Syndicated column week of July 28, 2013. 

Zucchini is a love it or leave it  vegetable. Take a survey of the folks around you. You will see what I mean. They either love zucchini or could leave it in the garden for the raccoons. (I am not sure that raccoons even eat zucchini.)

My family is evenly divided on the zucchini front. At least, that’s how I prefer to look at it. My kids are in the leave it camp. My husband and I are in the love it crowd. I think my husband loves zucchini. He eats it when served, so he must love it.

With gardens in full zucchini production mode, there’s been plenty of zucchini in the neighborhood for sharing and eating. I have heard the folks at work discussing the bounty of zucchini as well. So I know it is not just my neighborhood that’s being brought together by zucchini overload.

I have been using the zucchini in as many recipes as I can think of, to keep boredom from setting in. Last week I made some pickles with the zucchini, the week before I fried some up with potatoes and onions to go with our eggs. This week I made zucchini bread.

I found a new recipe to use. This recipe is one from a Mexican cookbook. For those of you who don’t know, zucchini is a traditional American vegetable. The Indians cultivated zucchini alongside other summer squash and corn.

Zucchini Quickbread

1 ¼ cup butter
3 eggs
8 fl oz vegetable oil
1 ½ cup sugar
2 medium unpeeled zucchini, grated
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom and sides of 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and grease. In a small pan, melt the butter over low heat. Set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the oil and eggs together until thick. Beat in the sugar. Stir in the melted butter and zucchini. Set aside. Sift the dry ingredients and fold in the zucchini. Pour into the pan and bake for 60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before turning out.

Recipe courtesy of: The Complete Mexican, South American & Caribbean Cookbook. Copyright 2005 by Jane Milton, Jenni Fleetwood and Marina Filippelli

Make it a meal:  This bread makes a great breakfast, spread with a little butter or cream cheese. It also works as a dessert with a glaze icing over it.

Approximate Nutritional Value per serving: Servings per Recipe: 18, Calories: 364, Fat: 26g, Cholesterol: 37mg, Sodium: 456mg, Total Carbs: 31g, Protein: 3g.

Variations: Mix in some chopped walnuts or raisins. Add a few chocolate chips.

This recipe indicates a single loaf. I ended up with three good sized loaves when I divided the batter into three 9×5 loaf pans. It is a good thing zucchini bread freezes well. Allow it to cool on the counter. Then wrap tightly in wax paper and plastic wrap. The two layers help protect from freezer burn. Label with name and date. Place in freezer and store up to 6 months.

Interested in one of the books pictured above? You can purchase on Amazon here.