Completely Baked

So this weekend was the annual BAAC rodeo, rally and adoption event. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we really depend on it to generate revenue that we donate towards the veterinary bills of abused and neglected animals all over the country. You can check us out at www.bikersagainstanimalcruelty.org. In addition to working the kitchen for the event I also volunteered to make stuff for a bake sale. Since I didn't get a lot of others volunteering to make stuff at first I made a LOT of stuff. I should have known better though because our group ALWAYS manages to pull it together and they did not disappoint. Right before the event all sorts of things were being brought to the table (Thanks guys!). I made a variety of things, mostly cookies and cupcakes (5 batches each). But I also made mini cheesecakes and zucchini bread. I had a hard time getting the bread out of the house because it's hubby's favorite thing in the whole wide world. But I assured him that I would make more now that the garden is producing zucchini as fast as we can eat them. I use Paula Deen's recipe, which is a fantastic one for sure.

Zucchini Bread ala Paula Deen

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Yes, the recipe uses a LOT of sugar but it's good. Trust me on this. I always leave the nuts out; I just don't care for them in sweet breads, but I have been toying with the idea of adding a streusel topping to the loaves. That can't not be good, right? If I ever get around to trying it I will let you know how it came out but for now I am completely baked out.