Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies--a variation on the Nestle-Toll house chocolate chip cookies

Mix together and set aside:
2 1/4 cup regular flour (OR 1 1/4 cup regular flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups rolled oats

Cream together:
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar

Add to butter mixture and mix well:
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs (add one at a time and mix thoroughly after each)
1 cup grated zucchini

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. If the mixture looks too wet, add more flour (I had to add about 1/4 cup more flour).

Once the mixture is well combined, add 1-2 cups chocolate chips, if desired.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.  (Note: these in the photo were being put into the freezer, so that's why they're on wax paper.)

Bake for 12-14 minutes at 375 F. I've found that cookies come out perfectly if you bake them only until the edges of the bottoms are lightly browned. The tops of the cookies will still be very pale, but they will be baked through when the bottoms are lightly browned. Let sit on the pans until cool to allow them to finish baking.

Makes about 5-6 dozen, depending on how big you want them.

Yummy!!

~Regina

How does your garden grow?

We put in our garden this week! It's not anything impressive or complicated--just a little flower bed that we put a frame around and dumped dirt into. You see, renting a house with a tiny yard just doesn't make it easy to have a garden. Our tiny yard is also shared with our neighbors, so we can't exactly just do what we want with it and fix it later. The only piece of dirt that is really "ours" is this 8 inch by 9 foot rocky flower bed.

I would have loved to do a full garden, but between the available "land" and my lack of energy during pregnancy, we decided it would be best to do just a salad garden. After exploring the many ideas out there for container gardening--most of which were expensive or ugly--we decide that putting a frame around the flower bed would be best. My husband found some scrap wood at Lowes (they had been frames for riding lawn mower boxes) and so was able to get all the wood for the frame for under $6. That number was much more to my liking!

He drilled some 3/8 inch holes (I think) and put stakes through them straight into the ground to hold everything in place. It works like a charm (so far)! We thought about going a bit deeper, but decided to see if what we have will work...so our raised flower bed is only about 6 inches deep. This is all an experiment anyways, so, yeah, might as well be adventerous!

I filled it up with dirt, marked off my sections and planted some seeds. I had thought about starting all my seeds before the warm weather showed up, but I couldn't find a toddler-safe place for my seeds. :)

We planted baby romaine lettuce, royal red lettuce, simpson elite lettuce, mesclun mixed lettuce, green onions, radishes, carrots, bush beans, sugar peas, cilantro, oregano, thyme, parsley, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. That sounds like a lot, but we only planted a few of each.

The herbs, bell pepper, and cherry tomato that won't go in the garden. The herbs will go around the tomato plant in its 10 gallon container and the bell pepper will hopefully go in the ground in front of our little porch... we'll see how it does there.

And a few gratuitous shots of my little helper "helping" mix the dirt in my tomato pot.

She loves mixing everything she can.

Happy growing!
~Regina