Gold Rush Bread (Not the Same Old Zucchini Bread)

Do you grow zucchini in your garden?  If  you answered yes, then you surely have gone out one morning and found a baseball bat-sized zucchini.   What to do with it?  Scrape out the spongy center, grate it up, and make this bread.

This is not the same old same old zucchini bread.  It's pure gold.  I grow Gold Rush variety zucchini in my garden, so I thought, "Why not add some pineapple too kick the yellow color up a notch?" Of course you could use green zucchini.

Gold Rush Bread

2 cups finely grated gold or green zucchini

3 large eggs

½ cup of melted butter

½ cup of vegetable oil

10 ounces of crushed pineapple, drained but not dry

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 cups of granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of baking soda

½ teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

¾ teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 cup of nuts, chopped (optional)

Butter two 8-4 inch loaf pans generously and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Combine the zucchini, eggs, butter, oil, pineapple and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir well. In a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk well to blend together without lumps.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until well combined. Fold in the nuts if using. Do not over mix.

Scoop the batter into the pans and bake for 50-60 minutes until the bread is golden brown and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out dry. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from the pans to a wire rack. Let cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 2 loaves