You need to try this: Zucchini Bread

When life hands you exceptionally large zucchini's, make exceptionally tasty zucchini bread! 

I have a pesky fun little habit of signing up for just about every random freebie I come across.  Typically it takes an item so long to arrive that it is like Christmas in my mailbox every week when the little packages arrive.  A sample of Cheerios for ma-wa?  Oh, you shouldn't have!  That being said, imagine my surprise when a nice little bound cookbook arrived, "How to Cook for Crohn's and Colitis," by Brenda Roscher.  I believe Colitis is one of those words, like Pork, that sounds so unappetizing that equating it with tasty food seems impossible.  Are you with me on this one?  Bleck!

Trying to be a good wife, I know- I make it look so easy, I thought I would test out the zucchini bread recipe since I have three over grown gourds screaming to be made in to something before turning to a nat's dream home. 

The results are in and the cookbook can stay!  The bread turned out great and is healthy too, great combo in this house these days.  It is so good that, well, I am blogging about it - so there.  Even if you don't like zucchini you really do need to give this simply scrumptious bread a try. 

Zucchini Bread

1/3 cup applesauce
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 small zucchinis, patted dry after shredding)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional)

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans with vegetable spray
~In large bowl combine applesauce, eggs, zucchini, and vanilla and stir well.  Add baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well.  Add dark brown sugar and granulated sugar and stir well.  Stir in flour just until combined-do not overmix.  Fold in dried cranberries or raisins, if desired.
~Pour batter into prepared loaf pan(s).  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (bake mini loaf pans 30-40 minutes.)  Remove from pan(s) and cool on wire rack.
Yield: 1 loaf or 4 mini loaves, about 12 servings

Strawberry Tower

As overheard in the Schweri kitchen, one hot and muggy Monday afternoon.

Topher: "Mom, I'm bored - can I play Wii?"
Mom: "No buddy, no more screen time. Find something else to do."
Topher: "Aw, Mom, that's no fair. There is nothing else to play with."
Mom: "Really, you don't have a million trains in your room that you just had to buy last month and now don't touch? How about the books you had to have from the book fair and have not read yet?"
Topher: "I read that book, two whole pages, but it is a looong one and will take forever!"
Mom: "That is the point, it will keep you busy for a long time... give it a try, please?!"
Topher: "That isn't fun. I'm bored. Can I go on the computer? Can I watch T.V.? Hey, what are you doing?"
Mom: "I am going to make a yummy Blueberry Dump Cake recipe I just saw, do you want to help?"
Topher: "Sure but can we use strawberries instead, I don't like blueberries. Can we add chocolate to it too?"
Mom: "I don't have enough strawberries for that. Plus I only have white cake mixes, oh, and one banana cake mix."
Topher: "Oooooo, can we make the banana cake mix, put chocolate on it and strawberries?"
Mom: "Okay buddy, get the cake mix and I'll grab the camera..."

...and so I give you Topher's Strawberry Tower Cake recipe:

Ingredients
1 box of banana cake mix
Oil
Eggs
Water
2 ripe bananas
Chocolate frosting
Strawberries (about one carton)
Chocolate sauce

Directions
1. Make cake as directed on box, careful to not drop egg shells in the mix and freak your Mom out.

2. Get grossed out as Mom adds the ripe bananas during the mixing process.

3. Burn your finger as you insist on putting the pans in the oven yourself to bake as directed and cool.

4. While the cakes bake, and after soothing your finger with a cold washcloth, cut strawberries in to slices. Preferably oddly shaped slices that later will prove a challenge to lay flat on the cake and even get a bit mushy.

5. Once cakes are cool enough, who has the time or patience to wait for them to totally cool anyway, frost the bottom layer {and only the bottom layer, don't question the boys genius, it is futile to try} with chocolate frosting.

6. Now suddenly exert extreme patience and test your Mom's sanity by slowly putting slices of strawberry on the chocolate layer but not in any rhyme or reason so that at the end you have to forcefully shove pieces to cover each square inch.

7. Set second layer on top, and begrudgingly allow your Mom to help layer remaining strawberries on top - gotta know when to keep the peace. Make Mom feel even better by complimenting her choice in putting the large chunks on the outer edge.

8. Grab the chocolate sauce bottle and squirt as much as possible on the top of the strawberries until a grown-up forces you to cease and desist.

Victory!