Once again, I find myself inspired by — or perhaps, rather, in desperate need of using up — copious quantities of certain foodstuffs, so lovingly delivered by our friendly CSA farmers. The zucchini harvest seems to have waned and we now find ourselves (most appreciatively) up to our knees in carrots.

In the brief window of time between dropping my eldest daughter off at preschool, getting the twins down for their morning naps, preparing lunch and then picking the preschooler up again from her half-day of away-play, the heap of bright red and green shiny apples was staring me down, challenging me to quickly convert their toothsomely tart selves into a warm, fragrant, scrumptious snack. I met their dare, of course, with muffins. Okay, so I’m anthropomorphizing hanging fruit — maybe I need to get out more — but what ev’.

In addition to taking significantly less time to make than traditional yeast-leavened breads,  Irish soda bread has the most delicious crunchy crust, yielding a rich, chewy interior that will incite the urge to bang out loaves of this yummy quick bread on a regular basis.  Crafted from simple ingredients sure to be found in every kitchen, this moist, dense, cheese- and onion-infused soda bread is virtually a meal unto itself. Let’s call this one a shout-out to my maternal great-grandmother, a red-headed Irish-Newfie.

This time of year, zucchini are in full bounty – we’ve had nearly half a dozen in our weekly CSA food boxes over the past two weeks. And there’s only so much ratatouille one can eat. With the end of summer looming, I wanted to bake something that would make use of the copious amounts of zucchini we’ve got, and could also make a healthy snack to send in lunches.