Tastes Change

As a kid - with the exception of peas (especially frozen peas) - I disliked vegetables. Give me chicken fingers and I was happy, but give me a salad and I would only eat enough to get me dessert.

Since then, my taste buds have matured and now I would consider myself an honorary vegetarian. At restaurants I search out the menu item with the most vegetables in it, and every home made dinner has at least one type of vegetable. One of my new found favourite vegetables is zucchini (and no, not the deep friend kind). In stir-fry’s, stews, stuffed or grilled I can’t get enough zucchini. That’s why I was thrilled to find out zucchini was an ingredient found in many baked goods.

This recipe for Zucchini Bread is one of my most favourite recipes by far. Hands down! Not only is it healthy, but it’s delicious. The blend of spices lends a nice flavour and it’s one of the most moist breads I’ve ever tried. This recipe is also really easy to personalize with the addition of chocolate chips, nuts, berries, or whatever you’d like.

I adapted this recipe from a recipe on the Allrecipes website and it makes approximately 2 loaves of bread. You can also adapt this recipe to make a lot of muffins!

Zucchini Bread

Makes 2 loaves of bread, or approximately 24 muffins

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1 egg and the equivalent of 2 eggs in egg whites (about 5 tbsp egg whites)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (350 if you are making muffins) and grease 2 loaf pans.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla and both sugars together in a separate bowl.
4. Add sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until combined.
5. Add zucchini, mix until combined. Add chocolate chips, mix until combined.
6. Pour into loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes (or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean).

In this recipes, you can substitute a couple things. If you want to increase the nutrition of the bread, you can substitute half of the flour with whole wheat flour (it may come up just a bit drier). Also, you can use dried cranberries, nuts, frozen berries, etc. in place of the chocolate chips - or simply omit them all together! 

This bread it so good it has converted many a zucchini-skeptic. If you know someone who says they don't like zucchini, have them try this bread and I'm sure they'll change their mind!