Try this bread if harvest is cucumbersome

If you didn?t get a chance to celebrate, Aug. 8 was National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor?s Porch Day.
If you did get a chance to celebrate, hopefully it means you have a little less zucchini from the massive haul that your garden gave you or you have been enjoying some zucchini that some sneaky neighbor left on your porch.
Another crop that seems to be in abundance this year is cucumbers.
In my estimation, there are only so many jars of pickles one can enjoy and only so many salads one can eat with cucumber slices sprinkled on top, so when we found ourselves inundated with cucumbers, I wondered if they couldn?t be put to the same good use as zucchini: bread.
Well, my curiosity led me to a great recipe for cucumber quick bread from its ?Quick Cooking? magazine from their July/August 1999 issue.
You can find the original recipe at http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cucumber-quick-bread. I completely changed up the spices from the way it is written, and it turned out really well?and it?s a good treat even if you don?t really care for cucumbers all that much.
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Cucumber Quick Bread
Ingredients
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated, seeded, peeled cucumbers
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together the eggs, sugar, cucumber, oil and vanilla until well-blended.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until well-combined.
Evenly distribute the batter into two greased and floured loaf pans.
Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan.
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For good measure, I decided to try to sneak a loaf of this bread onto my sister and brother-in-law?s porch, figuring it was close enough to a zucchini product.
I didn?t end up accomplishing the sneaky part since it was the middle of the day, and I drove up while they were doing yardwork, but maybe cucumber isn?t meant to be sneaky like zucchini, and maybe I invented a new holiday for next year: National Boldly Place a Loaf of Bread on a Family Member?s Porch Day.
I think NBPLBFMP Day may catch on?if I can come up with a better title.

When not helping husband Joey with newspaper work, Lindsey teaches speech, debate and forensics at Haven High School. She can be reached at lindseyclarion@gmail.com.

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