Zucchini is one of those vegetables I have a love/hate relationship with. My dad always used to put it in stir fries, where the texture would turn slimy and unappealling. I’ve never been all that fond of summer squash for just that reason: it’s slimy texture when cooked.
But then my mom would take zucchini and turn it into bread. Oh, how I love zucchini bread! It ranks up there with banana bread and blueberry muffins, and all those other baked goods! Baked goods are my weakness.
Over the summer, before we set off on our vacation North to see family and friends, I made banana bread and zucchini bread. I really thought the kids wouldn’t bother with the zucchini bread, and Toph’s usually pretty neutral about my quick breads, of any kind. But for whatever reason, the whole family ate the zucchini bread and loved it! It was a really good loaf, better than most I make. It was so moist, you didn’t miss the butter we didn’t pack in the car. It made a great breakfast for the first day of our road trip.
The recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
In another bowl, stir together sugar, zucchini, oil and egg. Add the first bowl to the second bowl and stir just until mixture is moistened. It’s ok if it’s lumpy.
Spray the bottom and sides of an 8×4x2-inch loaf pan (or, like me, whatever you have available!) and then pour the batter in. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
I usually end up tenting aluminum foil over the top in the last ten minutes of baking so that it doesn’t brown too much before the insides are cooked. I do like a crunchy crust, but not a burnt one!
Let it cool for at least ten minutes before trying to cut through! Otherwise it crumbles. If you wrap it up and store it overnight before eating it, it tastes even better!
Makes one loaf.
**********************************
I’ve also been experimenting with substituting milled flax seed with oil in a recipe (directions are on the box of flax seed). I’ve also been known to substitute applesauce for the oil (equal proportions). Just little things to make the things I bake a little more healthy. 
__________________________________________________________
Now, Z is the last letter of the alphabet. The Alphabet Game is over. I made it from A-Z, only taking breaks on the weekends. Did you like it? Should I do it again with a topic other than food? lol. I always got hungry when typing up these food posts!
To see the other alphabet posts, check the categories on the right side panel for “Alphabet Game”!
