I don’t know if you’ve received a porch drop of zucchini from your neighbor yet — I have and love it! My neighbor Rose brought over two lovely round zucchinis. The first one I sliced thinly and then baked with a topping of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. It’s a quick and easy summer side dish. I was going to make my mother’s version of zucchini bread but ended up doing a zucchini-carrot combination that packs a punch in terms of nutrition as well as taste. They come together easily and quickly. Perfect for breakfast or a snack for a day at the beach or in the mountains.

Feel free to double the zucchini and omit the carrots if you prefer. There are options for substitutions for the dried fruit and nuts as well. This is a recipe that you can customize to your preferences. You can always share a few of these healthy and delicious muffins with the neighbor who gifted you the zucchini too!

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *can also use spelt or wheat flour
3/4 cup ground golden flaxseed
3/4 cup oat bran
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup raisins, dried cherries or dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds or hazelnuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, oat bran, ground flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar.
3. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and apple sauce to the flour mixture stirring until well combined.
4. Stir in shredded carrots, zucchini, raisins and chopped nuts.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tins sprayed with non-stick spray until 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool in tins for 10 minutes before transferring muffins to a cooling rack.

— By Deborah Binder

Deborah Binder lives in Edmonds with her family. She loves to cook from scratch using produce from the gardens she created and maintains with her husband. She attended culinary school on the East Coast and focused on desserts, pastries and bread. She’s worked for restaurants and caterers in the front and back of the house (kitchen) on both coasts. Her current interest in food is learning to eat for health and wellness, while at the same time enjoying the pleasures of the table. Deborah loves experimenting and developing new recipes. As Julia Child once said, “Everything in moderation including butter.” Deborah can be contacted at jaideborah@yahoo.com.