Healthier Zucchini Bread

Well, it’s that time again. Zucchini time. Our garden zucchini plant is regularly producing 2-3 zucchini’s every few days so we’ve got a bit of an excess on our hands. One way to use up zucchini– especially those zucchinis that got a little too big and aren’t as sweet and delicate as you’d like– is to make zucchini bread!

My mom has a fantastic zucchini bread recipe that she got from her friend Rose Meyer. And Rose probably got it from somewhere else, but I don’t know where. The original recipe has a lot of oil and sugar in it, as well as all white flour, and since T likes to have this for breakfast, I set out to make it a little healthier. In the end, I think I succeeded in making each slice about 70 calories less, and decreased the fat by half (from 10 grams to 5 grams) and doubled the fiber. I think that some more changes could be made to make it even better for us (such as adding nuts to increase protein, adding flax seed for more fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids, decreasing the oil even more, or cutting out some of the egg yolks) but those changes may have to wait for another time. (Also, I kind of hate recipes that complicate things by making me waste a good egg yolk just to save some fat and cholesterol– egg yolks have a ton of vitamins in them so why not eat ’em?)

For now, I present to you a recipe for healthier zucchini bread:

What you need:

• 1/2 c. vegetable oil (like canola)
• 3 eggs
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 c. coarsely shredded zucchini
• 1 8-0z. can of crushed pineapple
• 3 c. whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh is best!)
• 1 c. raisins (or currents)
• 1 c. applesauce

What do do:

1. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Whisk it up.
2. Stir in the zucchini, pineapple, applesauce and raisins.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
4. Stir the dry ingredients gently into the zucchini mixture until just blended.
5. Divide batter into two greased 5.5 x 9.5 loaf pans.
6. Bake in the center of a 375 degree oven for 5o minutes.
7. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn onto rack.
8. EAT IT! Yummy.

Nutrition facts per slice (based on 12 slices per loaf):
Calories: 170
Fat: 5 grams
Protein: 3.5 grams
Fiber: 1.4 grams

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• ¼ C vegetable oil or melted butter
• 2/3 C. sugar (you can use white or brown)
• 1 egg 3 large mashed over-ripe bananas
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• ¾ t. salt
• 2 C. flour (I like half white and half whole wheat pastry flour)

Optional:

• ¾ C. nuts –OR–
• ¾ C. strawberries or mixed berries (either fresh or thawed from frozen) –OR–
• ¾ C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

What to do:

1. Mash the bananas
2. Add the sugar, eggs and oil and mix.
3. Add the dry ingredients and fold until mostly incorporated.
4. Depending on how crazy you want to get, add one (or more if you’re really crazy) to the batter and fold in.
5. Pour the batter into a greased and floured (or sugared*) loaf pan
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

*When I use chocolate chips, I like to grease the pan by putting some butter in the bottom of the pan and sticking it in the oven for about a minute to melt it. Then I use the melted butter to grease the pan. And, because it is so good, I then dump sugar in the pan instead of flour and toss it around to coat the bottom. This creates a nice crunchy edge for a dessert bread. That is what is creating the edge in the picture below (mmmmm):

P.S. Edward made these for a potluck tomorrow from my tried and true recipe. I’m so proud.