Zucchini Bread Bake-off

I had the fun task of being one of the "blogger's choice" judges at Fat Moon Farm's zucchini bread bake-off.  The other two judges were Kathi from The Full Fridge and Andy from My Untangled Life.  It was fun to meet other bloggers who are passionate about food and cooking!

I made a loaf of the double chocolate zucchini bread Jules posted the other day.

It was good--certainly didn't disappoint.  I didn't have espresso powder so I subbed a teaspoon of cinnamon--I'd probably use more in the future as you couldn't taste the cinnamon.  Also, like Jules, I sprinkled some coarse sugar on top, because, well, I thought that was a FINE idea!

But, my favorites of the day were a lemon poppy zucchini bread and a banana zucchini bread--I hope they end up sharing the recipe as anything I think is better than chocolate, you KNOW it has to be good!  Those were the two breads us three bloggers chose for the "bloggers' choice" awards.

**EDIT TO ADD--Here's a link to the Fat Moon site about the event, with links to recipes!

And here are the real winners--all of us who got to try all the delicious zucchini bread!  Thanks, Elizabeth at Fat Moon, for planning this fun event!

And check out the lovely flowers they gave me!  Aren't they beautiful?? 

A lovely afternoon, and one of the many reasons why I enjoy eating locally and getting to know local farmers and producers!

double chocolate zucchini bread

This blog post is dedicated to my friend, Adrienne.

Wednesday night Holiday Brook Farm held their first CSA member potluck.  It was a wonderful night filled with great friends and fantastic food - not only do farmers know how to grow food, they also know how to transform it into a gastric delight!  I'm still trying to figure out why my grilled eggplant doesn't taste *that* good ('that good' referring to the eggplant I consumed prior to the arrival of fresh goat cheese on the scene, when I promptly plopped a dollop on top of a slice of grilled eggplant, rolled it up and proceeded to eat it with my bare hands).  

Within a day or two of finding out about the potluck dinner, I received an email from my friends at King Arthur Flour sharing this recipe for double chocolate zucchini bread. Fast forward a couple of days and I'm at the farm picking up our weekly vegetable (CSA) share and lo and behold zucchini was amongst the offerings.  My fate was sealed.

I followed the aforementioned recipe exactly, save for a sprinkling of coarse sugar on top (because let's face it, coarse sugar on top makes most any baked good better).

The bread was a hit and honestly, you would never know there was zucchini tucked inside!  It simply adds moisture to this delectable dessert.  I'll be making this again in the days ahead so I can share it with the gals at work.  I may also have to put a slice aside for my friend, Adrienne, who took her zucchini bread 'to go' Wednesday night, only to have a certain member of her household, who shall go unnamed (but who happens to be her marital partner), eat every last bite!

Tip:  It took nearly 80 minutes for my bread to finish baking and next time, I'll line my pan with parchment so I can remove it from the pan with ease.   

I'm already looking forward to the next potluck.  Farm life is soothing to my soul and eating amidst the crops and livestock are particularly so.  As we drove down the driveway that evening, my son asked, 'are we going to do this again'?  And for a moment in time, all was well in the world.

Bon Appetit!