Today I have a grade 7’ner and a grade 11’ner! That is crazy! Our school division is transitioning to, no more middle schools. I am all for that! Our school division has had too many schools for such a long time and they’re just a waste of much needed funds. So that means SBean’s middle school is being set up to run kindergarten to grade 7 and the high schools are transitioning to grade 8 to grade 12. SBean is in grade 7 this year, right in the middle, so as they get set up, it will only be grade 6 and 7 students this year. So SBean is at the top of the school, exactly 1 year after entering that giant middle school feeling terrified! Crazy! Next year, SBean and HBear would be in the same school if they went to the same high schools, but they won’t. They were in different elementary catchments. After HBear switched back into the English track, she chose to go back to her original school catchment.
SBean has gone through every outfit in her closet to figure out what her first day outfit, because it’s only a half-day you know? Lol and what to wear the second day, the FULL day. There has been sleepless nights about whether or not her and her best friend will be in the same class. She is having nightmares about seeing the list posted and not being in her Bestie’s class. Oh the horror lol. Spoiler Alert: They are in the same class!
HBear is in grade 11. This is a big year to set herself up well for grade 12 and graduation. It’s also still the year BEFORE graduation… so I hope she ENJOYS it and not ironically lol.
My clients have large gardens and love to give me produce from their late summer harvest! It’s the best bonus ever! This year I was gifted with garden fresh tomatoes and zucchinis!
The first thing we did when we saw these beautiful tomatoes was make BLT Wraps with Secret Sauce. We love these wraps because they really showcase the taste of the tomatoes!
After we had wraps and I gave my Dad a few tomatoes, I used the rest to make this Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce. This is a flavour explosion of tomato goodness in your mouth! Use it right away, or throw it in the fridge to use tomorrow, or freeze it for later.
I wanted to make a white cake using zucchini because I always make a spiced zucchini bread or a chocolate zucchini cake. This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake is light and delicious. The dusting of icing sugar on top is the perfect way to finish this yummy dessert.
I have a 1 bowl banana loaf recipe that is my go to, 1 bowl is my kind of baking lol however, this Banana Zucchini Bread recipe uses banana and zucchini so I will allow 2 bowls lol. Everybody raved about it! It was super moist and tasted like school is starting lol.
Can you go wrong with double chocolate anything? No. No you can’t. These Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are healthy and delicious and the perfect muffins to pop out of the freezer in the morning and into your kids lunch bag!
Ingredients
4 cups garden tomatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried basil
salt + pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Spread tomatoes and garlic in single layer in a pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with your onion powder.
Roast for 35 minutes or until tomatoes are bubbly. Let cool for a few minutes, then put tomatoes in food processor.
Add dried basil and salt + pepper to taste in food processor. Blend to smooth and creamy.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups zucchini, shredded
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
Powdered sugar, for dusting and serving
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan (preferably a metal, light-colored pan) and set aside. If using a glass pan or a dark coated metal pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla until well-combined. Stir in the zucchini.
Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and chocolate chips, and mix until all the ingredients are evenly combined and the dry streaks disappear (don't over mix).
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top springs back lightly to the touch.
Dust with icing sugar to finish.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups medium zucchini, grated
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan well with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the bananas, cooled butter, eggs, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix.
Stir in the shredded zucchini until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted slightly off-center in the bread comes out with just a few crumbs.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack for 35 minutes before slicing.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips
2 cups zucchini, shredded and drained
Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Spray a muffin tin with oil or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Add milk and stir until combined. Fold in shredded zucchini and chocolate chips (batter will be thick).
Divide batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups and place in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let muffins cool in muffin pan until they’re safe to handle, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #394: Clueless. This week, we get together after a post-anniversary date that had Chris playing along in a game of Kristin’s making. Topics: morning beer, therapy, food & drinks, salt spa, wineries, steak, destinies, & SOW.
Last week of summer holidays! I can’t believe it! I completely missed summer so this all seems like it came up upon me so fast lol! The Kids went for their back to school haircuts and both of them got foils! They both look so beautiful. I started therapy sessions with a counsellor and I’m really excited about learning new tools to keep learning and growing in life! I had my neurology appointment in Kelowna, which I will talk about another day lol and then Ninja and I celebrated our anniversary on a date day that I put together.
Ninja will be turning 50 next July and I have made 4 spreadsheets of 4 different trips that we could take to celebrate. However, I am having trouble with the logistics so I thought I would plan a scavenger hunt of sorts for Ninja, to help decide which trip will be his destiny. We had lunch at King Taps, a beer at Red Bird Brewing, amazing massages in a salt cave at Room + Pillar Spa, coffee at Pulp Fiction Coffee House, a wine tasting at Volcanic Hills Estate Winery and then at Quails’ Gate Winery, dinner at OROLO and a nightcap at the unfortunately closed Britbar lol. All leading to 4 destinations, England, California, Vancouver Island, or Iceland. Now he has to choose!
The Kids saw Twisters 2, I won the reading challenge at the Penticton Library, I received a stunning book called Quick! Quick!! Quick!!! written, illustrated and published by a friend, Tessa P.N Thevenot, from Winnipeg! How incredibly cool! She has a Halloween book coming out soon and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future! My Dad watched my Nieces this weekend and everybody got to sit around the fire and talk about their summers together! For our final day of sunshine we went to Naramata to enjoy our paddleboard and kayak and finished our summer off with dinner at Patio Burger. Feeling GRATEFUL.
