Heart-To-Heart: Zucchini Bread

You all know zucchini is in full swing, right?

Well, yesterday I decided to have a little heart-to-heart with two zucchini.

The prep talk, comforting, and inspiration worked wonders, because these two zucchini performed very well in my kitchen.

Have I told you lately how much I love my salad shooter?

I'm going to tell you again; I LOVE MY SALAD SHOOTER!

I have spent a lot of time (years) tweaking, changing, and searching for the perfect zucchini bread recipe.

BY GEORGE!! I think I have finally mastered it.....

This is a fantastic looking, delicious, moist, zucchini bread.

My mom used to make zucchini bread when I was a kid. Do you know how we ate it?

We would put it in the freezer, slice it frozen, and then top it with grape jelly.

GRAPE JELLY?????

What can I say? It was good. And on a hot summer day.....a slice of frozen zucchini bread with grape jelly hit the spot.

I added a little treat to this zucchini bread. I had some left-over white chocolate ganache from another zucchini recipe (which you will be getting in a couple days), and I drizzled it over the top.

I took this to a church luncheon, and this is what I heard when I was eves dropping: "I don't know who made this, but it sure is good."

One huge pat on the back for me.....

This recipe is linked to:

AND:

Zucchini Bread

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 c. applesauce

1/2 c. canola oil

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

3 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. grated zucchini, washed and unpeeled

1 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 c. golden raisins

Grease and flour two 8x4 pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini, nuts, and raisins until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pans, and continue to completely cool.

White Chocolate Ganache

1 c. white chocolate chips

1/2 c. heavy cream

In a microwave safe bowl, combine your chocolates and cream and microwave on high in 20 second intervals, stirring after each 20 seconds. Do this until chocolate is just slightly softened and then stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle ganache onto the cooled zucchini bread loaves.

"The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day."

Genesis 18:1

God tests Abraham's heart to determine whether he is a believer. God appears in such a commonplace way that Abraham is not aware of His identity. Tests that are used in Bible schools and seminaries only reveal the amount of information that a student has collected. The tests do not reveal the real spiritual achievements of life.

Most humans have not been able to devise any such test, God is always testing us, and His testing does not come when we are warned and ready. Anyone would be able to pass the test if we were warned. If you were told that God is going to test you to see if you exhibit love under pressure, whether you can keep your temper when you are being irritated, and if you can be sweet when things are going wrong, you would be likely to pass if you were prepped.

But God never preps us. His catches us unprepared, off-guard. The tests of life come when you are relaxing at home. When the phone rings and suddenly you are confronted with a call for help or a demand for response - and you had planned to relax and enjoy yourself all afternoon - what happens then? That is God's test.

The test comes when some situation occurs in daily life that forces you to face the question: Is my body really available for Him to do what He wants? Am I ready to respond to the need of the human heart right there in front of me? Am I ready to give of myself without limitation to meet a demand that comes suddenly in the course of my busy life?

Here I am, Lord, I give my life to you.