Zucchini Bread

As much as I complain about the heat, summer is awesome because of all the yummy fresh fruits and vegetables that like to come out of hibernation (if you could call it that). One of my favorites is zucchini. My friend, Lisa's, mom used to make a mean zucchini casserole that, come to think of it, I need the recipe for! Since I didn't have the recipe for that (and, lets be serious, do I ever cook?!), I made zucchini bread from the yummy plethora of zucchini that popped up in my grocery store.

I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks. I highly recommend this site to everyone because it has SO many whole foods recipes in it, and the author does a great job of cooking seasonally, too! Anyways, this bread has lots of yummy stuff in it, which gives it a lot of dimension. One warning: If you don't like crystallized ginger (I think its delicious...but who am I to judge you?), I would leave it out because it is definitely prevalent in this recipe. The following is what I did.

Zucchini Bread
from 101 Cookbooks

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1/3 cup poppy seeds
Zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini, skins on
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon curry powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 1 pound loaf pans and dust them with flour.

In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, poppy seeds, lemon zest, ginger and chocolate chips.

In a mixer, beat the butter and then add the sugars and beat until mixture is no longer crumbly. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and then the zucchini.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and curry powder. Add this to the wet ingredients and stir.

Fold in the walnuts, poppy seed, lemon zest, crystallized ginger and chocolate chips. Save a bit of this mixture to top the loaves with.

Divide the batter between the two loaf pans. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the zucchini bread in pan for about ten minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling.

* I made this awhile ago and we ate one of the loaves immediately and I stuck the other in the freezer. I just now brought it out and it is still very moist and maybe a bit better than the first loaf =)