Glut-No-More Zucchini Bread

Planting sixteen zucchini plants seemed like a good idea at the time… We love having fresh squash blossoms in the early summer, but as the season wears on the proliferation of zucchini squash is truly daunting. For several weeks, we had more zucchini than we could even store in the refrigerator (and we have two of them.)

While there is nothing better than fresh squash simply sautéed with garlic and a little crushed red pepper, we would have to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner not to waste any. When searching the internet for new recipes, there seems to be a common thread: all the recipes are meant to deal with a glut of the inexhaustible vegetable.

Since the guys are quite fond of banana bread for breakfast, I thought I should try some zucchini bread. Served toasted with cream cheese; glut no more!

• 2 cups fresh zucchini squash, grated
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
• 1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or any combination (optional)

Grate the zucchini with a hand grater, and allow to sit over the sink in a strainer to drain access water before use.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. Alternately, line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then add nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Divide the batter into prepared pans. Bake loaves for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Based on my experience, the loaves and muffins will come out of the pan more easily once allowed to cool completely.