By Mid-November. The parents-meet-each-other dinner Friday went the way I had hoped. Mama and Dustin’s mom Kathy hugged each other at the door at six PM and were in the kitchen together by six-twenty cooking. Dustin’s dad Mike and Dustin sat in the living room with Cody (who had driven over from Tulsa) and Roy Calloway (Aunt Linda’s church friend who had brought Linda over) for an hour discussing the small carpentry project Mike was finishing in his garage. The dinner held until nine-thirty PM.
Mama drove herself home Saturday morning and texted me at one PM: baby, Kathy is the right kind of mother-in-law. I have stopped losing sleep.
Sunday I made one-bowl zucchini muffins because the household was on the pre-wedding six-week stretch and the kitchen needed make-ahead breakfasts that scaled for the morning-prep-week that the upcoming holiday-and-wedding schedule would not accommodate. The recipe: one-bowl method, melt-the-butter-in-the-bowl-first, then whisk in everything else, fold in two cups of grated zucchini and a half-cup of toasted walnuts and a half-cup of dark chocolate chips. Eighteen muffins from one batch. Twelve into the freezer in single-serving foil packets. Six on the cooling rack for the week.
Dustin had a short week at the shop. The small auto-shop rhythm continues to be the small steady-income-source the small family-of-three-soon-to-be-three has built around. Bobby is reasonable. The shifts are predictable. The work is the work.
Aunt Linda came over Tuesday for the small two-hour visit. She held Brayden (or in earlier weeks, sat with me while I prepped). She brought a small Aunt-Linda-thing — a small handmade card, a small jar of preserves from her late-summer-garden, a small pressed-flower bookmark. The visits have become the small Tuesday-rhythm that has held the year together.
One Bowl Zucchini Muffins
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 32 min | Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely grated zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini), excess moisture squeezed out
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease lightly with cooking spray.
- Prep the zucchini. Grate the zucchini on the fine side of a box grater. Wrap in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and squeeze firmly to remove as much moisture as possible. Set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and milk until combined.
- Add dry ingredients. Add the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt directly to the same bowl. Stir until just combined — do not overmix.
- Fold in zucchini. Gently fold the squeezed zucchini into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are lightly golden.
- Cool before serving. Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. For babies, allow to cool completely and cut into small pieces appropriate for age and stage.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 158 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 148mg