Healthy (er) Zucchini Bread

This summer has been wonderful...what's the term....yes, crazy beautiful. Makes me wish I could go where it's summer all the time. My heart sunk down to my toes as I drove away from the school yesterday....without my kids. We have had a couple rough days this week, but even when I was about to release the insane, screaming mama (usually kept locked in the basement) I knew, key in hand, how bad I miss my kids when they are gone all day so I had better make the most of it. I love to bake with my kids when they're ornery; something about measuring and pouring together, sweet smells and sneaky snitching makes everything good again.

I try to make things as healthy as possible without messing much with the yum factor, and believe me, my kids let me know when I've gone too far. This recipe was my best friend last summer when I planted too much zucchini; it makes 3 loaves, reflecting on the fact that I had A LOT of zucchini. Most zucchini bread recipes call for as much sugar as zucchini, which can only lead back to ornery, hyped up kids and only a messy kitchen to show for it, so I substituted applesauce for some of the sugar and just left the rest out. I eased up on the oil and used whole wheat flour, my kids are pretty use to this, but I also added some extra flavor/spice for fun.


Healthy (er) Zucchini Bread

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 heaping teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups applesauce
3 heaping cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 tsp lemon peel (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cloves; set aside.

In another bowl combing sugar applesauce zucchini, oil, eggs and lemon peel; mix well. Add dry to wet and stir til just moistened, still a little lumpy. Fold in nuts.

Spoon into 3 8x4x2-inch bread pans, or lots of mini pans. I like the mini pans because they make more of the sweet outside pieces and they bake with a more even consistency. For the larger pans, bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes, the smaller pans only take 25-30. Monitor closely, too long and it will be crumbly, too short and you'll have zucchini mush in the middle.

If you still have zucchini left over, you can shred it and freeze it in 3 cup portions and you can eat zucchini bread all winter.....pretending it's summer all the time.