Midwest Gardening: Favorite Zucchini Breads and Muffins

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With the crazy rains we had and heat this year, itsy bitsy zucchini one day, were submarines the next. 

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Here's a few SUBMARINE Zucchinis that were lurking where you couldn't see them.

There is nothing wrong with large Zucchini and they make the best bread and muffins when shredded.

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I had this nice clean kitchen, so I just had to mess it up!

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We love fresh baked breads and muffins, mostly because I can control the sugar and fat in them and add more spices for flavor instead of fat and sugar.

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Our Christmas gift last year was a new chopper---and boy does it do a great job on Zucchini, I pushed in large pieces of cleaned and seeded Zucchini in the hopper.

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And this is what we ended up with. That's like a  quart and a half of shredded Zucchini.

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Here you can see the process. I had 3 big Zucchinis to shred. The bowl in the middle is the waste which will go into the compost pile.

I bag my Zucchini into 4 cup bags---Most of my recipe's call for 3 cups---but when it thaws there is so much water, that the 4 cups become 3 drained. When using fresh just follow the recipes, no need to drain.

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Garden waste for the compost pile. We compost everything but meats, oil waste and banana peels. I also avoid strawberries and other berries because you can't control berry plants once they get going.

Here are my now for my favorite Zucchini recipes:

These were super nummy!

I've made these with corn/canola oil instead of butter..and still delicious, I use 1/2 whole wheat flour, and I've used plain milk, or almond milk for those who are dairy free. Totally delicious.

I did a huge batch of these today...if I'm going to mess up the kitchen, I'm going to really mess it up.

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I've added unsweetened coconut instead of nuts, nummy. I also use unbleached and whole wheat pastry flour and add vanilla.

These are quite sweet, if I want to I use a simple powder sugar glaze instead of frosting. I use the darkest chips I can find...small ones get lost in these though.

My favorite recipe---tried and true.

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Zucchini Bread or Muffins. 

this recipe is from the 60's...still nummy and upca

2 cups of grated Zucchini (skins and all)

1 c. of oil (canola or corn works fine)

3 beaten eggs

1 tsp or more vanilla

3 cups of flour ( I use 1/2 unbleached 1/2 whole wheat)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1+ tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 T grated lemon or orange peel or 1 Tbsp lemon juice

when I use orange peel I add 1/2 tsp of nutmeg.

optionals

1 cup chopped nuts or unsweetened coconut

1 cup of raisins or other dried fruits

I've substituted 1/3 of the sugar with unsweetened apple sauce, which brings down the sugar in these and add 1 cup of slow cooking oats to it also.  I've used this recipe for muffins also! Don't be afraid to fool around with recipes...just remember you need baking soda with any kind of fresh fruit.

Breads Bake at 350 60-70 minutes, 

Muffins 25-30 minutes

Makes 2 bread pans or LOTS of muffins.

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Apologies to anyone I stole these recipe's from, sorry I just clip and file them and I usually change them anyway. 

Hugs and Happy Zucchini Baking!

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I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.

 Sandi Magle

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Gardening, Canning, and Self-Analyzing my Art.

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Well, I'm on my 10th day of Covid, I'm negative now, but still YUGGY!

Poor Hubby is hacking away and still +...all our big plans have been cancelled for two weekends, and we are going to have the Fish Boil next week if everyone tests negative.

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I have been in the garden this week. I did an 8 pint jars batch of Sauce; Hot peppers, garlic, onions, peppers and tomatoes...with lemon juice and salt. 

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Tomatoes taste fabulous this year, but they are just small and dense...crazy hot weather made everything stop producing for weeks. I didn't skin them, but blended the sauce with my creamer/blender.

We've had tons of rain, so every plant, bush, and flower is huge, but the veggie blossoms were too wet to be pollinated. Pickles are now drying up with crazy shaped weird cucumbers still on the vine. I never even did any fresh pickles made.

 The Crookneck bumpy Squash has been prolific and tasty. Last night we had small ones hollowed out and loaded with chopped Zucchini and squash seasoned and tossed with oil and Balsamic and roasted in the toaster/airfryer. NUM! I use salt free seasoning mixes and just a splash of Balsamic vinegar.

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Zucchinis of course are not there one day and then submarines the next. I don't think we will get any Beets, Chard or Carrots unless the large planters produce...it's so thick in there with squash leaves, who knows. Surprisingly the 'Broccoli has been good even with the heat. 

So much for vegetable gardening. 

Hubby has projects going (left for over a week) painting the back deck a dark forest green to give it a couple of more years of life. We will be doing paving stones professionally in the future, and repairing this and that. He has a new wire fence wall for the East side(for critter proofing----LOL), sitting and waiting for the mesh.

I managed to get the porch finally cleaned and cleared with the cooler weather, but I only seem to be able to do a couple of hours of anything.

In the studio....well...I'm taking an additional 10-day class with Louise Fletcher...in finding your style, finding what you like-through exercises and some serious analyzing of what you accomplish in class or don't. 

Do you paint/draw for yourself?---or others? 

Do you give a single bit about what others think?

What do you like about your work? 

What do you Dislike?

She asks some tough questions, and since I have no intention of ever selling anything...I do it for myself...but ....do I????

I share with you, for validation or to share the experience? 

Questions, Questions, Questions????

The classes are  supplemented with Q&A sessions as well as a sharing work on an FB private group. Golly I'm amazed at how so many students have such SERIOUS ANGST about putting fricking lines on a paper....jeesh! Louise's entire emphasis is on PLAY to see what you like doing? Interestingly it was the blind self portraits that people were angsting about...looking in a mirror at your own reflection...really!

Anyway, What I have learned so far.

I'm finding out...I don't like black (I already knew that) and I don't like white paper showing(I really don't like that). I love line/color movement and some sort of balance or composition. I love COLORS--all kinds of color. I love working in more than one media at the same time. I really work fast....so fast I am done far ahead of the timed sessions end. Here's a peek at a one of the studies.

15 minuted each, a Limited palette to mix your own colors, realistic subject matter, I chose watercolors as my main medium. No. 3-4 we added another drawing mediums first...then paint.

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My set up...with all the finished pieces. Each one was less than 15 minutes...except the last one was 14:50.

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No. 1...I was too caught up in the patterned cloth...and watercolor mushes when you work too fast and runs into each other. I was using colors full strength and too much water...so the colors are fighting each other.

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No.2 I worked in more simplified layers and got everything under control? I was compelled to paint blue/gray in the background...If I work on this further I will totally darken the background do a very dark shade.  I like the movement in the red cloth...the leaves are-Eh!

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No. 3 We added an additional drawing medium here (I chose watercolor gel sticks...which was the turquoise and bright yellow)-t

(These sticks break down in water and I LOVE THEM!)

The pitcher/pot got some attention and some gray/black/white treatment. My last bit was the dark green lines here and there...I like the mixing of the green/brown which was the red, blue and yellow mixed together. I actually left the white background...but, so want to paint it brown...lol.

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No. 4 Well by now I felt I had explored the horizontal, so I flipped the paper vertical.

The pot was worked/clarified with water color pencil and the wc gel sticks are the base of the leaves. I am happy with the stoneware/white glaze on the pot and actually left some paper white. I like the leaves in this one, using the red/green to create the brownish tones...bits of the dark green surfaced here also, and I would use more of that if I had time. This one was right down to the end of the 15 minute limit. I also like the red balance on this one...amazing how a color can take over a piece, and here the red doesn't.

MOST IMPORTANT...I'm learning to STOP when I am done, or satisfied....and not having to ponder on what to do next. Setting a piece aside and then going on to the next idea...on another paper. I think I will work everything in a series now, exploring what works and what doesn't. I'm still analyzing all my other class work with Louise, we have quite few projects yet to go. So that will be later...

Besides all the analyzing today, I used up a bunch of scraps and paper samples, cards, cardstock, printer paper, various papers ripped from sketchbooks, some with marks or splaxhes  and Aged/Altered them from techniques from Graphics Fairy in her Aging Papers series.  She really does share so much, I know she has a paid subscription, but I have been following her freebies for probably 10 years...and what a trip it's been. 

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The finished papers with the warm tones and neutrals with greens will be perfect for Fall projects. The Papers have coffee washes, washes made from Pthalo Green, black, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Pthalo Blue, Lemon Yellow Lt, splatters and lots of energy. I can't wait to use them in Collages and Drawings. 

I think once a week, I will just paint pieces for chopping up...for other works. Great way to utilize...mistakes, messes, and odd bits of papers. 

Well, that's it for today...Have a great holiday weekend, we are in quarrantine...so who knows what else will get done. New Mantra

Please Paint for Yourself!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Tuesday TurnAbout

Farmhouse Friday

Love Your Creativity

Inspire Me Tuesday

Talk About it Tuesday

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Vintage Charm

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Midwest Gardens. 2025...Just watching it grow!

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Just a delicious hazy photo of vines and Sunflowers out my window...almost like a painting. Our Sunflowers have been plentiful and spectacular this year. And the goldfinches (middle of this shot) have been insatiable and almost violent while stripping the juicy heads of the flowers.

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See his little black wings and daunting stare..."MY SUNFLOWERS"

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Our fence is six-feet high on the East side, and that's the neighbor's house. This is about half of what was there earlier as so many were torn down with storms...Such a glorious way to celebrate summer with Yellow smiling faces in the morning sun.

Quick post...the garden is alive, we are only half alive and caught a bug this week but are recovering.  Anything at our age can be serious...but we are on the mend.

Hope to get some produce photos tomorrow! 

Midwest Gardening has been interesting this year, 

More to come soon!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Love Your Creativity

Busy Monday

You Are the Star

Craftastic Monday

Tuesday TurnAbout

Inspire Me Tuesday

Talk about it Tuesday

Vintage Charm

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Text Collage Explorations with Mather for Seniors

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Text Collage Explorations with Mather for Seniors

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The prompt for my Mather Paper Explorations class was to use Text as the theme for your Collage. I frantically ripped papers...far faster than cutting. I had chosen a bunch of pages to use, almost the only thing I cut was the focal point boat "Blue Bayou" from keyboard tinted music sheet.

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 Starting with black cardstock paper...for a background...moody and a great base for collage. Again we were working so fast, I just have photos of the finished product. I love the time limit... which makes me flow with gut instincts instead of over-thinking everything.

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Here is the entire piece after completing. I tinted blued music with a tan alcohol, and also used some tan on white music sheet ripped for tree trunks and roots. 

Accents were added with blue metallic pens...and gold/copper pens. Also using bits and pieces of foliage from oodles of garden pages.

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A log cabin porch inserted as a houseboat in the bayou, with a dock. adding all the bits of leaves and folliage was fun and interesting. I would have loved more hanging moss, but used blurred photos of greens for that.

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I did color many of the torn edges with pens to let the foliages blend..and accented others for shadows. Water shows here and there.

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The left side of the page has some added streaks of light creeping through the trees.

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In another class we worked with printed TEXT torn into shapes and doodled on. Again, dark paper was suggested for the background. 

 I had an old craft magazine from the 60's that I tore the advertising pages out from....classifieds...this was craft shopping in the 60s-70s...no online businesses at all. Craft stores were few and far between except in larger cities.

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Some of the classifieds, had photos or accent stripes/frames or photos of products. Photos, which I used very few. I tore shapes mostly diagonally across the classified pages. Fitting the shapes on the black page, and gluind down, but leaving lots of black card-stock base showing as was suggested.

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Composition was basically to fill the paper. The marking and doodles were all done with alcohol markers on the text. The markers have varying strengths and opacities. I liked how the text still showed through and the ad dividers became part of the designs.

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I sort of like this alignment...giving this a landscape feel.

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Fun play exercise. I also used some colored pencils subtly on the black areas. Colored pencils didn't work very well on the vintage glossy classifieds,  but the markers were splendid in color and intensity.

Fun class with Mather Paper Explorations on Zoom.

More Mather free online classes for seniors can be found HERE

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Happiness is Homemade

Handmade Monday

Love Your Creativity

Busy Monday

You are the Star

Craftastic Monday

Tuesday TurnAbout

Farmhouse Friday

LouLou's Party

Vintage Charm

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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