The Unconstant Gardner

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I have not been very attentive to my garden this year. I get out and weed a little, then the next time I get back to it, I realize it has been a couple of weeks and the weeds are taking over. In spite of that and the several days of in adequate water considering the 100+ degree weather we have been having, I have a harvest.

I did not plant any squash varieties this year--well, except for the banana cucumber I bought that turned out to be a zucchini. [I guess they got the babies mixed up in the nursery.] Anyway, all I have are "volunteers" from seeds left in the soil last year. My zucchini are more round than long.

My straight-neck yellow squash turned out round, no neck, and bumpy with green speckles. I suspect they were cross-pollinated with the zucchini. Some of my zucchini had light orange flesh inside which led me to suspect they were crossed with my pumpkins.

At least I did get an honest-to-goodness pumpkin plant out of my collection of volunteers.

I am happy with my peppers, except that only two of the four plants I bought are producing so far. I probably should tear out some of my flowers and volunteer tomatoes. Naw, I am enjoying my flowers too much. We will just see what happens.

Anyway, no matter how it is crossed, squash bread is good stuff. The following is my recipe:

Combine in large bowl:
2 cups shredded / grated squash (You may remove some or all of the peeling.)
2/3-1 cup oil (I have been known to forget the oil, and as long as the batter is not too dry, it still turns out okay. Tastes great, but a little drier. If you do this on purpose, add some raisins to your bread.)
2 cups sugar (part may be brown sugar)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine, then add to bowl of wet mixture:
3 cups flour (part, no more than 1 cup, may be whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

For variation, you may add: 1/4 to 1/3 cups cocoa powder for chocolate bread, chopped walnuts, raisins, cranraisins, chocolate chips.

Line the bottom of two large or 3-4 small (depending on if you add nuts, etc.) greased loaf pans with baking parchment. You can also bake in a 9" x 13" cake pan.

Bake 40minutes to 1 hour (depending on size of pan and depth of mix in pan) at 350 degrees.