What to do when someone gives you a bag of zucchini and a bag of squash...

So my mother-in-law grabbed a couple of bags of zucchini and squash the other day at a discounted price. She sent some home with me since she typically doesn't eat zucchini or squash, and I found a few things to do with it!


With the yellow squash, I washed them, cut them, parboiled them, and then sauteed them in a pan with butter, vidalia onion, salt, and pepper. Mmmmmmm!!!


Can you guess what I'm gonna do with the zucchini?


I went to my trusty recipe site to find a good recipe and stumbled, ironically, on this one:

SOPHIE'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

Ingredients (my changes are in BOLD)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs (3/4 cup applesauce)
2 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, baking powder.
Beat eggs. Add and mix well sugar, vanilla, and oil. Add zucchini to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in nuts if desired. Pour into 2 ungreased loaf pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.

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Personally, I think it's more fun to toss the whole thing into a bundt pan. It seems less boring and a little more like cake that way.

Since the first one came out fab, I decided to make another one. This time, I used 3 small zucchini and a couple yellow summer squash. Figured I'd gamble. In typing this out, I relized that I forgot the doggone walnuts, which was my favorite part of the first loaf. DANG!!!! However, since the yellow squash has a bit more of a squash-y flavor, I added in a few shakes of nutmeg. Mmmmmmmm, nutmeg!


Shredded and ready!


Sifted and soft!


It takes a little elbow grease to blend the oil and applesauce and sugar and vanilla, but I got it done...


It's pretty even BEFORE baking!


Ooooohhhh!


Sort of like a spice cake or a coffee cake - really dense, moist, and YUMMO!!! (But you get VEGGIES and EXTRA FIBER!!!)

I was really worried about substituting the applesauce for the eggs. I was trying to get away from the cholesterol since Chris' was borderline high recently. It also pushes the recipe over into a vegan recipe, which is a bonus. I was really afraid that it wouldn't hold together or rise without the eggs, but it did just fine. It's a little crumbly, but it's suuuuuper moist. So if you end up with a ton of crumbs at the end, smoosh 'em together on the bottom of your fork and carry on!