Like many gardens out there, ours has been pumping out the zucchini out as fast as we can eat it. When you turn around to find a forearm-sized zucchini that simply wasn’t there ten minutes prior, you know it’s time to use zucchini in just about every meal. This recipe for zucchini bread is based on one Lisa found on the Whole Foods website. She reduced the oil and upped the applesauce in this already healthy recipe, and replaced some of the sugar with agave nectar. It had great flavor and was great for dessert, breakfast, and anytime I walked by the plate. The only downside? Barely made a dent in our zucchini bounty.

[donotprint]
Chris says:

Wow, it smells great in here.

Lisa says:

I can’t wait to eat this — I’m so impatient!

Chris says:

I’m sure it’ll be great, how much longer?

Lisa says:

Just about done… yep! Done.

Chris says:

Gimme-gimme-gimme!

Lisa says:

Geez, I thought I was the impatient one.

Chris says:

Yummm! Wow, you can really taste that nutmeg. I like the crunch of the walnuts.

Lisa says:

Wahoo! It’s pretty moist, too — and it’s made with applesauce instead of a bunch of oil.

Chris says:

Well I gotta say, it turned out great. Does this count as eating your vegetables?

Lisa says:

Of course!

[/donotprint]

Zucchini Bread
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp plain yogurt
3/8 cup sugar
3/8 cup agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray an 8-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, oil, applesauce, yogurt, sugar and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until well combined. Fold in zucchini and walnuts then transfer batter to prepared pan and bake until risen, deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes then remove bread from pan and continue cooling on rack.