A Good Week in October!

I am joining Five On Friday once again, because, actually, it's really fun to wrap up your week in a neat little package, all in one place. If you want to join just click on one of the hostess' names and link up!

The hostess' are Darci, April, Christina and Natasha. Just write 5 things on your mind today and post at the party! Then go read what others have been doing all week on their Five on Friday posts!

1) My Mom Jane and I celebrated her 75th birthday with a yummy Fall lunch and a game of SkipO, which she beat me at! You can get the recipes by clicking on the link.

2) The next day I celebrated my friend Bonnie's birthday at the cutest little café called The Chit Chat Café. Very appropriate for us because we chit chatted for 3 hours over multiple cups of coffee and pumpkin pancakes! The restaurant is owned by a family of all women and all the decorations are handmade crafts that you can buy.

3) Every Wednesday I have my granddaughter Chloe for the day. I signed her and I up for a toddler class at the library that is filled with singing, playing and story time. The "teacher" Sheila does a good job of keeping the kids occupied with a felt board, music, rattles, scarves to play peek-a-boo and a craft to take home. Chloe loves it and is interacting so well with the other children. I am going to brag right now......this past class a little girl wanted to hold Chloe's favorite baby doll. In return the girl let Chloe hold her frog bean bag. Of course Chloe loves "fogs" so it all worked out. At the end they returned each others treasures. So cute!

4) I decided I didn't like the Fall decorating that I did in my dining room so I removed it all and started over! I have had my birdhouse collection on top of my large cupboard for years. It was time to change it up. I like this much better. I can't wait for holiday decorating time because of the huge potential of the top of that cupboard!

5) Today is the day that I get ready to go away, just my husband and I, for a weekend in Naples, New York. What is the occasion? Just that my son is off to a youth group retreat and it is the middle of October....peek time for the color of the leaves in our area. The drive down to the south end of Canandaigua Lake is gorgeous! We will be staying at the Seasons of Life Guesthouse.....

Have a wonderful weekend!

AnnMarie :)

 I am linking up with these great parties!

Five on Friday

My Mom Jane

My Mom Jane just had a birthday and is a young, vibrant 74 years old!

 

We get together every year to celebrate at the park along Canandaigua Lake.....praying that the weather will hold out since her day is at the end of September! And we always take a picture of ourselves together.....this one was taken by me at arm's length....pretty good, huh? It always makes us laugh trying to get it right, which is always great for the picture!

 

This year it was sunny but very windy...not too cold to be out but we needed a few layers. 

 

We usually chat and walk along the shore and chat and sit on the benches and chat about what is going on in our lives...spiritually and everyday family things. I bring the lunch and a tablecloth and Jane brings a game to play. And we always pray together before we part for the day.

 

 

 

This year our lunch was the fabulous Chicken Avocado Salad that I posted the recipe for here,  the zucchini bread I posted about here and the apple crisp I wrote about last Fall here! (I am just realizing as I am writing this that I have posted about all of our lunch items because they are so great tasting and I make them a lot!) We were half done before I remembered to take a picture! For dessert I brought a treat from Dunkin' Donuts....an apple fritter and a pumpkin muffin.....yum!

 

The best part of this Mother/Daughter get together is that we're really not. Mother and Daughter, that is.

 

I met Jane at a real estate office about 16 years ago, where she was an agent and I was the office secretary. We grew to know each other and love each other and she became like a mother to me and I like a daughter to her.

 

I do not have a relationship with my birth mother and although I kinda don't know what I've missed not having her, the Lord knew. He gave me Jane as my spiritual mother and we have been mother and daughter ever since. Jane has two grown sons but no daughter, so I am one of her spiritual daughters...she is blessed with two!

 

We have fooled people into thinking we are really mother and daughter and some have said we look alike. We both love a lot of the same things....horses, gardens, a good recipe, a great deal at a thrift shop and a walk in the park. She stood by me through my many years of migraine headaches and cancelled dates and I will always be there through her physical trials. We are sisters in Christ, friends for life and mother and daughter spiritually.

 

The Lord knew what each of us needed and provided it. I would love to live closer to see Mom Jane more but our times together are that much sweeter the way it is now.

 

I love you Mom Jane and I thank you Lord everyday for her!

 

AnnMarie :)

 

Got Zucchini.....Still? Make This Bread!

I had forgotton how fabulous this Zucchini Bread recipe is until I had a lot of zucchini to use up! The orange and coconut in it is what makes it irresistable. It is a very easy recipe also.

I hadn't had a lot of zucchini over the summer and the season for them is pretty much over here in the Northeast. When I saw some really nice ones at a roadside stand I couldn't resist buying 3 of them for 25 cents each. I decided to have a zucchini bread baking marathon. This recipe makes two nice sized loaves, so I set out my two mixing bowls to make two recipes at once.

The Junior League of Rochester, NY put out a cookbook in 1991 called For Goodness Taste. Every recipe in it is fabulous and this one is called.....

 



 Taster's Choice Zucchini Bread

 

 

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups shredded, fresh zucchini (1 1/2 lbs.)

1 medium orange, ground with the peel

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup raisins

 

Mix sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in all other ingredients.

  



Grease and flour pans (either 2 large or 3 small). Pour dough into pans.

Bake at 325 degrees 40-45 minutes for small pans, 75 minutes for large pans. I baked these about 75 minutes, but checked them at 60 minutes.

 

So good! Even the raw dough is SO good to lick off the spoon! Enjoy!!

 

 

 

It is Tuesday and I just finished off the zucchini I used for the bread to make a cake, so I had to come back, edit, and include the recipe. It is UNBELIEVABLY good. The ingredient that makes this cake irresistable is the cinnamon. It is from the sister cookbook from the Junior League of Rochester, called Applehood and Mother Pie and is simply called....

 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

 

 

 

 

 It literally just came out of the pan to cool. I usually put a chocolate glaze over it but the recipe does not call for any frosting....it is that good by itself!



 



 2 cups sugar

3/4 cup oil

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

 

In a large bowl beat sugar, oil and eggs. Add vanilla and zucchini. Mix dry ingredients together. Add alternately with milk to zucchini mixture. Blend well. Pour into a 10 inch tube or Bundt pan.

 

Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes then remove from pan.

 

 

 

These two recipes have been staples for me every year at zucchini time. You should see how messy my cookbook pages are that the recipe is on!!

 

Enjoy!

 

AnnMarie :)