Zucchini Cornbread

Last night I was checking some of my blogs and saw this recipe that Lauren posted for Zucchini Cornbread.  My mom is in town this weekend, and I knew we were going to the farmer's market this morning to get a bunch of vegetables for dinner tonight, so I added zucchini to the list.  This morning we were able to get a huge zucchini for only .25 cents!  I really wish I had taken a picture of it before I cut it in half, because it was massive!

But back to the recipe...I had all of the ingredients needed except the buttermilk, but did you know you can make your own buttermilk with just regular milk and vinegar?  Just mix one tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of milk, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

You could smell this baking after about 10 minutes, and it smelled so yummy!  And when it was all done, it did not disappoint!  It was super moist and not gritty, like some cornbread can be.  If you're thinking that zucchini and and cornbread sound like an odd combination, you don't really taste the zucchini; it just taste like a mild cornbread.  I put honey on half of one of my slices, and it made it even better.  Trust me, this one is worth a try!

Zucchini Cornbread

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini, shredded (equaling about 2 cups)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour  *all-purpose will work too
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cornmeal

Directions 

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until butter on the bottom of the pan turns a golden brown color, about 3 minutes.  Set aside and cool.  

Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.  

Add shredded zucchini and stir until blended.   

Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.  The mixture will be very thick.  

Place in a greased 9x5x3 inch pan, and place in a preheated 350F oven.  Bake 55-65 minutes, until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.  

Cool in pan about 10 minutes, and then cool on a rack.

Goodwill Goodies

I've been frequenting the Goodwills lately because I'm on the look out for something for work, and when I was there today I found a few things I am super excited about!

I ModPodged a tray similar to this one when I was in college, and since then it was been used in several different places, holding several different things.  Its currently on my kitchen counter, holding a bunch of my tea and coffee supplies.  Recently though I realized I really wanted something else.  For one thing it's bright blue and matches absolutely nothing in my kitchen, and secondly, it's become a bit too small.  I looked for a vintage serving tray when I was at the estate sales and antique place in Lynchburg, and really hoped to find an awesome one at World Market with Amanda, but came up empty-handed at both places.  But today I found this plain wooden one for $3.97.  It's the right size and, because it's plain, has tons of potential!  I'm thinking about painting the outside and inside of the frame a bright, cheery yellow, and then finding a kitchen-themed piece of scrapbook paper to ModPodge onto the bottom.  

Something else I've been on the lookout for is a fun, quirky little dish to place on my nightstand or in my bathroom to put my ring and watch in when I take them off, and I found this little leaf dish for a whopping .97 cents!  I'm thinking about painting it, like my friend Sherri did with this leaf tray she found at a thrift store also.  You can read about that here.

This last find is what I'm most excited about!   My brother-in-law Jonathan is a big San Francisco 49ers fan, so when I saw this 49ers chips and dip set for $3.97 I sent a picture of it to my sister.  I wasn't necessarily thinking about getting it, it just made me think of them, and often if something reminds me of someone, I'll send them a picture of it.  Anyways, Amanda must have been on her lunch break, because she responded immediately and asked me to get it.  Once I got it home I turned it over and saw that it was made by Pfaltzgraff.  I figured something like this, with a NFL team on it, was probably pretty expensive.  I googled it and wasn't able to find an exact price, but they were selling sets just like it for $25 on ebay, and another site was selling the bowl alone for $21.99!  So I totally lucked out on this one.  Jonathan will love it, and I can't wait for him to get it!

Patriotic Watermelon

I got this idea from Pinterest - using a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of watermelon.  I love watermelon, and since the only cookie cutter I own is a star shape, I figured today would be the perfect day to give this a try!

Sweet Summertime

Here are a few things I'm enjoying about the summer...

The pool!  I've been a lot this summer, but this is the extent to which I've gotten in.  I prefer to just lay in the chairs.

Freckles!  I have freckles on my shoulders all the time, but my face freckles only come out in the summer, and I happen to like them :)

Summer flavors, like lemons!  Every season has a flavor (these are just my opinions); cinnamon is fall's flavor, peppermint is winter's flavor, and spring and summer actually share some flavors, like strawberries and lemons, but I chose lemon's because I wanted to show you these adorable ceramic containers I bought in NOVA last weekend.  One is an egg container, and one looks like one of those green cardboard containers you would buy berries in; so naturally I have lemons in mine...