Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

The one thing Brett and I fight most about is bread. I'm not sure if this means our marriage is going well or not. I'm guessing if a stranger saw the two of us trying to decide which bread to buy at the store they would probably go with not. Bread is a hot topic in this household.

I am on a constant quest to force encourage our family to eat more whole grains. Brett has told me on many occasions that whole grains are gross and suck the joy out of life. He acts like I am purposefully trying to torture him, and my weapon of choice is whole wheat bread. Sigh.

This recipe doesn't really solve our problem, because it's not really "Let's have eggs on toast" bread or "I'm going to make a peanut butter sandwich" bread. However, this recipe is 100% whole wheat. It's healthy. It's delicious. And Brett devours it. Kate does, too. Win.

The recipe is adapted from an old Betty Crocker's New Cookbook. Ok, I just looked at the copyright and it's 1996. So not really that old. I'm not sure if the newer version has changed the recipe or not. But this is seriously the best cookbook for baking I have found. It used to be Brett's mom's before I stole was granted permission to take it.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini (about 2-3 medium zucchini)
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup applesauce (can substitute oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves or nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup mix-ins, if desired (i.e. nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.)

Put your oven rack at the lowest position - you want the tops of the pans to be in the center of the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan no-stick cooking spray. You can use two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 pans instead if that's what you have around the house.

Mix zucchini, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Gradually stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture.

Stir in your mix-ins if that's your style.

Bake for about 1 hours 10 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). If you are using two smaller pans bake about 50-60 minutes.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaves and transfer to wire rack. Cool completely and enjoy. And go ahead and keep on enjoying it. Because unlike zucchini bread made with white flour, which magically disappears the same day you bake it, this zucchini bread will actually last you awhile because it fills you up! And it freezes well. I have two loaves in the oven right now. I think I'm going to make two more tonight. I am stocking up for the winter.

Oh, and in case you think this is really awful timing to be posting a recipe for zucchini bread, my apologies. Substitute a 16 oz can of pumpkin for the zucchini and this is officially fall bread. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds yummy.

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

Note: I wrote this blog post a little while ago, before the whole Jeffress/Romney/Cult thing. It was inspired by something completely different, but I decided to post it now because given the current events it seems rather relevant. 

I am going to write about something that I hope I can convey with sensitivity. However, I am also about to make some bold statements. I hope I can find a happy medium. Please forgive me if I fail.

If you know anything about my church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - you probably know that we consider ourselves Christians. It is in the very name of our church. We affirm, as the popular hymn states, that we believe in Christ.

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ...that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
2 Nephi 25:26, The Book of Mormon

And yet, some of my Christian friends don't believe this. I have heard those of other faiths claim that I don't believe in the "real" Jesus and that they pray I will get to know the "real" Jesus. If you want to pray for the welfare of my soul, please do. I probably need it. But who is this real Jesus? Why I am being accused of worshiping a fake one?

The Jesus I believe in is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. He is the one who gave us the sermon on the mount. He is the one who suffered in the garden of Gethsemane. He is the one who was slain on the cross. He is the one who was resurrected on the third day.

According to my belief, there is only one Christ. You either worship Him or you don't. With all the energy of my soul, I proclaim that I do.

But this is why some other Christians think I don't (at least, this is my understanding). I don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. I believe, as the First Article of Faith states, "in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost". But I believe they are separate beings. I know, this is a huge doctrinal difference between me and some other Christians. We have different beliefs about the very nature of God. That difference affects a lot of doctrine. I get that. 

But I find it very insulting when I am accused of not knowing the "real" Jesus. To all my wonderful Christian friends, please stop using this phrase. It is so degrading to my faith. We worship the same being. I know that to me, Christ probably looks a little different than he does to you--but we still both believe in the same person. We just see him colored a little differently. However I assure you I am not worshiping a false Christ. I am worshiping the Christ of the bible. The only one Christ there is. The one who ransoms my soul. The one who made salvation for me possible.

I don't need other Christians to validate my status as a Christian in order to worship my God. However, I would plead with you to examine what I believe about Christ. We share more similarities than differences, I promise you. Imagine what we could accomplish if we could accept our fundamental similarity as disciples of Christ. Imagine how we could be uplifted by sharing our testimonies with one another.

When it comes down to it, this is how I see things:

I love Jesus.
You love Jesus.
Jesus loves us.
Jesus commanded us to love each other.

And that, to me, is real.

I am a Bigot

There are some experiences in my life that are hard to forget, and the memories come back to me at times asking for some type of catharsis. One of those experiences came during the 2008 elections. My husband and I were attending a community college at the time, and decided to set up a booth on campus to educate people about Proposition 8. As with any political booth, we were biased. We made it clear that we were voting Yes on 8. And frankly, our goal wasn't to convince people who were voting No to change their vote to a Yes. Our goal was to present our side of the argument to people who were undecided (or people who were decided but were curious about the other side), educate people who were unclear on what a Yes or No vote really meant, and provide support for those people who had already decided to vote Yes. We were met with more support than I would have thought. We were also met with more hostility and hatred than I could have imagined.

During one very difficult day, we had a woman who approached our booth, grabbed our pamphlets off the table and threw them into the air. Then she proceeded to scream at us, proclaiming what horrible people we were. As Brett and I were packing up the booth and bringing our supplies to the car at the end of the day, this same woman followed us for a bit.

"Bigot!" She yelled after me.

I said nothing. But as Brett and I were driving home I began to cry. Never in my life have I felt so much hatred from other people, as when I sat behind that booth, with a sign that said Yes on 8.

Obviously, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I believe it is ordained of God. To many people, this makes me a bigot. I am a bigot because I hold different beliefs about the definition of marriage.

Different beliefs. 

My understanding of the definition of the word "bigot" is that it's a derogatory term used to label someone who does not respect beliefs other than their own. Let's take a closer look at this.

1) I am entitled to have my beliefs about what I think marriage is. This does not make me a bigot. This makes me a person with different beliefs, and I deserve to be shown respect for those beliefs. I respect that other people have different beliefs. No, I don't agree with them. But that in itself does not make me a bigot. Standing up for your own beliefs doesn't mean you disrespect the beliefs of others, and it certainly doesn't make you a bad person.

2) As I stated above, the word "bigot" is a derogatory word. Even if I didn't respect the beliefs of others, calling me a bigot is just plain rude. It's like calling a gay person a faggot or a dyke. It's derogatory. It's mean. There is no reason you call another person these names unless you intend to put them down, and elevate yourself by degrading them.

So, to that woman who yelled at me, and to all the others who have in the past or who will in the future call me a bigot, go ahead. Label me with a derogatory name for holding different beliefs (hypocritical much?). But I will refuse to show you the same hatred you have shown me. I will continue to fight for what I think is right. If that makes me a bigot to you, then fine. But know that I still respect your right to fight for what you believe in. Sometimes that means I will be fighting against you, but that doesn't mean I don't respect you (though if you call me names it might be a bit difficult for me). Sometimes my beliefs will mean I am fighting against my own friends and relatives, but that doesn't mean I don't love them. A difference of belief is just that, a difference. Hatred or disrespect is something else entirely.

In my experience, bigotry is usually just a word people use to try to make their own disrespect of different beliefs more politically acceptable.

My Awesome Life

I wrote this blog post about a week ago, but for some reason never posted it, so here it is. 

I have a confession to make. I like to read about other people's lives. Not in a creepy stalker kind of way. The blogs I read are mostly of people I know. And I know some pretty cool people. I know people who live in awesome places and do awesome things. People who live awesome lives. And...I'm always a bit jealous. I read these blog posts and I think, "Wow. I want to do that. Why don't I do that? Why isn't my life that awesome?"

This is probably a totally normal thing to think. We all have our moments where we envy the lives of other people, assuming they are better than our own. But I think I have been having too many of these moments lately. I haven't been happy with my everyday life. I have been thinking I'm missing something. And I finally realized what it is! It's nothing. It's me.

I think I need to realize that I do live an awesome life. It's just different than the awesomeness of others. It's often awesome on a much smaller scale. So, here is a look at my totally normal, completely uneventful, awesome day:

Kate let me sleep in until 6:30am today. This was awesome because for the past few days she has been waking up before 5:00am. I got her up and took her into bed with me to nurse, which is my favorite morning ritual that we have. Then we played in bed for a few minutes before I went to let Deacon out to "do his business". His poop didn't stick to the grass as much as usual, making it easier to pick up. Awesome. Then we went downstairs to have breakfast. I had cheerios with honey on top. Awesome simple yumminess. Then we went upstairs and I took a shower. Kate was good and played by herself the entire time. Then I put her down for her morning nap. During her nap I was able to do some laundry, exercise, check some items off of my "to-do before I leave for California list", check my email and internet stuff, do my makeup and hair, pray, and read my scriptures. That is one long list of awesome.

After Kate got up we nursed while watching 30 Rock on netflix, then went downstairs to have lunch. I had burritos (yes, plural). Burritos are my favorite awesome food. Kate had mango mixed with oatmeal (yum? She seemed to like it). Then I had an intense craving for chocolate. So I ate some chocolate chips right out of the bag. Awesome.

Kate and I played peekaboo with a big red sheet while I was folding laundry, which means we were folding laundry until it was time for her afternoon nap. It was totally worth it, because she was laughing so hard at that big red sheet. It was awesome, until I put the sheet away and her laughter turned to tears because she was so tired.

I tidied up a bit after she was asleep, and then decided that I was feeling a bit tired myself, and a nap would be far more enjoyable than doing my homework. So I took a nap. I woke up to the sound of Kate gleefully kicking the bars of her crib into the wall. It was awesome.

After Kate was up I had planned on going for a walk in my awesome new sneakers my awesome husband got for me yesterday, but the stroller was left in the car, and the car was with the awesome husband. Oh well. I had some overripe bananas that I wasn't going to eat, and so I made banana bread to entice my awesome husband to come home early. It worked. (Awesome!)

Then Kate got a bit cranky, and so we nursed, but she continued to be cranky and seemed to be having some gas pain. This has been a more frequent thing lately so I called my awesome cousin to chat about it. We chatted until my awesome husband got home.

For dinner I made veggie pasta with broccoli and alfredo sauce. It was yummy. But the awesome part was that my husband cleaned up the kitchen afterward, while I gave Kate a bath. I nursed Kate before bed while watching more 30 Rock, and then put her down in her crib. She fell asleep without a peep (awesome!!) while I watched more 30 Rock. Then I got on my computer to check my email and internet stuff, and blog about my awesome life.

There. Now you can be jealous of me.

Extremity

It's official. Rite Aid released their new coupon policy, which is now more restrictive on BOGO sales and the number of like coupons that can be used. The buzz all over the coupon world is that this is a result of the show Extreme Couponing. And...I agree.

Maybe I don't really deserve to have an opinion. I am not a coupon guru, I am just an average girl who gets giddy over cheap stuff. I have never even seen the show because I don't have cable. But from what I hear (and a few clips I have seen on the internet) it is basically an extension of the show Hoarders, where people who probably need therapy buy 400 bottles of mustard instead, and convert their kid's bedroom into a storage closet to hold enough toilet paper to last until the second coming.

When I first realized how "extreme" Extreme Couponing really was, I still didn't think it would have that much of an impact on the couponing world. I figured it was just another attempt of the media to exploit people who, in all seriousness, need help. But apparently stores are starting to take notice. And why shouldn't they? It isn't good business to have empty shelves.

I would write my opinion about the specifics of the new policy, but that doesn't really matter. It really is a fairly petty issue. Rite Aid has the right to accept or decline whatever coupons they want, regardless of my personal feelings.

My point is that I am not an extreme couponer. I am a college student with a young family trying to stretch the few dollars I have. Since I stay home with my daughter, it is my contribution to financially supporting our family. Will I still find good deals even though Rite Aid changed their policy? Sure I will. Will I still shop at Rite Aid? Who knows. I go to where the deals are.

I guess the reason why I bothered writing this is to say that shows like Extreme Couponing are the reason why I don't watch T.V. Truthfully, I couldn't afford cable if I wanted it. But I hope that someday we will be able to afford it. And I hope that when that day comes I will have the wisdom to just say no, and keep this crap out of my house. In a way, I feel bad for even writing this, because in order for the media to stop exploiting the truly sad lives of these people, we have to stop consuming this cheap, sick excuse for entertainment.

This is what $7 buys

This is what I do every Monday morning. And I love it. I paid $6.53 out of pocket and got:

• 3 packs of Huggies Little Swimmers
• 2 bottles of Purex Laundry Detergent
• 1 Oral B toothbrush
• 1 Oral B floss
• 1 Crest toothpaste
• 8 boxes of Ronzoni pasta
• 2 boxes of American Beauty pasta

With all the pasta I couponed last week, I estimate I now have a year's supply. If you come over to my house please don't look underneath the table next to my couch, or you will find out where I'm stashing it all...

A Whole Lot of Nothing

I have debated over the past week whether or not I want to keep this blog. I even deleted it, and then a few days later undeleted it. I'm having a lot of mixed feelings. Why?

Because I'm not sure if I want to get this personal with the world. I'm not just talking about the online world. I'm just not sure if I want to let people get to know me this well. Because I think a lot of people don't know me very well at all. And I'm afraid to change that.

But I'm going to take a little leap of faith. I'm going to assume that people won't stop being my friend if they get to know some of my actual opinions on things (and on the flip side, I'm going to assume that if they do stop being my friend then they are super lame). And I wouldn't be doing this, except for one reason.

I think I need to write.

One of my amazing professors, Steve Walker, once told me after reading some of my work that if he could write that well he would keep writing. He even told me that of all the students he has seen come through BYU, he can only think of two who were better writers than me (yup, I'm bragging a little bit right here). What he said really stuck with me and whenever I think about it I feel guilty because I rarely ever write. So this is going to be my attempt to push myself to write.

But please don't expect anything very profound, or even well written (or even correctly written) from this blog. Because my hope is that it will just get me to start getting words and ideas out there again, and maybe that will prompt me to write in a more professional manner. Maybe not. But I love to write. Even if I have nothing to say at all. So here's to the future of a whole lot of nothing.