It’s that time of year again. The time when people are looking around frantically for something to do with their huge zucchini that stayed on the vine and got too big for good eating on their own. Yep. Zucchini bread time.
If I had to pick one Mom recipe that feels more like home than anything else, it would be zucchini bread. Among all the other homemade goodness that she had going on in her kitchen, every year right around this time, the zucchini madness would start. My Dad would sit at the table and run the ten million zucchini through the crank shredder thingy, and my Mom would be greasing and flouring all of the available pans. And the house would smell like heaven for a month or so, because this stuff is ridiculous and there is always just so much zucchini to use.
So today, I’m making my own house smell like heaven. I’m also making zucchini bread. Hahahahahaha yes, I sneaked a little fart joke in there. See that?
Anyway, it’s probably always going to make me a little sad to make zucchini bread because I’ll never get to make it with her again, but the zucchini I made this batch with came from my sister’s garden, and I tweaked Mom’s special recipe a little so my Dad will have a piece (it’s got way less sugar and he is all about that), so I think she’d be pleased. She was always so spontaneous with her cooking, changing things and making them better, and she always liked using homegrown vegetables, so it’s got all that going for it.
It’s not the same, but it’s still good. And now my house smells like my Mom’s. In more ways than one (got another one in...thanks for the sophisticated sense of humor, Dad).
