I love Zucchini, Part 1

I've always loved to eat summer squash, even before we discovered “swimming bean” in the Solomon Islands. But the longer we have lived overseas, the more I missed eating yellow crook-neck squash and zucchini. I actually craved zucchini!

Now that we find ourselves living deep in the South, in the midst of summer, zucchini is everywhere. And I'm really enjoying all the things we can cook with zucchini. This will be the first post in a series of some of the zucchini recipes we are making at the Choate B&B.

 

Our family decided to compare two zucchini bread recipes: one “healthy”, the other not-so-healthy. We thought the addition of fruit (to compensate for less sugar) and double the zucchini in the healthy recipe made a wonderful moist bread, however that recipe tasted bland to us. Our vote was for the not-so-healthy recipe:

Zucchini-Carrot-Black Walnut Bread

from “The Great Holiday Baking Book” by Beatrice Ojakangas

2 large eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

½ cup packed shredded zucchini

½ cup shredded carrot

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped black walnuts

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter one 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch or three 5 ¾ x 3 ½ -inch loaf pans.  In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the oil, sugars, and vanilla and beat at high speed until the mixture is very thick and fluffy.  With a spoon, stir in the shredded zucchini and carrot.

Stir the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in another bowl. Blen into the zuchini mixture just until the flour is no longer visible. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan or pans.

 

Bake for 1 hour for the large loaf, or 35 to 45 minutes for the smaller loaves, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly.