Totally Worth It

Worth the scraped knuckles from the grater and heating the kitchen up on a July day...
Crazed Monk Zucchini Bread

In a large bowl, combine:
--3 large eggs
--2 c. sugar
--3 tsp. vanilla extract
--1 c. oil
Add:
--2 c. shredded zucchini
Mix well until completely combined, then add:
--3 c. all-purpose flour
--1 tsp. salt
--1 tsp. baking soda
--1/4 tsp. baking powder
--3 tsp. cinnamon
Stir until combined. Don't over mix.Put into greased loaf pans and bake at 350F for 40 minutes (for mini-loafs) or 50-60 minutes (for full-sized loaves). Loaves are done when a toothpick or skewer inserted near the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to cooling racks. Makes 2 full-sized loaves or 5 mini-loaves. Doubles easily and freezes like a dream.

Now, please don't look at this recipe and go "Holy shit! That's a lot of oil" and do something stupid like replacing half of it with applesauce. We all know that it will make the bread tougher, less flaky, and all-around not as good. It's not health food. It's quick bread. Don't go screwing around with the ingredients and then tell me it's not a very good recipe. I promise, it's an excellent recipe if you make it as directed.

Plus, if you're thinking to yourself, "Hey, it's too hot to bake right now, but I'll shred up the zucchini, portion it out in baggies and thaw it this winter to make bread," you're going to be disappointed. Freezing the zucchini alters the water content and throws off the moisture ratio of the bread. You've been warned.

So out of the 6 big zucchini Father Albert dropped off, the first big one made a double batch of bread (10 mini-loaves) and the second made a double batch of zucchini whoopie pies. I used two smaller ones to make a double batch of bread today (10 more mini-loaves) and now I'm down to two left.

I'm taking tomorrow off since I'm out of flour, finally.

Whew.

So, in other non-zucchini news, I had a pattern brainstorm and submitted it to Knitty.
I'm not sure why. I mean, I read every issue and look at every pattern and have been moved to make exactly one pattern. Not my style, I guess. But one day I was just sitting there in my chair knitting a string bag and an idea for a hat popped into my head. I grabbed a skein of Plymouth Encore that was just sitting there by my chair and whipped out a prototype, which was cute, but smaller than what I wanted and the band just wasn't quite...right. I knew just what mods to make, though, and I gave the hat to Bobo (since she loved it) and with two new yarns in hand I set to bringing the visualization to life.
The first one came out just like I wanted, so I used the most "Knitty-friendly" yarn of the three and wrote out my notes as I went along.

The deadline was July 15. I finished it on July 14. Made Sister put on a sweater (so it looked like cold weather) and pose with it on, while trying not to get too much of her face in it per her stipulation to signing the modeling contract. I call the pattern "Hot Cuppa Joe." Check out the pic...squint at her computer screen and see where she's surfin'...the Knitty Coffeeshop, baybeh!
Despite the shameless Knitty plug right in the pattern, I got a nice rejection e-mail from Amy thanking me for my submission. She did say she likes my style, and that she liked the cabled band.
So, while Hot Cuppa Joe didn't get me into Knitty--this time!--my pattern store on Ravelry has a new addition. This one is free too, so go'head and knit one up. You can find it on Ravelry here, provided you're a member. And why not join? Make yourself a Hot Cuppa Joe, and then make some zucchini bread while you're at it.

I mean, it might be 90 degrees out there right now, but it won't be forever...