Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Zucchini-craze.
The summer squashes are endless at the moment – I’ve got zucchini, ronde de nice and yellow pattypan all producing voluminously in my early-autumn backyard. What to do with them all?
Well tonight we had ronde de nice squash stuffed with ground beef, tomato and onion (topped with cheese), and earlier today I made a big pot of zucchini puree which is freezable and makes a great nutritional addition to winter soups and stews.
But by far my favourite recipe this year has been this carrot-cake-like dream adapted for less sugar from All-Recipes.com:
Zucchini Cake with Cream-Cheese Frosting
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 3 cups grated zucchini
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1.25 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange juice or orange extract
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour a 9×13 cake pan.
- In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, white sugar, and salt. Mix well.
- In another bowl beat eggs, vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon vanilla together. Pour into egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the shredded zucchini. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 60-80 minutes (this cake needs a lot of baking time due to the amount of moisture – check it periodically after 60 minutes).
- To Make Frosting: Cream together the cream cheese, butter or margarine. Add the confectioner’s sugar, a little at a time. Add 2 teaspoons extract and mix well. Spread on cool cake.
Back from bliss
Back in the city after camping on the beach, seeing the northern lights, swimming in the ocean, lying on warm rocks, sitting around a campfire, hanging out with good friends, being amused by chipmunks, walking to Brandywine Falls and eating lots of good (and sometimes junky) food. What a nice wrap to the summer.
The ferry dock that never was….
The emergency dock at Porteau Cove built in case slides on the highway necessitated taking vehicles out to Vancouver by water. As far as I know it has never been used.
Friday night campsite.
From an afternoon earthquake to a Friday night setting up camp by the sea…. busy Friday evening at Porteau Cove.
Getting my gym on.
I am back at the gym this week for the first time in months and I can’t believe how good it feels to be moving and stretching my body again. Not that I’ve been doing nothing all summer – we did have a hiking trip and there’s been a bit of running about – but really, physical activity hasn’t been at the top of my list since I got sick last April.
While I (happily) haven’t put on any weight in this recent downtime, the psychological effects of not exercising have been increasingly apparent. Work has been getting me down more than normal, I’ve been unusually worried about my relationship, and my general confidence in being fit and healthy has all but been sapped… really, all the manifestations of low-level depression (Good god, not again).
Fortunately I have an excellent fitness center right around the corner (yay YWCA) which I absolutely *love* and it makes starting again really easy. Yesterday was an elliptical workout, today I went to a pilates class – lots of warming and stretching to undo all that inner tension that’s been building. I’m hoping to blend some yoga, pilates and cardio this fall to build up my stamina, core and flexibility before I decide whether or not I want to move back into high-intensity interval and weight-training workouts again.
It’s only been a couple of workouts and I can already feel the tension lifting, not to mention some flexibility returning to my lower spine. Perhaps some massages are in order this autumn as well – some gentle lifting of the body into a space where everything elevates, including my mood.
Red Cedar 