By Kathryn Reed

Monster zucchinis have three purposes in my book – compost material, used for stuffing, or turned into bread.

I haven’t composted since moving to Tahoe, so my choice is turn the green things into something edible. Bread is the choice this week.

With the recipe calling for 2 to 3 cups of the squash, I find it better to buy one big one at the farmers’ market instead of several little ones.

For people who grow zucchini (something I did in a former lifetime), it’s easy to have a few get bigger than intended. They just hide so well under their big leaves. Bread and stuffing them – really, it’s the best use for the biggies.

A former massage colleague created the recipe below.

I think zucchini bread is a great breakfast food, good for school lunches, perfect for an afternoon snack, and a good thank you for people sitting at your table talking up your business at the Tuesday farmers’ market in South Lake Tahoe.

A bonus is the loaves can be frozen.

Marla uses Splenda for the white sugar. I always use sugar for baking. This sugar substitute measures up equally – as in 1 cup of sugar = 1 cup of Splenda. Other sugar alternatives are not one-for-one.

Applesauce helps reduce the need for oil. Pay attention to the sugar content on the jar – you don’t want too much.

Marla’s Zucchini Bread

Wet ingredients:

3 eggs

1 C brown sugar

¼ C oil

1/3 C currants, soaked or raisins (optional)

¾ C applesauce

2-3 C zucchini, grated

1 T vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:

1 C white sugar or Splenda

1½ C unbleached flour

1½ C whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 T cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Mix wet ingredients together. Sift dry ingredients together. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture. Do not over mix. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 2 loaves.