DailySusan Humor Blog

ZUCCHINI NEENEE

This is ‘’Adult Competence Summer’’ for our two college girls. They have had sewing lessons and mower maintenance lessons. They have seen how to sharpen knives, store winter clothes and, everybody’s top priority, dust the refrigerator motor.

Hey! These are things you’ve got to know. When I was their age, I thought I was too cool for ‘’household arts,’’ and so we had mysterious ‘’chocolate chip pancake cookies’’ because I didn’t think baking soda was essential, and we had his-and-her pink undies as newlyweds when, to save time, I washed a bright red rug with our whites.

I vowed that my daughters would be better equipped for the stresses, strains, challenges and puzzles of adulthood. Largely through their own can-do attitudes, I think they are.

Now they are getting ready for a long weekend trip in New York City together. So they’ve been learning about airline schedules, making hotel accommodations, plotting itineraries and scoping out subway routes.

Part of this trip is a gift marking our oldest daughter’s 21st birthday, but we’re making them earn the rest by putting on a gigantic, long-overdue garage sale for us. That process has also been a great learning experience for them, in everything from advertising to pricing to, best of all, cleaning the garage.

One other key item in ‘’Adult Competence’’ has been recipe management and cooking. Neely has been my Recipe Czar. She has taken all my age-old newspaper clippings, scrawled recipes on backs of envelopes, typed notes, and stained and spattered cards, and put them into two beautifully-organized, color-coordinated three-ring binders in about 15 categories. It’s heaven.

For our 4th of July cookout, Neely scored big with the relatives for her twin loaves of zucchini bread. Her choice was born of necessity: the zucchini crop from ‘’The North One-Fortieth,’’ our vegetable garden, is loading us up with Incoming Squash faster than we can keep up. But this bread tastes great, and is healthy to boot.

Since Neely’s nickname is ‘’NeeNee,’’ we’re calling this bread ‘’Zucchini NeeNee.’’ Here’s the recipe:

3 eggs
2 C. sugar
1 C. cooking oil
2 C. shredded unpeeled zucchini
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. chopped nuts
3 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Grease and flour two 2-quart loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat. Add oil slowly and beat. Add vanilla and zucchini and mix thoroughly. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to zucchini mixture. Mix in nuts. Pour into pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pans 5-10 minutes, then turn out on racks. Cool. Freezes well.

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Prayer request: We have a concern about a friend’s daughter Molly and whether she is about to lurch into an engagement ‘way too young. Maybe it’s Your plan for her life, Lord . . . but maybe it’s not. We throw ourselves on Your throne of grace for gentle but firm guidance for her. Let her know ASAP whether this young man is the one You’ve sent for her, or not. (John 4:34)