Welcome back to another edition of Cooking in Quarantine. Lately, I have dedicated my heart and soul to bread. I love the methodical comfort that bread brings and spending a day in the kitchen waiting for different loaves to (hopefully) come out perfectly.
But, as much as I love making a good sourdough loaf, sometimes you simply don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. So, I have begun to return to the breads of my childhood: banana, zucchini and orange bread. As this recipe shows, sometimes all you need for the most perfect loaf of bread is an hour and a half of free time and a couple of leftover vegetables.
Now, if you haven’t experienced the joy of zucchini bread, you may have your doubts. I understand —  why would vegetable bread make any sense at all? Well, I honestly don’t have the answer to that. All I know is zucchini bread is a loaf of comfort and joy and simply shouldn’t be questioned. 
Be warned, however, that not all vegetable bread works as well as zucchini bread. On a fateful day last summer while not paying enough attention to what I was doing, I accidentally attempted to make this recipe with cucumber. Spoiler alert, it did not work. I learned that day that cucumber has virtually no flavor and loves to dissolve when cooked in bread. So be careful when cooking this and pay attention to the very apparent differences between cucumbers and zucchinis that I missed! 
This recipe has been adapted from a tiny old cookbook in my kitchen at home that my mom has used a total of one recipe out of my entire life (Hint: it’s this one).  This recipe differs from the one in the overlake school cookbook in a couple of different ways. I use four instead of three eggs, an extra cup of zucchini, and a little more vanilla and cinnamon. This recipe can be adapted to however you like it, so feel free to trust your taste and take this bread where you want.
I hope you find as much joy and deliciousness as I do when cooking this bread, and if you have any other favorite easy breads-drop the tips in the comments below. 
Good luck in your recipe adventures, stay safe and cook on!
 

Ingredients: 

• 4 eggs 
• 1 cup packed brown sugar 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 cup canola oil 
• 1 T vanilla 
• 3 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini (this will be about 2 zucchinis loosely packed) 
• 2 cups unbleached flour 
• 1T cinnamon 
• 2 t baking soda 
• 1 t salt 
• ½ t baking powder 

Time to cook: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy 
3. Then beat in sugar, oil and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is thick and has lightened to more of a lemon color 
4. Stir in zucchini 
5. In another bowl (or add to the top it, let’s be honest it’s not the end of the world) stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and baking powder. 
6. Stir carefully into zucchini batter. Careful not to over mix here. At this point you can also add a cup of chopped walnuts if you like them. 
7. Pour mixture into two oiled loaf pans. 
8. Bake 1 hour-1 hour and 10 mins. If you are uncertain if they are done at this point, poke a thin knife into the center top and if it comes out clean, they are done! 
9. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then turn onto a rack to fully cool. If you don’t have a cooling rack, you can also put a towel on top of a cutting board and cool them on there. Cooling it with one of these options allows the bread to cool fully without the bottom getting too moist. 
10. You will also notice that as the bread continues to sit, the top should set and get crunchy-in my opinion, this is the best time to enjoy zucchini bread!