Oh hi there! Please excuse my absence last week as my laptop caught a virus (after an Apple update) and it had to go to the doctor’s office for a checkup. Don’t you know everything was erased… pictures, recipes, music… sometimes I hate technology. Oh well. Just another good ole lesson in non-attachement and the stupidity of not backing anything up. This has happened before and you’d think I’d have learned my lesson but it appears that’s just not the case! My new motto: Live and learn… and remember to write down the lesson so you don’t forget and do it again!

I had a busy weekend mainly because Andy got laid off from his job 26 days short of when Alex’s BBQ in Shell Beach closes its doors for good. The politics of working in the restaurant industry are ridiculous if you didn’t know that already. Here’s a guy who worked at a place for two years and who never called in sick, showed up late, and who took just one week off this past May for a long overdue vacation. And this is how he is repaid? Yeah, not cool. I’m betting karma bites them in the butt at a later date! So for the first time in a loooooong time, Andy and I spent Friday afternoon sunbathing, sipping white wine, reading books and just relaxing. Later we drove our SUV onto the beach and had a picnic and a bon fire while we watched the sun set. It was beautiful and so nice to spend a Friday night together!

Other than hitting the beach with Jennifer and starting (and finishing) two books this weekend, I didn’t do much else. I finished both The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty and Landline, the first non young adult read by Rainbow Rowell. I’m turning into a bookworm this summer in the best way possible and have been checking out books from the Arroyo Grande Library non-stop. I just decided today to become a member for only $10 a year. The last thing I want to see is my local library shut down so I’m doing my part and you should too!

Oh! I also baked this yummy Chocolate Zucchini Bread this weekend with the abundance of zucchini I seem to have collected from my students’ gardens, lucky for me. I returned home just last Friday to all of this… so needless to say I’ve a lot of veggies to play around with. The zucchini was as big as my arm that I used for this recipe so I had an ample amount of leftover to create a stir-fry dish for dinner too. I wasn’t sure how this recipe would taste (I used Organic Coconut Sugar) but Andy loved it and he’s always giving me criticism if he doesn’t like something so I think it’s a keeper for my recipe book! This bread makes for a tasty snack or dessert. Who doesn’t love eating veggies… for dessert?!

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Chocolate Zucchini Bread- makes one loaf 

Ingredients:

-3 cups grated zucchini

-3/4 cup x 3 of whole wheat flour (you’ll need to put a total of 2.25 cups in the bread but at 3 separate times)

-1 cup chocolate chips

-1/3 cup melted coconut oil

-2 eggs

-1 cup Organic Coconut Sugar

-2 tsp vanilla

-2 tsp cinnamon

-1 tsp nutmeg

-2 tsp baking sode

-pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla.

3. Peel the zucchini and grate it finely. Stir it and the melted coconut oil into the mix.

4. Next, add in the spices, baking soda and salt and STIR IN BETWEEN adding each of these ingredients.

5. Add 3/4 cup of flour and stir. Repeat 2 more times.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips last.

7. Place the mixture in a bread pan or a cast iron pan like I did!

8. Cook for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean!

SO moist!

Sugar and Corduroy anxiously wait to lick the bowl!