Zucchini Bread

Oh the wonders of this bread. Once my garden starts producing zucchini, this bread is made nearly every other day. Homemade bread is by far the best, but when you add in your own home grown vegetables there’s a shine of pride coming through! This bread has a very wonderful taste to it. I add a tad more cinnamon and nutmeg to my tastes and they all blend so well together. It’s much better when you wrap it up & store it for a day. All those flavors, all those spices just come out more the next day so let it sit.
When selected your zucchini get good firm ones, as fresh as possible, when my garden is not in full bloom the local farmers market is a hot spot for the best vegetables! The store bought zucchini tends to be very thin, small and not very full of flavor.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded , unpeeled zucchini (I actually add more than a cup, cup and a half sometimes a tad more, depends on the size of my zucchini. But a cup is fine)
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional)

Grease the bottom and parts of the side of an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan, set aside. In med. bowl combine the first 6 ingredients, make a well in the center of the mixture. Set aside.
In another med bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini & oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to the flour mixture, stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy) Don’t over beat it’s a quick bread, so if you over beat it won’t come out right, just make sure it’s mixed. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake in 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 mins. Remove from Pan, cool completely, wrap & store overnight before slicing. (you need to wrap & store, the flavor comes out overnight!)

You can eat this straight from the fridge, or warmed up, you can put jam on it, or do it plain. I love it plain, so do the kids. I sometimes  make some cream cheese frosting on it (only the tops) before wrapping in foil before putting it in a freezer zip-lock bag to store and or freeze. The kids love it either way. Enjoy!

Oh you can make these into muffins!!Even Apple bread, substitute 1 1/2 cups finely shredded peeled apple for the zucchini