From my Kitchen -

Zucchini Bread 

This weekend while my husband was off at drill, I was baking these yummy goodies! Zucchini Bread (mini loaves) and Mini Zucchini Chocolate Chip muffins! I did minis because 1. they don't last...because we eat the whole thing...in one sitting. Since we are all watching our figures, I did minis so there was less, for our mad rush of eating it all. I placed most of these in the freezer. The Muffins I bagged 2 to a bag, for a quick breakfast for the teenage girl on the run. I placed the loaves in the freezer as well, for breakfasts, snacks, or unexpected quests that I don't have any munchies out. From 2 Zucchinis I baked these 5 loaves, and about 24 muffins. I also placed in the freezer 1 other zucchini for future use.

Most Zucchini Bread recipes call for 1 cup of grated zucchini, and that raises issues for some...I have more than a cup worth of zucchini, and your only making 1 (or 2) loaves. The perfect zucchini in my opinion, is about 6-7 inches long. This is where some gardeners may argue, as they grow zucchinis that are 12 plus long. As they grow, they become grainy, dry, and the seeds are more abundant than 'the meat' of the veggie. I prefer the smaller for the juicy, meaty and the seeds are tender. Also 6-7 inch will give you about 2 cups of grated zucchini. Easy-2 regular sized loaves, 1 zucchini. To save on space in the freezer, I place the grated zucchini in a quart bag, lay it flat, press all the zucchini to the bottom of the bag, close all but 1inch of the top, and then as you press out all the 'air' to the top... flatten the bag to fill the whole bag. So your end result looks like this

I store everything I can this way, Zucchini, ground meat, sliced strawberries, since the bag is about 1/2 inch thick, and flat, they stack and take less space in my freezer. For those that would like my recipe for Zucchini Bread...

3 cups of flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoons baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh finely grated lemon peel

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, soda, powder, cinn., nutmeg, & salt in one bowl, set aside. In another bowl combine oil, eggs, sugar, zucchini, lemon peel, mix these all together well. Add the flour mix, and stir very well to be sure all is combined. (at this point you can add 1 cup of walnuts if you like)

Grease 2 regular bread loaf pans (or 4 mini pans). Pour in batter and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Besure to insert a cake tester (or a toothpick) to test 'done-ness' and allow to cool 10 minutes on a  rack. I always place breads on their sides (5minutes on each side, as it makes removing easier) remove from pan and finish cooling before you place 1 in a freezer bag, and eat the other loaf quickly!(I always get one slice in before I let my family know it's ready...or I wont get any!)

To make my Chocolate Chip Muffins- cut back some one the lemon, and add 1 cup mini chocolate chips at the end. I grease muffin tins (I don't use paper cup liners-but you can), fill tins, and bake, about 35-40 minutes.

TIP- I know that some have had questions to me as to 'who do you get the lemon peel from the grater?' I use a hand-held grater for all my citrus fruits. It is a really fine grater and the peel does not 'fall' off on it's own.

Left is the top where I grated the lemon. On the right, is the back, as you can see...it just collects.

I use a stiff bristle BBQ baster and just brush the front and back of the grater to remove the peel.

 

And done! Why do I go to this extra step? Lemon peel is a great flavor, and it accents the zucchini very well, and I like the taste of grated peel over lemon juice in my zucchini bread/muffins.

And with it so fine, it is not noticed as 'pieces' of lemon, just the flavor.

So, now you can add lemon peel to any recipe, with out 'chunks'!

Happy Baking!