Zucchini Bread

You can get zucchini for a steal at Superstition Market right now. Which means I'm buying WAY more than we could ever eat. BUT, as it turns out, you can freeze grated zucchini! Which means you can have zucchini bread all year round! Yay!

Bread:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 heaping cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Streusel (because adding that much oil and sugar to a vegetable doesn't make this unhealthy enough):
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Throw it all together in a bowl. I like to squish it around a bit with my hands so you get some lovely little clumps.


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8.4 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Stir into egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. Top with streusel mixture.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until done.


Kayla's Notes, or, What I've Learned Through Trial and Error Using This Recipe, or, Things You All Probably Already Know But I'm a Little Slow:

-Beat the eggs on high for a long time. Underbeating makes the loaves flat

-Grate the zucchini (skin, seeds and all) right before you add it to the batter. If its left out for long, it starts to lose some of the moisture and it makes for a drier bread. Which doesn't taste as good.

-This makes for really good mini muffins. I use mini muffin paper liners in a mini muffin tin and bake for about 15 minutes. I usually get one loaf and about 3 dozen mini muffins per batch, depending on how generous I've been with the batter.

-Home teachers really like mini muffins.

Chicken Broccoli Bake

4 chicken breasts

2 lbs broccoli - fresh or frozen

1 can cream of chicken soup - I usually use the low-fat version

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup miracle whip

1 cup grated cheese

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Simmer chicken in water for 30 minutes.  Remove chicken and let cool.  Place chicken on top of broccoli in a baking dish.  Combine and heat soup, milk, mayo, and miracle whip in a saucepan until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese.  Add lemon juice to taste.  Pour over chicken and broccoli. Bake covered for 30 minutes at 350.  

Pesto

This is actually a recipe of Todd's, he served his mission in Italy.  

2 cups basil leaves

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, peeled

large pinch salt

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Roast pine nuts in oven.  In a food processor or blender, place the basil, roasted nuts, garlic cloves, salt and cheese - pulse these ingredients then gradually add the olive oil and continue pulsing until at desired consistency.  Serve over the pasta of your choice.