Zucchini Bread

I've only recently started cooking with zucchini. My mother never cooked with zucchini, probably because Daddy didn't grow it in the garden, so I never did either.

But last year, my brother-in-law, Billy, gave us an enormous supply of the green squash and I used it in several recipes from soups to casseroles.

This year, when he gave us another huge batch of both yellow squash and zucchini, I decided to try something new.

With one of the way oversized zucchinis, I made zucchini bread last week.

I had only had zucchini bread once before. Someone offered me a slice, I tried it and did not like it. Not one bit. So I never tried it again.

But many people love zucchini bread, so I decided to give it a try with my own recipe.

I first looked at recipes online and ended up drastically altering a recipe from Paula Deen's Web site. I cut the sugar, added brown sugar and used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, for starters.

Because I had never made zucchini bread before, I had to ask a co-worker if I was supposed to peel it before grating; she told me no. But I do remember reading a recipe review that said the cook had peeled her zucchini so her grandson wouldn't see the green flecks in the bread and she could continue referring to it as cinnamon bread! Oh the things we do to get our kids to eat vegetables.

I didn't peel my zucchini before grating, and I loved the bright green flecks in my lovely bread, tinted slightly a lovely shade of brown from the brown sugar and wheat flour.

I wasn't sure how the bread would go over at my house, but I was happy that my husband loved it as much as I did. We both enjoyed it for breakfast several days.

If the idea of zucchini in a quick bread doesn't appeal to you, please think again. There's nothing yucky about this bread, only a lot of yum!


Zucchini Bread

• 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugars.

In another bowl, mix oil, eggs, water and zucchini. Combine the two mixtures and fold in nuts.

Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until tester comes out clean.