A Girl's Gotta Eat!

A week or so ago, friends of mine were kind enough to not only invite Mike and I over to dinner, but to then send home some Zucchini Blueberry Bread she made the day before. When I enjoyed the next morning for breakfast, I knew I had to have the recipe. We've been getting some great zucchini in our farm box, and blueberries have been not only cheaper at the grocery store, but have looked better than they have in weeks. Last week we received a couple extra-large zucchini that I knew were perfect for baking, so I decided to whip up a batch. The ingredients were simple enough, and the directions were easy to follow. Now to decide what shape to bake it in... As I may have mentioned before, Mike definitely prefers bread loaves when it comes to this sort of treat, but I'm a sucker for muffins. With this one batch of batter, I was able to please both our taste buds with 2 mini loaves, 12 regular-size muffins, and 24 mini muffins. Man, oh, man...these are scrumptious. I sent the ...

Mike first introduced me to the delightful treat known as fried pickles several years ago at Toot's; it was love at first bite. Unfortunately, the closest Toot's to our house is about 30 minutes away. I knew I needed to figure out how to make these at home. I've made the following recipe several times now, including twice for the Fourth of July while we had friends over. Needless to say, there aren't ever any leftovers. We had the turkey fryer going anyway, so that's how we fried these. We've also used our fry baby, but it does take longer since you can't fry as many at one time. Find the recipe we use at: Fried Dill Pickles. I buy a large jar of kosher dill pickles and slice them myself so I can make them as thin or as thick as we'd like. For the full dining experience, serve with ranch dressing. As a side note, for those live in or near the Mt. Juliet area, if you're in the mood for fried pickles but don't feel like frying your own, I...