Well, first off….I love our garden,
But, the squash is just starting to come “on”, and when it’s “on”….it scares me! Auughhh!
So, I’m going to be gettin’ creative and I’m sure I’ll be sharing a lot of zucchini recipes with all of you!
When I first brought the zucchini into the house, the kids immediately starting asking for zucchini bread! I love zucchini bread, but as I’m sure you all know most recipes are not healthy….at all. It makes me sad to take my perfectly healthy, innocent little (or not so little) zucchini and turn it into a treat! Soooo, I went on a quest to find some healthy and yummy zucchini bread recipes!
I found two very awesome recipes. The first recipe (I will refer to as #1), I found on a website called The Primal Home. Click here for the recipe. The second recipe (I will refer to as #2), I found on a website called Against All Grain. Click here for the recipe.
Both of these recipes are sugar and grain free! Can you believe it!!? The #1 recipe is made from coconut flour and coconut oil. Love it! The #2 recipe is made from almond flour and had a banana added in as well.
Here are some pics of the process….
Here are the ingredients I used for both breads (#1 on top, #2 on the bottom.) They both called for more than one egg, but I just showed one in the pics.
The #1 recipe calls for Coconut Flour and it is a little hard to find. I bought mine at Whole Foods, but you can buy it online as well. You can buy Coconut Oil anywhere. The #2 recipe calls for Almond Flour. You can buy Almond Flour at most stores in the health food section, but it is very expensive! I decided to just make my own at home. It’s very simple. If you want to know how I make it, click here. The rest of the ingredients are very basic.
Here’s my shredded zucchini. I shredded it using a little food processor thingy, but you could use a cheese grater as well.
The first recipe called for “1 medium zucchini.” My “medium zucchini” yielded 2 cups. The second recipe just called for 1 cup of shredded zucchini (basically 1 small zucchini.)
Here are some pics of the dough…I mixed #1 by hand and #2 in my Kitchen Aid mixer.
Here they are ready to go into the oven!
The first recipe made 1 full loaf and the second recipe made 2 small loaves.
Here they are just out of the oven…
And here they are sliced and ready to eat!
I slathered a couple slices with a little Smart Balance spread and cut them up into little pieces.
I then called on my panel of judges to help me decide which one was better. I think the judges are pretty dang cute if you ask me. 😉
Here’s their verdict…
All of my kids except for my 8 year old liked the #2 one better! Oh, and Kev liked the #2 one better too. Personally, I thought they were both very very awesome, especially considering how healthy they are!
I liked the texture of the #1 one a little better. It was very smooth and moist, but it wasn’t very sweet. It still tasted very good though. The #2 one had little tiny chunks of almond in it (which is why my 8 year old didn’t like it), but I imagine if you used store-bought almond flour (or had an awesome blender!) it would be perfectly smooth. I thought the #2 one was very, VERY good! The banana in there helped it to be sweeter. It seriously tasted about as good as a regular “tons of sugar” zucchini bread recipe. I was surprised.
My big kids were a little disappointed I didn’t put any chocolate chips in it, but my little kids gobbled it right up!
My final thoughts….I would make both of these recipes again. However, I like the #2 recipe a little bit more. I would really like to make the #1 recipe a little sweeter. Maybe I’ll try replacing half the zucchini for a banana next time and see how it goes. Next time I make the #2 recipe I’m going to put some dark chocolate chips in it and then my kids will love it! I’ll be happy because it’s healthy for them! Yay!
Oh and FYI, I ended up slicing all of this bread into individual portions and freezing them in freezer bags. Both of these breads are so moist that I knew they wouldn’t stay “good” for very long. I also love to have little “treats” stashed away in my freezer when I’m craving something sweet! Love it!
I hope you enjoy!!
What a fun little test! Kind of like your very own Bobby Flay throwdown 🙂 AND happy I won the throwdown! haha Yes, this bread is extremely smooth if you buy blanched skinless almond flour. My favorites are from Digestive Wellness and Honeyville which you can buy on Amazon. DW even makes a Super Fine flour that is just like all purpose flour. It’s amazing!
I’m glad you won the throwdown too! 😉 Your recipe is so great. I’ll definitely try it with a different almond flour. I’m going to look into the brands you mentioned too. Thanks for the tip…and the wonderful recipe! Love it!
Great reviews! My daughter loves zucchini muffins – so, I’ll have to try this. Thank you!
How did you find the other blogs with recipes, etc?
I just did a google search for paleo zucchini bread (knowing it would be sugar and grain free!) I found quite a few, but these looked the best. I was pleasantly surprised! I hope you enjoy them as well!
I looove zucchini and am also pregnant and I cannot wait to make this bread! Sending my husband a grocery list now so I can try this out tonight. Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome! I hope you love these recipes! What a great husband you have. I hope things are going well for your pregnancy. Good luck!