Zucchini bread, not by the recipe

I haven't been writing lately. But I haven't been lazy either. I retired. But my lifestyle isn't retiring. Things have changed. But I am happy!

The physical experience of moving from Greensboro to the mountains was not fun at all. Everyone I know has moved at least once and can relate to the misery. Nevertheless, you invariably get to the other side, get settled, and feel good about your new digs. It's the same for me. We got to the other side, got things put away, and actually are feeling wildly happy in our new rural mountain abode. We love the challenges and we love adapting.

A lot of the challenges come from our relative isolation. We're about 7 miles from a convenience store and about 17 miles from a town with a real grocery store. In Greensboro, we could run to the store 2 or 3 times a day if we were out of something or developed a sudden yen for, say, a pizza. Heck, if it was pizza, we could pick up the phone and have it delivered. Not so now. No one delivers in Sector R.

This means we have to plan ahead, make do, or do without. It means we make lists, and every trip to "the city" involves taking care of every errand we can think of. We don't buy groceries on a daily basis,depending upon what we'd like to have at the moment, but buy weekly after making up carefully planned menus.

Monday was Memorial Day and I didn't plan ahead. As a matter of fact, I found myself acting on a whim. Prompted by a last minute invitation to a community celebration, I decided to bake something to share. And considering the fact that we have LOTS of zucchini, a nice zucchini bread seemed like a good idea. I would not let the fact that I've never made it before stop me. I had the internet for a recipe, plenty of zucchini from the garden, flour, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, oil -- what could stop me?

Let's see - the recipe called for me to bake in two 8x4 loaf pans. I have only one 8x4 loaf pan. I have two 9x5 loaf pans, but there wouldn't be enough batter for that. I could use one 8x4 and one 9x5, but the larger pan would produce an awfully thin loaf. My solution was to use my trusty bundt pan. This is called "making do."

Then, I see the recipe calls for baking powder. Now, I know I have baking powder, but heaven only knows what unpacked box it's in. Unpacking more boxes is not a choice I'm willing to make. So, I think that surely there's a substitute. And fortunately, I have the internet (the oracle). Lo and behold, I can substitute 2 parts cream of tartar and one part of baking soda -- both of which I do have! This is called "making do."

So, I made do and I'm happy to report that the zucchini bread turned out great. I'll be making more as the summer goes on since our garden is blessing us with a bountiful harvest.

For those of you who've asked, the recipe I used follows. I'll write it as given, but remember that I used a bundt pan and substituted soda/cream of tartar for baking powder. I'll keep using the bundt pan, but baking soda is on my shopping list for the next trip into the "the city."

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 tsp ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

Grease and flour 2 4x8 baking pans

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in large bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add zucchini and nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 50-60 minutes at 325 degrees until tester comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 20 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.