How I Learned to Make Zucchini Bread

Have you ever made zucchini bread?  Well, I had never even dreamed it was possible until my dear friend, Norma, came trekking over to my house one day with three humungous green monstrosities under her arm.

“Would you like some zucchini?”  she asked.

I was a young bride and still wet behind the proverbial ears but I knew enough to realize these things were well past their sell-by date!  They were too big and old to fry, which is how we liked them.  Or to stew with tomatoes.  Or to fix any other way, as far as I knew.

I was trying to figure out how to tell her ‘no’ without hurting her feelings when she said, “They’re just the right size for making zucchini bread.”

Well, I had never heard of such a thing!

Norma, in her good friend and somewhat motherly way, gave me her recipe and taught me right then and there how to transform those ugly monsters into the most delicious little simi-dessert I had ever tasted!  I was hooked.

We ate slices of warm bread slathered with butter and drenched with honey, or just plain, and every year I made sure we had a few zucchini left on the vines long enough to grow into fruits too big to use for anything else except zucchini bread!  It is a recipe that immediately went into the Gibson recipe vault and became a family favorite.  Thank you, Norma!

I hope you enjoy it too.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

1 cup oil (Any light oil will do but I prefer extra virgin olive oil)

2 cups sugar

2 cups zucchini, peeled and grated

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (My family likes it with lots of spice, so I add nutmeg and allspice as well.)

½ cups chopped nuts

Beat eggs. Add oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix well. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add to the zucchini mixture. Add cinnamon and nuts. Pour mixture into two loaf pans that have been well-greased and floured. Bake for one hour at 325 degrees.

Enjoy!