Zucchini Bread

I love my daughter. I really do. At times {like right now} she's overly-difficult --> as I type she is NOT taking a nap, even after a full hour of screaming and running from one room to the next {and that was just me!} No seriously, the hour was spent repeatedly putting her back in her bed, only to have her follow me out of the room each time.

But I will never stop baking for her with love, even when {especially when?} she tries my every nerve. I even break my own baking rules for her. If you read my very first blog post, you will see that I am very much against substituting in healthy ingredients just for the sake of making it healthy when it comes to baking. While I still agree with that wholeheartedly when making scrumptious desserts, baking bread for my daughter specifically calls for a little fudging.

The KitchenAid grater attachment works great for this! I leave the skin on, but you can peel it first if you don't like your bread to have dark green flecks in it.

Continuing my quest to sneak vegetables into my daughter's food... she loves her "kini bed." So this morning when she asked for her daily peanut-bread (peanut butter on bread), I knew she was also getting a dose of veggies. 

I know, this looks really gross. I used strawberry applesauce because we have some on hand and Olivia refuses to eat it - perfect for using in baking, then! I measured the applesauce & oil together to make sure it came up to 1 cup.

Plus I used 1/2 the oil and used applesauce for the rest, so she's also getting a bit of fruit. She has no idea how much healthier her breakfast just got!  

My baker-in-training is really good at stirring the batter! (Can you tell she dressed herself?)

 All ready to pop into the oven... just look at all those veggies!

Zucchini Bread
adapted from The Machine Shed Farm Style Cooking

2 1/2 c. zucchini, shredded
3 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour (can use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
Shred zucchini and mix with eggs, salad oil, sugar and vanilla. Blend well. Stir together all dry ingredients; add to zucchini mixture. Stir only until well moistened. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9x5x2" loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 2 loaves.