Zucchini Bread

Baking Zucchini Bread

I decided to dust off the bread pans and try to bake some zucchini bread this evening! I used this recipe, called “Mom’s Zucchini Bread.”

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
1.) Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2.) Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

3.) Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

4.) Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Pretty successful!

Unfortunately, I shorted the amount of sugar I should have put in, so the bread isn’t as sweet as it could be. Still tasty though!

I have some bananas that are in the process of ripening as well, which means banana bread is on the menu for later this week!

Some photos:

Shredded zucchini
Baking Zucchini Bread

Pre-baking
Baking Zucchini Bread

In the oven!
Baking Zucchini Bread

Out of the oven!
Baking Zucchini Bread

Baking Zucchini Bread

Final product
Baking Zucchini Bread

Perfect way to start (and end) any trip

This weekend, a number of our friends ventured to Lake Tahoe for some R&R. We stayed in a friend’s family’s cabin, went snowboarding, and watched the Super Bowl.

Of course, the perfect way to start (and end) the trip is by visiting In N’ Out.

My first cast iron skillet

Lately, I’ve been considering picking up a new cast iron skillet for cooking. There’s a few reasons that have made me interested in owning one. Their durability, versatility, and even potential health benefits (source of iron!). I stumbled across an article on Lifehacker recently, talking about properly seasoning your skillet. This made me even more interested!

Earlier today, we stopped by a local hardware store and picked up a 12″ skillet.

Just purchased my first iron skillet!

Of course, we had to immediately break it in! So we cooked a 5-spice apple stir fry. It was a complete success.

Breaking in the skillet

Here’s to even more cooking adventures with our new cooking tool. I’m excited to try and make a deep dish pizza with it!

New York City bound!

From the top of Rockefellar Center

Off to New York City this week to help out with gdgt’s east coast launch party on Thursday. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to NYC (last visit was in 2007) and I’m looking forward to it. Unfortunately, there will be little time to play this time.

Weather is supposed to be good though!

nyc_weather.png

And apparently, I do need to make time to check out Shake Shack. Their burgers are supposed to be pretty good.