recipe. 

I find zucchini does not freeze very well since it has has a large water content however it does freeze well when it is made in to a bread. Like all baked goods they are best fresh from the oven and freezing does detract from it yumminess but it is still very good. It's better than throwing out a good crop of zucchini when we can not eat all that we harvest. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any pretty finish photo's of the bread. It didn't last long enough to get a pretty photo. Its is all about the taste which I can't show you any way's. Take my word for it and bake up a couple loaves and get a hot cup of coffee. HEAVEN.

I prefer to use the larger zucchini's for baked goods and reserve the smaller ones for meals. The larger one in this picture was the perfect size (3 cups) for this recipe. 

Move the oven racks so the tops of the loaf pans is in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350. Grate the zucchini. I like to use my food processor for this. 

Have a little more fun and get your super-duper helper. My guy is so silly. He is an awesome helper too.   

Mix all your wet ingredients in a large bowl and then your dry in a separate bowel. Grease two loaf pans. After the oven is done preheating add the dry mix to the wet. It is a very thin batter, trust me it will turn out.  Pour into the loaf pans and bake for 50 - 70 minutes. If you have a convection bake I highly recommend using it when baking this bread. Using my convection bake it takes 60 minutes.

When a toothpick comes out clean remove and cool in the pans for 10 min. Remove the loaves from the pans and continue to cool on the racks. Or if you are like me, immediately cut a slice and get a cup of coffee and savor the yumminess.

Zucchini Bread
by Darla Quail
D/F

3 c shredded zucchini
2 1/4 c sugar
1 c canola oil
3 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
3 c flour (I use white spelt)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Move oven racks so the tops of the loaf pans are center in the oven. Pre-heat the oven to 350. (If you have it, convection bake works great here.) Grease two loaf pans. Mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla & eggs in a large bowl. In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & baking powder. 
Once the oven has finished pre-heating add the dry ingredients to the wet. If you are adding nuts mix them in at this time. Pour in to the loaf pans dividing the batter as even as possible. Bake for 50 - 70 min. 
Remove from the oven when a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and continue to cool on a rack. 
If freezing, wrap a completely cooled loaf in plastic wrap then wrap again in foil. Label and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

I have not tried this recipe with wheat all purpose flour however I use white spelt as my substitute for wheat all purpose flour for all recipes that call for wheat all purpose flour. White spelt is very close to cake flour which is more tender then all purpose. So you will most likely have good results with wheat all purpose flour it just may not be as soft and tender. 

Spelt has less gluten then wheat all purpose flour however it is not gluten free. I have not tried this with a gluten free flour mix yet but plan to for my next batch. I will update this post when I do. If anyone attempts it before I get to, let me know how it goes by leaving me a comment. 

Thanks for stopping by the nest!
Darla

Sausage Zucchini Skillet Recipe

It's that time of summer. My husband has a load of zucchini coming out of the garden. Time to cook up some of our go-to zucchini recipes. I am not sure if I love or hate growing this vegetable. I really enjoy it for awhile but eventually we become over run with zucchini. I figured this is great opportunity to do a week long zucchini recipe series.  Hopefully this will help me stay on top of our growing mountain of zucchini too.

This recipe is modified recipe I was given at my bridal shower. The original recipe is a stuffed acorn squash that does not have zucchini in it. I was looking for uses for zucchini and figured why not try it as a stuffed zucchini recipe. It was really yummy that way too but then I had kids. In my current stage of life if it is not simple it is just not going to happen. So this recipe was changed again this time just to be a skillet meal. I'd have to say it is just as good just not as pretty. 

We eat wheat free and dairy free in our home so I make substitutions to a lot of my recipes. Some additional explanations can be found here on my blog. If you have special dietary needs always read the labels for any processed foods (this includes condiments).

Chop the veggies and gather the rest of your ingredients. 

In a large skillet over medium high heat with oil brown the sausage. Add the veggies. Cook until meat is cooked through and veggies have softened.

Reduce heat to low and add the sour cream, mustard & cheese. To make this cow's milk free we use pecorino romano cheese made from sheep's milk instead of parmesen cheese. And Tofutti brand sour cream which is made from soy. 

Stir to combine and heat through over low heat for a couple minutes.

Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Sausage Zucchini Skillet
*W/F & *D/F substitutions provided

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb bulk sausage (we use turkey sausage)
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 c diced celery
1/2 c diced carrot
2 small zucchini, diced
1/2 c sour cream (we use tofutti sour cream)
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 c grated pecorino romano cheese (this is a sheep's milk cheese - parmesan can be used as an alternative)

Add oil and sausage to a large skillet. Brake up and brown the sausage over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and zucchini. Cook till vegetables are soft and the sausage is cooked through. Reduce heat to low and stir in sour cream, dijon mustard and cheese. Serve over rice.

*W/F = Wheat Free (does not necessarily mean gluten free)
* D/F = Dairy Free (No cow's milk or anything derived from cow's milk)

Come back tomorrow for Zucchini Bread.

Thanks for stopping by the nest!

Darla

Criss Cross Pinafore Tutorial

It has been about a week since I blogged and sewn anything for fun. I have been missing it but this past week has been necessary for completing outstanding projects and planning for the future, which I can't wait to share with you. For now, I figured it was about time to get this post out there. Sorry to anyone who was looking for the criss cross pinafore tutorial sooner.

I love this pinafore style. It is so cute in the warmer weather months with bloomers or in the colder months layered with long sleeves and jeans. Plus, it grows with the kids well since the open back expands to fit a wide range of sizes. 

For those who did not follow this year's summer Kid Clothing Week Challenge, I drafted this pattern using the front piece of McCalls 5416 pattern. This tutorial is to show you how to use that pattern (or another one you may have in your stash that is similar) to draft a criss cross back. 

What you will need:

McCall's Pattern 5416 (or any other similar A-Line shape top pattern)

tracing paper (I use freezer paper)

pencil, eraser & scissors

french curve (you can also wing it if you are comfortable)

1 yard of main fabric

1 yard of lining fabric (make sure this is pretty if you want it to be reversible)

4 buttons for reversible or 2 buttons and 2 sew on snaps for a no reverse faux button snap top (which is what is used for this tutorial)

all the typical sewing notions

With a low temp dry iron lightly iron the manufacture's tissue paper pattern. Trace the front & back pattern pieces (pieces #1 & #4, top length) for the size needed including the button hole markings. 

(You may have noticed I included all of the markings from the pattern on the tracings. All of these will not be needed for this project but I know I am likely to make this top again so I went ahead and did it now to save myself the effort in the future.)

Cut out the back pattern piece (#4). Trace the back piece again on another piece of paper that is large enough to accommodate the top back in its entirety. Then I slid the original tracing under the newly traced pattern so that the tracings meet to form the complete back, like shown above.

If you have a french curve it will come in very handy here. (don't you love my 60's vintage one? It was my mother's.) Create a curve from the new tracings arm pit to the shadows shoulder strap, like shown above. You can make the curve as deep as you would like just make sure that it connects to the arm pit and the strap like shown. Complete the tracing of the shadow's shoulder strap.

Repeat, by making another curve from the outside of the shoulder strap to the shirt bottom like shown above. The section between the curves and from strap to the side is the criss cross pattern piece. The you can erase the unecessary markings if you wish. Cut out the pattern piece. Mark the button hole placement on the strap.

This shows how the front piece matches up with your newly drafted criss cross piece.

We are using the manufacture's 5/8" seam allowance guideline for all the seams. The original pattern has a 1 1/4" hem at the bottom however the criss cross pinafore does not have a hem since it is reversible or fully lined. Therefore we need to remove the excess length. Match up front and back pieces and draw a line 5/8" across the bottom following the curve and taper off as shown above. Cut off this 5/8" excess. 

PATTERN DONE! WOOHOO!

Cut out the front pattern piece on the fold. 1 on the main fabric and 1 on the lining.
Cut out the back criss cross pieces.  2 on main fabric (mirror image) and 2 on the lining (mirror image).

Take the main fabric pieces and match the front side seams to the two back criss cross pieces side seams fabric fronts facing each other. Pin and sew with a 5/8" seam allowance. Repeat with the lining pieces. 

Lay the main fabric piece on the lining piece, fronts facing each other. Match up the edges of the pieces best you can. Make sure there is no bumps or bubble. Pin all the way around the outline. leave an opening at the bottom. Approximately 3". Sew a 5/8" seam allowance all the way around except the opening. 

Cut notches on all of the curves. Since the thing is pretty much all curves I just used pinking shears all the way around.

Turn right side out. Make sure you take the time to check the seam all the way around. Press the seam flat. Fold in the seam allowance for the opening to be even with the rest of the pinafore. Press and pin closed. If you would like you can take the time to hand stitch the opening closed but I skip that part since I know the seam will be closed during top stitching.

Top stitch 1/8" in all the way around. 

Mark the button hole and button placement. If you would like traditional button holes now would be the time to do it. For reversible you will need to sew buttons on the front and the back of the front straps. Continue on if you would like to do hidden snaps. 

There are all sorts of snaps out there, I chose to use sew-on snaps since this is what I had on hand and they work well when wanting to add a faux button closure.  

Line up the snaps over the markings (centering over where the button hole would be) and stitch in place. I find it easier to sew the snaps on first then adding the button. Since the button hides the stitching of the snap I didn't take much care to only stitch through one layer of fabric. In hind-sight I think it would be best to add some sheer weight interfacing to the straps for extra stability. Next time. 

I hope you found this useful. Leave me any comments if you run in to any trouble. Feed back is always welcome.

Thanks for stopping by the nest!
Darla

KCWC - Day 6 - Reversible Criss Cross Pinafore

My weekend got away from me. I only managed to complete one item instead of the two I was hoping for. I am a little bummed but it was for good reason. I had some projects for other people that needed to take priority. I will get to last KCW item later this week.

I have been wanting to make a criss cross pinafore for sometime now. I made the one by smashed peas & carrots back in April but found it to be too big for Hannah to wear right now therefore I never did a post for it. I am sure she will get a lot of use of that one next summer. This left me with the idea of drafting my own. I had seen some suggestions on how to do it and though I would give it a whirl. 

I cheated a little and used the front of MaCall's 5416 pattern that I had success with in the past here. I then drafted my own criss cross back to match it.  I was really easy to do and came together quickly. I would imagine that any a-line style top pattern would work. Drafting the front pattern too would probably be simple too. Here is a great tutorial for drafting the whole pattern. I did the hidden snap buttons again since they worked out so great here.

I know the colors seem odd for summer time. To be honest I really made this for Hannah's fall wardrobe and intended it to be layered with long sleeves and jeans. I thinking that is going to look adorable. For now I just paired it with a cream linen bloomers. Dana from MADE has an awesome free pattern and tutorial for bloomers.

My version turned out to be a bit large too. Sigh.... oh well. The longer she gets to wear it for.

I love the sweet little bottom and cub roll thighs! 

My next post is going to be a tutorial on how I drafted this using the McCall's front pattern. Maybe others who already own this or a similar pattern will find it useful.

Thanks for stopping by the nest!
Darla

KCWC - Day 5 - Summer Flutter Top

Day 5 took a little long than expected. I managed to get everything done on time but this post. Well here it is....

I bought this pattern back in the spring on a whim. I love the square neckline with the full gathered body. It is the Summer Set Flutter Top/Dress and Bloomers pattern by Aesthetic Nest. I only did the top for this pattern. I'll get to the bloomers another time. The top is not very impressive from the front on a hanger.

But isn't the back darling? (just wait till you see it on her below) I really love the buttons. They're nothing special, basic cheap plastic but the blue pops. If you couldn't tell by now I kinda have a thing for blue, especially on Hannah. 

I had been hanging on to this fabric waiting for the perfect application for it. I have to say this is perfect. 

The back is completely open and just held together at the top with the buttons. Well actually they are snaps. I had mentioned in a prior post that I love big buttons but hate the big button hole that ends up peaking out. My solution is to install hidden snaps behind where the button is to be seen. As I show below in the photos.  

It takes a little longer to sew in the snaps but it is worth it in my opinion. I usually have to pin my kids down to dress them and it is so much easier with snaps rather then buttons. 

I don't have time to do a proper pattern review right now but I plan on doing one in the future when I make the dress version in velvet this fall.

Thanks for stopping by the nest!
Darla