A to Z Bread Variation 2

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a recipe called A to Z Bread, which is a basic quick bread base that you then add your own variations to. I shared my first attempt at it with bananas as the main ingredient.

I decided to go with carrots, pineapple, and coconut this time. I also decided to try making a couple of substitutes to see if I could make it any healthier without sacrificing taste (note I say "healthier" not "healthy"!).

A to Z Bread Variation 2

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup chopped carrot

3/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Heat oven to 325.

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add sugar and oil; cream well.

Add bananas, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Add nuts.

I poured half of the batter into a well greased loaf pan and the other half into 4 well greased mini loaf pans.

Bake the mini loafs for 35 minutes and the larger loaf for 50 minutes.

Overall, I thought this variation was really good. It ended up a little dryer than the banana bread, so I may not substitute as much oil for applesauce next time. It's also not as sweet as the banana bread was, but that's okay!

Please check out my links page for all the great parties I'll be linking to!

A to Z Bread Variation 1

So, I was cruising the Tasty Kitchen the other day, when I stumbled across a recipe called A to Z bread. It's a basic quick bread recipe that you can then add 2 cups of whatever to (there's a nice suggestion list with the original recipe).

On Sunday, I was faced with 3 bananas that were not going to make it to Monday. Rather than overdose on potassium by eating them all, I decided to make the A to Z bread with bananas being the base of my 2 cups of whatever. And, what's so great about this recipe is, I didn't have 2 cups of bananas, so I just dumped in some applesauce to make up the difference. No trip to the store! Which made Mr. 31 happy.

This recipe is so good, I will be making it again. So, for now, we will call this version A to Z bread Variation 1. The only change I made from the original recipe was that I took away some cinnamon and added nutmeg (gotta have nutmeg!) and I halved the amount of nuts (only because that's all I had in the house, not making a stance or anything).

A to Z Bread Variation 1

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
3 whole eggs
1 cup oil (I used canola)
1 ¾ cup sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
½ cup pecans
1 ½ cups mashed banana
½ cup applesauce

Heat oven to 325.

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add sugar and oil; cream well.

Add bananas, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well. Add nuts.

I poured half of the batter into a well greased loaf pan and the other half into 4 well greased mini loaf pans.

Bake the mini loafs for 35 minutes and the larger loaf for 50 minutes.

Please check out my links page for all the great parties I'll be linking to!

Zucchini Bread

This is the best zucchini bread EVER!! This is a great recipe for all that zucchini from your garden or that you can get really cheap at your local farmer's market. Sorry, there's no picture - it goes that fast!! (Okay, well maybe I just didn't take one, but you get what I'm saying.)

Zucchini Bread
From Paula Deen

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.