First of the Summer: Zucchini Bread

Summer has officially arrived, both on the calendar and in my house. Teachers look forward to the end of June with a certain amount of glee. It is not that we are dying to get rid of our students. In fact, it is very hard to say goodbye to many of them at this time of year, after spending so many hours getting to know them and working with them. It is just that as adults, it is such a wonderful feeling to have that stretch of summer ahead of you: countless possibilities, uninterrupted hours to spend with one’s family, with friends, or on hobbies. Eight weeks in a row, where one does not wake up with the first thought of: “what am I teaching today?” As an adult I appreciate this more now that I did when I was a kid. Since I am the last of all my teacher friends to join the party that is summer, I jumped right in, head first. My girls and I have already had 2 dentist appointments, spent an afternoon at the mall, gone to a pottery class, had dinner at Nana’s house, and spent time working in our garden. All in a day and a half! The garden is really looking lovely, and it is producing vegetables quite rapidly. We have already harvested 12 zucchini and summer squash, 3 radishes, and bunches of basil and parsley. All the chiketty doo-doo we put into the soil has really paid off. Of course, I spent last Saturday doing a month’s worth of weeding in one morning, so now, our garden is no longer the laughing stock of the community garden field. Aside from giving a few squash to my mother-in-law and our neighbors, what is a gardener to do with all those zucchini? Zucchini bread, of course! The following recipe can also work as muffins, if you adjust the cooking time.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini (I used zucchini and summer squash)

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 cup rolled oats
2 cups flour (I used oat flour)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
½ cup raisins (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans or 24 muffin tins. Mix zucchini and other wet ingredients in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix to incorporate. Pour into loaf pans, and bake 50 to 60 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for at least 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely.

Note: If you are looking to make this a relatively healthy bread, substitute applesauce for the vegetable oil, and egg substitute for the whole eggs. With the oats and the oat flour, it will be a low fat, high fiber bread. MT626WGKQ9HQ