So you might have noticed things got a little spiffy around here lately. I finally took the leap of faith to self-hosting my food blog, and thanks to an amazing friend and web designer – Chris McClain of Christine McClain Design Studio – I can look at my screen and skip the frustrated face palms.
I’ve had my site on Blogger for the past two years and I’m sooo over it. The next few posts will be a learning curve for me so if you see anything that looks weird, either on your computer or on your mobile device, please shoot me an email about it. It’s also much easier to subscribe to my ramblings now, either by RSS or email. So if you tried before and were met with a page full of hieroglyphics, try again in this new version and hopefully it’ll be smoother than butter. I’ll also be moving my blog reader to Bloglovin when Google pops the bubble on its own reader, so if you use it look me up and hit the follow button. (Wow, does this paragraph sound needy or what? I just love all of you so much and can’t imagine life without you. ;)
OK, on to today’s foodie musings…
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? (Actually, I’d probably make lemon bars, but that’s just me.) Well, life gave me carrots and zucchini, so should I make some kind of veggie juice? As much as I probably should, I made a sweet zucchini loaf cake instead. I don’t have a juicer anyway, so my reasoning is totally valid to take the sweet bread route. I shouldn’t really call it sweet bread because although it has sugar, it doesn’t really taste very sweet. I went back and forth on whether to coat the top with some cream cheese frosting, which would be knockout but that would have meant another trip to the store and more mixer drama than I needed, so I kept this loaf naked.
Speaking of naked, you could add nuts to this or double up on either one of the veggies. It’s a really cool base recipe with a lot of wiggle room. I just had a vision of chocolate chips and cherries in it – hmm, that sounds like a plan to me! I hope everyone likes the site as much as I do, and I appreciate all of your comments and support.
Follow my blog with BloglovinCarrot Zucchini Loaf
Ingredients
- 3 cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt kosher
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup carrots grated
- 1 cup zucchini grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pans with a non stick spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla and keep whisking until the sugar is almost dissolved. Add the carrots and zucchini and combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until blended. Split the batter between the two cake pans.
- Place in the oven until they are puffed up in the middle and spring back when pushed gently with a finger. This will take about 1 hour. Let cool before slicing. Keep the bread at room temperature and wrapped in plastic wrap.
Your Carrot Zucchini Loaf seems very smooth. Veggie juice v/s Loaf.. thanks for your choice, I prefer.. hi hi hi
Things look great. Self hosting. I’d love to know what the advantages are in your opinion as I have considered it too. As far as Google Reader and BlogLovin and RSS I swear I don’t understand those things at all. Nearly 5 years blogging and I am a little embarrassed by that fact. I suppose it’s why I have almost no subscribers. I need to fix that (and will soon, or so I say). Thanks for the inspiration. GREG
Greg, I was just tired of Blogger and it’s limitations. It seems like WordPress has more options, plug-in’s etc. After two years I wanted something a little more stylish but most of all professionally organized. I made the last site…I can cook but I ain’t no web designer ;)
Looking good, I like the new design!
Thanks Sylvie :)
Congrats on making the plunge! Be prepared–you’ll be frustrated for like the first month but then after that you won’t ever remember anything different than being self-hosted. This carrot zucchini bread looks and sounds amazing!!! I bought extra carrots to make a carrot cake of some sorts for this weekend.
It definitely looks more professional. The more I look at it the more I like it. Congratulations!
Buddy! It looks awesome, so glad to see the new site up and running. Really happy for you.
As for this bread, very little temptation needed as we have a stack of end of summer zucchinis from our garden, piled on the table in need of a purpose. Purpose found.
Blog is still looking great to me and running smoothly via emails. Love the switch – although I did really like the cartoon dad on your old blog. I was on blogger for almost 4 years with my first blog and…. yeah. I am on wordpress with my new one and its been almost a year and I would never go back to blogger. I also like what you do when life gives you zucchini and carrots. I happen to have an abundance of both in my fridge right now and was considering juicing them. I might not now
Your new site is just as gorgeous as this carrot and zucchini loaf! Seriously loving both!
I like the new design! (Also updated my RSS subscription – I realized nothing new had popped up from you so I came over to check things out!). Love this loaf, perfect for spring!
Gerry your site looks amazing. I remember when I switched from blogger to WP – it was like a whole new world! And it sucks at the time b/c of the learning curve but clearly, you’re handling it fine! And this bread…love it! I just posted a sweet potato bread and any orange bread or cake…I love it!