The Top 13 of 2013 from Frugal Foodie Mama

About this time last year, I had set a few goals for myself for 2013.  A couple of these said goals were blog related.  One in particular was to reach 1000 blog followers by the end of the year.  While I had faith that it was doable, it also felt like a pretty lofty blogging goal for me.  

1000 people??

Following my little ole blog?

Well, guess what? 

I tripled that lofty goal I had set for myself last year!

I have nearly 3000 subscribed readers to my blog today!

(Say what???)

And I have to give a HUGE thank you to all of you who come back here each week to see what I have been whipping up in my kitchen & sharing my posts and blog with those that you know! :)

There is NO WAY that myself and this blog of mine would be where it is now without each of you.

No joke. 

My Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread Veganized!

I am thrilled to have Sandra from Vegan Mother Hubbard guest posting on my blog today.  Sandra was my Blog Angel from October, and emailed me about doing a vegan makeover for one of my recipes.  I was completely game for that! :)  Sandra is sharing with us all her vegan version of my Banana Chocolate Zucchini Bread...

In October, I had the opportunity to work with Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama, as part of Blog Angels. Being vegan, I still like to read non-vegan food blogs, because I get inspiration for dishes that I change and make vegan. The recipe today is a vegan version of Carrie's Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread.

I made a couple changes to the recipe, in part to make it vegan (soy yogurt rather than egg), in part to accomodate my pantry at the time that I made the recipe (I didn't have vegan butter on hand, so I used canola oil), and in part because I couldn't bring myself to peel the zucchini (so I used shredded, rather than peeled and pureed).  Here's my recipe:

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread

1/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large bananas

1 cup finely shredded zucchini

3 tbsp vanilla soy yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar. Add the bananas and mash with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the zucchini, yogurt, and vanilla. In a separate, medium sized bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gently stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips (if using) into the wet ingredients using a fork, until well combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch bread pan. Bake for about 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack, if you can resist it that long. 

Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread

I have been going to great lengths lately to "hide the veggies" from my son (and ahem, my husband) in my cooking and baking.  My son will eat broccoli.  No problem.  But anything else green?  Forget about it.  My husband is even worse.  I could never get him to willingly eat broccoli.  Or anything else green.  After making a chicken casserole, I will find my husband's plate empty of all but the veggies he has pushed to the side as he navigated his dinner with his fork.  

I have recently discovered that vegetable purees are an excellent accomplice in helping me hide the vegetables from the two guys in my life.  Inspired by a post from You.And.Me.Are.We about Chocolate Zucchini Bread and my favorite recipe for Chocolate Banana Bread from Once Upon a Chef, I decided to combine the two to create my own moist, rich, chocolaty, veggie-laced concoction.

What you will need:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup of peeled, chopped zucchini- then pureed

1 egg

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a loaf pan.  Combine all your dry ingredients through the salt in a medium bowl.  Mix thoroughly with a whisk.  Set aside.

Next peel and chop 1 cup of fresh zucchini.  It took about half of a larger zucchini to make a cup.  Using a food processor or blender, blend the zucchini chunks until smooth.  

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Beat in the egg.  Then the zucchini puree.  

Add your mashed bananas and vanilla to the larger bowl, and beat to mix well.  

Add your dry ingredients a third at a time to the zucchini/banana mixture, beating after each addition. 

Once your batter is mixed well, stir in the chocolate chips.  Now, you can opt to leave these out, but why would you?  Pssssttt...  I saved you a lot of fat and calories by replacing a lot of the butter and eggs with pureed zucchinis and mashed bananas.  Go ahead and add the chocolate chips. ;)

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes.  Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick near the middle of the loaf.  If it comes out clean, it is done!  Once baked, let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread was AH-mazing.  It was crazy moist and oh so decadent.  I have made the Chocolate Banana Bread recipe from Once Upon a Chef a number of times for my husband and my son.  In fact, they often request that I leave a couple of bananas to ripen just so I can make them this bread. :)  My son didn't notice any difference at all.  My husband actually had a piece and told me it was the best of this bread that I had ever made.  Hehehe... No, I did not tell him what was different about it.  In this case, ignorance is definitely bliss. ;)