Zucchini Banana Spice Bread

This is my gluten-free, egg-free recipe for zucchini bread which was modified from a recipe I got from marthastewart.com, Zucchini Spice bread. We had a really successful year in our garden with growing zucchini, so it was awesome to be able to "experiment" with different combinations of ingredients to find a recipe I was happy with. All the "try-outs" tasted really good, however, I enjoy this recipe the best. Due to the food allergies and intolerances in our family, I swapped out the flour for a combination of flours from other grains, added hemp protein powder, and used bananas in place of the eggs. I know my friends and family really enjoy this recipe and I hope you will too.



1 large zucchini (about 2 cups grated zucchini)
1/3 cup blue agave syrup
2/3 cup olive oil (or grapeseed oil)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chickpea or garbanzo flour
1 cup bajra flour or 1/2 cup rice flour and 1/2 cup millet flour
1/8 cup hemp protein powder
1/8 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (in honour of my grandmother)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan with a little oil or cooking spray, and line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper. Set aside. Mash the bananas in a small bowl (or break into pieces and blend with an immersion wand hand blender) and set aside. Grate zucchini (yields about 2 cups to use for the recipe. If you have a huge zucchini, just cut some off ); set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together agave syrup, oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Into a separate small bowl, whisk together flours, hemp powder, ground flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt. Add the dry mixture to wet mixture, and stir to combine well. Stir in grated zucchini, making sure the zucchini is well coated.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Let rest in pan 10 minutes, then turn out and allow to cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

I tend not to sweeten with refined sugars. And as a result, my palette for sweet foods has become more sensitive. If you would prefer a sweeter version, you can add 1/2 honey instead of the the agave syrup and some stevia to the flour mixture (I do this when I bake the bread for functions, about 1 tbsp which is equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar).