Zucchini Spiced Bread

Recipe from Everyday Food Magazine and Husband-Tested in Alice's Kitchen

Last year after the Zucchini 500 Races at the Orange County HomeGrown Farmers Market (Orleans, IN) we were swamped with zucchini. I brought lots of zucchini home from the market, ran them through my food processor shredder blade and put the zucchini in the freezer for my fall baking. Rather than heat up your kitchen with the oven during the heat of the summer, freeze the zucchini, making a note on the freezer container to check this blog for the recipe this fall. The bread is moist and full of flavorful spices! Your house will smell divine while the bread is baking. (And, you'll be heating your house with the oven on!) One of the best things going at Lost River Market & Deli is the bulk spice section where you will find a whole host of spices. (You can even reuse your spice bottles/containers. Just give your container to one of the friendly checkers and they'll weigh it for you. Then head back to the spice section, scoop out what you need and pay for just what you added to your container.) Store your spices in a dark place so that they last longer. I keep mine in a large drawer with dot labels on top of the lids so that I can see at a glance what spices I have.

Nonstick cooking spray
1 large zucchini
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan with cooking spray, and set aside. Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater (to yield 1 3/4 cups); set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
Into a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and stir to combine well. Stir in grated zucchini.
Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack, then reinvert, top side up. Cool completely before slicing.

**Cooks who wrote in to the website where I got this recipe said they added chocolate chips and nuts to the batter. Sounds like a yummy idea to me!