At our house, we have a saying..."Don't yuk my yum!". We are trying to raise kids that aren't picky eaters by exposing them to many different kinds of food. It wasn't that long ago that one of my kids asked "Why can't you cook food like everyone else? Like tater tot hotdish?" The reason? It's not very healthy or creative and I think it's kind of gross. I don't cook like that. I like to use fresh, healthy ingredients to make great tasting good for you dishes. I've created this blog to share my favorite recipes with you.


Follow my kitchen adventures from using up vegetables from our weekly CSA box to baking and creative cooking.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Vegetables are a must on a diet, I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.

I find it kind of funny that I made an eggless brownie recipe when we have eight chickens that lay eggs nearly every day (six eggs so far today). Earlier this week, Olivia came home from school with a cookbook that she had checked out from the library. She marked a couple of recipes she thought looked good and asked if we could make this one, Zucchini Brownies. This confirmed that she is definitely my child. I totally do this. I regularly check out cookbooks at the library. Reading cookbooks is actually one of my favorite leisure activities. I have five recipe apps on my phone. I love to browse recipes in my spare time. I'm glad one of my children is learning something from me, anyway. On a totally unrelated note, said children discovered a stash of baby teeth in my bedroom closet in baggies labled "Anna" and "Olivia"... you know what that means...

So Olivia and I made these brownies this morning with shredded frozen zucchini leftover from one of my CSA boxes from Red Goose Gardens. (I just shred it like cheese and put it in 2 cup portions in baggies.) I was a little confused about the no egg part in the recipe so checked out a few similar recipes online. All the comments were good, so I decided to give it a shot. They are more cakey than brownieey but still pretty delicious. I don't believe in sneaking vegetables into my children's diet (they should know what they're eating and like it!), but if I did, this would be a good way to do it. If you have zucchini still sitting in the fridge or in the freezer, this is a good way to use it up. I modified the recipe a little, substituting yogurt for half of the oil (I always do this with baked goods. Unsweetened applesauce works too) and doubling the amout of cocoa powder. I also added chocolate chips instead of walnuts, though either one would be delicious.
Zucchini Brownies:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. shredded zucchini
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. nonfat plain or greek yogurt
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Mix together dry ingredients then stir in wet ingredients. It will be drier than you think. When it is all moist, stir in the chocolate chips. Bake in a greased 9 x 13 pan for 30 minutes at 350. Chocolate frosting would be a great finishing touch.

Oh, and credit to Jim Davis, creator of Garfield for the inspiration for today's title.

1 comment:

  1. I like to use applesauce instead of oil too. When baking zucchini bread this summer I forgot to add the applesauce but the zucchini itself is so moist, it was still yummy! I'm going to try yogurt next time!! Thanks!-Jen Thompson

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