Look What's Cooking

I'm still here! I haven't forgotten about my blog. I think of great things to write about everyday but somehow find it hard to put those thoughts into sentences lately. It seems like the blog world has rapidly changed from casual weekend writers to more of an avenue for professional writers with a team of professionals to design their blogs. Unfortunately, I am not a professional writer and certainly not a professional blog designer. My blog has the same design from when I first started in 2007 and sadly my grammar and punctuation reflects the C average I had in school. But, occasionally I have some good stories to tell, some good recipes to share or an opinion that must be heard and hopefully people reading this can overlook the casual weekend writer appearance of my blog.

So, what's cooking today?
Today I had a Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread with Cinnamon and Dark Chocolate Chunks baking in the oven. I wish I could put a scratch and sniff link on my blog so that you could smell just how amazing the bread was. This year I've been a bit obsessed with finding the "perfect" Zucchini bread recipe only to realize that "perfect"  is a matter of preference. I have spoken to a few people lately that each had their own idea of what the "perfect" Zucchini bread should have in it. Some people will say Zucchini bread should have nuts, some will say raisins and someone from work made hers with nuts and coconut. My husband prefers his plain with only Zucchini.  I love every version listed but I do have a personal favorite, Zucchini Bread with Chocolate. I had never tried it until my mother-in-law served it with our Sunday dinner back when JR and I were dating. After that first piece, I was hooked.
I've made different versions of Zucchini bread over the years, but I believe I've found a recipe that has earned a place in my recipe box. I stumbled across the recipe while searching through other blogs the other night and the best part about it is that she gives great tips on making good Zucchini bread. Here is the recipe link for:   Whole-Wheat Zucchini Bread with Cinnamon & Dark Chocolate Chunks
And this is what I made today.

The picture isn't nearly as fancy as the one in the other blog but I'm sure mine was just as tasty as hers. I particularly loved that this recipe was made with whole wheat flour. I thought it added a bit more "meat" to the bread and of course it makes it a little more healthy. This recipe makes 1 large loaf and then 6 muffins. I think the next time I make it, I will do the whole recipe as muffins so I can freeze them and only take 1 muffin at a time and not overindulge to much.
For this chocolate lover, it's a keeper!

The Barn Inn.......take 2

Wow. It's been a looooong time since I have blogged.  

Jonathan just finished his longest time ever on 3rd shift with his job that required him to work in Columbus for the last 7 months. This resulted in a rather uneventful Fall and Winter with a small break in December for us to retreat to Gatlinburg, TN for the Christmas season. But, as of 1 week ago, he is done with this 3rd shift stuff and his drive to Columbus. Yay!! 

Jonathan decided to take this coming week off since he has so much vacation time to burn plus it's giving him a chance to get his sleeping schedule back to normal. And since yesterday was his birthday, I asked him what he wanted to do this weekend. He first mentioned camping. My first thought was brrrr, it's a little chilly for that right now even if we stayed in a camper cabin. As it turned out, the weather was forecasted to be rainy and windy most of the weekend which made us consider a plan B. We agreed on plan B about 2pm on Saturday and then booked our reservation at The Barn Inn in Millersburg, OH.

Most of you reading this might recall me blogging about this place in 2008 when we went there for the first time, but I am blogging again because I just can't say enough good things about this place. It's a great place to go if you are needing a night or weekend away to relax. I could seriously spend a whole weekend here and have no desire to leave, except to get dinner. But, if you did want to see the sights, The Barn Inn sits in the heart of Amish country so there is no shortage of things to do. We only spent one night this time and decided to see some of the sights a little farther North before we started home.

You can view The Barn Inn website here.

This is a picture from the road and the beautiful main entrance.  This barn is many, many years old but was bought with the house next door in 1996, renovated and turned into The Barn Inn in 1997.  Paul and Loretta Coblentz are the owners and resident Inn keepers

This is the back side of the barn. As you can see, it's three stories high. Our room this time was located on the far left side, ground floor.

This is what you see when you walk in the main entrance. Just beautiful.

This is part of our room. All the rooms are decorated beautifully and this room is called  Country Charm. The last room we stayed in was the Rose Garden.

This was Jonathan's birthday present from me. It was a basket of local Cheese, Crackers, Trail Bologna, Chocolates and Sparkling juice that was there for us when we walked in. All of his favorites.

This was taken behind the barn and across the creek while sitting in the gazebo.

Spring Blooms!!

Other residents. They had sheep, a goat and a Llama on the property that were very friendly and let us pet them at the fence.

One of only 2 places open for dinner on a Sunday was the Inn at Honey Run which required a reservation and is walking distance from The Barn Inn. . The picture above is the complimentary Chef starter. I'm not sure what it was called but it was a yummy stale bread that was drizzled with oil and herbs.

                                          One of the best Caesar salads I've ever had.

This is Jonathan's meal which was a Ham Loaf with a sweet sauce over top with some dreamy mashed potatoes and veggies. He also had a Green Sweet Tea that was wonderful!

I had the Mountain Trout with rice and perfectly cooked green beans.

I only take pictures of my food when I'm expecting a really great meal and this definitely was a great meal. A highlight to a really great weekend.