dackie.org

i bought some zucchini last weekend in the hopes of having daniel grill it for us last night with our indonesian chicken and orzo salad. however, when i mentioned the word ‘zucchini’ i was told by my sweet husband that he was already burnt out on zucchini. what?!? i could eat it every night! grilled on the weber with a little olive oil salt, and pepper, oven roasted with a squeeze of lemon, breaded in panko and oven ” fried” and then dipped in yogurt ranch…but alas, it was not meant to be. now,  what to do with these 5 zucchini taking up space in the crisper…? aha! zucchini bread!

i have fond memories of boiling hot redding summers when i was a little one, picking  zucchini with my mom and sis in our garden, and then taking it inside knowing that there was yummy zucchini bread on the horizon. we would sit on the kitchen counter in our polyester shorts and our striped shirts and help mom shred the zucchini. i dont remember the rest of the assembly of the bread, but i do remember the way the house smelled as it cooked- cinnamon-y and warm and delicious. mom would take it out of the oven and we would have to wait until it wasnt molten lava hot anymore, and then while it was still warm she would slice us each a piece and top it with a little pat of butter. mmm…. so good.

i have made my moms recipe 100 times, never straying from her recipe. but today i decided to see what my favorite food bloggers had to offer up for a little twist on moms bread. smitten kitchen was the one that i chose to try out, with a couple small tweaks. i added some plain nonfat yogurt to the recipe to swap for 1/2 the amount of vegetable oil and then i added a healthy handful of toasted pecans to it. i also cut the amount the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup. the recipe made 1 loaf and 9 muffins, or 2 dozen muffins.  don’t worry, daniel, there are NO PECANS in the loaf.  just for u. this freezes well so you could freeze 1 dozen of the muffins and have a delicious breakfast ready for you whenever you want, just pull the muffins out of the freezer the night before and put them in the fridge to defrost. i like mine warm, so i then heat them in the micro for 20 seconds and top with a little butter or cream cheese. like such…

Zucchini Bread
Adapted from several sources

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. (See those pictures of the cakes inside their non-stick pans? Yup, they’re pretty much hanging out in there for the time being.) 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, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.