Vegetables for Dessert

Hey, remember that one time I ate a bunch of zucchini and carrots and had all sorts of leftover veggies?

Would you like to know what I did with them? No? Don't care? Oh, you will.

Vegetables. In your dessert. Why not?

This recipe is adapted from a user recipe at allrecipes.com.

Carrot and Zucchini Bread
5 WWP+ for 1/16th 


Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/3 c. egg whites (I use trader joe's in a carton)
• 1 1/2 c. nonfat buttermilk (if you don't have any buttermilk, add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to 1 1/2 c. nonfat milk, stir, and let it chill for a few minutes before using)
• 2 tbsp no sugar added applesauce
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 c. shredded zucchini
• 1 c. shredded carrots
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 c. pistachios

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, powder, soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

• In another bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, applesauce, and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Add in veggies and zest.

• Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until combined. Don't overmix.
• Fold in pistachios.

• Pour batter into a bundt pan sprayed with cooking spray. Level batter with a spatula.

• Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes clean
• Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before turing out cake onto a cake stand or platter.

• For two 9x5 loaves: same amount of time

This recipe is completely non-fat and the entire mess only uses 1/2 cup of sugar. That is crazy! The carrots offer a lot of natural sweetness and there is so much flavor from the spices and zest that you don't miss the fat and sugar. That being said, if you want a more decadent cake, feel free to double the sugar and use real eggs and oil in place of the applesauce. It will cook just the same, but will not be as light or weight watcher friendly as my version. Also, if you don't like pistachios you can sub other nuts... but that will also add more calories and fat. Sorrryyyyy....

Oh- you can also make this recipe vegetarian by subbing in almond milk. And vegan if you use a chia egg in place of the egg (1 tbsp ground chia: 3 tbsp liquid per egg).

This cake needs an icing.

I mixed together 1/2 c. nonfat plan greek yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp each orange and lemon zest, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tbsp orange juice, and 1/4 c. powdered sugar

 Glaze the cooled cake.

Do you see this? It looks like confetti! The veggies keep this cake so incredibly moist.

Here's a hot tip for portion control:

Take a piece of wax or parchment paper. Trace your upside down bundt pan or whatever pan with a pencil. Fold that piece of paper into even portions. With scissors, cut out a 1-portion stencil. Now you can actually measure your slices instead of guesstimating! This works great for desserts or casseroles or anything that is easy to divide.

One sixteenth of this recipe is actually pretty large. It sounds small, but it is not!

This recipe was a great way to utilize leftover veggies and to get my cake fix without OD'ing on sugar. It's a great recipe to keep handy...