Hey All,
Where did the summer go? I swear.... So tonight I was contacted by my friend Paula. I met Paula back in my days in Wyoming, we worked together and usually found ourselves up to some type of surreptitious behavior. Needless to say I was lucky to have a like minded soul helping keep things entertaining. We've since moved to quite different parts of the world, but we do still keep in touch.
So she was ranting something about hippies and if they only knew about what actually went into a box of baking soda. It struck up some interesting and snarky conversation reminiscent of the good 'ol days when life was water and rocks and big tumbling ovens..... That carried on for a bit and gardening came up. Well lucky her, she's lousy with zucchini. Mmm, how I do love me some zukes. I haven't taken to growing them, much like Paula, many of my local friends are often lousy with the buggers and I inherit the bounty. At any rate, she was looking for a zucchini bread recipe.
This brings about another story from my college days. One evenings my best friend called me to tell me she had something very important to show me. She appeared on my porch with what appeared to be a baby covered in a blanket in her arms. Oh jeez, really? Well, no, it was a 30 some-odd pound zucchini her mother (I swear the woman mutated everything she ever planted into gargantuan proportions, ask me about Momma H's Mutant Day Lilies sometime.) had grown. Knowing I had freezer space and a knack for making a preserving good food she sent it my direction. I think that thing kept us in zucchini bread for most of that year of college....a great easy breakfast in the morning.
This recipe comes from More-with-Less Cookbook, (c) 1976, Twenty-ninth Printing, July 1982, pg. 82. This cookbook was a gift from my Aunt upon high school graduation. She had a copy and spied it at a yard sale and instantly remembered how useful it was while living on a tight budget with her young family. She told me to at least read the first couple of chapters to get some ideas for the years of tight budgeting ahead. I'm sure glad I did, I ate well all throughout college and never broke the bank. I'm not sure if its still in print, but if you can find it, get it. You'll never regret it.
So here it is Zucchini Bread, makes 2 loaves, oven at 350F:
Preheat oven.
Combine in a mixing bowl and beat well:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups raw, peeled, grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla
Sift together:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Add to zucchini mixture and stir until blended.
Optionally add 1 cup chopped nuts.
Pour into 2 greased 8" bread pans. Bake 1 hour. Remove from pans and cool on rack.
Optionally, frozen zucchini can be used if pureed in a blender.
I always used to sprinkle a bit of sugar on top too, to give it a nice crispy crust.
Hrm, I just remembered I still have a couple pounds of zucchini in the freezer from last year. Guess I need to get cracking and have some kitchen time.
