Zucchini Bread

It's that time of the year when zucchini is everywhere and it's super inexpensive.  And well, I love zucchini.  So why not try to make a few different zucchini bread recipes?


I made 2 recipes.  This one and this healthier one.  They were both very yummy!  And I've got more zucchini to use up.

What's YOUR favorite zucchini recipe?

Top Banana Bread

(adapted from Hungry Girl)

Hey, how has a bunch (bad pun, sorry) of banana in the freezer?  I do, I do.  Time to once again use some up and try a new banana bread recipe.  This time I tried a recipe out of Hungry Girl's 200 Under 200 cookbook, but I had to make a few adjustments, and next time I would make a few more.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c whole-wheat flour
1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar (instead of Splenda like the recipe called for)
1 1/2 c mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 c fat-free liquid egg substitute
1/2 c no-sugar-added applesauce
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine both types of flour, sugar (splenda), baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix well.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine mashed bananas, egg substitute, applesauce and vanilla extract.  Add the wet mixture to the bowl containing the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.
4. Spoon batter into a large loaf pan (about 9 inches by 5 inches) sprayed with nonstick spray.  Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
5. Allow the loaf to cool slightly, then cut into eight slices.  

Serves 8

Per serving (with splenda): 140 calories, 0.5g fat, 267mg sodium, 31g carbs, 3.75g fiber, 7g sugar, 5g protein

Alterations/Recommendations:

• I don't have baking Splenda in my house.  It's too expensive.  Plus I don't like how Splenda tastes.  So I used regular sugar.
• I also used whole wheat flour for all of the flour.  Next time I wouldn't do that.  I'd honestly probably only 1/2 WW and 1/2 AP flours.  It was too...whole wheaty for me.

Strawberry Banana Bread

After Mom and Dad left on vacation, Kaitlin cleaned out their freezer.  And out came 14 frozen bananas.  No joke.  I had seen this recipe one another blog, which came with rave reviews, so I decided to try it myself.  I must admit, I was a bit disappointed.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup mashed strawberries
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs until frothy.  Stir in oil, sugar, strawberries and bananas
3. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking power, baking soda, and salt.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients.  Stir just until moistened.
5. Spoon into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for about 1 hour (or until inserted toothpick comes out clean).  Wrap well and allow to ripen for a day.

So here's my critique:

• Next time I would use strawberry jam.
• Something with the rolled oats seemed a bit much.  Maybe slightly blend them so their a little finer.
• Maybe increase the amount of banana and strawberry by a little bit, I couldn't taste them as much as I would have liked.

Sweet Potato Bread

The turkey is unstuff, unlike the full bellies.  Leftovers are put away and eaten again the next day.  But what about those 6 cups of leftover mashed sweet potatoes?  Me, well, I could eat it all the time.  Until I was sick of it, then I couldn't.

So why not make use of the leftovers that seem to grow and not disappear.  Enter:  Sweet Potato Bread.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup water
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I opted no for the nuts)

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar and oil; beat well.  Add eggs and beat.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with water.  Stir in sweet potatoes and chopped nuts.
2. Pour batter into greased 9x5" loaf pan (or 2 small loaf pans).  Bake at 350F (175C) for about one hour.

When doubling recipe, don't forget to double all the ingredients.  Oops, I missed doubling the eggs, and maybe possibly the water too.

For the real recipe and additional reviews, go here.

Zucchini Bread

Mid-last week I decided that it was time to use some of the zucchini I picked out of my garden.  It wasn't dinner time, so no zucchini dish needed; but I had wanted to make zucchini bread.  Honestly, that's one of the reasons why I planted the little $.80 plant, to have zucchini to make bread.  So Colleen (my future sister-in-law) helped and we went to town! 

Well, not literally went to town.  I had everything we needed. 

I took a loaf to work and a loaf to my parent's house.  The loaf at work was gone by 10am.  I had to call my mom and tell her to make sure she saved some for Colleen to try.  So good!  I was even told that someday I'll make somebody very happy with my culinary skills.

I found the recipe at tastykitchen.com. 

Zucchini Bread
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
3 whole eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tbs vanilla
2 cups loosely packed grated zucchini (do not peel)
2 cups flour
1 tbs cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. Beat eggs.  Add sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla.  Beat mixture until thick and frothy.
2. Stir in zucchini (do not peel it).  Sift and add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour mixture into two floured loaf pans.  Bake at 350F for 1 hour.  Insert cake tester in center until it comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and place on rack until it completely cools.

*I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.  Totally good, you can't tell there was a partial substitute.

Banana Bread

Where do dying bananas go?
To the freezer.

Then what do you do with them?
Make banana bread of course!
And to be honest, I've never made banana bread, so I was a little bit scared. But I forged ahead and made it anyways. Yummy!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c chopped nuts, optional

Instructions:

1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
2. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in the nuts. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8" loaves about 1 hour, 9" loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pans on wire rack. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

1 slice: 70 calories, 2g fat, 10mg cholesterol, 100mg sodium, 12g carb (0 dietary fiber), 1g protein.

Alterations:
-I used 1/2 c egg substitute instead of 2 eggs. So that probably wiped out the cholesterol.
-I used 2 c all purpose flour and 1/2 c whole wheat flour. That should have added a little dietary fiber.
-Other recipes I saw called for milk. And since I didn't have any buttermilk that's what I used, regular 1% milk.

How do you like your banana bread?

Me, I like it with a little bit of cream cheese. So good!
I also like to pick at the corners.

Recipe from Betty Cocker's New Cookbook Eighth Edition (R) 1996