Zucchini nut bread

A lady at work gave me a home-grown zucchini a few days ago. I loove zucchini. I usually make zucchini nut bread or grill them with mushroom. But this one was so big, that I would still have some left over. So I will have to try something new with the rest. Here is R Jr. exhibiting the giant zucchini that he so excitedly called 'big cucumber'.

Zucchini or courgette is a small summer squash. It is low in calories (approximately 15 food caloreis per 100 gm fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of folate, potassium and vitamin A. It also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese.

Here are the ingredients for the zucchini nut bread:

2 cups flour

around 1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardomon pods, 1/4 inch nutmeg and 3 cloves, powdered

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar mixed

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

Grease a pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the dry ingredients together.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar together in a bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet, beat well.

Stir in zucchini, walnuts and raisins.

Pour batter in pan and bake for an hour.

Here is the finished product. It turned out very soft and flavorful. An easy recipe that is a must try.

What's for lunch, mama?

I have always loved cooking, and very rarely have had to scratch my head wondering what to cook for a meal....until I had to cook for my very own son. He has always been a picky eater. Even when he was an infant, he hated his milk. I thought it would get better with time, but I wish...I try to create meals that not only look appealing to those little eyes but also provide the much needed nutrition. Necessity is the mother of invention...and this mother is sure a life saver for me when it comes to his lunch...Take a look at this....Doesn't it look gorgeous..

Here's how I make it...Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan. Stir in chopped broccoli (I also add a few finely chopped spinach leaves at times) and saute for a minute or so. Add in about half a cup of heavy cream. When it comes to a boil, toss in a quarter cup of grated parmigiano reggiano. Simmer till the sauce thickens and then throw in the cooked pasta with salt to your liking. Finish it off with a dash of pepper. Ain't that easy...

My son is such a brat..anything green is yucky to him...When he got home last evening, I asked him what he ate for lunch, and pat came the reply "Yucky pasta!!!". And then he asked "Mama, did you put grass in my pasta?" That had us all cracking up...But I know for sure he loved it...