Squash Bread

This follows on the tails of my last post about the ARTichoke Co-op and the Heaven's Harvest CSA a friend and I have been splitting for the last few weeks.  I got a hold of a buttercup squash in our last shipment (it looks similar to a pumpkin and is just as sweet, but dark green on the outside).  Not totally sure what to do with this delightful looking gourd, I consulted a few cookbooks and the internet.  I wanted to use the squash before it spoiled, and I had a potluck coming up which was the perfect excuse to spend some time in the kitchen cooking something new.  I decided on making a winter squash bread, which looked and tasted almost exactly like pumpkin bread, but with a slightly less cloying sweetness and a lot less residual moisture.  My guinea pig roommate, the potluck attendees and I were all pleased with the results.  The bread actually went really well with a pumpkin-curry soup that a friend made.

The bread was really simple to make; it's a quickbread, so it uses baking soda to rise instead of yeast.  It's a good way to get rid of any winter squash you might have (butternut, acorn, spaghetti, etc.), and is great if you need a quick side dish or something to bring to a party.