Overwhelmed

My brother's zucchini plants have run amok. He's gotten more squash than he can possibly eat so he's been passing some of it on to me. I've cooked it in various ways but have to admit I'm getting a bit tired of eating it for dinner. Searching for new and interesting ways to prepare it, I asked a friend who is an amazing baker if she had a zucchini bread recipe. Yes, I could have just googled one, but I wanted a recipe that I knew would result in something that tasted good. Below is her tried and true zucchini bread recipe.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (I used a box grater to do this.)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix first 5 ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl. Carefully add the flour mixture into the large bowl with the eggs etc. Mix well. Stir in the zucchini and walnuts.

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch bread pans. (I used butter Crisco to grease my pans.) Pour the batter evenly into the pans. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack in the pans for 20 minutes, then remove from the pans and cool completely.

Makes 2 loaves

What I'm Reading Wednesday...Or Not

In last week's What I'm Reading Wednesday post, I mentioned I was reading Deadly Fighting Skills of the World by Steve Crawford for research purposes. Well, I'm still reading it so I thought I'd post an end of summer recipe instead.

For all of you who more zucchini squash than you know what to do with, I thought I'd share my mom's zucchini bread recipe.

Mom's Zucchini Bread

2 cups shredded raw zucchini
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) (My sister puts in mini chocolate chips instead of walnuts.)

Place zucchini in a strainer and press or squeeze to remove excess liquid. Beat eggs, sugar, and oil together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and walnuts. Mix just enough so that all the ingredients are combined. Stir in the drained zucchini.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes 2 loaves