Cardamom Zucchini Muffins

When I was little, our backyard was one giant hill that sloped down away from the house and was covered with yellow with cheery dandelions in the spring and perfect for sledding the few times that we got snow in the winter.  My mother kept a garden at the far right corner of the backyard, at the spot where the hill began to level out a bit.  She always grew tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers, along with a smattering of other vegetables.  The zucchinis always seemed to be prolific, and we spent our summers eating them in every way possible.

At some point, we would head off for vacation, and one of the neighbors would kindly tend the garden in our absence.  We were on one of those vacations when a zucchini went off the grid. 
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Raisin Squares (With a Hint of Orange)

My third nephew was born just a few days ago (!!!!!) and I decided to channel my excitement into a new tasty treat to bring to the hospital.  First, I have to tell you that my nephew is incredibly adorable and sweet!  Now that all of the important baby details are out of the way, we can move on to the cookies.  I know that there are two types of people in the world: raisin enjoyers and raisin detesters.
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Aztec Hot Chocolate Patties

Writer's block.  Two tiny words, one ginormous barrier to sharing this amazing recipe with you!  It's not that I don't have recipes to write up, or loads of enthusiasm to share them with you, it's just that I don't have much to say right now.  We're kind of in our own little week-day routine here.  Get up, bike to work, work, bike home, make dinner, eat dinner, water garden, read or watch TV, sleep, repeat.  It's pleasant and, to be honest, I kind of like it.  It has allowed me to enjoy the little things lately--the daily swelling of the watermelons in the garden, the dahlia in the front that is just starting to bloom, the fact that we finally bought finials for the curtains rods... Unfortunately though, our little routine doesn't translate into reading excitement on your end.  Luckily, the recipe I'm about to share with you is exciting.  In fact, I would consider it to be tremendously exciting. 

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Fudgy Coconut Brownies

Hi, there!  It's been a while.  Even though I haven't been posting, I've been thinking about you and the perfect recipe to share with you!  First, I'll list off my excuses for not posting: 1) an incredibly relaxing vacation on the beach in Maine with no cell service, no TV, and no Internet; 2) a 4-day power outage; and 3) general laziness.  Yes, I am admitting to succumbing to laziness.  Now that we're done talking about why I didn't post anything, we can move on to the exciting topic of these brownies. 
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Candied Pecan Sandies

Because you can never have enough sandies in your lunchbox!  These are a variation of the lemon coconut sandies I shared a few weeks ago.  You're going to love them!
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Carrot Cake

I was digging through my recipe box last week looking for something to make when I came across my grandmother's carrot cake recipe.  Several years ago I went to my grandparent's house and went through their recipe boxes and typed up the ones that were most interesting to me.  Before I went, I put together a spreadsheet of all of  the recipes I could think of that I wanted to type up and created a template so that each recipe would look the same.  I came away with about 60 recipes, most of which were not on my original list.  It was a fun weekend - they showed me how to make a few things, and then we relaxed together in the living room, my grandfather in his reclining chair, my grandmother in her spot on the couch, and me sprawled out on the flowered chair near the front door with the recipe boxes on the little wooden bench to my right and my computer perched on my lap.

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Triple Citrus Cookies

Hi there!  I've been meaning to write, but I keep getting sucked into other things, like ripping out the vines that keep threatening to consume our fence and trying to find curtains that don't look like they belong in Arsenic and Old Lace.  Yes, things have been very, very exciting lately! 
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