Overripe Bananas and Home Grown Michigan Zucchini by Rosie Wholihan
While National Zucchini Bread Day falls on April 25th and National Banana Bread Day is February 23r d, anyone who knows anything is aware that the best time of the year to enjoy these breads in the midwest is Autumn. As the air in Michigan starts to get crisp, the leaves turn and crunch under your feet, and scarf sales rise in popularity – nothing can make your mouth water more than the smell of delicious breads baking in the oven!
If you’re like me, you may have never thought that you could be the one behind the delicious smells sauntering their way out of your kitchen. However, this upcoming fall my kitchen is going to be filled with the aroma of some fabulously fall flavored delights, and yours can be, too!
Ingredients: (makes two loafs) 4 eggs 2 cups sugar (or 5 teaspoons stevia) 1 cup vegetable oil 2 medium overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup) 3 cups flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 4 teaspoons nutmeg 1 ½ cups shredded unpeeled zucchini 1 cup chopped walnuts
Draining the Zucchini by Rosie Wholihan
The first, hardest, and most singularly time consuming part of making delicious Banana-Zucchini-Walnut Bread is shredding the zucchini. So to make it easier on myself, and to make sure that the bread doesn’t turn out too soggy, I grate my zucchini the night before. My garden gave me some ridiculously large zucchinis this year, so for me it takes less than one huge zucchini to do the trick. For normal-sized, store bought zucchinis you’ll probably need to use two. After grating the zucchini, I take a small mesh colander and let the grated zucchini sit in it over night. Every once in a while, I’ll go to the fridge and push the zucchini down to squeeze more water out of it, but that could just be my fascination with having a perfect outcome!
Now comes the easier part!
First, preheat the over to 350, and then take the eggs and whip them in a large bowl. Then, add the sugar and oil, mixing until well blended. If you need to cut out on some of the sugar or the calories, you can substitute stevia for the sugar. While stevia substitution is supposed to be 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of sugar, I’ve found that in this particular recipe I prefer the taste of 5-6 teaspoons of stevia.
The next step is to mash the bananas. If you’re me, you’ll wash your hands really, really well, and mash the bananas using your hands instead of any utensils. While I personally enjoy many of the sensory aspects of baking, simply mashing them in a separate bowl and adding them to the mix will do just fine.
Midwest Fall Experiences Ingredients by Rosie Wholihan
Next is the aspect of the recipe that really puffs up the “Fabulously Fall” part of the bread. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg before stirring them into the egg mixture. While I am happy with the amounts of pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg listed here, I also enjoy more at times. My preferred method is to start with 4 teaspoons of each, and then if I taste it at the end and think it needs more, to add to taste before baking.
After adding the Midwest Fall Experience Ingredients to the mixture, all that is left to do is to stir (or hand mix!) in the zucchini and the walnuts. Walnuts are another item that you can add more or less to your preferences. I like my bread mildly nutty, but nutless or practically nutella can work, too!
Once the bread mix is all set, slop it into two 9x5 inch pans greased or sprayed for easy release of the finished fall product. Bake the two breads for about 50 minutes. Some ovens differ in their cooking speeds, so the best way to know if your bread is ready to fall off of the tree is to stick a toothpick in. If the toothpick comes out clean, your fabulously Fall Flavored Banana-Zucchini-Walnut Bread is ready to cool! If not, try additional 5-8 minute intervals until your bread is ready to be buttered!
Mama Rosie's Fabulously Fall Flavored Banana-Zucchini-Walnut Finished Product!
Speaking of buttered, my personal favorite serving suggestions is to butter the bread and sprinkle just a dash of cinnamon sugar on it (or sans sucre cinnamon sugar replacement!). Fall in in the Midwest has never tasted so good!
