Zucchini Bread

Mmmm....I can't even begin to tell you just how good this bread is!  I've never made zucchini bread until this year when we had an over-abundance of zucchini from the garden.  (I just picked the last one this past week!)  This recipe makes 2 loaves -- I usually leave one at home and bring one into work, where it's gobbled up within an hour or two.  I've tweaked the original recipe to our likings and now I'm sharing it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce (I use cinnamon)
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

• In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs & vanilla.  Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon to the sugar mixture until just moistened.  Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.
• Transfer to two greased 8" x 4" bread loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Autumn Leaf Dishcloth

 Today is the first day of autumn so why not add a new dishcloth in your kitchen?! I test knit this pattern in Lily Sugar n Cream yarn in Wine...I think its a great shade to welcome the season of bold & beautiful colors!

Anyway, here's the pattern.  Happy first day of fall!

Autumn Leaf Dishcloth

Supplies:

1 Skein Lily Sugar n Cream yarn

US #3/3.25mm needles

Yarn needle

(Finished size approximately 9-1/2" x 8")

Instructions:

Cast on 49 sts

Rows 1-6: (K1, P1) to last stitch, K1

Row 7 (and all odd rows): (K1, P1) x2, P to last 4 sts, (P1, K1) x2

Row 8: (K1, P1) x2, K41, (P1, K1) x2

Row 10: (K1, P1) x2, K20, P1, K20, (P1, K1) x2

Row 12: (K1, P1) x2, K20, P1, K20 (P1, K1) x2

Row 14: (K1, P1) x2, K20, P1, K20, (P1, K1) x2

Row 16: (K1, P1) x2, K20, P1, K20, (P1, K1) x2

Row 18: (K1, P1) x2, K14, P1, K5, P1, K5, P1, K14, (P1, K1) x2

Row 20: (K1, P1) x2, K13, P3, K3, P3, K3, P3, K13, (P1, K1) x2

Row 22: (K1, P1) x2, K12, P17, K12, (P1, K1) x2

Row 24: (K1, P1) x2, K11, P19, K11, (P1, K1) x2

Row 26: (K1, P1) x2, K11, P19, K11, (P1, K1) x2

Row 28: (K1, P1) x2, K13, P15, K13, (P1, K1) x2

Row 30: (K1, P1) x2, K10, P21, K10, (P1, K1) x2

Row 32: (K1, P1) x2, K9, P23, K9, (P1, K1) x2

Row 34: (K1, P1) x2, K8, P25, K8, (P1, K1) x2

Row 36: (K1, P1) x2, K10, P21, K10, (P1, K1) x2

Row 38: (K1, P1) x2, K12, P17, K12, (P1, K1) x2

Row 40: (K1, P1) x2, K10, P21, K10, (P1, K1) x2

Row 42: (K1, P1) x2, K11, P2, K1, P2, K2, P5, K2, P2, K1, P2, K11, (P1, K1) x2

Row 44: (K1, P1) x2, K17, P7, K17, (P1, K1) x2

Row 46: (K1, P1) x2, K16, P9, K16, (P1, K1) x2

Row 48: (K1, P1) x2, K19, P3, K19, (P1, K1) x2

Row 50: (K1, P1) x2, K20, P1, K20, (P1, K1) x2

Row 52: (K1, P1) x2, K41, (P1, K1) x2

Row 54: (K1, P1) x2, K41, (P1, K1) x2

Row 56: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P2, K2, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K1, P5, K3, P2, K3, P5, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 58: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P2, K2, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K1, P5, K3, P2, K3, P5, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 60: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P3, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K3, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 62: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P6, K1, P7, K1, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K3, P2, K1, P2, K1, P5, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 64: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P2, K1, P3, K1, P7, K1, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K3, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 66: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P2, K2, P2, K1, P3, K1, P3, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P6, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P5, K1, (P1, K1) x2

Row 68: (K1, P1) x2, K1, P2, K2, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K1, P2, K1, P2, K1, P6, K1, P2, K1, P2, K2, P3, K2, (P1, K1) x2

Row 70: (K1, P1) x2, K41, (P1, K1) x2

Rows 72-76: (K1, P1) to last stitch, K1

Bind off in (K1, P1) pattern.

Weave in ends and block, pushing down on stockingnette stitches and leaving the purl stitches (so they "pop"). Lay flat to dry.

A Versatile Cardigan

I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it on Ravelry.  The Caron Simply Soft Shadows (in Mardi Grey) yarn was begging for a use, and how perfect will this cardi be for the transitioning weather?  A great big thanks to Kelly Brooker for a fantastic Autumn Cardigan design and for the free version of the pattern!  I will definitely be purchasing the multi-size pattern as my peanut grows.  This pattern was extremely easy to follow and such a fast knit!

Spook-tacular Halloween Ribbon Wreaths

I've never been too interested in making wreaths.  I've made a few in the past, for gifts and whatnot, but never for my own home.  That is until I saw The Picky Apple's wreath!  Wow, I was impressed and inspired for sure!  I think I ran out to Michael's the same day I saw the wreath.  I opted for a spider in the middle instead of halloween-ish words and I really love how it turned out!

I really went crazy with the ribbon loops and in the end, after purchasing more of certain colors to finish it up, I had a TON of leftover ribbon.  So I purchased a few halloween wreath accessories and voila!  Another ribbon wreath was born!

Holy Tomatoes! (Oh, and pumpkins too!)

 So the peanut and I took a walk over to our garden last night (Hello Kitty Halloween Basket in tow) and found tons of tomatoes ready to pick -- score!
















A few green ones made it in the bucket, but that's grabby little fingers for ya!

We have one pumpkin starting to turn colors, the other is still a deep evergreen.  There's a frost warning for tonight, so we'll be covering everything, just in case!

Our pumpkins are doing great!  This is the one that was barely turning orange a week or two ago...it's really coming along!