Zucchini Bread

Truck farming as I once saw it called in a western novel that I read used to be a way of life for so many people in this area, simply to feed the family they would grow and the kids would all be charged with picking and breaking and hoeing weeds and carrying water and tending the garden in all ways they seem to need.  I sometimes miss parts of taking care of a garden, but not often.  I’ve had terrible luck as of late with my gardening attempts it seems, but I do still love the efficient and self-sufficient nature of a garden.  I had a great time pouring my mind into it and doing the work itself for the most part in the limited attempts I’ve made.  Zucchini and yellow squash were two of the easier plants to grow and after I got a vacuum sealer I quickly found they would keep very well in the freezer. 

Zucchini also has grown to become one of my favorite in quite a few dishes, but most of all I have grown fond of zucchini bread.  It tastes incredible, its full of zucchini, and it freezes really well and tastes just as good if not better after it thaws.  I’ve found quite a few recipes for it, and really have not had one turn out bad yet.  My last was as follows: 

3 cups flour                                                                                          1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp salt                                                                                               2 ¼ cups white sugar

1 tsp baking soda                                                                                3 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder                                                                           2 cups grated zucchini

1 tbsp ground cinnamon                                                                    1 cup chopped walnuts

3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 325.  Grease two small 8x4” glass baking dishes over both the bottom and all the sides. 

Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder in a bowl together well. 

Mix well the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla in a larger bowl.   Stir in all the dry ingredients mixing well as you go.  Mix in the zucchini and walnuts.  Pour mixture into the two pans evenly.  Bake in oven for around 50-60 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and let the pans cool completely.  Then flip over pans and bread loaves should fall out. 

Working the Garden

This has been one of the tastiest and warming ways to get green vegetables.  I’m certain God intended man to work the fields or tend to some sort of manual labor for at least a portion of his life and I fear the up and coming generation and entirely too much of this one does without the lessons which that teaches, if only that it can be unpleasant and can allow less tedious and strenuous work to be more appreciated.  So much goes unlearned and unnoticed without a stint as such in ones’ life. 

Matthew 9:37-38