Garden Fresh Zucchini Bread

Once upon a moon ago, I was an e-commerce Marketing Manager at Van Bourgondien’s, a flower bulb company. I was blessed with a wonderful staff of women to work with, and one day, my assistant, Marie, came in with some delicious-smelling bread. I eagerly pounced upon her cubicle and asked what she had whipped up the night before. She proudly told me it was zucchini bread – made with fresh zucchini pulled right out of her garden. Would I like a slice? I immediately started backing away…zucchini? Yuck! I hated zucchini – it was something my mother forced me to eat as a kid and there was no way it was going to taste good baked in a loaf of bread. Thankfully, the phone in my office rang and I made a mad dash for it. When Marie came into my office a few moments later, I was horrified to see that she came with a slice of her vegetable bread. I was trapped, and I knew I would have to try it because she was just so gosh-darn nice, that I couldn’t say no. So I mustered up my courage and slowly took a bite… What?! It was sweet? And, tasted delicious too? This bread couldn’t have a vegetable in it: especially, if it was the mom-forced-upon-me zucchini from my childhood past! Yet, when I inspected the bread, I saw the trademark green flecks scattered throughout the slice. At that point, I forgot all about my bad zucchini past, and promptly shoved the rest of the piece in my mouth. While chewing, and spitting crumbs everywhere, I begged Marie for the recipe. I was younger then, and didn’t understand the importance of storing my beloved recipes properly. I know that I put it in one of my “safe spots”, but when I went to make Marie’s recipe the other day, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Sadly, Marie wasn’t online, so I knew I’d have to fend for myself. I knew she found her recipe on AllRecipes.com, so I poked around on the site and reviewed several recipes until I could piece one together that most closely resembled Marie’s original. I’m happy to report that it turned out well: so well, that it even passed the Tyler and Abbey test! So, if you’ve got a bumper crop of zucchini in your yard and want to sneak some veggies into your kids’ diets, give this recipe a whirl… [The original recipe that I altered can be found on AllRecipes.com. It is called "Mom's Zucchini Bread" by v.monte.]