Yesterday I removed several zucchini vines that had Squash Vine Borer larvae in them. They were some of the early plantings so I pulled them and disposed of them in the trash. Today I found 3 more small plants with SVB and trashed those too. I could have treated them by injecting some Bt into the stems but they had already passed their prime and I have 3 more younger plantings starting to produce. Generally I overplant the zucchini so I will have some left after the SVB get through with them. I seeded some more today along with some more Spacemaster cukes. I still have to make some Sweet Relish this year and the peppers should be red by the time this last set of cukes is ready.
What to do with all this zucchini…zuchinni bread.
I am one of those people who cannot throw away a seedling. I am also one of those people who plant wayyyy more seeds than I need. My thinking at the time is “I will plant 10 even though I only need 2 so I will make sure I get the best 2”. Fast forward a few weeks… “I can’t throw these other 6 or 8 away. They went to the trouble of growing, don’t they deserve a chance?” That was how I had 100+ tomato plants one year.
So… Now I have enough zucchini for the eastern half of Kentucky. Someone recently suggested I go to the farmers market with all the extra produce I always seem to have. If only I had that kind of patience. Instead everyone I know will be supplied with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers etc. whether they want them or not. I even provide recipes if I have them. Even after giving a mess of it away… (a mess… that is fodder for another post) I still have a pile of it on my freezer. Ah yes zucchini bread. That is where I was going with all of this.
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Kerry’s Zucchini Bread
Yield: 1 Loaf
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Zucchini – Unpeeled, Shredded Or Grated
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice, Ground
1 Egg
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Oil
1/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Lemon Peel
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Walnuts
In mixing bowl stir together flour, salt, pumpkin pie spice, soda and baking powder; set aside. In another bowl beat together sugar, zucchini and egg. Add oil and lemon peel; mix well. Stir flour mixture into zucchini mixture. Gently fold in chopped nuts. Turn batter into a greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool thoroughly on rack. Wrap and store loaf overnight before slicing.
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I don’t remember where this recipe came from. I’ve used it for years. I often triple the recipe and freeze the other two loaves. They freeze well and are a nice treat long after the zucchini is gone.
The recipe software I used is something I found on the net several years ago. Its called Accuchef and I love it. It was about $20 to register and I’ve never regretted it. Increasing a recipe is a breeze. Say you have a recipe that makes 2 servings and you are having a party of 12. You just change the serving amt to 12 and 1 click later it makes the conversions. You can print the original or the converted amt. You can go the other direction too. It will import recipes from other programs and even from plain text files. When I purchsed it several years ago they had a 60 use free download.