My husband surprised me with two loaves of perfectly textured and delicious zucchini bread made from our garden bounty last week. Each slice quickly disappeared into our grateful bellies, and he was nice enough to make another batch this weekend. If we had room, I’d make a couple more, just to freeze for later. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups grated zucchini*
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pans with nonstick spray, line with parchment paper, and spray paper. Combine zucchini, sugars, oil, and eggs in a large bowl and mix until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in nuts and extract. Divide batter between loaf pans. Bake until a tester inserted in the middle of each loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Invert, and remove parchment paper. Cool completely on rack. Delicious served warm with butter.

*A food processor is ideal for grating the zucchini