Today I wanted to get rid of some of the items in my refrigerator and freezer, so i decided to make a non-traditional Zucchini Bread, using Zucchini, Carrots, Chocolate Cookie Crumbs and chopped Macadamia Nuts and dried Pineapple.

Since I ended up with 4 cups of shredded fruit/Vegetable (yes, Zucchini is a fruit) I doubled my normal recipe./zuchinni-muffins/  The ingredients that I used are:

6 Eggs

2 cups Brown Sugar*

1 cup granulated Sugar

1 cup Butter

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp. Vanilla

4 cups shredded Zucchini and Carrots

5 cups Flour

1 cup finely chopped Chocolate Cookie Crumbs

2 tsps. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

2 tsps. Salt

2 tsps. ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground Cloves

• Beat the Eggs with a paddle beater in your electric mixer or whisk by hand.
• Add the Sugars and Vanilla;  beat in.
• While still beating, slowly add the oil and then stir in the shredded fruit/vegetables.
• Stir in the Flour mixture;  mix until well combined.
• Finally stir in the chopped Nut/dried Pineapple mixture.

Pour into the prepared pans (half full) and bake as directed above.

The fruit used can be varied – almost any fruit will do in this recipe.

When a toothpick inserted in the middle of the breads comes out clean, they are done.  However, I usually bake them about 5 minutes longer so that the tops are more brown and crispy.  If you are muffin top lover, then definitely bake them just a little bit longer than necessary.

As an added note, this recipe produces a relatively healthy product.  You have your vegies in the Zucchini and Carrots (Vitamin A here).  I used Red Carrots which seem to have much more pigment than the orange ones – this means more Vitamin A as the pigment is where the Vitamins are.  In the photo at the top of the page, the carrots look orange (dark orange!) but if you look closely you will see the red.  Most of the red is on the outside, but the orange is much darker than on regular orange carrots, thereby probably containing more Carotene (Vitamin A source)

The recipe also contains Eggs, Macadamia Nuts and dried Pineapple.  The Butter and/ or  Oil are also essential products for a healthy body.  Whether you think it or not, oils are essential for survival!

Try my version or create your own.  This is a very flexible recipe and you can do a lot with it.  By the way, I usually use Raisins (good source of Iron) but since I had the Pineapple and am trying to clean out my fridge and freezer, I used that.  You can use whatever you have on hand!  Enjoy!