Before we get into this post, I need to update you again. I have been in North Carolina for the last 10 days helping a friend who recently had a rather serious auto accident recuperate at home. I did the cooking, shopping and driving to medical appointments. Between there was time to knit. Having said that this particular post was written before the trip, but as is obvious, it wasn't posted until now. There will be plenty of knitting updates soon, but for now, let's talk about baking.
PS~~what I did before I left was put together 3 side tables. In my own defense, each had 48 screws to insert, and I was using a hand tool, aka a Phillips screwdriver. That's 144 screws, each tighted by my own knitting and thus soft fingers. I wasn't lazy in my lack of posting this, just blistered.
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This will be a knit free post due to the fact I have some WIPs, but nothing has been knit in over a week. And since I am traveling to North Carolina for a while, there more than likely will be little news to report. Lest some of you worry, I thought I would get the word out that there will be few to no posts in the next couple of weeks.
What I can report is on the baking front. Since I am here with my sons, I am inspired to look back at the recipes they enjoyed as kids. That inspiration and the fact two items are readily available for the taking, rhubarb and zucchini, I did some old-time baking.
Allen, one of my uncles, lived on a farm, back in the day, with an orchard and rather large garden so each spring he'd fill a large Coleman cooler with cut rhubarb to the brim. (Today, he, the garden and farm are all no longer apart of the family.) Back then, I would merely take the rhubarb home, wash, cut and freeze it in 2 cup measures, the amount needed to make a 1/2 batch of Rhubarb Custard bars or squares. Click here for the recipe used sans the frosting. A one-half recipe is the right size unless you are feeding a large family or in my case, sons with friends all having a bottomless pits for food.
One of my sons has rhubarb growing in his backyard and the other was gifted some. The recipe I used was very forgiving so even the more mature rhubarb grown this time of year worked. So a couple of batches were made, to my recollection the recipe above duplicates the one used over 25 years ago. The comments from my sons about this recipe were something like the following: Mom, I don't remember it being this sweet" (a more sophisticated and mature palate is probably at play here). And: "Mom stop making these bars, I am eating too many of them." So it seems these bars were a hit.
Now you ask why is this such a big deal. In the past I baked these a lot for several reasons: 1) One almost always has the ingredients needed in the house, 2) It takes little or no time to mix up a batch if the rhubarb has already been chopped into small pieces, 3) If one makes a half-batch as I always did, the bars are gone before they get the least bit soggy, 4) The family loved them. But since I have left the Midwest, rhubarb is harder to find and when it is found can cost between $2-$4 per pound. The expensive ingredient and the fact I really don't need these calories explains why it has been so long since this dessert has been made.
As for zucchini, this is the time of year when the super big ones are available. In the past they would be shredded and again frozen for use later. I never bothered peeling them either. When my sons were small I could bake a batch of zucchini bread in muffin tins so they could grab and go with them. Additionally the "boys" were not told there was zucchini in the muffin, instead I called them spice muffins. After many, many of these spice muffins were eaten someone asked about the green specks and that's when the zucchini was named. By then though, they were so addicted to the muffins the fact there was something somewhat healthy in them was completely ignored.
So while at the farm my niece, who worked this summer for a garden vegetable seed company, brought home a big zucchini, along with several other very fresh vegetables. Mom and I shredded the zucchini into 12 cups in about 5 minutes and froze it in 2 cup quantities. Four cups stayed at the farm and the rest came back to the condo. This morning a batch of zucchini bread was made, one into a loaf pan and the other into a dozen unbaked muffins that have been frozen. My hope is I will be able to take one muffin out aat time and bake it for myself. (And BTW, this is working. Single serving, fresh from the toaster oven. Freezing the batter does not appears to impact the quality of the final product.) And here's the recipe for it. I leave out the nuts because I'm not a fan; you may feel differently. This is how the bread looks.
The reaction to the bread was: "Thanks Mom, this zucchini bread is great." No comments about it being too good, though. Somehow a request to stop production of these goodies was never uttered when my guys were 25 years younger. But then, we all grow up.
For now I must close, the smell of zucchini bread is wafting in the air and I want to eat that one muffin while it is still warm!
PS~~what I did before I left was put together 3 side tables. In my own defense, each had 48 screws to insert, and I was using a hand tool, aka a Phillips screwdriver. That's 144 screws, each tighted by my own knitting and thus soft fingers. I wasn't lazy in my lack of posting this, just blistered.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This will be a knit free post due to the fact I have some WIPs, but nothing has been knit in over a week. And since I am traveling to North Carolina for a while, there more than likely will be little news to report. Lest some of you worry, I thought I would get the word out that there will be few to no posts in the next couple of weeks.
What I can report is on the baking front. Since I am here with my sons, I am inspired to look back at the recipes they enjoyed as kids. That inspiration and the fact two items are readily available for the taking, rhubarb and zucchini, I did some old-time baking.
Allen, one of my uncles, lived on a farm, back in the day, with an orchard and rather large garden so each spring he'd fill a large Coleman cooler with cut rhubarb to the brim. (Today, he, the garden and farm are all no longer apart of the family.) Back then, I would merely take the rhubarb home, wash, cut and freeze it in 2 cup measures, the amount needed to make a 1/2 batch of Rhubarb Custard bars or squares. Click here for the recipe used sans the frosting. A one-half recipe is the right size unless you are feeding a large family or in my case, sons with friends all having a bottomless pits for food.
One of my sons has rhubarb growing in his backyard and the other was gifted some. The recipe I used was very forgiving so even the more mature rhubarb grown this time of year worked. So a couple of batches were made, to my recollection the recipe above duplicates the one used over 25 years ago. The comments from my sons about this recipe were something like the following: Mom, I don't remember it being this sweet" (a more sophisticated and mature palate is probably at play here). And: "Mom stop making these bars, I am eating too many of them." So it seems these bars were a hit.
 |
| Hmm, hmm good rhubarb custard bars |
Now you ask why is this such a big deal. In the past I baked these a lot for several reasons: 1) One almost always has the ingredients needed in the house, 2) It takes little or no time to mix up a batch if the rhubarb has already been chopped into small pieces, 3) If one makes a half-batch as I always did, the bars are gone before they get the least bit soggy, 4) The family loved them. But since I have left the Midwest, rhubarb is harder to find and when it is found can cost between $2-$4 per pound. The expensive ingredient and the fact I really don't need these calories explains why it has been so long since this dessert has been made.
As for zucchini, this is the time of year when the super big ones are available. In the past they would be shredded and again frozen for use later. I never bothered peeling them either. When my sons were small I could bake a batch of zucchini bread in muffin tins so they could grab and go with them. Additionally the "boys" were not told there was zucchini in the muffin, instead I called them spice muffins. After many, many of these spice muffins were eaten someone asked about the green specks and that's when the zucchini was named. By then though, they were so addicted to the muffins the fact there was something somewhat healthy in them was completely ignored.
So while at the farm my niece, who worked this summer for a garden vegetable seed company, brought home a big zucchini, along with several other very fresh vegetables. Mom and I shredded the zucchini into 12 cups in about 5 minutes and froze it in 2 cup quantities. Four cups stayed at the farm and the rest came back to the condo. This morning a batch of zucchini bread was made, one into a loaf pan and the other into a dozen unbaked muffins that have been frozen. My hope is I will be able to take one muffin out aat time and bake it for myself. (And BTW, this is working. Single serving, fresh from the toaster oven. Freezing the batter does not appears to impact the quality of the final product.) And here's the recipe for it. I leave out the nuts because I'm not a fan; you may feel differently. This is how the bread looks.
.jpg) |
| See the green flecks! |
For now I must close, the smell of zucchini bread is wafting in the air and I want to eat that one muffin while it is still warm!
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