While zucchini is a stand-out produce of summer used for kabobs and salads in barbecue parties and picnics, we may be surprised to know that it can grace the breakfast meals by being a key ingredient for our bread together with blueberries and lemon. As moms usually find a hard time dragging off their still slumbering kids off the bed during summer time, she may find this trick useful as an alarm clock (ah… the citrusy aroma coming from the modern kitchen hearth!) and health-booster.
Health Benefits of the Three Major Ingredients
We know too well that lemons are juiciest stores of vitamin C and B with phosphorus, proteins and even carbohydrates. Lemons are good for almost all parts of our body: like our immune system, skin, throat, stomach, gums and teeth. The health benefits of this sunshine-colored citrus is deemed to be—almost—equated to sunshine itself. It’s a wonderful fruit you can use as food, beverage or sauce.
Blueberries are packed with the richness of vitamin C, manganese and dietary fiber; hence, it is declared to one of the healthiest food. Girls who want to lose weight may find this fruit appealing as its enzymes actively burns fat in abdominal area or to put it simpler, the belly fats.
Zucchini provides useful amounts of folate, potassium and Vitamin A. And is well-loved by individuals on diet since it is very low in calories. Beside the nutritive benefits, zucchini can be grown just right in your garden.
Having you well-informed with the health benefits of the 3 key ingredients, let’s proceed into blending these three into one of our staple foods: the bread.
The Recipe
First of all, prepare all the ingredients. Preparing them means organized and hassle-free cooking. Here they are:
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups unpeeled, coarsely grated zucchini, drained slightly
- zest of 1 lemon, grated
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup (or more) of fresh blue berries (Another option is “frozen” blueberries but there’s a precaution for this during mixing of ingredients
Actual cooking:
- Prepare your oven by simply preheating it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Properly beat the eggs until yolk and albumen are equally mixed together. Add sugar and beat.
- Add zucchini, lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixture and let them blend in very well.
- In a separate bowl, put together flour, salt, soda and baking powder.
- Put the rest of the dry ingredients into the wet concoction and mix well.
- After mixing the dry and wet ingredient together, you can now put in the blueberries with them. (Note: If you’re using frozen blueberries, be sure to add them while they’re still frozen. Moreover, do not over-stir since they have the tendency to ‘bleed’ and will affect the color of your batter.’) Be careful not to over-stir and have the color of the blueberries dominate your batter. It’s much prettier to identify the different colors of lemon, zucchini and blueberries after they were cooked.
- As the batter is completed, put them into 2 well-greased loaf pans (pref. 5×9 inches).
- Wait for about 55 minutes. (Note: You can also know if it’s already cooked when you stick in a knife into the center of the loaves and it comes out batter-free.)
- When cooked, put them out of the oven and cool for approximately 10 minutes.
- Remove the bread and serve with your preferred beverage.
