Zucchini Bread

For the National Scrapbooking Day scrap, our hostess, Judy, asked us to bring a snack (on Friday night) or dish (Saturday lunch) to share.

On Friday I took plain and roasted red pepper hummus and crackers. For Saturday, I warmed up the oven and made my first zucchini bread of the year.

I always get rave reviews when I make this bread. It's almost like eating cake! And it freezes well, too.

Notes before you begin:
1. I never peel the zucchini. I always just wash it good and grate it with the skin on. I love the green flakes that show up in the bread. This is a good way to use up zucchini that may be a bit past it's prime -- a little too soft to cut up and saute but still good enough to eat.
2. I usually don't add nuts to my baked goods because I don't like the texture. But feel free to throw some in. I think pecans would go perfectly with this.
3. For this go round I cut the amount of sugar to 1 3/4 cup -- 2 1/2 cups seemed like an awful lot for two loaves of bread and I knew there would be enough sweet things to munch on at the scrap. The bread still tasted wonderful, even with the less sugar!
4. Usually one medium zucchini will make the 2 cups you need for the recipe. I grated two because just one was a tad too small for the amount I needed. I used the extra grated zucchini in another recipe, which I'll share tomorrow.

Here's what you do:

3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups zucchini peeled and grated
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease two loaf pans.
2. Beat the eggs and then add the oil, sugar, grated zucchini and vanilla. Mix until blended.
3. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nuts. Mix.
4. Pour into loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.

And, most importantly, don't forget to share with someone special (see below).

Sidney's waiting for me to drop some crumbs. She always helps me out in the kitchen! :)