Baking with Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Summer is a wonderful time for fresh fruits and vegetables. With food cost climbing so many people are going back to their roots and planting gardens. I think we all can enjoy putting seeds in the ground and watching the wonder of God develop these into healthy food for our family.

Many young adults are enjoying the art of gardening. It is so refreshing to see the hard work and self satisfaction that they get from producing food for themselves. My boys have all planted some type of garden whether big or small, and they are getting so much enjoyment from sharing there vegetables with family and friends. They are also realizing how much better the vegetables taste straight from the soil.

Most gardeners plant some type of squash, peppers, okra and of course tomatoes. We have in our garden lots of yellow or crook neck squash and zucchini. I have cooked the squash in many different ways and continued to look for more recipes, when I found a Zucchini bread recipe. This is really good for breakfast with cream cheese or serves with salads. I also found a Strawberry bread recipe which is so good with fresh strawberries, which seem to be really good and sweet this year.

I hope you will enjoy both these bread recipes. They are quick to put together and takes about an hour of cooking time.


Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini pealed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped Pecans

Beat eggs with mixer until foamy. Add sugar, oil, zucchini and vanilla; mix well. Add mixture of flour, salt baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda; mix just until moistened. Stir in pecans. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until bread tests done. Yield about 26 servings.





Strawberry Bread

1 16 oz. package frozen strawberries, thawed
or 1lb. fresh strawberries chopped
4 eggs
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped Pecans


Combine strawberries, eggs and oil in medium bowl; mix well. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and pecans in large bowl. Add strawberry mixture to dry ingredients; stir just until mixed. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for several minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Yield 24 servings.

posted by The Pecan Diva @ 10:23 AM