Zany, Zesty, Zippy Zucchini

A little while ago, a friend bought more zucchini than we knew what to do with, and the next day she started a crazy diet so we had a whole bunch of leftover zucchini. So today, I took advantage of my lazy sunday and found creative ways to use up the zucchini.

I made my mother's zucchini and "Vache Qui Rit" soup and replicated (with adjustments) my friend S.'s zucchini bread (which you can find on her blog Curries and Cakes). The soup is a simple recipe that warms my soul in a way that chicken noodle soup heals sickness and tomato soup and grilled cheese brings out the child in you.

Soupe de Courgettes

Ingredients:

Water
Zucchini (one per person/serving)
fromage Vache Qui Rit (one triangle per zucchini)

slice the zucchini. cover with water. bring to a boil, add Vache Qui Rit. Blend. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

While the zucchini was cooking, I was busy grating the rest for the bread. Usually, bakers will tell you that you need to follow recipes to the letter when baking, whereas there is more liberty to be had with cooking. I am here to tell you that this is absolutely not true. My zucchini bread was made almost entirely of substitutions, because, being sunday, the supermarkets are closed and I could not go get any of the right ingredients.

Zucchini Bread (adapted from S.)

Ingredients:

2 c. grated zucchini (best left to drain for an hour or so)
3 c. Flour (I used a homemade gluten free mix)
1/2 t Baking powder
1.5 t Baking soda
2 t vanilla extract
3 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1.5 c. sugar (I ran out of sugar and used an indeterminate amount of powdered sugar)
salt
1 c. oil (supposedly vegetable oil, but all I had was olive oil)
1/2 c. milk (again, I used rice milk to substitute for dairy milk)

(as it turns out, this recipe is egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free...) a perfect recipe for the growing number of people allergic to everything.

mix milk, oil, vanilla, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and fold in the grated zucchini. Add the wet ingredients, making sure to fold in the flour mix evenly to avoid clumps of flour.

Pour into bread mold (I made it in a brownie tin because I don't own a bread mold). Bake at 180 degrees celsius/350 degrees fahrenheit for 45-60 minutes, checking after 30 min. it is done if when you insert a knife in the centre (or a toothpick), it comes out clean.

Let cool. Eat (or eat hot with some salted butter...yum)