Mom's Recipe Box Find: Zucchini Bread

When my Mom passed away in October, the first thing I called dibs on was her recipe box. I remember that same old beat-up box sitting on the kitchen counter from my earliest memories. Some of the recipes were on index cards in my Mom's school-teacher penmanship, while others were from relatives, or in an unfamiliar hand, and still more were torn from newspapers or magazines. This one is of the first kind, in Mom's writing, giving credit to my Grandmother's friend Sue Bohner for the recipe.

We used to eat this often when I was a kid. This snack bread (and her recipe for banana bread) stood in for the cookies and candy available at other kids' houses. Full of raisins and walnuts (though I omitted the nuts from this batch, since my daughter is allergic), it's sweet enough to please any kid, but also sneaks in some vegetables to keep healthy moms happy.

I made a few changes from the original. A cup of oil seemed heavy, so I subbed with half a cup of applesauce. I also switched out a cup of regular flour for some whole wheat flour. Then I realized I only had one largish zucchini left, so I subbed half the zucchini with a cup of grated carrots. These changes were pretty negligible as far as consistency and taste went, so please feel free to use my Mom's original, or my doctored version.

Zucchini Bread

(recipe courtesy of my Mom's recipe box, via Sue Bohner)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or use regular if you don't have wheat)
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup grated zucchini, about one large zucchini
• 1 cup grated carrots, about 2 or 3 large carrots
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted these)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar. Stir in oil, applesauce, and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, stirring well.
4. Stir in the zucchini, carrots, raisins and walnuts (if using).
5. Pour batter into a well-greased loaf pan and bake. Unfortunately, my Mom's recipe doesn't specify how long it needs to bake for. Mine went for about an hour and 20 minutes. I recommend baking it for an hour, then checking it with a toothpick every 15 minutes or so.

This bakes up big and dense. My daughter likes hers, for dessert, with butter. I like mine with cream cheese.