100 Days of Pinterest: Lemon Zucchini Bread

Well, the day has come. I have reached 100 Days of Pinterest! It's been a long, inspiring journey. I went from dwelling on how unlucky I was, to marveling at how talented I am. I think anyone who has been handed a diagnosis such as multiple sclerosis can relate to those feelings of pity, anger, and depression. I needed an escape from those emotions and this 100 Days of Pinterest challenge helped me to get away from those feelings. Of course, I still have my days when I feel like total hell. That's to be expected. However, I have stopped obsessing over a disease that I can't fix. I have redirected my energy to a better place, and that has been such an amazing result.

When I created this challenge I had no idea that I was a foodie or even had the ability to do half of the projects I attempted. Yes, I failed at making caramels the first two times. However, I didn't give up and I was successful the third time around. I discovered my passion for creating things that were better for my family than the processed foods that are so convenient. I have also met some really great people in the blogging community along the way. It's been a process that has benefited my overall well-being and I am thankful that I took the challenge on. I was hesitant at first, but once I got going I couldn't stop being inspired.

That being said, let's get on to the recipe that was my favorite from the past week. Since it's garden harvest time, I stuck with something that can be made with those zucchinis that are ready to be picked or found at your local farmer's market. This Lemon Zucchini Bread is amazing. It's also a healthy alternative to last week's Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread (<----SO GOOD! Click there, you know you want the recipe).  It has fresh lemon and lemon zest inside that make it a perfect summer treat. I made a loaf for a family get-together and it didn't last long.

Here's the recipe.

Lemon Zucchini Bread With Lemon Glaze
Originally posted on NancyCreative.com

Makes one 9×5″ loaf

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup grated zucchini (you don’t need to peel the zucchini before grating it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5″ loaf pan; set aside.
In large bowl, blend flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In medium bowl, beat 2 eggs well, then add canola oil and sugar, and blend well. Then add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and blend everything well. Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture.
Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and blend everything together, but don’t overmix.
Pour batter into prepared 9×5″ loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (if your oven tends to run hot, check the loaf after 40 minutes; also, if you make this in an 8×4″ loaf pan, your baking time may be a little longer…about 5 to 10 minutes more). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. While loaf is cooling, you can make the glaze…
LEMON GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Spoon glaze over cooled loaf. Let glaze set, then serve.
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That's it. Since I took this to a family get together and didn't feel like making two loaves, I sliced the bread as normal and then halved each piece and put them on a serving platter. That way, instead of eight slices of bread, I had sixteen half slices. Worked perfectly. There is an excessive amount of lemon glaze, so put as much glaze as you want on the loaf. You may have some left over, or you may go glaze crazy and pour the whole amount on the loaf. It's all you, do your glaze thing!

I've now made a Double Chocolate and a Lemon Zucchini bread. I wonder what other flavors of zucchini bread I can find? Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear them. You can send me an email with your recipe to: womaninthemancave@yahoo.com or you can post them here. Either way, I'd love to give them a try. I'm on the lookout for a great regular zucchini bread recipe and I hope you can help me out!

As always . . .

take care!
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 4 - Strawberry-Banana Roll-up

If there is one perk to this 100 days of Pinterest challenge, it's the fact that we are eating a lot of different things. Last night's homemade potato chips and the apple pork roast turned out fabulous. I'll be making both again in the future.

Today was a pretty great day in our house. My husband started a Pinterest account. I don't think a lot of men know how great Pinterest is. There are so many DIY posts that can be handy little weapons in the hands of the right men (women have known this forever, we're smart like that). Once I started showing my husband all of the cool things that can be done with skids and ideas we can use to remodel parts of our home he was hooked. I can't wait to see what sorts of things he finds to create.

I took it easy today, because my MS is flaring up a bit. When I was in the shower this morning I got a really bad pain in my right eye, followed by some color loss. I could see perfectly out of my left eye and everything I looked at from my right eye looked dull and really weird. As the day progressed, it slowly got better. Now, I only have a little bit of a difference. It was pretty scary for me, because I've never experienced vision problems with my MS.

Enough of my MS woes, lets get back to my Pinterest challenge.  This morning I made all of us these incredible strawberry, banana, peanut butter, granola, and strawberry preserves roll-ups using Flatout wraps. All of my guys thought they were great and really filling. They were easy to make too. As you can see in the pictures they look like a peanut butter fruit pizza before they're rolled. I rolled them from the strawberry side over and they stayed shut perfectly. Instead of buying a big ol' box of granola, I purchased the store brand of crunchy granola bars (similar to the Nature Valley type) and crushed them in the wrapper before I opened it. I lightly coated the wrap in peanut butter, put some strawberry preserves on the right side topped with the strawberry slices, sprinkled some granola on the strawberries, and then added the bananas to the other side. Then I rolled them up and cut them for easy handling. Easy peasy!


Not sure what I have in store for tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll have fun trying it. I'm thinking I may be making some coconut oil lotion. Hopefully it works! Don't forget to head over to Pinterest and follow me (click here). You can find me on Facebook too.

Take care!
NB