Blueberry Zucchini Bread

We tried a new bread recipe this week, and it turned out so yummy we are planning on making several more batches to freeze! I was introduced to this recipe from AllRecipes by our cousin Sara. We made 3 mini loafs and a batch of muffins with this recipe. Perfect for all the zucchini we have growing in the garden (did I mention Brad planted 6...yes SIX...zucchini plants this year...that is a boatload of zucchini for our little family!) and all the fresh, yummy blueberries we are getting this time of year!

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups zucchini, shredded
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the loaf pans.
3. Bake 50 min or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 20 min in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!

P.S. For those of you who are having trouble locating my recipe collection now that I am no longer posting to my former recipe blog, you can still find all my recipes here at R&R by clicking on the sidebar link for "Recipes" or by searching more specifically by ingredient using the drop down box of labels. :)

Cran-Zucchini Pear Bread

My friend, Allison took the pears and made her own twist on a pear-zucchini bread recipe. (For those of you who don't know Allison, she is the queen of mixing flavors!) This bread was delicious! I thought it would be a perfect bread for Christmas time because of the red and green in it. You could even throw in a little cinnamon! Thanks for sharing Ally!

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 eggs
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil
* 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups finely chopped peeled ripe pears
* 1 cup shredded zucchini
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients.
2. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the pears and zucchini.
3. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in nuts.
4. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Allison's Additions:
I added some coarsely chopped fresh cranberries, orange zest, and white chocolate chips! =)

Zucchini Muffin

Yes, yet another zucchini recipe! This is one my parents found on cooks.com and they are delicious. These are great if you want easy serving sizes or don't want to have the oven on for as long as a loaf of zucchini bread.

INGREDIENTS:
* 3 eggs
* 1 c. canola oil
* 1 tbsp Vanilla
* 2 cups shredded zucchini, unpeeled
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
* 1 tbsp cinnamon
* 1 1/2 tsp soda
* 1 cup chopped nuts
* 1 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp baking powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine beaten eggs, oil, and sugar.
2. Add remaining ingredients by hand.
3. Fill paper muffin cups, or greased muffin tin, 2/3 full.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min. Makes 24 muffins.

Zucchini Cakes

I tried this new recipe I found in an old magazine that looked like a great way to use up some of the zucchini we have from the garden. They are basically corn muffins baked with zucchini, cheese, and cayenne pepper for some spice. I couldn't find my cayenne pepper so I used crushed red pepper flakes. Next time I would try adding even more pepper flakes because I couldn't really taste them, but these were still pretty good...just different. They would be a great side for a meal and a nice alternative to a traditional corn muffin.

INGREDIENTS:
* 1/2 of a medium zucchini, shredded (1 cup)
* 1 (8.5 oz) pkg corn muffin mix
* 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1 egg
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl combine zucchini, muffin mix, cheese, milk, egg, and cayenne pepper. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Yields: 12 muffins

Zucchini Bread

Well our six zucchini plants are doing very well, and we have been enjoying quite a lot of zucchini bread these days! It is soooo yummy fresh out of the oven with a little butter on it! Here is the recipe that we use.

INGREDIENTS:

* 3 cups shredded zucchini

* 1 2/3 cups sugar

* 1/3 cup vegetable oil

* 2 tsp vanilla

* 4 large eggs

* 3 cups all purpose flour

* 2 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tsp ground cinnamon

* 1/2 tsp ground cloves

* 1/2 tsp baking powder

* 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts

* 1/2 cups raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Lower the oven rack so the tops of the pans will be in the center of the oven. Heat to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2in, or 1 loaf pan 9 x 5 x 3 in.

2. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.

3. Bake 8 in loaves 50-60 min, 9 in loaf 1hr 10min-1 hr 20 min, until toothpick inserted in center comes clean. COol 10 min on wire rack before removing from pans. Cool before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.