Happy Autumn!!!!

Today is the first day of autumn!  Summer has sure flown by!!!

It is starting to be the time to put away the summer clothing and bring out the warmer fall and winter (ACK!) stuff! Ok, I am not quite ready for snow yet!!!!

Autumn is also the time to bring out my slow cooker and make some wonderful comfort foods like chilis and casseroles! I hope to share some of my favorite recipes in the coming months!

 Happy Autumn!!!

Prairie Harvest by T. Farthing

Baking....Zucchini Bundt Cake

Last night was our first frost. It actually got down to minus 5 Celcius...brrr! Considering last week it was plus 30!

I have a few zucchini left that from the garden that have to be used up or grated and frozen. I thought I would share this recipe that I love to make every fall.

I have yet to find oodles of zucchini recipes that I love. I did find this one recipe from FabulousFoods.com for a chocolate zucchini bundt cake. I must say it is very dark and rich and tastes wonderful. It is not really sweet either, which I like. This is definately a keeper! I make a chocolate icing glaze for the top but it would be just fine sprinkled with icing sugar.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup cocoa
1 2/3 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 9" bundt pan with cooking spray and lightly dust with 2 tbsp. cocoa powder. (I just dusted with flour as I was low on cocoa powder)

In a large bowl combine cocoa, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl combine eggs, oil and vanilla.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and beat vigourously to combine until well blended. This mixture is VERY STIFF!!

Stir in shredded zucchini until well blended, pour batter into pan and bake for 50 - 55 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Do you have any favorite zucchini recipes? Please feel free to share them!

Hail!!

Last night we had a wicked hailstorm here. It came really fast and lasted for about 10 minutes or so. The hailstones were probably the size of golf balls. Needless to say it made quite a mess of our property and garden as well as the farmer's fields.

The local news even came out to tape some footage of the damage in our area.



Here are some photos from the storm.

Summer's Bounty

I have been enjoying summer here in Saskatchewan. Well besides all the mosquitos which have been very rampant this summer.

So far this summer we took a little time to have a nice family vacation. It was great to be able to spend that time together as a family.

We returned home to find changes in the yard. The garden is coming along (well the parts that haven't flooded with all the rain this summer), the grass is growing and the strawberry patch has been producing nicely.

This is a photo of my first harvest from my sour cherry tree. Its a few years old only and I am happy to say that these cherries will be combined with Saskatoon berries and become a pie or crisp.....YUM!

Ducks!

I love going outside in my yard and enjoying the wildlife that live there. My yard is quite large, much larger than any city or town lot. One section of the property there is a slough (or pond as many would call it but slang here is slough).

When my dog isn't out there wading in the water scaring away the birds there are a few ducks that like to swim there.

I snapped this photo of the Blue-winged Teal last week as I was exploring the yard.

Some of my flowers

Its been a little bit since I posted. It seems spring and summer are always very busy with mowing the lawn and upkeep of the yard and garden.

I went wandering around the yard this morning and took a few photos of my yard that I wanted to share with all of you.

Here are a few beauties I found in my garden:






Hope you enjoy my photos!

Baking Day! Banana Bread Recipe

Woo hoo! Today I am going to share my first, hopefully of many recipes with you! I love banana bread as do my kids and of course hubby too. This recipe has become a staple in my recipe box. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I am not sure where I got it from...I have had this recipe forever though. Here it is:

5 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan.
Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugars and beat well. Add egg, egg whites and vanilla and mix until well blended. Add mashed banana and beat on high for 30 seconds.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternating with cream and ending with flour. Add walnuts and mix well.

Pour into a loaf pan and bake until browned and toothpick inserted in center comes clean (about 1 hour 15 minutes).

Cool in pan on wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

I love to put margarine or butter on the loaf when its warm and enjoy it that way. You can also eat it with jam which is also tasty. I omitted the nuts as my dd's school is nut-free and I cannot send anything containing nuts.

This is the result, complete with melting margarine (it was still warm and very yummy).




I hope you try this out and enjoy it! Let me know what you think it!