Happy Easter to all of you out there who are celebrating. We’re having a relaxing weekend at home, but as usual I’ve been baking and wanted to share a new recipe. It’s a quick bread I came up with for my mom, who likes having healthy (ish) breads for breakfast.
This recipe has less fat than most, but you’d never know it. The texture is tight-crumbed and moist, and the fact that it’s nutrient dense (well, sort of) is just a big plus. Of course you could make it even more nutritious by eliminating some of the sugar and replacing it with a wholesome sweetener or sugar substitute. I’ve made this as written below, but I’ve also made it with 2/3 cup of turbinado sugar standing in for the granulated and brown. As for the Grape Nuts, I threw those in at the last minute because I was out of actual nuts. I wasn’t sure I’d like the texture, but the Grape Nuts were terrific baked into the bread. They’re hardly noticeable at first, but you’ll get a bit here and there with a little chew in it.
One final thought, this really is best for an 8×4 inch pan. Most of my pans are 9×5, but I bought some cheapo 8×4 aluminum tins at Christmas time and that particular size worked perfectly. So if you don’t have a 9×5 inch pan, check the grocery store because they may have some 8×4 disposable aluminum ones.
Zucchini, Apple & Carrot Bread with Grape Nuts
1 cup (4.5) white whole wheat flour (such as King Arthur) or all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
1/2 cup grated zucchini (slightly packed) – 2 oz — i liked to peel the zucchini
1/4 cup grated apple — peeled
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/3 cup Grape Nuts cereal or just use 1/3 cup toasted nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8×4 inch loaf pans with flour-added cooking spray.
Thoroughly mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir in the buttermilk. Add the flour mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until mixed, then add the zucchini, apples, carrots and orange zest followed by the Grape nuts (or nuts).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan (s) and bake for 45-50 minutes
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I love that there are so many healthy fruity ingredients and very little fat in this bread. It would be so much better for breakfast than those packaged breakfast bars I buy! … Much healthier than the chocolate matzo “crack” I made today…..I need to start baking healthier snacks!
This looks great, Anna! I love whole grain/healthy muffins and quick breads and will add this one to my files. I am a nut fan so I would probably add a cup or so of walnuts but the Grape Buts sound good, too.
OH, I am totally going to make this. I have some inedible apples in my refrigerator but they would definitely work for a bread. I’ll let you know how it goes. Will be using nuts…no grapenuts in my house!
I recently made Zucchini, Carrot, & Apple Muffins from “The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread”. To make the quantity of your recipe, she used the same quantity of oil as your recipe, no yogurt, but 1/3 of an additional egg. She more than doubled the fruit and vegetables with 1 cup of carrots, 2/3 cup of zucchini, and 2/3 cup of apples. Plus walnuts and coconut. They were very tasty and held up well for a couple of days.
Hi Louise,
Good to hear from you! Thanks for telling me about Amy’s recipe. I think you could easily add more fruit to this one, though I was trying to keep it cake like and not make it too fruit/vegetable packed because I wanted the kids (meaning Fuzz) to eat it.
This looks great. I bet it would also be good with cinnamon.
I made a pumpkin bread from a Trader Joe’s box mix (it’s seasonal, which gives you an idea of how old it was !) and substituted applesauce for a lot of the oil. It was really moist, and the boys (it was for a play date) gobbled it up. So it would be great to make your quick bread, as it is even healthier than the one I made!
Yummy!!
I love quick breads SO much!
I like having healthy-ish breads for breakfast too. I think this would be great with some chocolate chips in it, dark chocolate, so that way it’s still healthy
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