Lowcarbezine!

Zucchini Bread

Many low carbers tell me they miss having "a little something" with a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast, and express a profound weariness with eggs. Here's something for you! This Zucchini Bread is moist, sweet, cinnamon-y, and delicious - not to mention being low carb, and having as much protein per slice as a couple of eggs!

Zucchini Bread

1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar-free imitation honey
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 cup ground pumpkin seeds
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup Splenda granular
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 6-inch zucchini)

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a good-sized mixing bowl, combine the oil, imitation honey, eggs, and yogurt. Whisk these together. Now, in a second bowl, measure the dry ingredients: the ground pumpkin seeds, vanilla whey protein powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and Splenda. Stir them together, making sure any little lumps of baking soda get broken up. Now whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir just until everything is well-combined; no need for prolonged beating. Finally, stir in the walnuts and the shredded zucchini, mixing well.

Pour into a loaf pan you've sprayed well with non-stick cooking spray - my loaf pan is large, 5" x 9". Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack for cooling.

About 16 slices, and quite delicious! Per Serving (not including the polyols from the imitation honey): 194 Calories; 14g Fat, 14g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber - for a usable carb count of just 3 grams a slice.

Notes:

* Sugar free imitation honey is becoming more and more available, and a useful little product it is - in this recipe it adds some extra moisture. I can get sugar-free imitation honey here in Bloomington at my local Marsh grocery store, and I've heard that WalMart now carries a brand. For that matter, many of the low carb etailers carry Steele's brand of imitation honey. In short, it shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on some. However, if you can't, just use 1/4 cup more Splenda, and be careful not to over-bake your bread.

* Speaking of Splenda, it's important to know that Splenda granular - the stuff that comes in bulk, in a box or the new "baker's bag" - is different than the stuff that comes in the little packets. The stuff in the packets is considerably sweeter, apparently. All my Splenda measurements are for granular Splenda. I'm afraid I don't have the packets on hand (I've never purchased them) so I can't work a conversion for you. Take a look at the box, and see how many teaspoons of sugar each packet equals, and work from there, remembering that there are 48 teaspoons in a cup.

* Just about every health food store on the planet carries shelled, raw pumpkin seeds. I've been using them a lot in place of the ground almonds or hazelnuts I've often used in the past, partly because they're cheaper and more nutritious than nuts, and partly because a lot of people write me regarding nut allergies, wanting to know what they can substitute. The pumpkin seed meal has worked beautifully in every recipe I've tried so far! Just grind them in your food processor, using the S-blade, until they're about the consistency of cornmeal.

Posted by HoldTheToast at January 10, 2004 07:49 PM