2 cups canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 1 / 2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups flour
4 cups sugar
4 cups chopped walnuts
4 cups shredded zucchini

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour 4 loaf pans 9 inch by 5 inch.
3. Beat egg in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, oil and vanilla
until well blended.
4. Add softened cream cheese and beat on low/medium speed.
5. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder,
cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a whisk or fork. Slowly, mix
together the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with the
mixer on a low speed.
6. Fold in walnuts and zucchini. Mix the batter with a wooden
spoon at this point until everything is mixed well together.
7. Divide the batter evenly as you can into the prepared loaf
pans. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick in the center comes
out clean.
8. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. With a
spatula, gently go down the sides of the loaf pan and loosen
the bread before turning over onto a wire rack to cool
completely.
9. ENJOY! – Zucchini and Cream Cheese, (who knew), they go
great together!

I am always intrigued by a recipe if it has something unexpected, like cream cheese in the batter of this zucchini bread. I was worried that the cream cheese would make the bread too mushy. The shortening in this recipe is the oil instead of butter or margarine. That is where the cream cheese comes in as an added shortening in my perception of the whole recipe in relation to the amounts of flour, sugar, zucchini and nuts.

Sometimes, the match of two different ingredients is great together and sometimes it is a disaster. The thing is you never know unless you try. Being a fearless cook, I am always up to a challenge.

All these years cooking, my husband can testify to some real disasters. I remember a combination dish of potatoes and carrots in particular. The potatoes and carrots had to be peeled and cut, then cooked and mashed. Preparing this dish from start to finish was time consuming. I worked hard all day on this potato and carrot dish. My husband took one bite and said, “Forget it”. We ended up throwing out most of it. My kids tasted it but everyone agreed something was missing. Most of the time I get a thumb’s up sign, knowing that I done good. But some of the time, it’s a thumb’s down. Every mistake is a lesson, whether in cooking or in life. Hopefully, you don’t repeat your mistakes.

The only thing that bothers me is wasting food. If I spent a considerable amount of money on ingredients to try a new recipe and then throw everything out, that bothers me. Plus, the fact that I do think it is a sin to waste food.

Start your engines for some fearless flying, I mean cooking. Don’t worry you can always jump out, I mean throw it out, if it doesn’t taste great!