It worked out pretty well, actually.

The cucumber, without its peel or seeds, pretty much just faded into the background and left me with a dense, moist, blueberry quickbread (not sweetbread.  Different thing.)  Denny and I polished half a loaf last night.  I bet if it hadn’t occurred after Miles’s bedtime, he would have liked it too.  We’ll find out soon.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
~2.5 cups shredded cucumber from a cucumber that has been peeled and seeded    (for me, this was 1 large cucumber)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 cups AP flour
2 tsp kosher salt or 1 tsp regular salt
1 tsp baking powder (I will increase this next time for more lift)
1/4 tsp baking soda (again, I will increase this next time)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar

Method:

Heat oven to 350F.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat eggs lightly.  Add oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla; beat to combine.  Gently mix in cucumber.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Stop the mixer, remove the beater, and fold in the blueberries by hand.  Pour into 2 9×5 loaf pans.  Sprinkle each loaf with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar.  Bake at 350F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

We thought we were so smart by not planting any zucchini this year.

I was a little sad when Denny accidentally smashed one of my two cucumber plants in its infancy.

Yeah, turns out one is plenty.

I haven’t been very good about grabbing them up when they’re little, and I’m getting kind of sick of cucumber/tomato/onion salads (they’re great, but ya know).  I’m thinking about grating them up and using them like zucchini in a zucchini bread recipe.  I’ll report back.

Miles had chosen a button-up shirt to wear, which required a little more effort to put on than his usual t-shirts.

A:   Okay, let’s get ‘er on.

M:  It a girl?

A:   Oh, no.  Sometimes people say “her” just to be silly.

M:  Okay, let’s get she on.

Miles woke up from his nap later than usual and therefore was still kind of sleepy-grumpy when Denny got home.  He wasn’t in the mood for their usual ritual of waving as Denny approached from the bus stop and playing peek-a-boo at the window.

M:  No waving!

A:  You don’t want to wave to Daddy?

M:  Miles not into it.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

One of Miles’s current favorite books is I Love You Because You’re You, by Liza Baker. For the last few nights, we’ve been going through this ritual before we read it at bedtime.

A:  What’s this book about?

M:  It about a mommy who loves her baby soooooooooo much.

A:  Do you know a mommy like that?

M:  How ’bout… (pointing at me) THIS mommy!

I was telling Miles about a dream I had that we were on a tropical island vacation.

A:  Wouldn’t it be fun to swim in the ocean and the  pool and drink rum cocktails?  Well, maybe you’d better stick to juice.

M:  We don’t stick to juice.  We drink juice.

Copying Darah, who was inspired by another.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.