Zucchini

We woke up to a skiff of snow yesterday morning.  TR got pretty excited when he saw it on the deck and thought I should get the snow shovel out and shovel it off the deck.  Can you imagine me in my pj's and flip flops shoveling snow?!!  Fortunately for me it had all burned off by the time I got dressed for the day.

The skiff of snow did put me in a baking mood though.  In August my friend Timmy gave me a couple of 8 ball zucchini.  Normally they are dark black in color and a little bigger than an 8 ball (hence the name).  These were 8 ball zucchini on steroids.  I think I got about 20 cups of shredded zucchini, and about 20 lbs.  Who wants to bake in a house without air conditioning in August?  Not me, so I froze it all in 4 cup increments, thinking that When I was ready to make zucchini bread I would just pull out a package and go.  Great in theory right?

My first problem was that the recipe I found only called for 2 cups of zucchini.  No biggie, I'll just double the recipe I thought.  So I started mixing the 4 cups zucchini, 6 eggs, 4 cups of  sugar, 2 cups of oil etc.  My mixer was full before I could even think about the dry ingredients.  That's alright  I'll just use my really really big bowl, and everything fit.  So I am sitting there looking at all of this batter thinking to myself what was I thinking?  I don't even have 4 bread pans, and I already have a loaf of cinnamon bread rising on the oven.  Stop the Presses!  Light bulb has come on!  I will make muffins!

So I drag out the muffin tins.  3 dozen mini muffins later in the nonstick pan, 1 dozen regular muffins in the Pam coated muffin tin, I remembered that I actually had those nifty paper cups that you put in the tins and you have less clean up etc.  Oops!  That's alright though, one pan is non stick and the other one I used Pam on, and just enough batter left for 1 loaf of bread.  I was even able to fit everything in the oven at the same time!

This would be a great time to mention that I hate my cook stove.  For one thing, it doesn't heat evenly, and it is about 25 degrees colder than what it says it is.  For two, it isn't level.  But guess what, I forgot all of that.  Within about 15 minutes it was smoking, and smelled like burnt sugar.  No big deal, it's probably just burning off something that boiled over previously.  (If you wondered, I don't bake often)! 

The timer went off and yep, sure enough everything was done.  Some more than others.  Some a lot more than others.  Some were black.  Only 4 were really black, and they were easily removed from evidence.  TR was excited, but I made him wait until they cooled off  so we wouldn't get burned.  Mini muffins would be perfect for him.  After 5 minutes I couldn't handle the "Mom.....Mom.....MOM!!!" anymore and went to get him a muffin.  Guess what.  That's right.  Those bad boys were not coming out of that tin for anything.  Non stick my foot!  We improvised and ate half a tin of mini muffins with a fork.  They weren't that great.

Mine didn't come out like this.  This is what I envisioned my zucchini bread looking like, but no such luck.

What I learned yesterday morning:

1.  Make sure you like a recipe before you use half a dozen eggs, 6 cups of flour and 4 cups of sugar doubling it.

2.  Wilton lies.  Just because they say their muffin tin is non stick doesn't mean it is. 

3.  If you have those nifty little paper liners, use them!  Then you might not even have to wash the tin when you are done.  (Mine is still soaking).

4.  Just because 3 muffin tins and 2 loaves of bread will fit in your oven should you try to bake all of them at the same time.  Next time we will try maybe 2 muffin tins at a time, or 2 loaves of bread at a time....If we ever try again!

Oh yeah, and if you have a really good zucchini bread recipe, I still have 16 cups/pounds in my freezer!

Fall Works

Yesterday was going to be TR's first day of "real" cowboying, all by himself on his own horse!  The plan was to gather a field of cows and push them through a gate.  Unfortunately for TR his mom is a fair weather cowboy and when we looked out the window that morning and saw all the rain, mom chickened out!  We were hoping that maybe we could get it done today instead, but no such luck!  I think the weather is even worse today, gale force winds and rain coming at you sideways.  We did get his horse for him yesterday afternoon and let him ride around the yard for awhile.  We have an awesome horse for him to ride.  His name was "Oats," but for some reason TR thinks his horse is supposed to be named "Marley."  No idea where that came from, but every horse he comes across is named "Marley."  If there are 2 horses standing in the field, both are named "Marley."  If one is  black and the other is a palomino, they are "Black Marley" and "Yellow Marley."  At least he's getting his colors figured out!

"Oats/Marley" handles awesome for a little kid.  TR even had him spinning...nice and slow, but pretty nice.  The other great thing about him is you give TR the reins and the horse will follow you where ever you go.  TR thinks he's calling the shots, but really you are.

I think summer is finally over.  About time right?  This last week has definitely been silk scarf weather in the mornings, and from the sounds of things next week will be even cooler.  Bring on winter so we can get to branding season!

Fall!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year (just like calving in the winter, branding in the spring, and doctoring all summer)!  The leaves are turning and fall works are in full swing, and I'm trying not to miss a thing!  We've been shipping out calves and yearlings, pregging heifers, and have brought the cows home.  We still have a lot to get done before it snows.  I don't think that will happen anytime soon though!

October has been beautiful!  I helped the cowboss ride a couple of days last week and just loved it.  Cool, crisp mornings and frisky horses make my day!  Animals are pretty healthy around here though, we haven't hardly roped a thing!

The cowboss got a new horse last week.  We named him "Tater" and the cowboss was quite impressed with him after he road him the first time.  He's a good looking horse, quick on his feet, and wants to watch a cow.  We even roped a yearling that day and he worked the rope awesome.  He rode him again on Friday, and I guess I missed one helluva bronc ride!  "Tater" might take a few more miles before I get on him!

This coming week we are shipping out several truckloads of bred heifers,weaning, and processing our calves.  No rest for the wicked, but looking forward to every minute of it!  Don't let your powder cake.  =)