Monday, March 30, 2009

Zucchini Muffins

This recipe is from The Ultimate Muffin Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough and makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer unbleached)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium zucchini (about 6 ounces each), washed

Position the rack in oven in center of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray.

Whisk the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl whisk the eggs until lightly beaten, then add the brown sugar and oil. Continue whisking about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and vanilla extract.

Grate the zucchini and add to the wet ingredients, stir until well blended. Then stir in the prepared flour mixture only until moistened; do not overmix.

Fill the prepared muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until the muffins have firm rounded tops. Muffins will stay fresh for up to 2 days at room temperature or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Wedding Anniversary

Today is our twenty-first wedding anniversary and what an adventure it has been. So Jim thanks for taking me along on your journey.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Recipes for the Soup Kitchen

Last week we served zucchini muffins from 'The Ultimate Muffin Book.' They were delicious. The zucchini had been donated to us by Jack-o-Lantern Farms. This week we will serve artisan bread using the recipe from 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.' These are both great cookbooks.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Soup Kitchen

Breakfast is when Jim and I solve all the world problems, debate current topics or plan our next project even though we have projects that need to be completed. One such morning we discussed the possibility that our community could benefit from a soup kitchen and our church which is located downtown might be a great place to host such a project. The Shoals Community Soup Kitchen is now up and running thanks to the overwhelming support of our church and other churches in our community. We currently serve a noon meal every Friday.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Our New Shop

Our new shop has a barn-like appearance as we wanted it to feel like it belongs on the land. Plus in the near future we will have to look at it every day. So far we have completed the exterior - one of our many next projects is to work on the interior. It would also be nice to have water and electricity. Jim is busy researching geothermal heating and cooling so if anyone has wonderful advice please share with us.