Zucchini Bread

This makes a great bread -- moist but not super sweet. I found this recipe at Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. Alternately, line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using. Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

 Cool for 15 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to completely cool.

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

Crunchy Granola

This is my homemade granola recipe -- well, its actually Bittman but I adapted it. The original recipe had the oven at 350 but I found that the granola burned so I do it at 250 for a longer time. You must use unsweetened coconut -- the sweetened stuff will burn. My favorite combo is 1 cup of chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients
6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds or cashews
1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Dash salt
1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste
1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit, optional

Method
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt and sweetener. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.

 2. Remove pan from oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container and store in refrigerator; it will keep indefinitely.

Yield About 8 cups (at least 16 servings)
Time 40 minutes

Source: The New York Times