Courgette & Date Bread

We are on holidays!!! Yay!!! I'm sleeping so much that my muscles ache. I'm eating more than I should. I'm having fun. I'm not getting worried about anything. I'm visiting family and friends. I'm remembering how bloody hot Spain is.

Honestly, really hot. Almost unbearable.

Quite often my British friends ask me what took me to swap the sun for the rain. Well, if you were here with me at the mo, you wouldn't need me to answer that question.

You know when you breath and the air is so hot that it burns your lungs? You know when you wash your face and the water evaporates before reaching your skin? You know when you sweat so much it looks like you were melting? You know when wearing just underwear is just too much clothing?  

My friends always ask me why people in Spain do have "siesta". Well, the truth is that most of the times siesta is not an intentional thing but people fainting because of the intense hot.

That, my dearest readers, is Spain in summer. It is not all about drinking sangria, eating paella and swimming in the Mediterranean. It is also about feeling how your soles are getting stuck to the pavement while you walk; is about not being able to sleep because it is still 36 degrees at 2.00 am; is about feeling too exhausted even to lick an ice-cream.

I know I've been moaning about the rain lately, but I'm really missing it right now. To sleep with my duvet would be heaven; to take a jumper with me just in case would be amazing; to snuggle with a blanket in my sofa in a cold evening sounds like a dream.

This week I've been in my sister's home and I was so absolutely knackered that I asked her to prepare this week's recipe for me. An amazing courgette and date bread recipe she discovered in the States. Brilliant for a healthy breakfast, amazing for a light dinner or just as a snack to keep you going.

WHAT YOU NEED

3cups Plain Flour

1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Powder

3tsp Ground Cinnamon

2tsp Ground Nutmeg

3 Free Range Eggs

1cup Vegetable Oil

2cups White Sugar

3tsp Vanilla Extract

2cups Grated Courgettes

1cup Dates

WHAT YOU DO

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a big bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in the courgette and diced dates until well combined.

Grease and flour an ovenproof pan and pour the batter in.

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

Serve and enjoy!