Recipe: Healthy Zucchini Bread

Oy vey… So this last week of pre-orientation has been INSANE. 3 hours of sleep and meeting 20 awesome new freshman? No biggy.

Anyways, I’m sorry I’ve been totally neglecting ya’ll with any semblance of foodie goodness. So as a little present, here’s an end-of-summer treat to keep you going to remind you of all the wonders of Summer 2012.

One of my favorite things about being home is baking.  But not just any baking…healthy baking!

Usually with vegetables. Sometimes with chocolate. Always with ridiculous dancing. Hopefully with ultimate deliciousness

H and family have been the best of hosts this summer and have graciously allowed me to use their kitchen, but surprisingly, I’ve done very little baking. With the dog days of summer dwindling though, I’m finding myself propelled to the kitchen to use up the last bits of summer produce and summer free time. This summer has been a bit indulgent (wonderfully so), but now, I’m feeling quite dandy about a healthy treat that feels great and tastes even better.

So here’s to zucchini bread….

Whole grain, protein-packed, vegetable- dotted, moist, light, summery, and most importantly, DELICIOUS zucchini bread.

Healthy Zucchini Bread

Ever-so-slightly sweet with a variation of different textures, this zucchini bread is one of the tastiest things I’ve baked all summer. It’s bursting at the seams with whole grains, protein, and omega-3’s, but you’d never guess it. Lovely either a morning breakfast with coffee or for a late summer gathering with some lemonade, this is a treat you can feel proud to eat.

Inspired by Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life’s Zucchini Bread

Makes 10 slices

Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour** 1 cup rolled oats 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2 eggs 2 tsp chia seeds 3 tbsp milk (I used non-dairy almond milk) 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups shredded zucchini 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

**Regular whole wheat is too heavy. If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and spices., using a whisk to evenly distribute all ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the chia seeds, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and zucchini, and whisk until mixture is even.

At this point, combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently stir to avoid getting a “glue-y” batter, and then, fold in the chopped walnuts.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until the bread is golden on top and cooked in the middle. Allow to cool for 15 minutes (important or you will end up with mushy bread!).

EDIT: A note from my dear mother...Since this bread has a high moisture content from the zucchini and no real preservatives (yay!), it is best kept in the fridge in order to maintain freshness. If you are planning on eating it over a long span of time, slice bread and then freeze + reheat. :)

I was a little bit nervous about this bread turning out dense due to the combination of so many wet ingredients (zucchini, applesauce, eggs, etc.) and whole wheat, but it definitely exceeded my expectations! I modified much of Courtney’s recipe to suit my own tastes, swapping chia seeds for the egg whites and adding walnuts.

The only thing I might try next time is either using quick oats (as originally recommended) or grinding up rolled oats a tad to make them a bit less pronounced in the bread. I really like whole oats in my breads, but I’m not sure if guests would feel the same.

That said, Mom let me know this morning that she “really liked the oat-iness.” Ironic, eh?

I guess it just goes to show you that this bread is a winner all-around!

P.S. Plus, it makes for another great recipe too…. Any guesses?

Recipe: Healthier Pecan Pie (and no corn syrup!)

This pecan pie was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. With a perfect ratio of nuts to filling and filling to crust, the pie was a crowd-pleaser for sure in our house. And by that, I mean it disappeared within two days.

I guess we just can’t shut our pie holes.

When I first entertained the idea of making a pie (a rare occurrence considering I don’t much care for pie), I had a hard time deciding which flavor.

Fruit? Ewwwwww. I am not a fan of gloppy, cooked fruit.

Pumpkin? I wouldn’t mind, but I knew everyone else would think it out of season.

Banana or Coconut Cream? Again, not my thing whatsoever. Blake would probably love a banana cream pie though.

Eschewing the weirder flavors (mincemeat…), I decided on pecan. My whole family likes it, and I was not adverse. (Especially considering my love for nuts and nut butters!)

Pecan it was!

Of course, I had a few requirements.

1) No corn syrup – Whether or not corn syrup is truly bad for you, I don’t know. However, being that it is still considered controversial in the food world, I decided to steer clear. When pecan pie was invented, corn syrup wasn’t involved, so I knew it was do-able.

2) Healthier than the average pie – True to the nature of my love for health/nutrition (and this blog!), I wanted to make this pie a little healthier without sacrificing taste. I made the following adjustments:

• no lard in the pie crust
• nonfat sour cream instead of regular
• unbleached flour
• no corn syrup in the filling
• whole wheat flour in the filling
• molasses in the filling for a boost of flavor + minerals

I also used almond milk in the filling because I figured the subtle smooth nuttiness would compliment the pecan flavor well.

Summer Pecan Pie

I’m not generally a pie person, but this pie is good stuff. An intricately flavored molasses filling and warm, toasty pecans add a wonderful depth to the pie, while the flaky crust serves as a great canvas. Sweet and buttery without being too rich, the pie is perfect for a night at home or a summer gathering. Even better, there is no corn syrup or other icky additives!

Ingredients:

Crust 2 cups flour 1/2 cup butter, very cold and cubed in small pieces 1/4 cup nonfat sour cream, heaping 1/4 tsp salt

Filling 1 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp white sugar 2 tbsp molasses 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted 2 eggs 1 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour 1 tbsp almond milk 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup pecans, chopped extra pecans (for garnish), optional

Directions:

Crust

1. Before you begin, make sure you’re butter is very cold. Cut butter into flour with a knife, fork, or pastry cutter. Continue incorporating butter into flour, working quickly until a coarse sand-like texture is formed. (Note: Do NOT melt butter into the flour mixture.)
2. Place mixture in the freezer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove bowl from freezer and pour contents onto a wooden cutting board. Using a rolling pin, roll the butter into the flour—beginning to form a dough with the flattened butter.
4. Then, add the sour cream and continue rolling to form a ball. The dough ball should be moist but not wet. If necessary, you can add a little bit more flour, until this consistency is reached.
5. Return the dough to the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
6. Take the dough out of the freezer, and roll out into a circle, roughly 10 inches in diameter (to fit your pie pan).
7. Take circle and fit it in a greased pie pan, crimping the edges if desired.
8. At this point, you can return the dough to the freezer and save for later use or proceed with the recipe.

Pie

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs until foamy. Stir in melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, and vanilla. Whisk again until even mixture is formed.
3. Add the milk, flour, and pecans. Again, stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour filling mixture into unbaked 9 –inch pie shell. Garnish with extra pecans, if desired.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go shut my pie hole, so I can a) go do hot yoga and b) you can go make this.  

Happy Memorial Day!

Velvety Deliciousness

That color is unmistakable. There's cherry red, brick red, fire engine red..and then there's this.

Red as in...

Red.

Velvet.

Cupcakes.

Trendy? You betcha.

Delectable? Sometimes.

Healthy? Usually, no. Today, yes.

I wish I could give you the recipe tonight, but I'm not satisfied.

Well, my eyes are satisfied, but my tastebuds are not. These are good, but they could be better.

And we like "better," right? Right.

Sorry to be a tease, but if perfected, these could very possibly complete your life. But until then, I'm afraid they'd leave you feeling like destiny has yet to be truly fulfilled.

Whoa nelly, this is getting to be deep stuff.

Let's stick to food, if that's okay with you.

For now, go make these wonderful cookies of uber amazingness.

They will make your life complete.

And once you've finished making those and telling me how great life has become because of a cookie, we'll talk red velvet.

We  will talk. Don't worry--I won't forget.

There's a reason I can't walk straight or whizz through Calculus. That part of my brain is devoted to cupcakes. No multitasking. Just cupcakes. I like to call it "selective brain function."

Aight, all this science stuff is getting too fancy for me. Pinky promise you'll come back to talk red velvet with me?

Okay, good. Sounds like a plan, Stan.