Summer Squash Bread! (Recipe)

Sorry I've been slacking on my posts lately.. I just haven't really been that motivated, then we had some issues with our Internet (stupid AT&T) Anyways this is just going to be a simple recipe post!

We have been getting a ton of summer squash aka zucchini in our produce baskets! I've never really cooked zucchini and the only way I've really had them prepared was in spaghetti sauce, so I had no idea what to do with these bad boys! I didn't want to waste them and I wanted to use them up before they went bad so I started to search for recipes. Moises is kind of picky when it comes to eating vegetables so I wanted to find a way to prepare them that would appeal to his taste buds and not just mine. I kind of have to trick him into eating things sometimes haha! Anyways I just googled recipes for Summer Squash and found this great recipe for Summer Squash Bread! I remember having my mom and granny make zucchini bread so I knew this would be tasty! Okay you guys it turned out sooo good! It was kind of a denser bread but the flavor was so yummy and the bread was so moist! Even better, Moises loved it! I totally forgot to take a pic so I borrowed this one from allrecipes.com where I found the recipe. This site really has a recipe for everything, it is honestly is my go-to for recipes! Just a heads up, I ended up having to bake mine for like 30 minutes longer than the instructions say, so time will obviously vary depending on your oven. Anyways below is the recipe, I hope you enjoy!

Photo borrowed from allrecipes.com

- 3eggs, beaten

- 2 tsp. vanilla extract   

- 1 up vegetable oil                 

- 2 tsp. ground nutmeg

-2 cups shredded summer squash (zucchini)

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 3 tsp. baking powder

- 2 cups white sugar

- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs until fluffy. Beat in the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Gradually mix in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. (I just mixed all of the wet ingredients together and all of the dry ingredients together then added about a cup at a time of the dry ingredients to the wet).

3. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (again I ended up baking mine for about 1hr 15min total so just make sure you do the knife test).

Again I hope you enjoy, I know we sure did!

 

Until next time!

 

XO,

LT

Some wants for my closet!!

 

Today I was looking at people.com in the Style Watch section and I saw some cute outfits I want to get my hands on. I decided to recreate the looks with items that are more in line with my budget! I thought these looks were cute, simple and appropriate for this time of year!

 I hope you like!!

 

Feeling a little under the weather. . . Creamy Broccoli Soup Recipe

I woke up this morning with a sore throat. . . . No bueno! All day at work I drank tea thinking that it would soothe my throat and possibly make me feel better, but I had no success. As the day went on my throat was hurting worse and worse, so when I got home I decided to make me some soup! Last week in our produce box we got three huge bunches of broccoli, I wanted to use it all up before it went bad so I decided to look up some soup recipes that used broccoli. I found this super simple Creamy Broccoli Soup recipe.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

2 Cups chicken broth

2 1/2 Cups fresh broccoli
1/4 Cup chopped onion
1 Cup milk
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 t. dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

I like mine super cheesy so I added a bit more on top!!!

Okay you guys this soup definitely hit the spot! Moises even loved it and he wasn't even sick, lucky duck! I would recommend this recipe for sick days, winter days, gloomy days and days when you just need a little extra comfort! It's just so simple and you can literally whip it up in half an hour aka instant relief! I hope that you are all feeling well and are enjoying this lovely Spring/Summer weather. Make sure to continue loading up on your Vitamin C to avoid any lame colds like the one I ended up with!
Until next time!

XO
LaTonya

Memorial Weekend!

So like I said in my previous post we are determined to get up and get out to explore and take advantage of beautiful sunny San Diego!

*Side note* Okay, when I was a sophomore in high school I went to Monterey for a Marine Biology trip. My friend and I originally went on the trip because we just wanted to take a vacation and have an excuse to miss school! Let me just tell you it turned out to be one of the best trips that I have ever been on! We got to play in the tide pools, go to the aquarium, go whale watching and sooo much more! Ever since then I have been itching to find some great tide pools to explore! Haha I know I sound like a little kid and believe me I felt like one when I played in the tide pools! But I just loved it!

Anyways, I was telling my friend Nicole that I wanted to find some tide pools and she told me that there are some pretty great ones in La Jolla. I was soo excited I googled it immediately! Once I had this information my mind was made up and my heart was set on playing in the tide pools! All week I told Moises daily how excited I was to go to La Jolla.. Moises ended up having to work Saturday morning and I was so bummed because I didn't think we would make it to La Jolla in time. Luckily he ended up getting off work at a decent time! I rushed him to get his booty ready so we could speed off to La Jolla!  Once we made it we headed straight to the tide pools, it was high tide so we weren't able to explore all of them but we did get to see quite a bit! We decided to take a stroll around the corner to Cold Stone to grab some delicious treats! We got our ice cream and headed back to the beach to watch the sun set! We decided not to take D'ziel because we didn't know how'd he would handle it. We ended up being bummed we didn't bring him because there were a ton of puppies running around. :(
Here are some pictures from our outing!




I Can't believe I live here!

I had to have a picture sitting here!




That's a little crab in there!

Around this time last year I had a friend tell me about this hike called the Potato Chip Rock, she showed me pictures and ever since then I have been wanting to experience this hike and crazy rock for myself! So on Sunday we decided to take a 30 minute drive to Poway to hike up Mt. Poway to see the famous Potato Chip Rock! This time we decided that there was no way we were leaving our pup at home, so we brought him along. As soon as we got out of the car D'ziel took off and I didn't have the greatest grip on his leash so it went flying out of my hands.. I ended up having to chase his little butt down for a couple of minutes... Great way to start the adventure I guess. Gosh he's such a turd! After catching D'ziel  we started our trek up the mountain. We ended up having to park about a mile down the road because parking was so crazy at the camp grounds. Once we made it onto the grounds we sat in the shade to give D'ziel some water, we snacked on some grapes and pretzels then continued our hike! We hiked up the trail for about a mile and a half two miles and D'ziel was spent! Poor little guy was soo tired so we stopped to give him some water and snap some photos. We had some pretty awesome lake views basically the whole hike! After the water break we tried continuing on but D'ziel just wasn't having it, he was pooped! We decided to turn around and head back down. He was so tired Papa Bear ended up carrying him down the rest of the way! I felt so bad for him and a little worried because he seemed a little lethargic in the car.. That was probably me just being paranoid haha Once we got home D'ziel and I decided to take a nap! We rented a movie and finished the night up at home! Monday we got up, made breakfast then just lounged around and prepared to go back to work on Tuesday!

Although part of me was wishing I was back home in Utah camping and barbecuing with my family, We really enjoyed ourselves and overall it was a super fun holiday weekend! I enjoyed spending time outdoors and bonding with Moises and D'ziel! I continue to look forward to the many adventures to come!

XO
LaTonya



Off to a Rough Start

Okay so I now realize that starting a blog during finals was probably a bad idea!! I was only taking eight credit hours but between work and school the new blog was at the very bottom on my list of priorities.. I am now extremely happy to announce that I am finished... with this semester at least! I will be taking this summer off to relax and explore my new home! Well it's not so new anymore but since Moises and I have lived here we haven't really been able to experience San Diego in all of it's glory! I have big plans for this summer.. hiking, baseball games, amusement parks, and beach time of course! Most importantly I just want to spend some quality time with my babe and pup!


I love my little family!





Last weekend we went on a little walk around a nice park/lake we usually hike up the trail, but

we chose to skip the hike for D'ziel's sake. It's a good thing we did too, because he was so tired after just going around the trail one time! Silly pup!



D'ziel sitting as close to the air conditionar as possible!







Anyways I am looking forward to all of the fun hikes and activities we will embark on this summer! I will be sure to take a ton of pictures so I can blog about all of it! Sorry for the rough start and I promise from now on I will be more consistent with the posting!

 

Random tid-bit...

We have recently joined Abundant Harvest Organics which is a local co-op! I'm so excited to receive all of our organic produce! I can't wait to cook it and eat it all up like the true fatty I am! I know that it will be so helpful with healthy eating and Sunday food prep! We get our first basket on Wednesday and I seriously can't wait! Review, pictures and recipes to come!!

 

Love Me!











Newbie...

Hey all! I've decided to finally start a blog! I'm so excited to be apart of the blogging world, you seriously have no idea! My blog will not have a centralized focus other than my daily shenanigans! My blog posts are basically going to be about all things that interest me such as cooking/baking, fashion, beauty, movies, and music. I'm sure as I become more comfortable with blogging that list will get longer! Most importantly I will be bringing you my readers (family and friends) along with me on my new life journey! I say this because I am newly twenty four and I feel like I am starting to find myself all over again, a journey I'm looking forward to. I'm excited for you all to join me on what is sure to be a crazy, fun and exciting journey!

XO,
LT