Zucchini Bread

This was definitely the only way that my mother could get me to eat zucchini when I was little. For some reason, adding lots of sugar made it taste so much better -- and though I do eat zucchini now as an actual vegetable, I haven't lost my love for this moist, wonderful bread. I didn't have my mom's recipe, sadly, but I used one from one of my favorite blogs instead, which from the tastes of the batter I tried seems to be nearly as good.

Zucchini Bread (from smittenkitchen.com)
Adapted from several sources

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (if you have a BEAUTIFUL new food processor like Zoe does, this takes 10 seconds
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)
(Personally, I like the traditional bread with no additions)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. Alternately, line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.As someone without a dishwasher and an inherent dislike for doing dishes, I only used one bowl and added all this after -- just make sure you mix very thoroughly.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.
This only improves over time, so it will be even better the next day!