The second week of my new job I was given a personality profile to complete online and then met with a small group of coworkers (who had also completed the profile) to discuss the results. Before we each shared which quadrant the profile placed us in and whether we tended to be results driven or likely to back down in a disagreement, we each took turns sharing a couple of seemingly random things about ourselves. In addition to the first thing we like to do when we get to work (check e-mail) and our life's motto (All shall be well), we were asked to name two things we like to do when we have free time. I could have named 20 things, but I narrowed down the list to spending time with people I love and baking, which I see now pretty accurately depicts my "iS" personality (the happy maker).
Over the last two weekends as the high of quality time spent with the people I love quickly dissolved into the funk of anticipating another week missing my kids, being stuck inside sitting at a desk and not having a stretch of day to clean out the closets or organize the garage (not that I would, but at least knowing I could!), I found myself measuring flour into a bowl, cracking eggs and shredding zucchini. Especially when I'm down, baking makes me happy.
Mixing together the ingredients, pouring the batter into a pan or plopping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, setting the timer and gradually noticing the smells in the house improve makes me happy. Pulling out fresh bread from the oven makes me happy. Giving a neighbor or a struggling friend something I've baked makes me happy. But most of all, being intimately involved in the creation of something special and delicious, without a single thought that I wish I were doing something else or being somewhere else or, simply, someone else makes me happy. Baking, like reading to my kids in bed, practicing yoga, walking through the forest and writing something beautiful reinforces my motto, All shall be well. And lately I've needed a lot of reinforcement, which is why before 6 a.m. yesterday, I was baking breakfast cookies.
If you want to join me in being happy, try this zucchini bread. It's one of my favorite things to bake when I'm in a hurry to get something in the oven. I combined a couple of recipes and made it just a little healthier but still really yummy.
Zucchini Bread
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. nutmeg, 1/4 t. clove, 1/4 t. ginger)
2 large zucchini, grated
3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup agave)
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
Stir together dry ingredients. Combine zucchini, sugar, eggs and oil. Stir dry ingredients into zucchini mixture until just combined. Transfer batter to two loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
2 comments:
This baking thing is true for me too...sometimes extends to cooking. Love it.
I just made this bread for the second time. I love that it actually has more zucchini than sugar in it (the recipe I usually use doesn't!)
Thanks for all of your recipes. I so enjoy them.
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