S is for Squash

It goes without saying that your life changes drastically when you become a homeowner. In one sense, it is exciting to walk around your new home, touching your walls, banisters, fixtures and baseboards all the while thinking to yourself, "Damn, I own this!" But then, your baseboards fall off or the banister starts coming loose, AGAIN. The toilets keep clogging and the lights won't stop flickering and once again, you think to yourself, "DAMN! I own this!" And then you jokingly say to your husband, "Can't we just call our landlord to come fix this?" Ha ha NOPE.

And then you start to cry.

It is crazy and super scary to think about barely having enough money to take care of all the basic stuff, not to mention any emergencies that should come up. But somehow, you figure it out and make it work. You just have to cut some corners and get creative. This came into play last month when I had three close friends with birthdays in July.

It all started with a garden my mom planted in her backyard. She planted the garden with the intention of it being hers and Charlie's garden. Which makes perfect sense that she did it now. I mean, he is unable to sit upright unassisted but you should see that boy wield a trowel. AMAZING! So, in Gammy's and Charlie's garden, she planted summer squash. With the proper conditions, squash plants can grow like weeds. If you don't pick them fast enough, pretty soon you will be left with giant, dinosaur squash that will leave much to be desired in the area of flavor. This was exactly what happened over a weekend my parents were out of town: they returned home to gigantic gourds taking over the yard.



I asked my mom if she was planning on using any of the squash for anything and she said I was welcome to them. I took one and figured since it was in the same family, yellow squash would have the same effect on bread that zucchini does. And the squash was surely big enough for three loaves of bread—one for each of my friends.

The recipe is one that my family has been using for years. Growing up, my mom watched a show called "People Are Talking." On one episode, they featured a recipe for "A to Z Bread." In essence, it is a basic bread recipe to which you can add an "A to Z" ingredient of your choosing. And for each letter of the alphabet, there is a suggested ingredient. It's the only recipe my family ever used for banana, pumpkin or zucchini bread. (I don't remember what the suggestion for "X" was and quite frankly, I would like to keep it that way.) The recipe still folds along the original creases my mom made in it. Today, those folds are barely hanging on by what's left of the remaining fibers of paper. Oil stains and dried bits of bread batter cover the page. It's gross, but one of my favorite things at my parents' house.

A to Z Bread

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon (The recipe says it is optional but in my opinion, absolutely not. Love the stuff. I'd take a bath in it if I could.)
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups A to Z
3 tsp vanilla

Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a separate bowl add sugar, eggs and oil and cream together well. Add "A to Z" ingredient of your choice and vanilla to sugar mixture and mix. Add the dry ingredients slowly until everything is incorporated.

Grease and flour two loaf pans and pour half of the batter into each pan. Bake the bread at 325 degrees for one hour.

I promise you it will be worth it, and your whole house will smell like my childhood.