Low Sugar Zucchini Bread

Elsa is by far my best eater. At 17 months she loves tomato soup, chili (my spicy chili!), beef stew, cold spagetti & sauce, celery, lentils & brown rice... We have held off on introducing very many things with flour because she likes so many whole foods. My other two LOVE bread - the whiter the better and I'd like to make sure Elsa's palate is well established first. Hopefully the filler foods can remain treats and she will use real, wholesome food as fuel. I am constantly frustrated with the older ones who only want empty calorie things and then complain that they are hungry 10 minutes later! *end rant*

So with lots of holiday gatherings coming up I wanted to have some easy things to take along for Elsa to enjoy. I pulled out a bag of grated zucchini from the freezer, opened a jar of applesauce that Julia canned with Grandma Gayle, and got to work on creating a recipe that would appeal to Elsa. The following is what I came up with while Elsa scooped and dumped a pile of split peas in a rubbermaid bin near our kitchen island.

LOW SUGAR ZUCCHINI BREAD
preheat oven to 350 grease a bread pan
(I use a cereamic one )and dust with flour

2 cups organic whole wheat flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t kosher salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground nutmeg

1/4 c sugar

2 T olive oil

3/4 c unsweetened applesauce

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c grated zucchini

In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Using an electric mixer, combine sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla on low speed. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ones and mix until just combined. Fold in zucchini and transfer to bread pan. Bake about 45 minutes.

Elsa gobbled this right up, but it was much too bland for my taste. So why share the recipe? Because the goal in making this bread was to create something that Elsa could eat as a treat that wasn't loaded with sugar but would still hold up when I cut it. It also happens to be moist which is a nice bonus!

Next up is a modified version of a chocolate chip cookie bar. Yum!