Zucchini Bread

I was looking over my blog recently and realized it looks like all we eat is boxed food. While we used to eat a lot of that, we don’t do it as much anymore. My friends Claire and Jen B. are both really good cooks and have taught me a lot. I get a lot of really great recipes off their blogs that are now family favorites. When I grocery shop I try to stock up on items when they go on sale at their lowest price and match them with coupons. That is why I usually have a bunch of the same item. Then I store them and we use them as needed. This has allowed me to lower my grocery budget to between $250 & $300 a month but also have enough food stockpiled to last us a month or more. One of my goals this year is to keep my grocery budget under $250. This will include dog food, diapers and any cleaning or paper products. In an effort to do that I am working on making things from scratch and reducing the amount of meat we eat. If a recipe calls for 1 lb of hamburger, I use ½ lb. Another way to help reduce cost is not waste anything. We eat all leftovers for lunch the next day. Not only does this cut down on waste but also gives me one less meal to plan. When I was going through my fridge before yesterday’s grocery shop I ran across two zucchini I bought last week but we hadn’t eaten yet. What better way to use them up then to make Zucchini Bread. Yummy!!

INGREDIENTS 3 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil (I used ½ cup vegetable oil & ½ cup applesauce) 2 cups white sugar 2 cups grated zucchini 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup flour 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine 2 teaspoons cinnamon ½ cup chopped walnuts DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. Mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, melted butter & walnuts. Sprinkle on top of the batter prior to baking. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done