Lemon Zucchini Bread

I can't believe we are heading into the last weekend of the summer. My little blog has been sadly neglected. It's just been too nice to spend time sitting on a computer. I haven't touched my scrapping stuff for 2 months other then to attend a couple Planner classes which I promptly put on the back burner uncompleted. Oh well, Fall is coming and I've set aside a few dates to get going again on some of my hobbies.
I DID make time to try a couple new recipes and this one is a winner!
My garden has reached the end of the zucchini harvest but I'll be buying a few more and grating some to freeze so I can make this delicious bread all winter.

I did make it in a couple different size loaf pans. An 8x4 and a long narrow, single layer lasagne pan which I found made it a little drier. I need to get a second 8x4 pan as I think that's the ideal size or use my ceramic mini loaf ones.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups white sugar

Zest of 2 large lemons

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini (squeezed out if its really moist)

Glaze

2 cups icing sugar

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1.      Preheat oven to 325F, prepare 2 8x4 loaf pans. Set aside.

2.      In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

3.      In a medium bowl combine sugar and lemon rind

4.      Add to wet ingredients, whisk until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients. Batter will be thick.

5.      Stir in the zucchini and divide evenly into pans.

6.      Bake 60 to 65 minutes

7.       Right after it comes out of the oven you can add glaze. ( I forgot )

More Lemon Cards

Here are a few more from Loonies for Lindor...
Love this technique when you just use a lovely patterned paper and separate it slightly...

Penny Black, your images are even cuter then House Mouse (gasp!)...

Another Penny Black image...

I love these Pure Innocence girls from My Favourite Things. They always seem to have one to fit every theme...

Your Next Stamp provided these cute little 'Tini Sayings... I love the sugar rimmed glitter around the cocktail glass.

We even had lemon diecuts on the lemon soaps. It was a great theme. I really enjoyed working with it.

Lemon Cards

Everytime I host a Loonies for Lindor Fundraising Crop, I make a variety of cards as gifts for the participants who are not scrapbookers. It's really fun coming up with cards to fit the theme. This year I did about 10 different cards and I usually make 10 or so of each. I forgot to post them after the Event so here's a look at a few of them....

This one was so easy.. a great way to use up some really pretty patterned paper. I believe the sentiment is from Your Next Stamp...

I love this Flip card die.. another great way to use up patterned paper. The Happy Birthday sentiment was cut on the Silhouette...

I saw this idea on Pinterest.  It uses 2 different sets of Lawn Fawn dies. Perfect for our lemon theme...

Stay tuned for the rest of the lemon cards!

Lemon Loaf

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe to use for the Crop. It's a family favourite and so easy to make. Once you remember to put the water in, that is. I add some lemon zest to give it extra zip. The glaze on top is what "makes" the cake.

Lemon Loaf

1 Lemon cake mix
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup oil
1 pkg Jello instant lemon pudding mix
3/4 cup water

Glaze
1/2 cup white sugar
2 - 3 Tbsp lemon juice

Beat eggs. Add rest. Beat all 10 min
Bake at 350F for 45 min
Makes 2 loaves

Immediately after removing from oven, add glaze.

Loonies for Lindor Fundraiser 2019

What a crazy few weeks it has been getting ready for the Fundraiser on April 6th. I feel like it has consumed my every waking moment, so much to get done. I couldn't have done it without a great support team of friends and family. Many, many hours went into making this a record breaking year with a donation of over $7000 to Autism Dog Services. Here are a few highlights of the day....

This year the theme was lemons

All set up ready to go

Morning snack

All homemade treats...lemon loaf, raisin bran muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, chocolate chip muffins.

Perfect napkins for the theme

Every participant got a beautiful layout or 2 cards

Beautiful table numbers

An amazing array of raffle prizes, over 107!

$150 Gift basket from Lindt

We have our own hashtag'

Thanking our incredible volunteers and donors!

Layered Lemon was a huge hit!

We were so busy I never got any pictures of the food or the ice cream treats or the $5 grab or other sales or pictures of anybody actually scrapbooking.  It was crazy!

And that's a wrap for another year! Time to recover and get some other stuff accomplished.

Lemon Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

It seemed like a lot of frosting when I was slathering it on the cake but it turned out to be just the right amount. This cake was a hit at a recent dinner party that I was invited to, at least with one of the guests who also ate it for breakfast the following morning. It's nice and light and lemony and you could put this frosting on a piece of cardboard and it would be tasty.

Lemon Bundt Cake
1 package of lemon cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 3.4 ounce package instant lemon pudding mix (just the dry)
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp lemon extract
1 Tbsp lemon rind

Frosting
1 package cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp lemon extract
3 1/2 to 4 cups icing sugar
1-2 Tbsp of milk
1-3 Tbsp of lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon rind

Prepare bundt pan by greasing and dusting with flour. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Beat cake ingredients together and pour into bundt pan. Bake 50 - 55 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Prepare frosting and spread on cooled cake. Enjoy. 

Lemon Chicken

I'm back again with another great recipe. It's always really good to have a tried and true recipe from someone else. I've been going over to my friend Kathy's for years and quite often she will serve this recipe with mashed potatoes. YUM! We recently had it over the weekend and while its not exactly summer friendly requiring about an hour of oven time. It's a good recipe to have in the repertoire. Bake uncovered.

This product has recently come to my attention and while its pretty easy to boil rice, I especially like Basmati, which does take a bit of time to prepare. This pouch is ready in 90 seconds and comes out beautifully.

So there you have it. A quick and yummy meal and its also gluten free which is a nice option.

Lemon Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken (2-4) depending on size ( this dish works better if the chicken is not too thick)
Dredge chicken in flour, salt, pepper and thyme (pinch)
Fry in butter

Mix 1 cup white wine
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
And pour over

Fry 1 bundle green onion and 1 tray sliced mushrooms in butter. Put over chicken and bake, uncovered, for approximately 1 hour at 350F until chicken is tender.

Lemon Bundt Cake

I was on dessert for a wonderful cottage weekend that I enjoyed recently with my NBF's. I wanted to take something different, try a new recipe and satisfy a request for lemon. This recipe fit the bill, was easy to put together and tasted quite lovely. I also read in the paper that Bundt cakes are making a comeback which I was happy to hear. They are much easier then icing a layer cake and seem just a little more dense and moist at the same time. Pardon the Christmas motif on the paper plate. I was in a hurry. Also, I had to throw it into the freezer to cool it quickly to ice, then I cooled it too much and had to put it under the broiler in the oven so my Glaze looks a little questionable...

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of the inside of the cake.

Lemon Bundt Cake
 1 package lemon cake mix
 1 box lemon flavoured instant pudding mix
 3/4 cup vegetable oil
 1/2 cup water
 4 eggs
Glaze
 zest of one lemon
 2 cups icing sugar
 2 tBsp. butter, melted

Mix together the cake ingredients and place in a well greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 F for 40 - 45 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out and prepare glaze. Make sure the cake is just slightly warm so the glaze doesn't all slide off. You could also add some lemon zest into the cake itself for additional lemon boldness.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Over the summer, I had a chance to get a little more organized and discovered that I may be a bit of a hoarder or as I like to see it; stockpiler. Boxes of cereal (there was a movie promo, don't you know), doggie stuff, scrapbooking supplies, crushed pineapple, Chipits, sprinkles and apparently also cake mixes.

 Fortunately, I can use at least one of those items in the following recipe. I used to make a recipe for Lemon Poppyseed cake where you beat the egg whites separately and folded them in and yadda, yadda, yadda until my friend Kathy gave me this great recipe. I've never looked back and have made it countless times. So moist and yummy and turns out great always. I took it to a function and didn't have my camera so you'll just have to imagine the inside....

Lemon Poppyseed Ring

1 pkg lemon cake mix
1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla pudding, instant
4 eggs
1 cup lemon or plain yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
2 tsp. grated lemon rind

Combine ingredients and spread batter evenly in prepared bundt or tube pan. Bake 50 -60 minutes at 350F or until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool and remove from pan.

While still warmish, prepare the following and apply to the cake.
3 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp butter (melted)
2 cups icing sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
 Adjust the liquid so it is the correct consistency to stay on the cake.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

And now for something completely different. Well, a little different then the usual type of cookie that I like to make. This is a nice fresh tasting treat, feels a little spring-like after that nasty winter. Looks like I could have baked them a hair longer but they were very tasty anyway.

Try them for yourself.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)

(About 1/2 cup icing sugar for rolling)

Cream butter and sugar, whip in vanilla, egg and lemon. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined excluding the icing sugar. I would chill them a bit, mine were quite soft.
If firm enough to form into balls, then roll them in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes at 350F or until bottoms begin to brown and cookies look matte.

Layered Lemon

 

Well, summer is winding down and soon it will be back to the routine.

I was happy to be invited to a pool/dinner party with friends to cap off the

summer season in style. I usually make layered lemon as a spring time dessert but it

seemed like the perfect thing to take as my contribution. It is not overly sweet and everyone seemed to enjoy the combination of shortbread crust, cream cheese filling and tart lemon. I hope you do too.

 

Layered Lemon

First layer:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Second Layer:
2 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup whipping cream (whipped)

Third Layer:
2 pkg lemon pudding and pie filling (each makes one pie)

Fourth Layer:
2 cups whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, butter and nuts together until crumbly. Press into 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 15 min at 350F,
Cool. Beat cream cheese and icing sugar together. Whip cream. Fold into cream cheese mixture and spread on cooled crust. Prepare pie fillings according to package directions and pour over cream cheese layer when slightly cooled. Beat whipped cream and add sugar and vanilla. Spread onto set lemon layer.Garnish with chopped pecans if desired.

Note: This makes a very generous portion. You can halve the ingredients, using 500 mL of whipping cream and make in an 8 x 8 pan.
I think the original source of this recipe is Company's Coming Desserts but I've made it so much, I pratically consider it one of my own.

Aunt Gwen's Lemon Cake

My Grandma Edith on my Mom's side was one of ten children. They were kind and generous farm people who lived off the land and frequently welcomed guests into their home. My Grandma's Mother was known to make 19 cherry pies for a single Sunday. They frequently made enormous meals to feed the threshing gangs that came through to help take off the harvest as well as their large family.

My Grandma is 4th from the right and her brother George is the smallest. Two more boys came later. I just love this photo and wish they would have lined up in the same manner when they were older.

Anyway, hope you can follow this. George married Gwen and moved to California so we didn't know their branch of the family well but always tried to see them when they came back to visit. This is Gwen's recipe for Lemon Cake.

I just recently got this recipe (here's where it gets confusing but interesting). George's son Harold is married to Mary Hunt who is the Everyday Cheapskate. She is a nationally syndicated author and writes regularly in Women's Day. Many years ago she got into a lot of debt and has since made a living with her tips for saving money. You can google her and check it out. She would be my 2nd cousin, I believe. She was given Aunt Gwen's recipe collection and recently posted this one on her website.
This cake is delicious. So moist and so much lemony goodness. Try it, you'll like it.

Aunt Gwen's Lemon Cake
1 box Lemon Cake mix
1- 3 ounce lemon gelatin like Jell-O
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 350F. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix with electric beater. Pour into greases 9x13 pan. Bake approx. 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, make the glaze.

Glaze
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
2 cups icing sugar
Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well by hand with a whisk until sugar is fully incorporated
Using a fork or wooden skewer, punch holes all over warm cake. Pour lemon glaze mixture over top of cake and allow it to soak in. No need for further icing. Go ahead and have a piece now, even if its not completely cool. You know you want to.