New Things and a Recipe

I have 2 new favorite things!  The first one is something I am sure most of you have, but for some reason I have been in the culinary dark ages and have never had one until recently.  My parents gave me a food processor for my birthday!  I had no idea how much I would use it.  I have used it to make salsa, fine crumble sausages for pizza, and make zucchini bread.  The shredding attachment is my favorite and I will never shred the old fashioned way again!

My other favorite thing is a new apron!  I don’t usually use aprons to cook, being an artist I wear them to protect my clothes while painting or teaching art.  I ruined way too many clothes in college and found out that a cheery apron with some style makes me happy while I work.  I found this new one in the clearance section at Marshall’s!  Perfect to use cooking and starting the new school year teaching art in my kid’s classes!

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

1 ½ cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla

2 cup grated unpeeled zucchini

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two 9 “loaf pans with cooking oil. In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Beat in sugar, oil and vanilla until thick and lemon-colored. Stir in zucchini. Sift dry ingredients and stir into the batter. Fold in the nuts. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 40 minutes or until center springs back when touched. Cool 10 minutes before turning out on to racks. These freeze well.

In Love

I love my dishwasher!  It is a little wacky to be in love with your dishwasher, but mine is brand new and really cleans!  Our old dishwasher was a lemon, it just didn’t get the dishes really clean and I had to hand dry ALL of the dishes when I unloaded the dishwasher.  It was 8 years old and just wasn’t cutting it.  I did a ton of research on line and shopped 4 different stores before I decided I wanted to go with a Bosch.  My sis has one and loves it, she didn’t do any research, just a “hey, that looks nice, does it work, is it quiet?”…sold.

I found the best deal at Best Buy and they installed it for FREE..the best 4 letter word ever!  I love that it has a stainless steel interior, so shiny and clean.  My daughter stood there staring at it and said, “Oh, mommy, it is so pretty and shiny and sparkly…”  I did inform her she couldn’t wear it around her neck or on her wrist!  I love how well it cleans, but my favorite feature is the delay start.  I can set it to run on a 3, 6, or 9 hour delay so that it will start whenever it is convenient.  It is also VERY quiet; something the Bosch line is known for.  The dishwasher is literally “wrapped” in what looks like a wetsuit neoprene material.  It makes a difference when you are trying to watch TV.  Our old one sounded like a jet plane taking off, you could even hear it 2 rooms over.

I am in love with my dishwasher!  Silly, but our husbands are in love with their Smart Phones (they just won’t admit it) and kitchen appliances are part of our office in the way we run the house.  I am telling myself that it is alright to be infatuated with my dishwasher…don’t worry; I am going on a date with my husband tonight, not the dishwasher (it would be too hard to take to dinner).