Partly to combat my aversion to many vegetables, I started growing zucchini, string beans, carrots, beets, and radishes, in the hopes that I might learn to like them.  Well, the thing with actually being successful in  growing my own vegetables is that at some point, I do have to harvest, cook, and eat them.  Today, I would like to share with you my (suprisingly) enjoyable experience cooking the zucchini from last week’s harvest.  I found this recipe for zucchini bread at Smitten Kitchen.  The recipe looked easy to make and garnered many raves reviews from Deb’s readers.  Since I only had one zucchini at the moment, I opted to cut the recipe in half to make a dozen muffins.

These muffins are really fantastic!  They’re light and full of flavor, thanks to the cinnamon and nutmeg.  However, I don’t think the recipe had enough zucchini since it only called for 1 cup for a dozen muffins.  I would double the amount to give the muffins more of the zucchini flavor.  I omitted the optional ingredients since I couldn’t really wrap my brain around combining chocolate or cranberries and zucchini together.

Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from a recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Yields approximately 24 muffins

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (I would use at least 3 cups of zucchini, even 4 cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the olive oil and sugar, then add the grated zucchini and vanilla extract.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.  Stir into the egg/olive oil mixture and combine well.

Fill the muffin cups about three-quarters of the way full.  Bake muffins for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.