Lightened Up Zucchini Bread with Walnuts and Lemon Glaze

 I got a baseball bat sized zucchini from my neighbor's garden, enough zucchini to feed the masses, so I wanted to make zucchini bread for my neighbors. Darn, I didn't get a pic of the big one.  I know that I am probably late to the zucchini party, but my neighbor planted her garden late this year.    Everybody has their favorite Zucchini Bread recipe, but the one that I had been using was calorie laden, so I decided to lighten it up a bit.  I reduced the amount of sugar and replaced  1/2 cup of  the oil for unsweetened applesauce, then I added some chopped walnuts for extra nutrition, and topped it with a fresh lemon glaze. Wow,  the loaf wasn't overly sweet or moist, and it had the crunch with the walnuts, and tangy lemon glaze, just perfect.

I got six cups of grated Zucchini from this one Zucchini, and I didn't even grate the larger end of the zucchini, because it had too many seeds.  I think that I'll make some Lemon Zucchini muffins next or maybe Lemon Blueberry.  What do you make with your large Zucchini besides the bread?  I need some ideas. Enjoy!

Lightened Up Zucchini Bread with Walnuts and Lemon Glaze Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil ½ cup unsweetened applesauce 1 3/4cup white sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups grated zucchini 1 cup chopped walnuts Directions:

1.	Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans, or 5 mini loaf pans, preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.	Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3.	Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4.	Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, for 8X4 loaves,  30-35 minutes for the mini loaves, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool. Glaze with lemon glaze, when cool.   Lemon Glaze I cup powdered sugar Juice of one lemon Combine powdered sugar and juice, until desired consistency.  Spoon over cooled loaves. l inked up my recipe to Brandie@The Country Cook's Weekend Potluck #82  Stop by and say Hi to Brandie!