When I moved to the city, my parents moved to the country. They replaced my brother and I with horses, cats, goats, and a dog to counteract the symptoms of "empty nest syndrome." As I adapted to my urban surroundings, my parents did so to their country habitat, and it wasn't long before my dad plowed a little plot of land, and my mom set out to make a garden.
Now into her fourth year of gardening, Michael and I have grown accustom to coming back to the city with bags of garden goodies after making the trek to the countryside. Although the garden can't be more than 300 square feet, the soil grows tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini like dandelions. It has become a tradition to take the largest zucchini out of the garden, and as an homage to my mother, make a double ( sometimes a triple ) batch of zucchini bread.
My mom's zucchini bread recipe is simple and straight forward, as many of her most popular dishes tend to be. Easily adaptable, my aunt and my mom have probably made every imaginable adaptation of the recipe. Over the years I've seen loaves of zucchini walnut raisin bread, and just this last Labor Day my aunt made a loaf with miniature M&Ms. With it's dense consistency and super moist texture you can have one loaf for breakfast, and another for dessert.
I remember a couple years back when I called my mom to get the recipe. Whenever my roommate's little sister Mariana we would come to visit we would always bake something together. Well, it just so happened that I had visited home the week prior, and there on the counter, was the largest zucchini from my mom's garden.
"Mom can I have your zucchini bread recipe?" I asked, ready with a pen and 3" x 5" note card.
"Well, it's not that hard," she always says that, "it's basically flour, sugar, eggs and zucchini."
As she spouted off the exact measurements, almost completely from memory, I felt like my childhood secrets were being revealed to me one ingredient at a time.
As Mariana worked on the dry ingredients, I combined the wet, and in a matter of minutes we were ready to pour our batter into loaf pans. Personally I love making miniature loaves, instead of one large loaf. With smaller loaves you can have one with dried cranberries, and another with miniature chocolate chips. I added granola to the last loaf I made, and it came out with surprising crunch. The choices really are unlimited.
So as farmers markets come to a close in the upcoming month, and the weather starts to cool, warm your taste buds with some comforting flavors. I highly suggest grabbing the largest zucchini you can find, and filling your house with the aroma of baking cinnamon and nutmeg. Nothing says the beginning of fall like a glass of warm apple cider and a piece of zucchini bread.
Easy Zucchini Bread - One loaf
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of shredded zucchini ( peeled if desired )
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of additional ingredients: raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, mini chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together first six ingredients into a medium sized bowl.
3. Mix together sugar, zucchini, egg, and vegetable oil in a large bowl.
4. Combine the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until only small lumps are left.
5. Add any additional ingredients.
6. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour dependent on the size of your loaf pans.