Zucchini Bread

Back in May when I was picking out the seedlings to plant in my garden, I grabbed one for a zucchini mound kind of on a whim.  I had mostly planned out my garden ahead of time and hadn't been planning on growing zucchini, but boy I'm sure glad I did.

It's been a major confidence booster every since the start.  It was kind of unnerving when two weeks after planting my very first garden, the tomatoes and cucumbers all looked like they were dying but the zucchini was clearly growing.  And when I saw those first blossoms appear, I knew I must be doing something right.  I go one day to find that an actual little zucchini was growing (holy cow I can grow my own food!) and four days later when I go back the same one is now 16 inches long, 4 inches in diameter ripe for the picking.  Talk about success!

That first zucchini that I grew is the special ingredient that went into this zucchini bread.  I knew that I had a lot of the vegetable on hand so I chose to double the recipe and put both of my bread pans to good use.  Two loaves of bread only ended up using about a third of my giant zucchini, plus the four other ones that are sitting in my kitchen right now; I think I've got a lot of roasting to do.

Makes one loaf.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups coarsely grated zucchini
• (Optional) 1/3 cup walnuts or chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt).
3. In a different large bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, and eggs.  Then stir in the zucchini.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir in optional additions, such as walnuts or chocolate chips, if desired.
5. Pour batter into greased loaf pan.  Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before removing bread from pan.

Recipe from Comfort Food Fix by Ellie Krieger