Tuesday
Attire:
Old Navy: Matte jersey wrap dress
Callisto: Tan heeled sandals
Diamond Nexus Labs: Solitaire necklace
Silver hoops and cuff
Hair:
Day 3
Bedhead tamed with curling iron
Flipped head upside down, shot hair with Matrix Sleek.Look hairspray and left wild
Beauty:
Laura Mercier: Flawless Face Kit in Sand
Maybelline: Brow powder in Dark Brown, Shadow quad in Mocha Motion
Body Shop: Eye color in Soft Black
Cover Girl: LashBlast mascara in Rich Black
Bare Escentuals: Buxom lip gloss in Dolly
Nars: Blush in Orgasm
Last night I had another wave of domesticity and made zucchini bread and muffins (see below). The zucchini is still so plentiful in Maryland (and so cheap at the farmer's market!) that I just had to grab a few to make some treats!
This recipe is based off one I found on All Recipes, but totally eye-judged and modified to fit what was in my kitchen. I am not a huge baker because I just am not good with precision. Breads like this are as baker-like as I get!
Zucchini Bread
2 average-sized zucchinis, grated (dollar store grater that I have had for over a decade – used the finer grating. This made a little over 2 cups)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon (didn't measure, just guessed, could have been a touch more)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (again totally guesstimated)
3 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup white sugar (slightly more, thought had at least a cup on hand but ran out)
2 tablespoons honey (again totally guessed, I squeezed it right in the bowl when I realized I was out of white sugar and my brown was old and solid as a brick)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (again I eyeballed this)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- Grease and flour whatever pants/tins you are using (I used one 8×4 loaf pan and one six-muffin metal tin)
- Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, nutmeg and cinnamon into a bowl.
- Gently fold in walnuts and chocolate chips (putting them in the flour mixture kept them from sinking to the bottom while baking)
- Beat eggs, applesauce, vanilla, sugar and honey together.
- Add sifted ingredients to creamy mixture (I did this opposite due to sizes of bowls being used and there was no issue)
- Stir in zucchini, pour into pans
- Now, recipe says to bake 40-60 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. I have an unusually small stove so I have to be super careful with times. Ii ended up taking my muffins 12 minutes and my loaf 24 minutes to be properly baked.
- Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes, remove bread and then let completely cool.
This original recipe can be completely modified. As you can tell, I switched out oil for applesauce and ended up with great results. The original recipe asks for 2 1/4 cups of sugar which seems like way too much. I had already planned on dropping it to 2 cups, half brown and half white but due to my snafu, honey came in and did just as well. I think 2 whole cups may have been TOO sweet, but then I did have chocolate chips.
You can do without the nuts, without the chocolate, instead use pine nuts, coconut, a can of drained crushed pineapple, raisins, you name it. I have read how people have used blackstrap molasses or agave nectar for sweetener. Some people have done half zucchini and half banana, some have used yellow squash, I have heard people add pumpkin pie filling instead of oil/applesauce… you can really be creative!
Tonight I am using my last two zucchinis and making six more muffins and another loaf – this time with the pineapple and coconut. Yummolicious!
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Good question Renee, I will be answering that today on Wardrobe Oxygen!
That Old Navy dress always looks so amazing on you! Anyways…I love banana bread too. So I think I will make bannana and zuchinni bread. If I really get creative I will make zuchinni/cranberry muffins, they are so yummy:)
I do have a question about rise in jeans. Is it true that if you have a poochy belly that at waist jeans are the way to go? I have been reading this lately in magazines as they say lower and mid rise sometimes makes the muffin speal over the top of the jeans? What are your thoughts?
Hope you are feeling well:)
Renee
I’m going to have to check out the sandals you mentioned because although I am not pregnant, I have very wide, flat and problematic feet.
You look absolutely fabulous in this dress, and I love zucchini bread. This year my garden did horribly due to a very late start on summer. No zucchini’s for me!
Well dresses like this ain’t going anywhere since it is pre-maternity. Best $20 I ever spent! 🙂
However some pieces I don’t love too much and as I outgrow them or get to the end and they are in decent condition but not anything I adore and want to keep for the next time, I will be selling them and there WILL be a link on here! 🙂
You look fantastic – I am so jealous of your fab maternity wardrobe – here in Canada I don’t have NEARLY as many choices. If you decide to sell the pieces that don’t work for you or as you outgrow them (hey I’m on my third baby I can say that LOL!) let me know 😉
Mmm…I’m gonna make some zucchini bread this weekend!
-A brown-eyed grrl
hello! i think it’s really interesting how you blog your outfits while you’re pregnant! i love that. i’ve never seen anyone else really doing it. and you have so many different varieties too. you can even show it to your kid one day 🙂
I made zucchini bread this week only I put in raisins instead of chocolate chips. Nom nom nom!
You look so fantastic! I am jealous. When I was pregnant I really, truly did retain water in my feet…and my hands…and my chin! Everyone kept asking whether my blood pressure was ok, and it really was…I just knew how to pack in that water and get puffy!
This pregnancy is suiting you. 🙂
You have the best recipes! I hate zucchini but I love zucchini bread, so I’ll definitely try this. And it got me all thinking about adding zucchini to my garden next year and how I’m going to plan everything.
Hope you’re feeling good!
I’ve never tried to substitute applesauce but I know people who do and have great results- I have to try to do that.
BTW… I usually wear a 7.5 and purchased an 8. 🙂
Now I find them super comfortable – but they did have to get stretched out a bit.
I naturally have very wide and fat feet (the elevator operator in my building noticed my feet and thought I was retaining water but that’s how they always have looked!) and find them comfortable. The toe area is a teensy bit narrow – now that my feet have started to swell my pinky toes almost hang off the edges but somehow the shoes are still comfy.
They toebed is padded, the leather straps are thin so they stretch well, the heel is short but not spindly and I feel pretty secure in them.
This is the link for them at Nordstrom. I got them during the Anniversary sale, but think they are worth the full price.
Nordstrom is nice for if you do wear them and they make you miserable you can return them.
If they go on sale I plan on snagging a black pair! 🙂
Question for you – do you recommend the callisto sandals? I love nude colored sandals and am always looking for a comfy pair. we are due at about the same time and my feet are kind of swollen – do you find they are still comfortable if your feet swell (not sure if yours do but mine do!)
Thanks
-grace
They sound amazing, I may have to give them a try!