Banana Zucchini Bread Recipe

Need to find a way to use all those Zucchini's growing in your garden? I know I do! I've been making lots of sauteed and grilled Zucchini the past few weeks, but I needed something different this week.

I wanted to try a new recipe with a few substitutes in it. The recipe is below, but I wanted to explain why I made some of the substitutes I did.

First of all, the original recipe I was going to use called for 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Sure, a little sugar isn't the worst thing, but why use it if I don't have to? This recipe is plenty sweet just from the ripe bananas, so why add extra sugar? I decided to swap this for 1/4 cup of honey.

You can replace sugar with honey in any of the recipes you make using the tips below:

• The darker the honey, the stronger the taste. Choose something light and neutral that won’t overpower the flavor of your delicacies.

• Use ¾ cup of honey to replace 1 cup of sugar.

• If your recipe doesn’t include baking soda, add ¼ tsp of baking soda for each cup of sugar replaced.

• Using more than 1 cup of honey? Lessen additional liquid ingredients by ¼ cup per cup of honey – it retains more moisture than sugar.

• Slow it down – baked goods made with honey will brown faster in the oven. Lower your oven temperature by about 25°F to prevent browning.

The next swap I made was unsweetened applesauce for oil. The original recipe I found called for 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, which I did a 1:1 swap using 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce. Making this change cuts about 495 calories, is 55 grams of fat, from the entire recipe. Since the recipe made 18 muffins, it cuts about 28 calories and 3 grams of fat from each muffin. That definitely adds up if you eat more than 1 at a time!

Lastly, let's talk about Zucchini. This easy to grow vegetable has some amazing health benefits. Zucchini is rich in carotenoids, specifically lutein and zeaxanthin. The buildup of these compounds shield our skin from UV rays and pollution, and may also slow skin aging by keeping the skin hydrated and elastic. Zucchini also provides potassium, which is good for your blood pressure, and fiber, which is good for general heart health.

The recipe below is just one of the delicious and nutritious recipes included in the 10 day meal plan. Contact me if you'd like to learn more about the services I offer!

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Banana Zucchini Muffins

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 40 min

Total Time: 60 min

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups Buttermilk Kodiak Cakes Mix

• 1/2 cup Honey

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 large zucchini, shredded

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

• 1/2 cup almond milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, add mashed banana, shredded zucchini, almond milk, unsweetened applesauce, vanilla and egg.

3. Mix until well combined.

4. Add honey and mix again.

5. In a separate bowl, combine Kodiak Cake mix, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

6. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.

7. Mix until well combined. If the batter is too dry, add more almond milk.

8. Fill muffin liners 3/4 full with batter and bake for 40 min, or until toothpick comes clean.

9. Let cool and enjoy!

Nutrition Fats:

81 calories

Fat: 1g

Carbohydrates: 17g

Protein: 3g

Recipe makes approx. 18 muffins

Serving size = 1 muffin