Recipe: Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This bread came out perfect! Taste, texture and appearance. Yum.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread (adapted from One Ordinary Day)

Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups Shredded zucchini
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup High quality unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Baking powder
Dash of salt
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Canola oil
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Packed brown sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4 cup Bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Peel and shred zucchini. In a large bowl combine oil, sugars and vanilla. Mix in eggs and shredded zucchini. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Beat until combined. Mix in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into a greased (I use cooking spray) 9×5x3 loaf pan, and bake for 55 minutes, or until done. Let cool then enjoy!

Bread, again.

While shopping this evening with my oldest son Gavin, I discovered a new bread option. Call me obsessed -- it's okay, because I am. In line with my mission to feed my family the best food our money can buy, I'm constantly reading labels, researching brands, ingredients and prices. I love it when it results in a find that has an acceptable ingredients list and a price point that fits into our budget.

Trader Joe's Harvest Whole Wheat ingredients: Stone ground whole wheat flour, filtered water, honey, cracked wheat, sea salt, fresh yeast, whey (milk protein).

Seven ingredients, not bad at all. Our favorite bread (that we can't afford to buy on a regular basis) has five ingredients. The cracked wheat and whey are the two additional ingredients. I'll be using this loaf to make a bunch of french toast to freeze (Gavin's favorite) but will pick up another (they only had one left) next week to use for hubby's sandwiches. Price: $2.49.

I know not every area has a Trader Joe's but there's likely a smaller type market you can check out for items like the Harvest Whole Wheat bread.

Bread in a pinch

Today the boys and I made a stop at Target for a couple of things. Walking past the bread aisle I remembered we were out of bread, hubby went to work without his sandwich today. Bread is an item I've talked about before (in my Priorities post). We have a favorite from Great Harvest but simply can't afford to buy it on a regular basis.

If you have a Target that sells groceries, it likely has a pretty overwhelming bread section. I spent a while looking at the choices and landed on Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat. There's a lot of nutrition claims on the bag but it was the best one I came across. It was $2.79.

After doing my research, I found Nature's Pride is made by Interstate Bakeries Corporation, most known for Wonder Bread. I remember Wonder Bread, a staple in my house growing up. And yes, the white kind. I appreciate the strategy behind the Nature's Pride branch of the company but at the end of the day, I feel better about buying from other, less large bakeries and bread with less ingredients. In a pinch though, this is what I bought.

Nature's Pride ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, brown sugar, yeast, contains 2% or less of: wheat bran, soybean oil, cultured wheat flour, salt, molasses, sugar, honey, raisin juice concentrate, vinegar, cultured corn solids, yeast extract, soy lecithin, soy flour, whey.

Great Harvest ingredients: Fresh-ground whole-wheat flour, filtered water, fresh yeast, salt, honey.

Wonder Wheat ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% of less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides, exthoxylated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem, calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retain freshness).

Clear why we aspire to afford bread from Great Harvest, huh? Every time I write out ingredients lists, it reminds me why I strive to reduce highly processed foods from my family's diet. Making it ourselves would be the ultimate... I look forward to comparing the cost of making it vs. buying Great Harvest. Stay tuned.

Good snack

I like to bake and enjoy finding and trying new recipes. Upon searching for a replacement for my husband's afternoon snack of packaged fig bars, I found the following recipe from a great blog called Enlightened Cooking.

This bread is fantastic! I changed one ingredient, link to the original recipe is at the end of this post.

Camilla’s Whole Grain Banana Bread with Flax

2 cups white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (flax meal)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 and 2/3 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, flax, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer (I hand mixed it) set at medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the banana, yogurt, and vanilla until just blended. Stir in the flour mixture by hand until just blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake 55-60 minutes (mine is always done at 55 minutes) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Invert onto wire rack, turn upright, and cool completely. Makes 14 slices/servings. (I slice it into 12 pieces.)

Camilla’s Whole Grain Banana Bread with Flax is a must try recipe. Click here for the original post/recipe.