Zucchini Bread

It’s hard to believe I haven’t even been out of school two weeks yet!  We’ve already done so much and still have much more to do!

So far we’ve hit the beach, gone to the pool,  celebrated my hubby becoming a BCBA, done tons of walking, ventured to the Cape for a day, and have eaten some great food (and maybe had a few margaritas along the way!).

I can always tell I haven’t been cooking too much when my manicure holds up for awhile.  It’s been fun going out to eat, but I do miss cooking.  I made a really great zucchini bread the first day of summer vacation and have been dying to make it again.  I’ve made this for my parents and in-laws and have received some positive feedback, plus the five year old will put away two giant pieces of this in one sitting so I think it’s going to become a staple for us!

I apologize for not having any visuals of the zucchini bread making progress, but let me grace you with some pictures of our vacation so far.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups freshly grated zucchini
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 flax eggs (one “egg” = 1 tablespoon of flax meal and 3 tablespoons of water)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup of melted vegan butter + some extra for greasing the pans

So I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m not really a baker.  Baking makes me nervous honestly.  If you forget one ingredient you can ruin your recipe.  Luckily this one is pretty simple, plus you can add some goodies to this bread if you like.  The first time I made it I had some extra pecans on hand which added nicely to the bread.  This time I threw in some freshly grated ginger to the bread and it was a nice addition as well.

First attack your zucchini.  It’s a little time consuming (and a decent arm work out).  Once your zucchini is grated set it aside.  I have seen different recipes that ask you to drain or dry your grated zucchini to get rid of the extra moisture, but I did not with my bread.  I think since you are not using real eggs you should leave your zucchini as is.

Next make you flax eggs.  Whisk together the flax meal and water and let that sit for about 5 minutes.  Yes, I know it looks nothing like eggs, but you won’t even notice it in your zucchini bread.

Add all your dry ingredients (salt, baking soda, flour, sugar, spices) to a separate large bowl.  Add your flax eggs, vanilla, melted vegan butter to your bowl with the zucchini and mix together.  Then add your wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry and stir until blended.  If you find your batter is dry feel free to add a few splashes of almond milk.  I had to do that the last time I made my bread.

Next, split your batter between two greased 5×9 pans.  Throw them into the oven set to 350 and forget about it for an hour.  You’re house will start to smell amazing and you’ll have a delicious bread for breakfast. 🙂