Whole-Wheat Pecan Zucchini Bread

My friend Roly asked me for a zucchini bread recipe the other day. I didn't have one off-hand. This is what I came up with- you cut as much oil as possible with yogurt. Buttermilk adds a nice tang. And, the secret to keeping any bread or cake with tons of fresh veggies in it (like carrot cake), or any cake, really, is to dump a package of sugar-free instant pudding in the batter. Works every time. For this bread I like to use cheesecake flavored pudding, but you could use vanilla, too.

Whole-Wheat Pecan Zucchini Bread:
1 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups of white flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutneg
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (or eggbeaters)
3/4 cup of walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
3/4 cup of low-fat or fat-free yogurt, plain or vanilla
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 cups of zucchini, shredded
1 package sugar-free pudding

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease or oil two 8 inch by 4 inch loaf pans. Mix everything together and split batter into pans. Bake 55 minutes or until set in center.



Yum. There it is, right out of the oven.


And there it is, out of the toaster, smothered with butter and cinnamon sugar. Mmm.