Apple (Shhh...Don't tell my husband I hid zucchini in it) Cinnamon Bread

One of my adorable daughters-in-law sent me a sweet message today:

"I’m so glad you are posting on your blog again! I can’t wait to try out the apple cider recipe. Yum!

As I was reading through your last couple of posts, a thought occurred to me concerning the focus of your blog. I have a suggestion for you, which of course, you are free take or leave. I’ll read and be happy either way!

I’ve noticed sometimes you apologize for getting “off topic” in your posts--when you’re talking about family, or spiritual things, or anything not directly apple related. Those are the things that I LOVE to hear you talk about, though! I know you have a testimony of families, and building people up, and the strength that the gospel provides. While the Table Talk book is the only project that I know you’ve been working on, I’m not sure that focusing on apples alone is building a platform that truly represents your unique view of life, especially concerning the gospel and our families.

What if, instead of focusing just on apples, you expand your blog’s focus to the topics of “growing” and “harvesting?” That way, you can certainly draw inspiration from Nature’s bounty, but you won’t have to feel so guilty about talking about the other things we grow and harvest. You’ve planted a lot of seeds in your life (especially in mine!) that I think people need to hear/read about. Your words about the gospel and Heavenly Father are so reverent and full of awe--I can’t help it if I want to read more about that!



She's wise as well as adorable! I will run out of apples...eventually. I will never run out of family. And I will never run out of wonder and awe for the abundance with which God has blessed us. Besides, Micaela is already expressing how her enthusiasm is waning for anything "apple."

The wind came up last night. The moaning and howling kept me awake long past midnight. This afternoon, however, I discovered the wind brought me a gift. I stepped outside to glean the last couple of zucchini and whatever tomatoes and peppers I could rescue. To my surprise, the ground was covered with walnuts. I apologized to the wind!

Of course, I knew we had walnuts. The tree blesses us with glorious shade all summer long. Last year we had a late, heavy freeze and the tree didn't produce more than a handful of nuts. The year before we had quite a few, but it was far too labor intensive to remove the husks off of the shells. Today, I found most of the nuts on the ground clean and dry, already separated from their slimy husks. In about 15 minutes I gathered almost 10 pounds of walnuts (that's in the shell, of course)! I'm pretty sure some of this bounty will make its way into an apple recipe!

I can see this blog changing with the seasons, just like me. Most of my children are grown and on their own. My husband and I have been reaping a bounteous harvest for awhile now as we watch them become responsible adults who know who they are and with firm testimonies of Jesus Christ. (I'll save the joys of being a grandparent for another post.) The son and daughter still left at home are not quite ready to leave our nurturing and protection. I'm glad. I'm not ready to be an empty nester just yet.

I read over this and think, gosh, but I'm old! haha! I don't feel old! I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  I do know that first and foremost, I am and always will be, a mother. That is inherent in that I am a daughter of God.There are just so many fascinating things to do and learn! It's hard to choose! I do know that the subject I choose to write about is not as important as knowing that somehow, somewhere, the words I write make a difference. If those words gladden just one heart, then they will have fulfilled their purpose.

Okay, at least I chose a recipe to share -- I declare that any recipe that uses apples AND zucchini is useful! My kids are always warning guests about how I hide vegetables in everything anyway. Here is a sweet bread recipe I have been playing around with for a couple of months.

Zucchini Apple Cinnamon Bread (boring name, I know! But I promise this bread will make you feel loved!)

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups grated zucchini
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (I left this out.)

okay...you need to know that I doubled this recipe, and made 4 loaves, so don't get confused when you look at the pictures! This recipe as written will make two nice sized loaves. So, prepare two loaf pans by greasing them and coating them with flour. (or use a cooking spray...I was out.) Grate your zucchini and apple and set aside. (If you want, you can peel them first, but why go to all the extra work?) Preheat the oven to 325 deg.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy and light yellow. Add the oil and the applesauce and mix well. Sift the dry ingredients together in another bowl and add to the egg mixture. Mix well. Squeeze the extra moisture from the grated zucchini and apple and fold the pulp into the batter. Stir in the vanilla and nuts. Divide the batter between the loaf pans. Bake at 325 deg for about one hour.

I dare you to leave this bread alone until it cools off. On second thought -- Don't wait. Hot out of the oven, this bread rocks! (If you're really brave, add a little butter or caramel sauce...if your heart can stand it, that is!)

Happy harvest!
hugs~

Sunday Apples

Sunday is a day of rest from the things of the world for our family. I've been cooking all week, so today I have a quick recipe and ideas for using apples for quick, easy snacks. Cut up apple slices and serve them with peanut butter and chopped nuts and raisins and/or craisins. Let your kids play with their food and see what kind of pictures they can create on a paper plate using those items. Here's a quick fruit dip to add to the messy deliciousness:

1 pint marshmallow creme

1 Tlbs. juice concentrate (orange, lemon, lime, or whatever sounds good) or a little more if you like!

8 oz cream cheese, softened.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in the marshmallow creme. Add the juice concentrate and stir until well blended. Chill and serve with all kinds of fruit...apples, bananas, strawberries, you name it.

I would post a picture, but I am out of marshmallow creme...sigh.

I gave a great deal of thought to what I wanted to blog about today. Sunday has always been a day of great significance to me -- a day of rest from weekly labors, yes, but it's more than that. It is a day to remember my Savior and give thanks to Him for everything He has done and continues to do for me. 

Are you wondering how I could possibly tie this in with apples? While I was cutting an apple up yesterday, I started wondering just how many seeds are in an apple, and how many apples grow on a tree, and how many trees can grow from all those seeds from all those apples on all those other trees...I thought about the parable of the sower in the New Testament and I wondered about the spiritual seeds I may or may not have planted throughout my life. Then I started pondering on the miracle of creation and how everything around me testifies that there is a God in Heaven. I thought about how much Heavenly Father loves us. The apple has a shape similar to a heart...and even the center of the apple has a bit of a heart shape.

I found a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard, in an address given in conference in April 1988 where he shared the following:

"Astronauts viewing the earth from space have stated how incredibly beautiful it is and how alive it appears. United States Senator Jake Garn wrote of his experience in space: “It is impossible for me to describe the beauty of the earth. It is a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, spiritual experience to view the earth from space while traveling at twenty-five times the speed of sound. I could also look into the blackness of the vacuum of space and see billions of stars and galaxies millions of light-years away. The universe is so vast as to be impossible to comprehend. But I did comprehend the hand of God in all things. I felt his presence throughout my seven days in space. I know that God created this earth and the universe. I know that we are his children wherever we live on the earth, without regard to our nationality or the color of our skin. Most important, I know that God lives and is the Creator of us all” (letter to M. Russell Ballard, 3 March 1988).

"Again, the words of the hymn came to mind:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow’r thruout the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!"

"The psalmist wrote, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour" (Ps. 8:3–5).

The Lord gave an answer to the psalmist’s question; it is recorded in the book of Moses: “For mine own purpose have I made these things. …

“And by the word of my power, have I created them. …

“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:31–32, 39). "   (please forgive my misuse of quotation marks...)

At the dinner table this evening, I asked everyone to share with me something that testifies to them that there is a supreme creator. Levi said that he feels that testimony when he studies about cells and how everything is so complicated and organized. Natasha expressed similar thoughts and shared how the beauty of the world and the grandeur of the universe testifies to her.

I looked again at the apples I was slicing and sliced on apple in a different direction. Instead of a heart shape, there is a 5-pointed star. Reminds me of the star of Bethlehem. I think of the potential of those seeds to grow into an infinite number of apples, and I am reminded of the Savior's infinite sacrifice and His infinite love for us. I am humbled to feel that love and to know that He knows little, insignificant me...and He knows and loves each and every one of you, my brothers and my sisters in the Lord. You are never alone. God bless you my friends.
hugs and blessings~

Sing, Gloria!

Sometime last week, a friend in the ward mentioned on Facebook that he is a member of the Millennium Concert Choir and that they were participating in a performance of Lex de Azevedo's "Gloria: The Life of Christ, Part I - The Nativity." The production was scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday in the historic Provo Tabernacle in Provo, Utah. K-BYU was filming this free concert for a special television program.

We had been unable to get tickets for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert performing at the same time in Salt Lake City, so I was thrilled at the idea of attending "Gloria" and listening to music bearing witness of the Savior's birth. Not only was the performance free, but Lex de Azevedo was playing the piano, and George Dyer and Gregory Pearson were among the featured soloists. I love listening to those men sing! Lex de Azevedo has been one of my favorite composers for many years. Besides that, I wanted to support Randy and all the hard work the choirs had put into preparing the music.

I am told that by Thursday evening everything was ready at the Provo Tabernacle. K-BYU had stage settings in place for the soloists. The intricate stained-glass windows were back lit, and plants and flowers, sound equipment, and cameras all stood in place for the big event. The million-dollar organ and a brand new grand piano were tuned with the woodwinds, harp, and tympani.

About 3:00am Friday, December 17, 2010, disaster struck. A call to the Provo police and fire departments reported a fire burning in the tabernacle. By the time firemen arrived, the tabernacle roof was engulfed in flames. Firefighters battled the blaze inside the building as long as they could, but the heat soon became far too intense and they had to evacuate. A short time later, the architecturally distinct roof entirely collapsed. Everything was lost.

Choir members who heard the news early in the morning tried desperately to contact Brother de Azevedo. When they finally got in touch, like everyone else, Lex was devastated. He threw his hands in the air and declared a total loss. There would be no performance. This time, there would be no show to go on. The loss was too great, too insurmountable.

This wasn't the first time productions of "Gloria" faced challenges. Knowing this, Choir members refused to give up. Could there be any better time to share Christ's message of hope and peace and love? They broadcast frantic, hopeful phone calls, Facebook status's and text messages trying to find another venue where they could produce "Gloria." Lex remained unconvinced, but as he told the audience Friday night, his wife, Peggy asked him to consider that maybe Satan didn't want the show to go on. Maybe Lex just needed to fight a little harder. With a smile on her face, his daughter humored Lex by stating that she thought it was really all a conspiracy. When asked what she meant, she said,

"You know. It's a conspiracy by Kurt Bestor and Michael McLean!" The audience roared with laughter.

At the last moment, the Alpine Tabernacle was made available for the concert. More Facebook and text messages were sent. Street side banners went up. Television stations donated sound equipment and a harp and woodwind instruments were found. There was no time for decorations or special lighting. There would be no "Hollywood" magic. The concert would go on in its most pure and simple form.

Friday night, after a quick sound check, Lex de Azevedo stood at the podium and bore his testimony about the miracle of writing the music for "Gloria: The Life of Christ, Part I - The Nativity." After decades of writing music for the secular world, Lex determined that he wanted to set the story of the Savior's life, as written in the King James Bible, to music. He wanted to answer President Spencer W. Kimball's proclamation that the best music had yet to be written. He spent several months wrestling with his project. In trying to create a masterpiece, Lex described his efforts as turning out to sound like Mozart and Handel, but very bad Mozart and very bad Handel. Feeling his discouragement, Peggy lovingly told him he needed to stop competing with Handel and Mozart and just be the best Lex de Azevedo he could be. Lex described his epiphany as he recognized that while his gift differed from Handel and Mozart, he did have a gift. Then Lex said,

"When the competing ended, the music began to flow."

He taught us all that if we will be the best "us" we can be, angels will make up the difference. He also reminded us that all that was lost in the fire was bricks and mortar, temporal manifestations of something bigger that had first been created spiritually. Everything is created spiritually first. His music was created spiritually, before he put it on paper, and before the temporal representation in the performance. Unlike the loss of the temporal things, nothing can destroy the music. It will always be with us. It was when he realized these things, he agreed to do the performance in the Alpine Tabernacle.

I will never forget that night. The music in its pure and simple form did not need the glitz and glamour of special effects. As I sat in the Alpine Tabernacle with Doug and Levi, the Spirit witnessed to me the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the music carried the message of Christ's divinity deep into my heart.

For the first time, I stopped to seriously consider how the shepherds and prophets and wise men, and yes, Joseph and Mary felt as they witnessed prophecy being fulfilled. I remembered my personal experience when I first heard that the priesthood was finally being restored to all mankind, of every heritage. I don't know how to describe my feelings that day, except that I heard and felt the rushing wind as it carried the message around the world. I know exactly why the angels sang. I felt joy then -- and I felt it again Friday night as I witnessed God's word being spread, even through the challenge of loss and destruction. Nothing can destroy pure and simple truth.

[As a side note: An amazing story is now being circulated about a painting portraying the Second Coming surviving the fire. Initially, it survived undamaged, but the intense heat of the residual fire scorched all of the painting except for the Savior's portrait. Miracles never cease.]