Back to baking

The cooler weather has me back in the kitchen and baking again. Baking is one of my guilty pleasures ... I love to bake! The problem comes in eating everything that I bake. Luckily I have lots of friends and family who are willing to take some baked goods off my hands. Zucchini bread is something that I usually only bake once a year when the zucchini is plentiful. I actually baked this one a couple of weeks ago and although it makes two loaves, they're already gone. I like to keep breads like this on hand ... they freeze well and are great when you have unexpected company drop by.

Zucchini Bread

2/3 cup shortening

2 2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups shredded zucchini (about 2-3 medium)

2/3 cup water

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cups walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 9x5x3 loaf pans. Mix shortening and sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs, zucchini and water.  Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir in walnuts and pour into pans.  Bake 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool before slicing.

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This weekend we'll be celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving so I'll be offline, spending time with family and friends and hopefully taking advantage of the warm weather to clean up in the garden.

Have a lovely weekend ... and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!  I'll see you next week.  xo