I have a serious problem. I can't stop baking.
This week I started intense potty training with Ali. He'll be 3 in December and I am hopeful to have him trained by his birthday. We're doing the cold turkey method, no pull ups. It's supposed to be the most effective and quick which it has proven to be, but it also is the most exhausting, mentally draining and is a likely candidate for extreme forms of torture. Let's just say I did NOT need to be baking while trying to accomplish this task.
So despite a serious backache from all the bending down to clean and jerking out of the way to avoid being sprayed on it's been a decently successful few days. He's learned to keep his number twos in the toilet and number ones are getting better. Enough toilet talk. I know that's not why you came here.
This recipe is a bit more involved than others I've attempted before, mostly because of the added step of grating zucchini/carrots and that probably took me longer as I did it while running back and forth between the kitchen and bathroom. Nonetheless, it came out tasting pretty delicious and my chocolate loving husband/child have already devoured more than half of it (IN ONE DAY). This is a great way to get picky eaters to have their veggies without knowing it!
I also used baby carrots not whole carrots (gasp unhealthy I know, I like the taste of chemicals what can I say) and grating those is a torturous task in itself. I would say you could barely taste the carrot so maybe using real carrots is better? Or just use more? You try it and tell me!
Again, I like to tamper with recipes online to make my own so this is a blend of 1 2 and 3.
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1½ cups grated zucchini
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour 2 loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fully combined and slightly lightened in color.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture until fully combined. Add in the grated carrots and zucchini and walnuts. Stir until evenly distributed.
- Divide batter evenly among the loaf pans. Top with chocolate chips and more chopped walnuts, I also like to top with a little brown sugar to give it a crunch. Bake for 45 minutes on lower rack, rotating halfway through if necessary. Turn off stove and leave in oven to cool for 5-10 minutes to ensure it is cooked through.
- Cool loaves in pans about 20 minutes before gently and carefully removing. Bread may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for 4 months.
Eggplant Parmesan
Oh and I nearly forgot to mention that I also made Eggplant Parm for dinner. Because I've totally lost my mind. Peeling the skin then slicing and bread crumbing the eggplant, its just all so much more time consuming than ordering pizza, which I probably should have done. But the end result really was worth it.
Attempt this when you have a solid 1-1.5 hrs on your hands.
We bake, not fry, our eggplant slices which makes me want to believe this is a healthy recipe but it tastes SO darn good to be called that.
I'm too tired to write out the whole thing, but they do a good job of that Here. To add in more veggies I threw some frozen broccoli and sliced mushrooms into the canned tomato sauce. Also, while I put the eggplant slices to bake I roasted 3 garlic cloves on the side, then crushed and added them into my sauce. Wow does that pack in flavor or what! Hubs better get ready for roasted garlic everything.
I left my dish in for longer since I love me some burnt cheese topping but you can probably pull it out once the cheese starts to bubble.
And since I clearly cant sit still for an idle moment, I leave you with a depiction of what I did with most of our time spent in the bathroom this week:
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Filed under things you discover in the toilet - Ali's momma is a Play-Doh artist!
Homemade fondant cakes here I come! |
Firstly, for decorations I had the photobooth props leftover from my Valentine's party last February and figured the mustaches and bow ties worked for a baby boy shower. I also found some adorable chalk print signs we used for the photo booth courtesy of The Phillips Family blog. Then I found a template for making a onesie banner, it was perfect for the simple yet adorable look I was going for. Michael's was having a sale on their craft paper 6/$1 so I grabbed a bunch that went with our theme and put my scissors to work. I liked how on the original design they had used clothes pins to hang the onesies like hanging baby's clothes to dry. But, upon finding that clothes pins are ridiculously over priced and won't ever be used again I went with a simpler option: Punch holes through the onesies and thread the ribbon through. 
Next were the party favors. I just could not decide what I wanted to do! In the end since I'm a huge chocolate fan and so are most of the girls who attended the shower; I indulged in our sweet tooth. I filled the favor bags with chocolate truffles and also made some baby shower themed chocolate candy using a Wilton melts template I had at home. Michael's also has a baby shower section where they had a bag of 'It's a boy' themed Hershey's kisses. I tried finding some cute baby themed favor tags for a reasonable price but the ones at the dollar store were cheap looking and Michael's was too over priced. So I made my own using extra paper I had got for the onesie banner. I love when I can recycle ideas! I found at Michael's the chalk print stickers on sale for just $.89, originally like $3! Then I added a few more cute baby boy themed bottle and rattle stickers to tie it all in to the theme. 
Lastly, I decided no shower is complete without a diaper cake! Using unused diapers from my own shower cake earlier this year, some baby themed ribbon from the dollar store (way cheaper than Michael's and they even had 'it's a boy' ribbon) and a bag of rubber bands to roll up the diapers, it took me just one of Adam's naps to complete this cake! To decorate it I got a classic rattle and found some cutie booties and a teddy bear around the house. Diaper cakes are fairly simple to make, but just to be prepared I watched this video before I started.
