I recently went on a baking spree. So much so that my mother asked if I was pregnant again because she thought I was “nesting”.
I couldn’t help it. I love this time of year with all the fresh fruits and vegetables available.
On a recent trip to the local farmers market with my kids I purchased $4 worth of zucchini. I came home and started baking, ending up with 8 loaves of zucchini bread that week. You seriously can’t go wrong for that price!
Baking all those loaves reminded me of the first time I tried to make my grandma’s zucchini bread recipe. My fiancé {now husband} and I decided to actually meld our two grandmas recipes. We’d follow the directions from my grandma and add chocolate chips like his grandma would do creating one ultimate family dish.
However, I neglected to read all the handwritten instructions on my recipe card. Instead of only making one loaf of bread it made 2 loaves and I had doubled the recipe! The problem was I only had one loaf pan.
Luckily we had already celebrated our wedding showers where we were gifted with all kinds of cookware. We ended up filling every Pyrex dish we owned with zucchini bread. There was zucchini bread in a pie pan and zucchini in a 9×13 pan. I’m pretty sure we ate zucchini bread for every meal that week.
This time around I was smart and bought disposable pans I could freeze or gift to family and friends. You also could use muffin liners which would be the perfect size to send in your child’s lunch box this fall!
If you are not a fan of chocolate chips, feel free to add your own twist to this recipe. You can add nuts or even crushed pineapple to make it stand out.
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups diced zucchini
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
In a mixing bowl beat eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla until thick. Stir in zucchini, flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg until blended.vStir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for roughly 90 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. {Optional: Add your favorite type of nut or even a can of crushed pineapple.}
Do you love baking or cooking with fresh, local ingredients this time of year?
