Cooking with Honey~zucchini bread

Growing up I spent lots of time at my grands, Honey's and Lovey's House. Honey was always busy, cooking,cleaning, and doing chores as was Lovey, but his chores were mainly outdoors, or at the woods. There was always some wonderful aromas coming from Honey's kitchen. I always loved spending the night at their house because that meant being awakened by a rooster's crow and it also meant biscuits with syrup and sweet cream.

Now Honey lives with me, and there are no roosters that wake us up, although, I have been asking Karl for some chickens for awhile now. AND we rarely eat biscuits anymore because lets just face it biscuits just go to the hips or at least mine. AND there's no cow outside to produce the sweet cream...but there are times when I cook with Honey. And today was one of those days.

When she moved to our state, she became involved with the seniors at her church. She went on one of those trips with the seniors at church and came back with some new friends, including a boyfriend named Billy. She later married him at the young age of 79 having been a widow for over 20 years. They were married for a few short years and my family lived right next door to them. Each year when the zucchini came in she and her hubby, Billy, would make zucchini bread. It was pretty awesome, and even my daughter, Karlie, you know the picky eater, loved it. Honey has not made this bread since Billy died over 2 years ago. She says its a two-man job.

Billy and Honey back in 2008

Today, I went downstairs and said, "Let's make some zucchini bread!" We soon discovered we could not find the recipe, but Honey did a quick search on the internet and came up with the recipe...and we set out to make it.

First we peeled the zucchini.

Then we put it through this nifty contraption that Honey has in her cabinet and it came out grated.

The ingredients

the wet ingredients with the spices

add the dry stuff

slowly

stirring it in

Add in the yummy pecans and  don't forget the pineapple

Preheat the oven

Spray 3 pans and place in oven.

Wait around while it bakes for almost an hour...give or take.

Done!

Have a slice while it's still warm.

Make a little memory today and cook a little something with your loved ones. It's ok to eat a little slice just don't eat the whole pan and then maybe it won't go to those hips.

Zucchini Bread 

from the 1986 Southern Living Annual Recipe Cookbook

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple, well drained

Combine dry ingredients and pecans; set aside.

Beat eggs lightly in a large mixing bowl; add sugar, oil, and vanilla; beat until creamy.  Stir in zucchini and pineapple.  Add dry ingredients, stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened.

Summer ICE

When I was a young girl, I wanted to own a snow cone business. I just knew I could make a ton o' money selling snow cones in the Hot Summer Mississippi Heat. I never had my little sno-cone shack,but to this  day, I still like to visit the occasional sno-cone shack when summer weather hits. My family loves the shaved ice too.

Personally, I still think I could make some $$$$ selling sno-cones. I have a new flavor idea to add to the menu SPARK flavored ice. Now what could be better than a little shaved ice with some energy and mental focus added to it....but I digress.

Since Karlie had oral surgery yesterday. She now sports a  little ' gold~chain' hanging on an exposed  front tooth connected to her braces. She's feeling like she has a GRILL for sure. Since her ordeal yesterday, we have catered to some things that she thinks she can eat AND Hawaiian shaved ice was on top of her list. This afternoon we headed down the road to the only sno-cone place we know of and ordered our favorites. We sat outside under the umbrella enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze and discussing which flavor really is best. AND you know me, I took a few photos. I instagrammed  till my battery went dead and then I simply borrowed Karl's phone and took more.

I may not have a fancy camera with a cool lens, but my iphone has instagram and a lot of cool collage apps. 

Jolie wanted her photo made with me. Just this morning, I heard her tell her daddy, " Momma is a princess around here, and Karlie is a princess and Jolie is a princess." Now, is that sweet or what?

My family loves green apple as their favorite, but not me. I am a vanilla ice girl every. single. time. Although I did branch out today,  I had half vanilla and half pina colada flavor.  Vanilla is still my favorite.

But Karl insists that green apple is the bomb...

Even Karlie loves green apple,but she is torn between two favorites and she orders half vanilla too. Jolie didn't really care what flavor she had as long as it was purple. So she had grape.

Karlie feels much better after having a little Hawaiian shaved ice

In fact, I think we all felt a little better after a little ice, EVEN though the debate continues over which is the best flavor. (it's vanilla!)
What flavor would you choose?

tooth fairy visit? NOT

Not to thrilled for a little surgery of the mouth

Karlie was a little anxious for her surgery this morning, but came through fine. We're glad it's over...and hey she was excited to get a milk shake even if she had to eat it with a spoon instead of straw...

Jolie turns 3

June 1st is Jolie's birthday celebration and we celebrated last night because big sis had oral surgery this morning. This is Jolie's 2nd birthday with us. A lot has changed in a year. Last year, she didn't get the whole birthday thing, but she has figured it out, and has actually been planning it for a while. SHE loves Cinderella, and insists that Cinderella is me. (SO funny) but hey that's the sweetest thing and if she wants to think her momma is Cinderella and a princess, I'll take that. SO when baby girl wanted a Cinderella birthday cake, I set out to find her one. AND do you know I could n't find a bakery that could make it? Publix could make their barbie one, but could not stick the Cinderella doll in it because it was not 'their' doll. I did the only thing I could do, I called my mom and we set out to make one ourselves. After a few mishaps in the process, we finally had a finished product. We discovered after 5 hours of baking this Cinderella cake, that The Cake Boss is not how God gifted us, but Jolie was pleased and that's what counted.

Jolie posing by the cake

Jolie singing happy birthday to me...

Jolie loved her cake..

Jolie said cinderella cake was yummy...I just think 5 hours of work and gone in 15 mins. LOL

 Jolie loves purple and butterflies..and has been wanting a necklace. Here's her purple butterfly necklace.

Happy Birthday, Jolie!!