Grain-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with Coconut Flour)

I've decided to do less wheat this year, so I went through my Pinterest pumpkin pins, searching for grain or gluten-free options for some pumpkin puree I'd thawed earlier in the week. Unfortunately, several of my pins didn't link to the correct recipe, but just the blog. Another required a password to access that blog. Ugh. Too much Pinterest traffic makes it harder and harder to find active links these days!

Anyway, I finally found one that worked, which I had pinned a while back. And though I thought I'd already made these, I couldn't find any evidence. So, I set out to make them again. You can find the original recipe over here, and my adaptation below.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. coconut flour (I use Nutiva organic)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c melted coconut oil
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. pure maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup)
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix coconut flour, baking soda and powder, and spices in a small bowl.
In a larger bowl, melt coconut oil. Then add pumpkin, eggs, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Stir until well combined.
Add flour to wet mix and stir until combined.
Line 12 muffin cups with liners or grease well.
Divide mixture between cups, then sprinkle with pecans.
Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal--overnight slow cooker breakfast

Okay, so if you've read my blog at all, you know we're a breakfast family. That doesn't just mean we believe in the importance of eating breakfast every morning. It also means we believe in eating breakfast for dinner on occasion, and sometimes for lunch, if the mood suits us.

Needless to say, when my brother in law introduced us to baked oatmeal, we were hooked. Lately, I've been wanting to try a crock-pot oatmeal, though. It seems so easy--throw everything in the pot, turn it on, and wake up to breakfast (and maybe a delicious-smelling house). This was my first attempt at crock pot oatmeal, and sadly, I'd have to mark it down as a big fat FAIL.

When I was adding the 8 CUPS (yes, you read that right) of water, I thought it sounded like an awful lot. But I've cooked steel cut oats before, though it's been a while, and I seem to remember them taking a lot of water. So I went along with it, dubiously. In addition, the recipe says to put it on the 'warm' setting on the crock pot for 8 hours. I thought that seemed low, but hey, it's oatmeal, it'll just swell and absorb all that water...right?

the raw sludge in the crock pot after 10 hrs

WRONG. I woke to no good smells. I woke to a huge pot of warm soup...very thin soup. The carrots were still crunchy. The water was not absorbed. The oatmeal was not ready and waiting to eat.

I ended up turning it on high for an hour, and after tasting it again, I gave up and put it on the stove to boil away some of the water. Finally, it was ready, though still pretty runny. This was not a thick, yummy heap of carrot cake. It was a soupy porridge. With some cream and honey, it was actually tasty, but I'd make some major revisions to this recipe if I were to try it again.

bubbling away on the stove after 12 hrs in crockpot

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steel cut oats
• 2 cup shredded or chopped carrots (I threw mine in my Ninja for a minute or so)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut (shredded or flake)
• 8 cups water (I'd definitely cut this to 6 next time, maybe even 5).
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional--I did not use this).
• honey and cream or half & half for topping

Instructions:

1. In a large slow cooker, combine ingredients except for toppings. Set on "warm" and cook for 8 hours. 
2. Now, obviously, I would not recommend this cooking method. I'd try it on low next time, but I can't give conclusive evidence that would work, either, as I haven't done it. But I'd be wary of cooking anything on warm again.

   

   It finally cooked!

   
   
    

Zucchini Spice Bread

Yay, another zucchini bread! I used the shredded zucchini I froze last summer. Thawed and left in a strainer for a few hours and all the water drains right out!

I have a lot of different types of flours, so I used an assortment for this. If you want to go gluten free, you can substitute for the 1/2 c. of wheat flour and use gluten free flour (I love Bob's all-purpose mix). If you're fine with wheat, just use 1 1/2 c. wheat flour.

This is what I used: 

• 1/2 c. buckwheat flour
• 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 c. organic white flour
• 1/4 c. coconut flour
• 1/4 c. garbanzo flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs
•  1/4 cup coconut oil (in liquid form)
•  1/4 cup applesauce, (I used pear sauce), mashed banana or more coconut oil
•  1/3 cup organic sugar
•  1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
•  1 cup grated or shredded zucchini
•  1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

This is what I did:

1. Grease and flour a glass 8 x 4 inch pan. 
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
3. Mix flours, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in medium bowl.
4. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. 
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix well. 
6. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. 
7. Pour batter into prepared pans.
8. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. 
9. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. 
10. Remove from pan and eat warm or cold with butter, peanut butter, cream cheese or by itself. 

This turned out very dark but tasty. I think it was the buckwheat flour. It also didn't hold together all that well, despite the bit of wheat flour and the eggs. I was hoping that would be enough but it was very crumbly. Despite that, it tasted delicious and everyone enjoyed it. Would definitely make this again.

Apple Carrot Zucchini Bread

 I am officially out of zucchini, but I had one small summer squash left, so I managed to squeeze out one more zucchini bread recipe!

 

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour 
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1-2 tsp cinnmamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2-1 cup shredded zucchini or yellow squash
• 1/2 cup diced, peeled apple
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
3. Blend butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together.
5. Fold dry ingredients into wet along with carrots, squash, apples, and pecans.
6. Pour into prepared pans.
7. Bake until golden brown, approximately 1 hour, or until toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Chicken Chili Verde

I made this with the green enchillada sauce I posted yesterday. I got a similar recipe from a friend which used pork, but I didn't have pork, so I went looking for a recipe that used chicken, then combined bits and pieces of several recipes until I had something I could make.

For this, I used:
2 lbs chicken legs (you could use whatever parts you have)
1 can green chilis
2 cans (or 3-4 c. cooked) white beans (I used 1 of navy beans and 1 great northern)
16 oz green enchillada sauce
3 c. chopped green tomatoes
1 can yellow hominy

In a large pot, add the chicken and enough water to cover
Cook until chicken is tender and falling off the bone
add remaining ingredients and cook about 10 mins until tomatoes are soft

Roasted Kale and Butternut Squash with Heirloom Jacob's Cattle Beans, Adobo Sauce and Feta Cheese

While researching the book I'm doing for NaNoWrimo, I looked for Puerto Rican recipes on Pinterest. This one, for kale salad, looked really interesting. However, I don't really like raw kale (I know, I know, I'm a freak of nature). I like the health benefits, though, so I thought I'd just cook the kale. The recipe was sort of strange, anyway, as it called for hot squash in a salad.

I have to say, making this was pretty time-consuming. I don't usually do 'fancy.' I do basic. So this made me feel quite accomplished. And it was sooo pretty (hence the photo overload) that I almost didn't want to eat it. It was really good though--and VERY filling. Even my husband couldn't finish a bowl full. It's a very fancy, filling vegetarian meal. The adobo sauce I made was good--I liked it heated up, although I guess it is supposed to be kind of the dressing for the salad. But it was a good seasoning for the dish, and I enjoyed it. I did sort of wing the adobo sauce, so if you're picky about that kind of thing, use canned stuff, or you can follow the link for my basic recipe.


Anyway, I adapted the recipe to make a vegetarian meal instead of a salad. Here's the full meal version.


Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (1/2-inch pieces)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp red wine or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1-2 tbsp adobo sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 cups cooked Jacob's cattle beans (any other kind would do just as well)
• 1 large bunch kale, stemmed and torn into small pieces
• 1/2 c. feta cheese

Instructions:

Wash, stem and tear up kale and place in a large casserole pan (mine was the big pyrex pan, about 9x14 I think.

Seed butternut squash, peel if desired, and cut into approx 1/2 inch cubes. Mine weren't too exact. Also, I don't peel mine because I grew them and they're organic. But if you're unsure, peel. The skins are very soft and edible, so feel free to skip this step. Spread over kale in the pan. Drizzle olive oil over the squash and kale, as evenly as possible.

Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes, until squash is very tender. If you're like me and your pieces aren't uniform, test the largest pieces. When they're done, so is everything else.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together 1/2 tsp. salt, vinegar, mustard, honey, adobo sauce, garlic slices, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.

When squash is done, pour sauce over it and toss in the casserole pan. Some of the kale may be crispy, and that's fine!

Add beans and mix well. Return pan to the oven for a couple minutes until heated through.

Serve topped with feta or other crumbled goat cheese.

Adobo Sauce

This is a quick and easy recipe for Adobo sauce, which can be used in a ton of things. Instead of going out and buying it, I made up a batch myself which was very quick and easy. You can use it to can chili peppers or chipotle peppers in. But I used it in a salad dressing.

I did not put chipotle in mine, because I don't have any and because I wanted to make a marinade sort of sauce. I had found the recipe while looking for Puerto Rican food, so I made an adobo that, according to the site, was a Puerto Rican versian. It had crushed garlic, olive oil, salt, black pepper, oregano, vinegar and paprika. I wasn't sure about measurements, so I sort of winged it.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (powdered is best, but you can use the leaves, if that's what you have)
1 tbsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small jar, shake and leave overnight to let the flavors mingle. It does not need to be refrigerated, as that will make the olive oil separate. Shake right before using.

Coconut Lime Zucchini Cake/Bread

I made this with my second-to-last zucchini on the counter, so it very well may be my last zucchini bread recipe of the year. By next year, I'll probably have a new obsession, but I have to say, it's been fun testing out many of the zucchini bread recipes (and eating them, of course) on this list of 50.  This one was for coconut lime zucchini bread, which I admit, sounded a little odd. But, I was getting lemons for the lemon bread, and I remembered there was one with lime, so I grabbed one. And I didn't want to let it go to waste, so....

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 C coconut oil
3/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp lime zest
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp coconut extract
2 C shredded zucchini
1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 C finely shredded coconut
GLAZE:
1/4 C sugar
2 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp coconut extract
 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
In a large mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, mix eggs, oil, sugar, lime zest, lime juice, coconut extract
In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking powder and soda
Gently stir dry ingredients into wet mixture
Stir in the zucchini
Fold in the coconut
Pour into two bread pans, or bread pan and cake pan
Bake 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
While bread bakes, mix together glaze ingredients
When bread is done, let cool in pan ten minutes, then move to plate.
Pour or brush glaze over bread while still hot.
 
While I liked this bread, the coconut extract was a bit strong for me. I'd probably cut it in half next time. The glaze really made the cake so much better!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Okay, so these sounded so good in theory...not so much in practice. My son loves pumpkin pancakes, but unfortunately, my pumpkin crop was a big fat fail this year. So I thought I'd make sweet potato pancakes instead. You can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe that even said, "If you like pumpkin pancakes, you'll love these." WRONG!

Don't let these fool you...these are the 'after' pics. See below for the horror story.

While I don't blame the sweet potatoes for the failure, I will definitely NOT be making this recipe ever again. When I put all the ingredients together, the batter turned into a blob of frothy, foaming gelatinous goo. Every pancake, no matter how long I cooked it, was raw in the middle. Even when I left it in the pan so long it was burnt on the outside. It was very reminiscent of the snickerdoodle pancake fiasco I had last year. Remembering that particular pancake disaster, I added a lot of milk to these...about half a cup. And stirred it for quite a while, to get all the foaming bubbles out. Then, the batter was the right consistency (a bit thicker than cream) and the last few turned out okay. The buttermilk made them super sour, though. If I add buttermilk again, I'd probably only use 1/2 c. and 1 c. regular milk, which might make them less foamy and more liquid.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 sweet potato, cooked, peeled and mashed

creepy foamy batter cooking

Creepy foamy pancakes rising way too high while remaining raw inside.

This was the best looking of a dozen, most of which were burned on the outside and raw inside.

Creepy over-risen pancakes with butter and syrup...still creepy.

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
2. Add egg, buttermilk, and mashed sweet potato. Stir in but do not over mix; the batter should have small lumps.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet and drop a dallop of butter into it. 
4. When butter begins to bubble, pour in a bit of batter to the size pancake you want. 
5. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2½ minutes, flip over. 
6. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
7. Serve warm with a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

After beating some of the foam away and adding more liquid, they approached normal.

Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

I've been wanting to make lemon poppyseed cake for ages. It's my all-time favorite cake, and I've never made it. So when I found this recipe on the long list of zucchini bread recipes, I immediately went out and bought a lemon. I stuck it in the door of the refrigerator and promptly forgot about it for about a month. Sadly, when I went to make this, the lemon was a bit dry. So I had to grate the 'zest' on the largest setting of my grater to make anything come off. So, it was more like lemon rind slices than zest, but of course I did not let that deter me.

I've been getting up on Saturday or Sunday morning every week and making one of the zucchini bread recipes for breakfast (although it's usually more like brunch time when we eat it). While I always use whole wheat when baking, this time, I went for the decadent cake I remembered loving so much, so I used only organic white flour. So it was definitely more like dessert than breakfast this time around.

Ingredients 
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2-3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 teaspoons poppy seeds

 
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
2. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in zucchini and next remaining ingredients. Spoon batter into a buttered loaf pan.
3. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (I had to bake it for 1.5 hrs). Cool in pans on rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for 30 minutes more.

This bread was probably my favorite of the zucchini bread recipes I've tried so far. It's way better than the ones I've made before. I'm going to add more poppy seeds next time, but other than that, this was sooo good. We just ate it plain, without frosting or cream cheese or butter. It didn't need anything.

Bean and Vegetable Soup with Kale and Jacob's Cattle Beans

 

This is another recipe I found on Pinterest when we were looking for recipes using Jacob's Cattle Beans. This one was soooo delicious, much better than the pureed bean soup. It was so good I got up in the morning and went to eat the leftovers, only to find that someone else had gotten there first. That's how good this recipe is!
 
 Like always, we adapted to use the things we had on hand. Below is our version. 

• 4 cups cooked beans of your choice (Jacob's Cattle Beans are the best!)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 can tomatoes, or 2 c. fresh chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 cup brown rice
• 4-6 cups water 
• 1 bunch of kale leaves, chopped or sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat a large soup pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, and carrots. Saute about 5 minutes. Add a little water if they start to stick.
3. Add the peppers and garlic and saute until softened.
4. Add the tomatoes, thyme, basil, rice, beans, kale, and water.
5. Simmer about 30 minutes.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cuban Pureed Bean Soup

As a lifelong on-again off-again vegetarian, I have grown quite fond of beans. They are more of a staple in our household than, say, hamburgers. When I went to college, what I missed most about my mom's cooking (don't we all miss mom's cooking when we go off to college?) wasn't some fancy dish she made, but good old refried beans. So it's a letdown to look in Fannie Farmer and see so very few bean recipes.

My mom grew heirloom Jacob's Cattle Beans this year, and they are soooo good. So last weekend, we were trying to find some recipes to use them in. This recipe was, of course, from Pinterest rather than Fannie Farmer. I've had Cuban bean soup and stew before in several forms, but my mom really wanted a recipe that used pureed beans. Sadly, even Pinterest didn't yield much when I searched for pureed bean soup. But, we found this one for black beans soup, and we had most of the ingredients, so we made due and made changes when necessary.

Here is our adaptation:

• 1-2 c. water or stock
• 3 c. cooked or canned dried beans (about 2 cans, or precooked). We used Jacob's Cattle Beans, but black beans would be good as well, as the original recipe uses.
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 large onions, chopped  
• 3 carrots, chopped 
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 c. dry sherry (I didn't have this, so I used cooking wine)
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes:
chopped red onion
chopped red bell pepper
sour cream
Or anything else...would have used cilantro if we had it.
 
Instructions: 

1.  Heat oil in large skillet.
2. Add onions, peppers, carrots, cumin and cook 5-7 mins, stirring frequently.
3. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute. 
4. Add sherry or cooking wine and cook until vegetables are tender.
5. Add beans, water or stock, salt & pepper, then remove from heat and puree in a food processor or blender. If you like it a bit chunky, pulse or blend for only a few seconds, checking until it's at desired consistency. 
6. Return to pan and reheat, if desired.
7. Serve in bowls with preferred garnishes.

While it was quite good, I think I'd find another recipe next time, as it wasn't very exciting to me. I've liked other uses for the beans more, and other pureed bean soups better. 

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Guess where I got this recipe? Off the wonderful collection over on this blog. My goal is to make 10 of them this year, so I'm working my way through. I already made a zucchini banana bread, but I was at my mom's and she asked me to make something from the overripe bananas she had sitting on the counter. Instead of making regular old banana bread, I went to the list and found one I hadn't made. This one calls for Greek yogurt, but I used regular vanilla, since that's what she had. I didn't adapt this one a whole lot, since it's already healthy-ish.

For this, I used:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cups white flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 3 large over-ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vanilla (or plain) yogurt
• 1 cup zucchini, grated
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
2. Mix brown sugar, bananas, eggs, vanilla extract, yogurt, zucchini and chocolate chips in another large bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (or Bread)

 When I was a kid, my mom made chocolate zucchini cake every summer. I still remember exactly how it tastes, unlike any other chocolate cake. I looked up some of the recipes for it on Pinterest, and they are almost all nearly identical. This one was a tiny bit different, as the chocolate chips were supposed to be mixed in and not spread on top of the bread. I didn't have chocolate chips, so I just made these a bit more chocolatey by adding extra cocoa powder, and I made them into muffins instead of bread. Unfortunately, I didn't add extra oil to make up for the dry cocoa powder, and they turned out a bit dry and not very good. Also, I was making these at the same time as I made pancakes for my son, and I got distracted and used all whole wheat, which didn't help any. They tasted really healthy, and not in the good way--kind of like a power bar.

The original recipe, this one from the list of zucchini bread recipes, calls for a brown sugar glaze, but I'm obsessed with cream cheese frosting, so I put it on everything, including these. It still couldn't save them, though.

I used:

• 1 C whole wheat flour (would recommend half white!)
• 1 t cinnamon
• ¾ t baking soda
• 5 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ C coconut oil
• ½ C organic raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• ¼ C sour cream
• 1½ C grated zucchini
• 

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a large 9″ bread pan (or muffin tin with cupcake liners) and set aside.
2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, oil, and eggs. Add vanilla and sour cream.
4. Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the remaining dry flour ingredients. Stir to combine.
5. Pour into prepared 9″ bread pan or cupcake liners. Bake for 50-60 minutes for bread, 25-30 minutes for muffins, or until a toothpick in the center comes clean.
6. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and remove from pan. Top with cream cheese frosting if desired. 

It's hard for me to give directions for this, since it was NOT good. Just don't follow my directions, or look for an alternative recipe, or try following the original recipe exactly. All I know is, these hung around on the counter for DAYS, and that's saying a lot for a chocoholic like me. I finally managed to eat them all, just to use them up, because I felt too guilty to throw them out, seeing as they weren't burnt to a crisp or anything (dang, I should have thought of that earlier...)

Apple Walnut Zucchini Bread

This is another recipe I made from the wonderful compilation found on this blog. I didn't like this one quite as much as the banana bread, but it was still pretty good. The spices were a bit strong for me, and I couldn't taste the apple at all, which was a disappointment. I didn't want to put in extra (one seemed like a wee amount) because I wasn't sure if it would make the bread soggy.

I probably won't make this again, since I have so many recipes from that blog, including another apple bread. But if you like very spicy apple bread, this one will do the trick.

For this, I used:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 white cup flour
1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 apple, grated
1 cup grated zucchini
2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
dried apple slices (optional--I didn't have these, so didn't use them)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking soda.
 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, grated apple, zucchini, coconut oil and lemon juice.
4. Gently fold this mixture into the dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.
5. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
 
6. Pour batter into a greased and floured loaf pan.

7. Bake for about an hour, or until browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
 
Like I said, this bread was just okay. Last time, I made banana zucchini bread and it was a little soggy. This was the opposite--a little dry. But, it got eaten, both at dinner with pork chops and sauteed squash and the next morning for breakfast. It didn't hang around on the counter for long, so I guess it was passable.