Zucchini Bread!

   Nom Nom Nom!  Zucchini bread is the bestest!  I remember making this at my friend's house.  There's a whole lot of kids in their house.  So that meant a whole lot of zucchinis to grate.  It took foreeeever...  We recently got zucchini and summer squash from a local farmer's market.  We waited too long for one of the zucchini.  It had already become tough.  So, zucchini bread was really my only choice, but that's ok with me.  I got out a grater which I've had back in my cupboard.  It has a clamp and spin the grater wheel design.  It made grating the zucchini so fast!  Way faster than I remembered it being as a kid.  And it keeps the grater away from my hand, which I greatly appreciate.  Using graters make me nervous.  :\  Sewing machines used to, too.  What's that called, GratoSewophobia?


   So I went looking for a recipe that only needed one zucchini.  I found one by Martha Stewart and one by Paula Dean.  Martha calls for cloves and Paula calls for lemon juice.  So I added both to mine.  I went with Paula's overall recipe with some adjustments.  The reviewers said it was too sweet and one of them said they did 1 1/2 c. sugar (instead of 3 cups), 3/4 c. oil (instead of 1 cup), 1/2 c. extra zucchini, and a TB of molasses.  I decided on doing 2 c. of sugar and 3/4 c. oil.  I also used light brown sugar instead of normal and that added the molasses.  I grated one large zucchini and used it.  I didn't mess with measuring it.  ('Sides what would I do with the extra?)  Here's Martha Stewart's recipe and here is Paula Dean's recipe.  And here's my recipe:

   Preheat the oven to 350.
   In a medium-sized bowl, grate one large zucchini.
Add 3/4 c. vegetable oil, 4 eggs (I only put 3 eggs, because that's all we had :P), 1/3 c. water, and 1 t. lemon juice.  Mixy.  Mixy.

Those aren't pickles.  They're end slices of the zucchini.

In a big bowl, mix 3&1/4 c. flour, 1&1/2 t. salt, 1 t. nutmeg, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 t. cloves, 2 t. baking soda, and 2 c. light brown sugar (sort of packed in, sort of not).

   Mix the wet into the dry.  Add a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans (Optional).  (I didn't add the nuts in.)  Grease two loaf pans, fill them with the mixture.  I then chopped up some walnuts and sprinkled those on the top.  (The nuts ended up tasting burnt.)  Bake them for 1 hour.  Or you can put them in 5 mini loaf pans and bake for 45 mins.

   Note to self:  Even if a pan has only been in the oven for a few minutes, it will be hot by then.  Ow ow ow!

Yum yum.  The cloves are strong.  I think it might be a little overpowering, but Dad says they complement the zucchini.
  Delicious.  Dad and Helen put butter on theirs.  Mom and I didn't.  You can tell Prince Charming I'm dumping him for zucchini bread.  :D

This zucchini bread is a little dry.  I'm going to try to find a different recipe next time.  Or maybe follow the instructions or something.  I like the flavor of this one except for all the cloves.
    Don't worry.  Paula Dean's link still works.  Apparently, even after firing her for admitting she hasn't always been perfect like them, they still have her recipes on their site.