No work - so Baking!

Well, I was a bit mysterious before about what I did at the end of July... Did you catch that?  I quit my job to focus on school (which starts in about two weeks) and I found an internship in which I get to write and support a great cause.  The internship doesn't take up much of my time, so I have actually had the opportunity to bake at least once a week since my last day.  Baking/Cooking can be so much fun, and so relaxing... I have never really taken the time just to relax and cook.   I always feel like I can skimp on what I am eating in order to do something more exciting.

Yesterday I was able to make Zucchini cake muffins - using a recipe that makes it into Zucchini bars.  The recipe is from Italian So Fat, Low Fat, No Fat by Betty Rohde.  It is a great recipe to trick the kids into eating something that is healthy.    It is a spice cake type of recipe.  The recipe calls for raisins, my family and I add chocolate chips to it... it's just plain awesome.

The Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
½ cup fat-free margarine, at room temperature (I use regular unsalted butter)
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup egg substitute (2 eggs equal ½ cup)
2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ cups shredded zucchini
1 cup golden raisins (I substitute with chocolate chips)

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray.
2) In large mixing bowl, cream the margarine and brown sugar together until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and eggs
3) In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; stir with a whisk until well blended.
4) Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture and blend thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
5) Stir in Zucchini and raisins (chocolate chips).
6) Turn the dough into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
7) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Note: for the muffins make sure you a) only fill the container 2/3 of the way full b) It takes about 20 minutes to bake - but keep on checking every 5-10 minutes

Ingredients for glaze (we don’t really use this):
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fat-free margarine, at room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Steps:
1) Mix sugar and margarine until blended.
2) Stir in lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and of a desired consistency
3) Spread the glaze on the cake while it is still warm.  Cut into bars when cool 

I added a chocolate chip on the top of each for creative flair.

I hope you enjoy the recipe :)

Packing for Travel

What is your morning routine before you travel?  Do you leisurely get ready, because you are already packed?  Or, are you one of those hustling all about, doing laundry because your favorite clothes are dirty? Do you wake up early to pack?  Are you one that is late, almost missing your plane? Or do you hold up the people that you are traveling with, leaving 30 minutes to an hour later then what was originally planned?

I know people who have everything packed the night before, minus the necessities of course.  I also know people whom seem to hold up the other fellow travelers because they didn't wake up in time to pack and be on time.  Neither of these people are me.  I am the one that will wake up 2-3 hours earlier then I need to pack.  I like to wait until this time to make sure I am not missing anything; I can use my toothbrush and then pack it.  It is how I do my check list.  I am always ready early to go and travel.  I am the one that will arrive an hour and a half early to my gate, because I worry about the lines at security.

What type of traveler are you?

Driving Pet Peeves

On the open road... Do you ever notice how many idiots are out when you are driving?  At the same time, it feels like there are no cops are around when you need them?  Why is this so?  Is it just how the universe works?

Late last week I was driving to visit family in New Jersey.  I started realizing how many idiots were out on the road, doing illegal stuff and things that just annoy me to know end.  I decided to make a list of driving pet peeves. Now, I am sharing with you the list:

1) Not using headlights when it is raining (against many state laws)

2) Not using the turn signal when switching lanes

3) Using the turn signal after you are already halfway into the other lane

4) Keeping turn signal on/ forgetting about the turn signal for over a mile

5) Having items hang from the rear view mirror (this is illegal in DC)

6) Applying make-up when driving

7) Crossing over solid lines

8) "Riding the car" in front of you (tailgating)

9) Sitting in a blind spot.

This is just a small list of pet peeves. Do you want to share some of your pet peeves not listed?  Please leave a comment :)

Idea from a Writing Prompt

Yesterday's writing prompt from The One-Minute Writer had a very interesting concept: What do you wish grew on trees?  I only responded to this writing prompt today (8/1/12) and I would like to go more in depth with my answer.  This is what I wrote in the One-minute time frame:

       You know what would be great, if it grew on trees? Ideas would amazing. If you ever got                writer's block, you could walk out to the "idea" tree and grab inspiration from it. It could give the answer to ending world violence, domestic violence, and even world hunger.

How amazing would that be?  No one would ever have writer's block; it could solve the questions of some of the most horrible problems facing our world.  It could be almost a Utopian society.  Though I guess it could also be viewed as a the Wisdom Tree that Eve took the apple from... But that's not what I was thinking when I responded with the answer.  From my answer, I guess you can tell that I am an idealist that wants to be able to help the common man all over the world, without forgetting the home-grown problems.  We really need to start finding the answers to fix the problems within the world, at least bring the possible solutions up into conversation.

As a writer, I fight writer's block on almost a constant basis.  I am trying to work on exercises that will help me stay more focused when I get down to it and write (this is where the One-Minute Writer works in nicely).  It has now given me an idea to which I can write a whole rambling blog piece on a thought stemmed from the question it posed.