MORE Fun with Zucchini

HA! HA! HEE! HEE! HO! HO! (wipes tears of laughter from eyes) Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I made Zucchini Pie the other night. This recipe was given to me by my good friend Bridgie McBridgerton. Last summer Bridgie was kind enough to bring me a slice of her homemade Zucchini Pie, and it was love at first bite. In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, I did the equivalent of drunk dialing in the pie world. I called her with a full mouth and proclaimed to her voicemail, "Bridgie! I looooove yer pie!" She must have loved that creepy message, because she brought me another slice a few weeks ago. It was just as yummy, but honestly, anything less than a whole zucchini pie is not enough, so I had to make one for myself. This is some good stuff, dare I say nirvana? Here's the recipe:

1 cup peeled, cubed, cooked zucchini. (Takes about two cups raw to make one cup cooked)

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 T. butter or margarine

2 T. flour, slightly heaped

1 tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients in a blender and mix at high speed until smooth. Pour into an unbaked 9" pie shell. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 15-20 minutes (until crust is lightly browned and filling is not too jiggly).

Let the pie cool completely, then liberally sprinkle the top with cinnamon and nutmeg. Store leftovers (if any) in the refrigerator.

7/31/09 UPDATE: Per Bridgie, the name of this pie is actually Great Aunt Anne's Zucchini Pie. I brought this into to work today and it was gone within a few minutes. The devouring was followed by several requests for the recipe.

Oh, I almost forgot. John actually tried a bite. While he didn't exactly give it two thumbs up, he did said it tasted a little bit like pumpkin pie. It's more like sugar cream to me, but the fact that he didn't burst into tears and spit it out makes it a WIN!

Zucchini Cake

The other day I was checking out The Pioneer Woman's blog where she raved about a certain zucchini cake recipe.  I'd actually never cooked with zucchini and don't really know much about it.  A quick trip to Wikipedia informed me that "Botanically, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower."  Granted, that sounds kind of icky, but I do loves me some cake, so I figured what the heck?  I won't bore you with pictures of every step of making a cake - you all know what flour and sugar look like, right?  If you don't, you can find pictures here along with the recipe.  It's really a very simple recipe with the most "difficult" thing being grating the zucchini.  I've always been leery of graters, afraid I'm going to grate off my knuckles or the tips of my fingers or something, but no casualties today.  My new grater whittled those immature fruits like it was nothing.  The only change I made to the recipe was substituting pecans for coconut in the cake batter.

Also, I did not use the cream cheese frosting recipe that Ree lists.  I found this recipe a few months ago that is my new favorite.  

1 8 oz. package cream cheese (cold, straight from the fridge)

5 T. softened butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Add powdered sugar, mixing until completely blended and smooth.  This recipe makes a substantial amount of frosting.  Yes, I used it all.  If you are one of those weirdos who doesn't like frosting, tough titties.  

I frosted the cake as soon as it was cool (okay, it wasn't completely cool but I was getting impatient) and had a small piece.  To be perfectly honest, my initial reaction was, "Meh."  It wasn't bad, but it didn't have me wanting to dance on the rooftops either.   I figured I could just take it to the office on Monday and let the pack of deranged wolves I call co-workers have at it.

Then a funny thing happened.  After dinner I was cutting a few pieces for John to take to his parents and decided to try another piece. 

IT WAS REALLY GOOD.  Because the cream cheese frosting is so soft, I had stored the cake in the refrigerator, and the cold cake was to die for.  Now, I *am* dancing on the rooftops, and because I danced and burned off a few calories - ahem - I had another piece just to make sure it really was that good.
 

It was.

P.S. - The cake recipe calls for crushed pineapple that has been drained.  I mixed the 8 oz of reserved pineapple juice with the juice from a can of mandarin oranges I found in the pantry earlier today.  To that I added some fresh lime juice and Malibu Rum.  YUM. 

I feel compelled to tell you that I had the 70s on 7 playing on the TV and this song came on.  

More rooftop dancing ensued which caused Lola to run into the bedroom and hide under the loveseat while Ringo stuck his head under a pillow.  I bet you all wish THAT was on YouTube.

Fond Vacation Memories

Remember when I reported Robin's snarky comment upon noticing that John and I were holding hands on our beach walk?  I swear, those girls act as if we are such an embarrassment to them.  I doubt anyone on that beach was even looking at us:

Ringo Finds True Love

Yucky weather today, 

so I'm doing a post on a recent development with Ringo...

You remember Reese, don't you?   She is the 120-pound or so Rottweiler who lives next door.  Reese's parents fenced in their backyard, and through the safety of chain link, she and Ringo have begun what I like to call "The Dance of Love"...   

Although Lola stands at the fence and barks her fool head off to get Reese's attention, Reese only has eyes for Ringo:

I think Reese and Ringo would make an awesome power couple, along the lines of Brad & Angelina, Will & Jada or Tom & Katie.  Oh, who am I kidding?  In human form, they would most likely bear a striking resemblance to these two:

P.S. - You'll be glad to know the sun came out while I was working on this, so I hustled my buns down to the beach for a lovely afternoon of sun and a good book.  The only bad part of the day were the two whale turds that washed up on the beach where I was trying to relax.

The Bickersons' Family Vacation

Yee gads....for those of you who have little ones, enjoy them while you can.  One day,  (it will come sooner than you think, completely blindsiding you) they will be teenagers.  I distinctly remember a cute little girl with big brown eyes telling me in all earnestness:  "Mommy, I will never be a big ugly teenager."  She lied.  

We're on vacation in Pensacola Beach, Florida.  The girls didn't even have to travel down with us, instead being afforded the luxury of air travel.  Due to a miscommunication (translation:  John doesn't listen), the girls weren't available to leave on Friday, so John and I headed out on the 12-hour drive together.  Just the two of us.  In the car.  Together.  As much as I wish I had some funny stories to tell on John, it really wasn't bad.  We rolled into PB on Saturday mid-afternoon, checked into the condo, had a little beach time, then made our way to the airport to pick up Robin and Lily.  Robin was pretty excited because she met Jake from the Bachelorette at the Atlanta airport.  I don't watch the show, but if this guy is who the Bachelorette is NOT selecting, I can't imagine what those other guys are like!

Anyhoo, they arrive in a good mood and the first day goes well.  In retrospect, I should have known Lily was up to something because she was being particularly nice, wanting to take our picture together every five minutes. 

 Then she starts in on getting her tragus pierced.  John and I both say "no"...

Following that was a flurry of Facebook statuses that read:  

• Robin Reyes honestly just wants to go home.  
• Lily Reyes is p*ssed that she can't get her ear pierced.  
• Robin Reyes' family is exhausting.  
  

Seriously.   We're on vacation with surf, sand and a great forecast.  How rough can their lives be?

Oh, I also heard a snide comment regarding John and I holding hands when we were walking on the beach:  "I don't know whether to jump for joy or puke."

The Awe-summmness of Moi

Sarah K. over at Randumb was awarded the Queen of ALLL Things Awe-summm!!! award and passed it along to me.  Wow, I am incredibly honored!

Here's what I have to do:

1. List 7 things that make me awe-summm!
2. Pass the award onto 7 bloggers that I love 
3. Tag those bloggers to let them know they are now Queens too (and link back to the Queen who tagged you)

In addition to being awesome, I'm humble, so I asked a few friends to share one awesome thing about me and here's what they came up with:

7 Things That Make Me Awe-Summm!

1. I am SASSY!

2. I have excellent oral hygiene.

3. I put up with two chihuahuas and John.

4. I am an awesome mom.

5. I have mad baking skills.

6. I will come get your pathetic, post-partum carcass late on a Sunday night, take you to the ER, wait 3 hours while you get checked out, then deliver your pathetic, post-partum carcass safely home.  I won't even say, "I told you not to have a third kid."  Uh, actually I can't promise the last part.

7. I am very funny.

Here's where I'm NOT so awesome...I don't really have the blogdom to pay it forward, so I think I will just selfishly wallow in my victory.  

Thanks, Sarah!