Here are my favorites: Zucchini Bread This is one of the ways to take a perfectly healthy vegetable and make it edible. My favorite zucchini bread recipe comes from The Taste of Appalachia by Lyn Kellner. Makes 2 loaves. Ingredients 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups grated raw zucchini (or summer squash) 1 cup chopped pecans Mix first four ingredients in a bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs well, then add sugar, oil, and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Stir in zucchini. Add dry ingredients and the pecans and stir until moistened. Put the batter in two well greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pans and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Zucchini Bread This is a little more work than the quick version. In the heart of zucchini season, youÂll enjoy this bread fro a change. This recipe is adapted from a Taste of Home flyer. Makes 1 loaf. 1 tablespoon dry active yeast ½ cup warm water â cup warm milk â cup sugar 3 tablespoons butter, softened 2 tablespoons grated orange peel ½ teaspoon salt 1 ½ cups shredded zucchini â cup raisins ¾ cup whole wheat flour ¾ cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or a blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and mace) 1 â to 2 â cups bread flour In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the milk, sugar, butter, and orange peel. Mix well. Add the zucchini, raisins whole wheat floor, all-purpose flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Add enough bread flour to form a soft dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface (5-10 minutes) until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 ½ hours). Punch down dough and shape into a loaf. Place into a greased 9x5x3 inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes.

shambo - Thanks for the link. The recipe looks interesting and as the author of the article spelled out, they certainly DID use the wrong pan size for that amount of dough (a common mistake in bread making that causes many failures). The shredding on the side of the loaf is a good example of too much dough in the wrong size pan. It didn't have enough rising time for that amount of dough before they tossed it in the oven. Glad they didn't submit that loaf for judging at the fair...(speaking from the perspective as a foods judge at fairs). All leaveners lighten the dough - whether it's from yeast or chemical leaveners, air, and steam from moisture in the dough - all of those are leaveners. As explained in "CookWise", "Yeast and chemical leaveners do not create new bubbles; they only enlarge air bubbles already existing in the dough." Perhaps a shot of chemical leavener is just the lift the bread needs to prevent it from being heavy. You'll also find waffle recipes that include both yeast and baking soda, but it's there for the lift that adds some lightness, not to neutralize the acidity. I'll have to do some more reading on the subject in my books... I find it interesting. -Grainlady

My first thought was right there with ideefixe - make them smaller - mini-muffins, so that's what I did. These were wonderful little muffins after I "messed" with the recipe a bit. Here's how I lowered the fat, carbs/sugars, and increased fiber. 1 c. whole wheat flour (spelt would also be a good choice) 3/4 c. Hi-Maize Resistant Starch* 1/4 c. flaxmeal 1/4 c. agave nectar** 2-1/2 t. baking powder 1 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. salt 1 c. milk 2 T. instant coffee granules 2 T. coconut oil (or butter) 1 egg 1 t. vanilla 1/4-1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (I used 1/4-c.) Bake: 350°F oven 11-13-minutes. Yield: 24 mini-muffins. Sprinkle the top with a tiny bit of cinnamon sugar after you pan the batter, OR, dust with powdered sugar after they are baked. This is a "sweet trick" when you lower the sugar in foods. That small amount of sugar hitting your tongue, as well as the sweetness in the chocolate chips, will make them seem sweeter than the amount in them would indicate. I used a 1/4 c. flaxmeal for increased fiber and as a fat replacer. I also used coconut oil. One benefit of coconut oil is that you can generally reduce the amount of fat in a recipe by 25% just switching to coconut oil. I use several brands, but used LouAna brand for the recipe. LouAna doesn't have any coconut flavor. I get it at Wal-Mart and now I can get it at our Kroger-affiliated store, Dillons. I understand Kroger now carries it as well. You'll find it in the shortening/vegetable oil isle. If you aren't familiar with Hi-Maize Resistant Starch, here is some information from Honeyville Grain. I add it to all my baked goods as a replacement for a portion of the flour, in my homemade pudding mix, breakfast smoothie..... *Hi-Maize Resistant Starch (Honeyville Grain - 5#/$16.99 - S/H is $4.49 for your entire order and I generally order several things at a time from them. King Arthur Flour - 3#/$9.95 and 12-oz./$5.95 plus S/H. Information about Hi-Maize from Honeyville Grain: Just 15 grams of Hi-maize (about 1 heaping tablespoon) contains 9 grams of total dietary fiber, which is more than the fiber in 1/3 cup of high bran cereal and twice as much as the fiber contained in 1 cup of oatmeal. 1. Hi-maize is lower in calories than the flour it replaces. Hi-maize delivers between 2-l kilocalories/gram while flour delivers 4 kilocalories/gram. Hi-maize also helps your body burn more fat and may lead to lower fat accumulation. 2. Hi-maize helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels in healthy individuals because Hi-maize increases insulin sensitivity in healthy people. 3. Hi-maize helps balance your energy in the hours following a meal. It has a lower impact in blood sugar and blood insulin than the flour it replaces. For individuals following a "carbohydrate-control" diet, it lowers the "net" or digestible carbohydrates in foods. 4. Hi-maize promotes digestive health. The fiber in Hi-maize is fermented within the large intestine and encourages the growth of friendly bacteria (a "prebiotic" fiber). It reduces harmful compounds such as ammonia, while producing beneficial compounds such as short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, the preferred fuel for colon cells. Hi-maize is ideal for use in a gluten-free diet. 5. Hi-maize is well tolerated. It is slowly fermented and does not produce the uncomfortable digestive side effects sometimes found with fiber. Hi-Maize nutrition per 28g: 40 calories 0 fat 0 cholesterol 15mg sodium 15g carbohydrates 15g dietary fiber 0 sugars 0 protein **Agave Nectar - a natural, honey-like sweetener that is one of the lowest foods on the Glycemic Index of Foods. It doesn't raise blood sugar, BUT, it acts like sugar in baking, contributes to fermentation in yeast breads, browns, unlike chemical sweeteners. I generally use 1/2-3/4 c. agave nectar for each 1 c. sugar. -Grainlady

Cream soup and cream sauces. I'm more than grossed out by canned soups. It's so easy to make a white sauce in 3 minutes, who could ever prefer that salty gelatinous canned glop? Yuck. All baked goods: pies, cookies, quiches, cakes, brownies, muffins, popovers, tortes. I grew up in the farming Midwest, where you weren't a grown woman yet if you couldn't make a piecrust from scratch without a recipe. :-) I've never purchased a storebought crust, cookies, cake or boxed mix in my life. Salad dressings. For spinach: tarragon vinegar, olive oil, and a tablespoon of sugar, salt & pepper. Perfect. For arugula: lime juice, drop of olive oil if you want it, lots of fresh ground pepper, bleu cheese. For Romaine: olive oil, garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, mustard, salt, white wine vinegar, fresh block parmesan - blend in food processor until smooth. For mixed greens: balsamic, minced shallot, olive oil and salt & pepper. Breads, meats, dairy: we're very lucky to live in a relatively food-aware city surrounded by wonderful rural farmland, so we have access to an excellent bakery, locally raised meats and fresh dairy in glass bottles. Having grown up with lard sandwiches (yes, the Germans love them, with onion and salt on top -- I've never liked them myself), I can agree that the commercial lards sold in large supermarkets here are disgusting. Also have to agree that bacon grease from American commercial bacon is probably not very good; loaded with chemicals and salt. Definitely seek out and try the grease from non-nitrated bacon some time -- you'll be able to tell the difference in both meat and grease. Marion Nestle's What to Eat and Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma are good wholesome food reads, the former a tad less proselytizing than the latter, but both engrossing and excellent.