The garden where it all began.

The timing was awful.  Not what my wife and I had envisioned when we planted our garden in early May.  Who knew the cucumber, squash and zucchini plants would produce so quickly, and in such abundance?  How could either of us have known we’d be up to our eyeballs in veggies the very week my wife was out of town visiting her mother.

Cucumbers I can deal with.   But zucchini?   Puh-lease!   What was I supposed to do with a sink-full of zucchini?

The bounty.

“You could always make some yummy zucchini bread,” my wife insisted on the phone.

My first thought:  Why would someone do that?  Zucchini bread?  Eeeew!

“Yes dear,” I said, and Googled the recipe:

Zucchini Bread IV

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done.

I have to say, it was a little freaky plopping two cups of grated zucchini into the batter.   But who was I to second-guess centuries of tradition?  Besides, the recipe had garnered 4-1/2 stars on AllRecipes.com.

Fast-forward an hour and ten minutes.

Zuchinni bread times two.

I don’t want to brag, but my zucchini loaves looked and smelled absolutely scumptuous!   And why shouldn’t they?   The bulk of the batter was sugar and cinammon, raising the question, would we even taste zucchini?  We, as in me and my two teen daughters.  Trust me, if they scarf down a slice, anyone will.

We all scarfed…and scarfed…and scarfed.

Half-eaten zucchini loaf.

Man it was good, especially served warm, and it didn’t even taste like zucchini!   For that matter, does banana bread taste like bananas?   Or does carrott cake taste like carrotts?   If the answer is no, then why go to the trouble of lacing perfectly good bread or cake with vegetables?

Why?

Because when you’re stuck with a fridge-full of your least favorite veggies (excluding the cucumbers), you have to do something to get grown men to eat them.

Squash cookies anyone?

Man with a green thumb.