Zukanna Bread

By Meagan Yellott

There’s no better way to complete a weekend than to fill your home-zone full to the brim with the sweet, spicy smells of baking zucchini bread. It caps off that feeling of creative accomplishment, makes the perfect porch-sitting dessert and helps to buffer the shock of a Monday morning by providing the perfect accompaniment to that first cup of workin’-week coffee. The following recipe makes two loaves. Eat one slice by slice and share the other with your friends.

MeGee’s Zukanna Bread

3 under ripe bananas
1/4 cup soy milk
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs. vanilla
3 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tsp. all-spice
1 tsp nutmeg
3 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate or carob chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Liquefy the bananas with soy milk by blending in a food processor or blender. Then combine in a large bowl with sugar, oil and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, all-spice and nutmeg in a separate bowl, using a fork to sift and distribute evenly.

4. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir well. The mix should be slightly thicker than pancake batter, but sufficiently wet enough to pour. If it seems to dry mix in a bit more soy milk. If too soupy, add a touch more flour.

5. Stir in grated zucchini, walnuts and chocolate. Pour into two slightly greased bread pans and bake for 50-60 minutes. The loaves should rise and turn golden on top. They’re done when you can fork the center and pull it out with no batter goo.

Beverage: Iced Earl Grey
Soundtrack: Nobody and Mystic Chords of Memory’s Tree Colored See