Baking with Vegetables

Guest Post:

Did you see my guest post on Megan’s blog over the weekend? She is an amazing runner in New York City and is training for the NY Marathon in October. She’s already qualified and run Boston and is a speedy girl. I wrote about how to stay healthy when you don’t log miles like Megan.

Exercise:

It’s still hot in Texas. Like too hot for me to be outside. On Friday morning, I ventured outside for a 4.5 mile run, but it was too hot and humid. I ran about 2 and walked the rest. Nothing is wrong with walking, but I am tired of the heat. On Saturday, I walked about 45 minutes outside and sweat buckets. And then on Sunday, I swam laps for one hour. That was the best idea of the weekend. The only good thing about the hot temperatures is the pool still feels great in September! No chill in the air when you get out of the water here.

Also, I am planning to write a post about Crossfit and how to get started. It seems from the Fitblog chats on Twitter and some emails that people are curious about this activity but don’t know how to start. If you have specific questions that you’d like to know about it, let me know! Look for that coming soon.

Zucchini Banana Nut Bread:

My meals have been lacking some vegetables over the past few days with Rosh Hashanah in the middle of the week and eating out over the weekend. I decided to make a zucchini loaf since I like baking, and adding fruits and vegetables to bread sounds like a good excuse to bake.

This bread was adapted from different recipes that I found, and by using ingredients that I have in my house. I have mentioned before that I try not to buy spices that I don’t know if I’ll use again, so I try to keep good staples in my pantry and add fresh ingredients. The only thing I bought for this recipe was the zucchini.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchinis)

2 medium ripe bananas

1/4 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 C whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 C pecans plus some for sprinkling on top

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Grate zucchini into large bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix with electric mixer. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes. Sprinkle pecans on top before baking.

You could add other spices like nutmeg or ginger if you have those, leave out the pecans, or even combine carrots with the zucchini. So many possibilities.

I like this recipe because the ingredient list is short, the loaf is very moist without butter, eggs, milk, or any real liquid–just the juice from zucchini and bananas. It is not too sweet, and you could eat this for any meal or dessert! It’s a keeper. If you prefer a taller loaf, use a smaller than standard loaf pan. I slice my loaf and freeze it to eat anytime I want and make it last longer.

Enjoy!