My Family's Zucchini Cake Bake Off

It all started with an excess of zucchini.

Last time I visited my parents and Nancy,

their garden was producing zucchini big time.

Nancy loaded me up with it when I returned home.

Since then I have been baking

Zucchini Bread

and now have 16 loaves in my freezer.

(Don't ask why.)

Nancy, on the other hand found a recipe for a wonderful sounding

Zucchini Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

It was a hit...

...and was declared "a winner" by my Dad.

You'd have to know him to know

what high praise that is.

At any rate, Nancy's cake was enough to inspire our

brother Rick, who lives in Germany and is

quite the cook to give the cake a try.

His cake was a success too!

Well, that was more than I could stand.

I needed to make this cake too!

(I cannot let my little sister and little brother

get ahead of me in the cooking department...)

YUM!!!

I served it yesterday to my knitting group 

who were meeting here.

I didn't hear any complaints.

(You can find the original recipe here.)

So, I am laying down the gauntlet to my other brother Bill,

SHOW US WHAT YOU'VE GOT!

Growing!

After more hours at my computer 

than I like to admit,

I have a new web site!

This is in addition to my Etsy shop.

Etsy has been very good to me

and I certainly am not leaving it.

But, the general consensus among shop owners is

to not have all your eggs in one basket.

Since hosting for my

domain is due 

to expire this month,

and all I ever used it for was

redirecting traffic to the Etsy shop,

I decided the time had come for

my own stand alone site,

with a shopping cart,

allowing me to sell directly.

This will be a work in process 

for quite some time.

Just now I only have my 

knitting bags, needle cases 

and FUSION Yarn and kits

listed, but I will eventually

have my entire line there.

So come over and check it out!

By the way,

you can also find me at

 Handmade on Amazon.

What's for Dinner?

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week it was

Lemon Butter Salmon

with Creamy Barley and Zucchini Salad.

Yum!  I cooked it myself!

But I had some help.

After several months of thinking about it,

I finally decided to give Blue Apron a try.

I heard about Blue Apron a couple of years ago

when my friend Susan's husband gave her

a gift subscription as a Valentine gift.

Since, they have enjoyed culinary nirvana.

My first box came on Wednesday.

For the plan I chose,

three meals a week, each meal serving two,

the box arrived, via FedEx,

nicely packed in an insulated bag,

 with cold packs.

Since I am a family of one just now,

my box will supply me with six dinners each week,

AND, the bonus of only needing to cook three times a week

for those six meals!

Inside, everything is individually packed and labeled.

The produce included was farm fresh.

Two separate grains and a pasta will each complete a meal.

 Fresh meat and fish were all shrink wrapped and cold.

Each of the three meals also had a little brown bag 

of "Knick Knacks."

This was included for the dish I have already cooked. 

I haven't yet opened the other two little bags.

Finally, were the recipe cards.

One side shows the finished dish

and ingredients.

The other side shows a step-by-step 

instructions.

Each meal takes less than an hour to prepare.

Each meal is less than 800 calories.

And I will say,

I could not eat all the food for 

the salmon dish either night.

It was very filling.

I am very much looking forward to not having that

inner debate every day of

"what can I have for dinner..."

not having to do as much weekly grocery shopping,

and trying some new dishes I might not otherwise try.

What's for dinner tonight?

Chicken Piccata

with Fusilli Pasta & Garlic Chives.

Bon Appetit!