Baking!

Recently inspired by a few mommy blogs I read (check out Unschool Preschool, a new addition to the "Good Reading" sidebar, if you have a toddler and are looking for activity ideas), I have decided to try to be a more fun mom.  Monday's ice-cube game was just the beginning.

Yesterday, Natasha and I took advantage of Z's naptime to make some zucchini-carrot bread.  We invited Natasha's friend Matthew and his mommy over to help us.

I prepped by putting all the ingredients into small plastic containers to facilitate easy dumping.  I left the spices in their jars since most toddlers I know love to shake them. 

 Then I gave each kid a spoon and handed them things to dump.  Natasha soon realized that the batter was pretty tasty (though the joke's on her, since each yummy, sugary, floury, cinnamony mouthful also contained a fair amount of shredded raw carrot and zucchini, neither of which she would ever eat alone).  Don't worry, this bread is egg-free, so it's safe for babies to eat the batter.  It's also dairy-free, so it's a good one to have in your pocket if your kids, or their friends, are allergic to eggs or milk.  Scroll down for the recipe.

They had a blast.  We will be doing a lot more mommy-and-me baking around these parts, I think.

I'm not posting a picture of the bread since I way overbaked it, and actually, I think I'd recommend baking this recipe in a muffin tin, rather than a loaf pan.  Anyway, here it is.

Zucchini-Carrot Muffins

1.5c flour (I use half whole-wheat, half white)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 c vegetable oil
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c shredded carrot
1/2 c shredded peeled zucchini

Preheat oven to 400.  Oil and flour a muffin tin.  You can use muffin cups but they will stick rather annoyingly to the finished muffin.  It's worth the extra effort to oil and flour the tin.  Combine all ingredients.  (Note: If you are not making this with little kids, you can combine the dry ingredients sans sugar, then combine the wet ingredients plus sugar.  Make a well in the dry stuff, then mix in the wet stuff until combined - it will still be lumpy.  Pour into tins and bake).  If you are making this with kids, let them throw stuff in as they like - it doesn't really make much difference.

Check the muffins starting at 15 minutes.  I am infamous for overbaking muffins, so I start checking pretty early.