Zucchini Bread

This bread is yummy, and kids love it. What a great way to get some vegeys into them without them knowing! You can eat it plain or serve it with cream cheese spread on top. Either way it's good.

I used to make 30 loaves at a time when I grew my own zucchini. Now I make 12 loaves and freeze them. Here is the recipe for one loaf, you can double or triple or quadruple it if you wish

The Zucchini on the left are from my garden. Ignore the lonely tomato, it doesn't go in this recipe! It was just part of the harvest for that one day. 

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup shredded, unpeeled zucchini (I use my food processor but you can do this with a cheese grater)
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel (rinse the lemon first in cold water)

Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. I don't put nuts in as I'm allergic to them, so I've no idea how it tastes with this added.

Grease an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. Set it aside

Take a medium mixing bowl and stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Make a little hole in the center. Set this aside

Take a second medium mixing bowl and add beaten egg (beat it with a fork first), shredded zucchini, cooking oil and lemon peel. Add this mixture quickly to the dry and stir it til it is moistened. The batter must be lumpy (but mixed! No dry clumps). DON'T USE AN ELECTRIC BEATER as this makes the bread very tough.

Sometimes I add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of applesauce in place of the cooking oil. If using walnuts, add those now too.

Pour batter into your greased loaf pan and bake in 350' oven for 55 to 60 minutes. You can tell if it is cooked by inserting a knife into the middle of the loaf. If the batter sticks to it, the loaf is not cooked through. If the knife comes away clean, the bread is ready.

Cool the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove the bread and cool it on the rack. Wrap it and store overnight before slicing and eating. Wrap it well in saran wrap and freeze if you want.

Here's another option: In place of the zucchini, add 1 cup shredded peeled apple for delicious apple bread.

I'll try to get a photo to put here, I forgot to take one when I made and served this at Christmas!