Sunday Servings: Apple Zucchini Bread

No baking this week.

Instead I broke out of the hobby grove and challenged myself to learn to knit. With a brand new pair of bamboo knitting needles , a skein of 100% cotton yarn and a few handy-dandy websites, I set out to make my first ever knitted dishcloth.

My first attempt at knitting.

Grandmommie (my father's mother) first taught me to crochet when I was a kid. The hobby was how she whittled away the time on the long, nine hour trip from her home in East Texas to our home in West Texas.

Since the early days of stitching any yarn together regardless of color or weight or pattern, I have come to like the methodical nature of the craft and have gotten quite good at inventing and reinventing patterns over the years.

Crocheting fuels the creator side of me and I'm hoping knitting will also add fuel to the creator flame.

As I seek to master knitting, this recipe for apple zucchini bread seems the perfect blending of something old and new to compliment my new skill.

I grew up giving away zucchini bread. Every year, my father would grow zucchini in his vegetable garden and my mother would turn the yielding into little loaves of bread. Each little loaf would then get wrapped up and sent to school as thank you gifts for teachers, or to church as Christmas gifts or to the kitchen table to be sliced up and served for breakfast.

I love zucchini in general, but as a bread, it is even more fabulous. And the apples in this recipe serve as a perfect compliment to an old tried and true recipe.

So whether you are starting a new hobby this week, need a few thank you gifts as the US school year draws to a close or simply want a delicious bite for your breakfast table, I hope you enjoy this twist on an old favorite.

Apple Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose (cake) flour (Optional, but I like using whole wheat flour in fruit breads instead of traditional all-purpose flour. If you choose to do so, use 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups all-purpose.)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (for more appley bread, use applesauce instead)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups unpeeled, grated zucchini (baby marrow)
• 1 cup peeled, grated apple
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans or raisins (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a second bowl, beat eggs, and add oil, sugars and vanilla. Pour mixture over dry ingredients; mix well. Stir in zucchini, apples and pecans or raisins (your batter will be stiff, not cake-like). Spoon into three greased 8x4x3in (20x10x7cm) loaf pans.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 50-55 minutes or until top is a deep brown and a fork comes out clean.
3. Allow to cool in pans for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.