Recipe Swap Thursday: Zucchini-Honey-Carrot Bread

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, and I can hardly believe it's October already! Now that summer is over and zucchini is pretty much out of season by now, I'd better hurry up and post this recipe that I promised way back in May.

This is another recipe I've adapted from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Reading my blog you would think that was the only source I get recipes from, but it really isn't, I promise! In the book the recipe makes two loaves; I usually halve it to make one. That's usually enough for us, because it's very sweet, almost like a dessert. Here's the halved version, and then I'll explain how I adapt it to make it safe for Moe the Allergy Boy.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (sometimes I use half white and half whole wheat)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans*
1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small or 1/2 large zucchini)
1 large egg, beaten**
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup + 2 T honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well. Combine zucchini and remaining 5 ingredients, stirring well. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter into a greased and floured loaf pan Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. (It's very important to wait until the loaf is somewhat cool before taking it out of the pan; that's the reason I was unable to take a photo of a whole loaf. I found a few intact slices after the loaf fell apart!!)

*instead of nuts, I use 1/2 cup grated carrot (hence the "carrot" part of the title). I combine the first FIVE ingredients together first, and add the carrot later with the zucchini and the other wet stuff.

**1 1/2 heaping teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 2 T. water equal one egg. The bread will have a more flattened top (as opposed to a nice rounded one) but it is still delicious.







Go out to your local farmers' market and grab some zucchini while you still can (of course you can always get it at the grocery store year-round, although I can't guarantee that it will taste nearly as good!) and have fun with this delicious snack cake ...er, bread.