How to Make Healthier Zucchini Bread

With several zucchini plants that we had once grown out on my sister-in-laws farm, our zucchinis had gone wild. We first managed to pick this squash before it became overgrown. A garden too huge for us to handle, there just wasn't enough time to take care of it properly before the zucchinis became monster size.

Zucchini bread is one of my favorite recipes and an ideal recipe to use those monster size zucchinis.

More than half the time when I bake zucchini bread, I add a cup of chocolate chips to the mix. Being a chocoholic, this is a must to add to most sweet recipes. Below is the original recipe with optional chocolate chips and a healthier version.

Whether you are looking to cut back on calories, diabetic, vegetarian, vegan, or just want to eat healthier, but still crave a sweet snack, the healthy zucchini bread recipe is right for you.

We we had the oversized zucchini, my daughter held them up to her chest as if they were sagging...well you get the idea. I turned this photo that I took into a cartoon.

Don’t Hate My “Double Z” Zucchinis! Tee Shirts by Sandyspider

It makes sense to cut back on empty calories when we can

A recipe conversion is not only geared for diabetics, but for people with food allergies too..

Starting off with the flour; wheat allergies have became more common, specifically as we get older. Gluten is a special type of protein that is commonly found in rye, wheat, and barley. Middle age women are more prone to being intolerant to gluten. People with gluten intolerance respond to gluten by having an immune reaction. This can cause a variety of symptoms. Diarrhea, fatigue, anemia, sudden malnutrition, weight loss, weight gain, and muscle cramps may all result.

If you are diabetic or just want to cut back on sugar and calories Sucralose which is created from sugar does not break down in the body in the same way that regular sugar does. Sucralose is available as Splenda. Splenda is safe to use in diabetic cooking and contains fewer calories than sugar. One cup of sugar equals 770 calories. On cup of Splenda equals 96 calories.

Egg beaters can be used in place of eggs for those who are watching their cholesterol. Or if you are a vegan, silken tofu works well in place of eggs, though the bread will be a bit heavier. To replace one egg in a recipe, pure 1/4 cup soft tofu.

One cup of vegetable oil can be replaced with one cup unsweetened applesauce.

As noted above, I like to add chocolate chips to this bread. Substitute semi-sweet dark chocolate chips in place of milk chocolate chips. Dark chocolate is good for you and full of antioxidants.

Read more on the benefits of dark chocolate here. Antioxidants of Chocolate.

Besides the funny zucchini gifts created on Zazzle, these are gifts shown above with the beautiful zucchini flowers. These designs come in other product types. T-shirts, text and images can be customized right from the products shown. Change or take out text, add your own photo or resize the one shown. Change the womens t-shirt in a kids sweatshirt. The possibilities are endless.

The photo flowered gifts along with the funny gifts on Zazzle are shown in this link below. There are presently more than 80 different gift ideas with this squash.

Sandyspider: Zucchini Gifts – View here on Zazzle

Make This Tonight

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose gluten free flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup soft tofu pure

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups Splenda

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans.

3. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.

4. Beat together the tofu pure, vanilla extract, Splenda and unsweetened applesauce together in a large bowl.

5. Mix sifted ingredients in with the creamed mixture, and beat well.

6. Stir in grated zucchini and nuts until well combined. Add one cup chocolate chips if desired.

7. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

9. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Then remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Yield 2 loaves

This was all part of a healthy makeover of a favorite food.