Red, White, Blue & Zucchini!
06 July 2015
I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend!
It was a pretty relaxing one for us this year.
Saturday we vegged out all morning and then we attended my cousin's going away party in the afternoon. He recently accepted a job offer in Oregon and we are so proud of him and and all of the opportunities that lie ahead in his career!
women's stripe sweatshirt - hunter boots (simluar here)
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In other news...It's zucchini season!!!
It was a pretty relaxing one for us this year.
Saturday we vegged out all morning and then we attended my cousin's going away party in the afternoon. He recently accepted a job offer in Oregon and we are so proud of him and and all of the opportunities that lie ahead in his career!
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In other news...It's zucchini season!!!
Growing up I never understood the awesomeness of this vegetable, and I would always find it so odd when my mom would make zucchini bread. Therefore I always refused it try it. Well, fast forward to 3 years ago when Aaron and I started our first garden. We ended up with a very large bounty from our 10 zucchini plants. (He didn't realize how MUCH one plant would produce) That summer I found myself trying all different kinds of zucchini recipes just to use them and ended up giving away the rest!
During all of my zucchini recipe adventures I came across 'Lemon Zucchini Bread'.
If you know anything about me you know that I LOVE lemon! Love, love, love it! ..lemon cake, lemon cremé puffs, lemon tarts, lemon crinkle cookies,, lemon ice cream, lemon flavored anything with the exception of lemon meringue pie because honestly who likes that?
So, here is my all time favorite bread recipe!
*You can glaze it you prefer but I usually don't in a ditch effort to cut of those extra calories. I do that because the crust of this bread is so sweet and yummy that I could literally cut the tops off of all the loaves and just feast on that.
Lemon Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1⅓ cups sugar
- 2 TB lemon juice
- ½ cup buttermilk (I've used heavy cream once and whole milk twice and both work fine)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup grated zucchini
Instructions:
- Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together.
- Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well.
- Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined.
- Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.
- While still warm, eat a piece! Then save the rest ..if you can ;)
Adapted from Lil Luna's
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To end our weekend we watched movies all Sunday morning, Con Air for the grown ups and Little Mermaid for the littles.
Then in the evening we had the girl's godparents and their daughter over for a quiet dinner.
I decided to use my new spiralizer to whip up some yellow and green zoodles!
Cilantro & Lime Zoodles:
-Sauté 2 cups of zoodles in 1 tbsp EVOO, 1 tsp minced onion, 1 tsp garlic, juice from 1/2 lime, fresh 1-2 tbsp of cilantro, finely chopped & salt and pepper to taste.
-Sauté 2 mins for a soft crunch (longer if you prefer a softer Zoodle)
-Enjoy!
Happy Independence Weekend!
-Tiffany
Strawberry Icebox {no bake} Cake
24 June 2015
It's Wednesday morning again at the Hess house. Is it me or do weekends go way too fast, as well as the first part of the week?! As I sit here I quick close my eyes {for a nano second} and pretend that this coffee creamer is making my 'cuppa' coffee taste like I'm sitting at a bistro table outside of a French café... But actually I'm listening to my threenager demand I make a bed of blankets on the floor because she is 'NOT TIRED' and the baby is perfecting her new skill of throwing objects, any and all across the room.. Now, let's get the day started!
Directions:
Chocolate Ganache topping
-Heat the remaining cream on the stove until bubbles form around the edges, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a few minutes, then whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy.
This past Sunday was Father's Day and we had the chance to celebrate the three rockstar dads in our lives. My dad, my father in law and of course Aaron!
We started our day letting Aaron catch 'a not so quiet' nap because he was up at 3 am to feed the cows {Charlotte was so happy about Father's Day that she stood two inches from his face screaming "dadda"} We then made French toast sticks that everyone said they wanted but then didn't eat, finally after getting our crew together we made it to church service- early! Winning! We popped in at the farm for lunch with Aaron's dad and once we were home and everyone was snoozing for the afternoon I was able to make my favorite summertime dessert for dinner that evening!
Here is the recipe that I adapted from Six Sisters blog!
No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed
3 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed
3 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 sleeves graham crackers (I sometimes end up using less after I break a bunch)
4 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate, chopped
4 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate, chopped
Directions:
-Hull the strawberries and slice into thin slices.
-In a mixer, whip 3 cups of cream (medium high speed) until it just holds stiff peaks.
-Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract. Whip to combine.
-Spread a small spoonful of the whipped mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan, or platter.
-Lay down six graham crackers. Lightly cover the top of the graham crackers with a thin layer of whipped mixture, and then a single layer of strawberries. (Repeat three more times, until you have four layers of graham crackers.)
-Spread the last of the whipped cream over the top and swirl it lightly with a spoon. (I use my favorite icing tool)
-Then add a few more strawberries to the top.
Chocolate Ganache topping
-Heat the remaining cream on the stove until bubbles form around the edges, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a few minutes, then whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy.
Drizzle over cake and then refrigerate at least 4 hours before enjoying!
Aaron hates dessert but he LOVES this (and my banana cream pie) Win win!
I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the special men in your lives!
I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the special men in your lives!
-Tiffany
Monday Morning Madness
15 June 2015
Let's be honest Monday mornings are always rough especially when you have kids. Nobody wants the weekend to be over but yet they don't mind an early wake up call, nobody thinks dad should leave at 6 am for work, everybody has a meltdown because they want their strawberry milk {and *cough cough* coffee} NOW, and the threenager would rather eat her breakfast in front of an episode of paw patrol instead of at the table with her mom and sister who is throwing her eggs on the floor.
We have no choice but to start our day so here we go Monday!
{brought to you by the help of coffee, lots of coffee}
I chose to do baby led weaning with both of the girls and back when I started with Ava I found a pin on Pinterest for egg omelette muffins. They are so easy and so convenient. So every Monday morning I make a batch of spinach and mozzarella or cheddar and broccoli egg omelette muffins, it only takes 25 minutes total and saves me time the rest of the week.
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Egg omelette muffins:
Ingredients:
8 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
Extra Add-ins (cheese/veggies)
Directions:
•Preheat oven to 350 & butter a muffin tin.
•Mix milk & eggs together and pour into muffin pan filling them 1/4-1/2 way full. {depending on the number of add-ins}
•drop in add-ins and give them a little stir.
•bake for 25 mins {or until completely cooked}
** Once they cool you can freeze them for up to two weeks. Just thaw and reheat when your ready to enjoy them!
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Then with the left over 4 eggs I whip together egg salad or tuna fish salad for Aaron and I to have for lunch during the week!
Our favorite {simple} Egg salad:
4 eggs hard boiled and chopped
Mayo & mustard (to your liking)
Sprinkle of paprika
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Our favorite {simple} Tuna fish salad:
2 cans of tuna
2 hard boiled eggs chopped
Finely chopped celery
1tbsp of relish or pickle juice
Mayo (to your liking)
Happy Monday!
-Tiffany
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