Grandma by proxy
I miss having kids around. I miss their unfiltered expression. They do say the darndest things.
Thankfully my dear friend Carmen “shares” her four beautiful grandchildren with me and their mom, Renee, another one of “my” girls who I did not give birth to, shares their stories so, I get to be grandma by proxy.
The youngest of the crew, Vincent, started kindergarten this year. When I asked about his first day, here’s the story his mom related:
Renee: “Vincent! How was your first day of school?”
Vincent: “Good. I made best friends and a hat and it was fun!!”
Renee: “Awesome! I hope tomorrow is good too.”
Vincent (after a long pause): “I don’t go tomorrow. I went today.”
Vincent’s Dad, Chris: “Yeah bud, now you go every day.”
Vincent (totally appalled): “No. I went today. I’m done now.”
I feel ya buddy. I really do. I went to work today (and the day before and the day before and …) so why do I have to go back tomorrow? I’m (so) done now.
Vincent also recently realized that some of the food he eats was once alive. He was, according to his mom, equally “confused and interested” but also a “little horrified.” Now Vincent doesn’t eat a lot of meat, pork or poultry so in the scheme of things, this is not a big deal except that this newly discovered information did lead to a lot of questions. His biggest question though was: “Why do we eat pigs but not cats?”
Good question. Not sure what his mom actually told him but in Vincent’s mind there is obviously not a lot of difference between eating one animal or another. They were all alive once and are dead when you eat them which, now that I think about it from a non-farmraised 5-year-old’s perspective, is a bit “horrifying.” Pretty sure Vincent is a vegetarian in the making. All good.
Speaking of food and kids … We were visiting with friends earlier this week and Stefanie had made a batch of the best zucchini muffins that have ever wowed my tastebuds — soft and moist on the inside with slightly sugarcrisped top. She’d set out a plate of them and in no time, they were gone.
We were sort of laughing at ourselves for having polished them off so quickly when Stefani’s husband, Doug, told us: “Yeah when my son was little, he called them ‘Houdini muffins.’ He couldn’t say ‘zucchini’ but when I asked him why ‘Houdini,’ he said, ‘because they disappear so fast, Dad.’” Like, duh.
Since it is getting to be that time of year when, if I have to eat one more roasted, steamed, sauteed, fried or grilled zucchini I think I’ll gag, I thought I’d share (yes another) recipe with those of you are also feeling overdosed on this overly abundant green summer squash. Even though it’s a bit hot for baking, these muffins make it worth the extra heat of turning on the oven. Promise.
Houdini Muffins or Bread
Ingredients:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour OR 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour and 1 ½ cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ to 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 1tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2cups grated zucchini
STEP 1 >> Grease and flour two 8-by-4 inch bread pans or two muffin pans. You can skip greasing and flouring muffin pans and use paper muffin cups instead. Preheat oven to 325 degrees for bread or 350 degrees for muffins.
STEP 2 >> Sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices together into a bowl. Set aside.
STEP 3 >> Beat eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar together in large bowl. Add sifted ingredients and beat well. Stir in shredded zucchini until well combined. Pour batter into bread or muffin pans.
STEP 4 >> Bake bread for 40 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake muffins for 15 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let bread or muffins cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan.
STEP 5 >> Let cool completely before eating if, you can wait that long. Otherwise, just wait until they won’t burn your mouth and … enjoy.