From the Kitchen of...

A week or so ago, friends of mine were kind enough to not only invite Mike and I over to dinner, but to then send home some Zucchini Blueberry Bread she made the day before. When I enjoyed the next morning for breakfast, I knew I had to have the recipe. We've been getting some great zucchini in our farm box, and blueberries have been not only cheaper at the grocery store, but have looked better than they have in weeks.

Last week we received a couple extra-large zucchini that I knew were perfect for baking, so I decided to whip up a batch. The ingredients were simple enough, and the directions were easy to follow. Now to decide what shape to bake it in...

As I may have mentioned before, Mike definitely prefers bread loaves when it comes to this sort of treat, but I'm a sucker for muffins. With this one batch of batter, I was able to please both our taste buds with 2 mini loaves, 12 regular-size muffins, and 24 mini muffins.

Man, oh, man...these are scrumptious. I sent the mini loaves to work with Mike for a trip he had to take and decided to share some of the muffins with my co-workers today. Everyone who tried one commented on how good they were. They make an excellent breakfast, but are just sweet enough to be a delicious dessert as well.

Without further ado, Mandy's recipe for
Zucchini Blueberry Bread/Muffins!

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
  3. Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Note: Baking time will be less for muffins. I started with 25 minutes and then checked with a toothpick.

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