Carrot-Banana-Zucchini Loaf

I'm a big fan of banana bread. I almost never make it though because of all the sugar that the recipes usually call for.  This past weekend, I was searching for ways to use the 10lb bag of carrots I bought and came across a Carrot-Banana loaf recipe. It got me thinking... I've made 'Morning Glory' muffins before and figured why couldn't I make a loaf, but without all the sugar? 

This recipe is vegan, and can be gluten-free if you want.  I didn't have any gluten-free flour on hand, so I used whole wheat instead. 

I absolutely LOVED how this turned out.  Beware that it is a pretty dense loaf, with all the banana, carrot and zucchini in it. It's also pretty moist, so don't be afraid to pull it out at the 25 min mark. I just kept inserting a knife in the middle to check done-ness. You may need to cook a little less or a few minutes more, depending on your oven.

Two slices of this keep me full for a couple of hours. I did not add the apricots because I don't like fruit in my bread, but I added it in for those who do.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup organic raw honey
• 3 tablespoons organic olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed organic ripe bananas (I used two bananas)
• 1 finely shredded zucchini 
• 1 cup grated organic carrots (I used 1.5 cups)
• ¼ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (I juiced half a lemon)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 cups Organic gluten free all purpose flour (or whole wheat if you aren’t doing gluten-free)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup chopped organic dried apricots (I didn’t add these)
• ½ cup organic chopped raw almonds (I added chopped walnuts instead and added a full cup.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3, 3” X 6” loaf pans (I only had to use two disposable tin ones, the NoName ones from NoFrills)
2. Using a fork beat the honey, oil, vanilla, and salt. Add the bananas, carrot, zucchini, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the banana mixture. Then fold in the nuts and apricots.
3. Spoon into the loaf pans and bake for about 20-25 min, or until tooth pick comes out clean. Let it cool for about 5 min before removing from pan.

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