For the Sake of the Call

For the Sake of the Call

Aug. 17, 2007 - Intro to Baking 101 and My Mom Was Right

Last night I wasn't feeling well and 2dd8 was hungry for dessert and there wasn't any. She wanted me to bake something, but I just didn't have the energy to do so. So I told her she could bake a cake herself. I got all the ingredients out for her and gave her the recipe and let her go, while I sat on a stool supervising and snapping pictures. This is the first time she has baked a cake entirely on her own with only minimal assistance (I had to help when she cracked an egg onto the countertop and with a couple of final stirs to make sure everything was blended together well).

First she grated the zucchini, fresh-picked from our garden. Then she measured

and mixed, and poured it in the pan (with a little assistance from 4dd4.5- they were twins for the day).

Then it had to bake...for 50 minutes and that meant past bedtime, which meant no cake for dessert. She wasn't very happy about that, but it did taste yummy for breakfast!

It's a good thing dh got a piece before he went to work because I'm not sure there will be any left by the time he gets home. :)

Here's the recipe in case your dd wants to make it herself. It's my mom's

Zucchini Cake

2 cups flour

2cups sugar

1 tsp cinamon

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable oil

2tsp vanilla

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix ingredients listed above together in a large bowl.

Add

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix well. Pour into 9" X 13" pan. Bake for 350 F for 50 mintues.

Easy and a great way to eat your veggies! :)

Now while their sister was baking (and their dad and brother were at soccer practice), I let the younger two girls watch TV. It hasn't been on much at all lately. We have Cable and as I was searching through the Complimentary OnDemand shows, I saw the Smurfs listed. When I was a kid, we weren't allowed to watch the Smurfs. We weren't allowed to watch a lot of things actually, but the Smurfs was on the list, something about sorcery and such. The thing is that my mom was never awake on Saturday mornings to know what we were watching, so we watched the Smurfs many times even though we weren't supposed to (we also stole dingdongs and twinkies that were supposed to be for my dad's lunch...what are your kids doing while you sleep? Check under the couch and see if there's a stash of wrappers, I discovered one myself not to long ago.). Anyway, back to the Smurfs, my kids have never seen it, so I selected it and we began to watch, "Lazy's Nightmare." At the beginning Lazy Smurf is having nightmares and all the other smurfs are trying to help him and noone is getting any sleep. Then Lazy doesn't want to sleep any more because of the nightmares and the other smurfs have to get him to fall asleep. Once he does, he begins to have the nightmare again, but this time, the villain in his nightmare catches him before he can wake up and locks him in a cage, THEN the Smurfs are unable to wake him up and the villain is plotting to capture ALL of the Smurfs in their dreams....Needless to say we all agreed this was a "bad show" and we quickly switched to Dora the Explorer. The last thing I need is for my girls to get the idea that whatever happens in their nightmares can affect the things in real life, and if they get caught in their nightmares, they won't be able to wake up....and I could see the inevitable sorcery that Papa Smurf was going to have to resort to in order to free Lazy from the enchantment...So with all humility, as much as I thought my mother was ridiculous in her opposition to a bunch of cute little blue guys singing, "La, La, La, La, La, La, " I must now confess that, "MY MOTHER WAS RIGHT!" And I am her daughter.

Oh, and on a similar note, after the kids went to bed last night, I watched the last two-thirds of High School Musical for the first time, and I can say that my kids won't be watching it either! But thanks to all who told me it was harmless and innocent and whatnot, my husband and I happen to disagree, in fact his word for it was "inane" and "twaddle." That's my guy! :)

• Post A Comment!

Aug. 17, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by duckygirl

I was never allowed to watch the smurfs and you are the first person I've ever heard who's parents wouldn't let them either! It's amazing how different your perspective is as the parent, there are so many things I wouldn't want my kids to watch/do that I watched/did as a kid.

...and the cake looks yummy and a lot healthier than the chocolate chip muffins I made for breakfast :)