Sunset Friday evening......

Excuse the bugs on my windshield......

more butterflies......

driving home last night and the clouds and sun setting.....

I was driving at the wrong angle to take these shots and I knew it...but took some anyway.  I also took these all through my dirty window as I was driving along...the clouds looked like someone painted the sky with swirls of paint ....looked like marble!

homemade mini loaves of zucchini bread with brown sugary topping!

Technorati Tags: zucchini bread

 

Here is the recipe!

Zucchini Bread
INGREDIENTS
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup vegetable oil (or you can use half oil and half applesauce)
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

TOPPING
The crunchy crust recipe is this: -1 cup brown sugar -1 cup all-purpose flour -2 tablespoons butter or margarine -2 teaspoons cinnamon -1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Mix it all together really well and crumble on top of the batter prior to baking. The topping cooks crisp and adds just what the bread needed. ( I added a lot less flour...like a couple of Tablespoons)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar.

Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done.  You can even drizzle some icing/glaze over the top of some loaves for an added treat!

NUTRITION CONTENT:
DETAILED NUTRITION
Serving Size 1/24 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe 24
Amount Per Serving
Calories 231
Calories from Fat 104
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 11.6g 18 %
Saturated Fat 1.5g 8 %
Cholesterol 27mg 9 %
Sodium 163mg 7 %
Potassium 61mg 2 %
Total Carbohydrates 29.6g 10 %
Dietary Fiber 0.9g 3 %
Protein 2.9g 6 %
** Sugars 17.2g
Vitamin A 1 %
Vitamin C 2 %
Calcium 2 %
Iron 11 %
Thiamin 14 %
Niacin 10 %
Vitamin B6 2 %
Magnesium 4 %
Folate 18 %

Mossy backed turtle.......

Summer purple thorny flower ......in my backyard.......

Elk.....in OHIO.......

Outside of West Milton, Ohio area there is an Elk Farm....Miami Valley Elk Miami Valley Elk

...and we were driving by the other day on our way home.....and there were all these ELK right out by the fence line......Of course I had to go back and pull over and snap a few shots right from the truck......here are a couple. I cannot begin to tell you how BIG these guys are! (these were shot right before a bit further down the road a wild deer ran right out in front of my truck as I was driving at least 55 MPH.......A truck was coming head on the other way in the other lane...so I had no choice but to tap the brakes lightly and hope and pray it was enough to give the deer time to finish crossing.....he BARELY made it.....but he did....talk about feeling grateful!)

Cox Arboretum Butterfly House.....

Noah and I had an appointment in Dayton yesterday so I decided since we were so close and the day was gorgeous to head down to Cox Arboretum......and check out the butterfly house. I guess everybody had the same idea....for the place was crowded (the park areas were --NOT the butterfly house) and we had to park in the overflow section!

BUT....the butterfly house was spectacular and FREE.....I did expect to see more butterflies than I did.....don't you always? BUT since this was the only place I have really seen more than 1 butterfly this summer at a time......I enjoyed it. The more you looked the more you saw and I was able to still capture some good shots even though the sun was so bright it was hard to see what I was aiming at let alone trying to snap...and sometimes there were shadows to fool around with....or the colors seemed a bit faded....but....here are some of the shots......enjoy! ( I have MANY more and will be sharing more)























I will post more tomorrow!

mama cat and one of her babies.......

we call the mama cat CAMI....short for camouflage....as she blends into the environment around her so well! When she is sitting on concrete you can barely notice her!

cute little kitten.......he has brown eyes.......

Skywatch Friday......I know I do not officially participate....but here is my contribution....

Driving home from my grandmothers the other day the sun was just starting to set...I noticed this one cloud......and started taking shots.....it started out white but as the sun went down...it changed to shades of peach and orange......

Sevy aka Baby Kitty....my sister's cat....

sap from a cherry tree.......

this cherry tree is also in my parents' backyard and they say is slowly dying. I had no idea it would leak sap out the bark on the sides of the trunk......here is a close up......I wonder what it would taste like?

more flowers......and a tomato!

some flowers from my parents backyard.....

Skywatch Friday........

This was the sunset through my kitchen window Wednesday night.....it was a gorgeous sunset and had I known it was going to be this beautiful I would have jumped into my truck with my camera and son and headed off to snap a few. I did get a few from my window but the quality is not great. Here is one of the clouds...they are so beautiful!