The Curvy Carrot

I spent last Sunday in the local emergency room with a busted-up finger and a huge bruise/scrape on my chin.  I won’t get into the incredibly embarassing details of how it happened, but let’s just say that it was a fall at high speed in front of a few other people. My ego bruised and humbled, I defiantly refused a trip to the emergency room right after it happened-wanting to wait a day to see if the swelling would go down.  My boyfriend applied ice and didn’t laugh when I was sobbing  (I’m sure I looked SUPER pretty with mascara streaming down my face, puffy eyes, and a bruised/scraped jaw/chin.)  The next morning, he called and demanded to bring me into the ER since the swelling of my middle finger wasn’t going down and I was still unable to move it much.

So, into the ER we went.

Now, as a physician, I have to say that being a patient for the first time in that kind of a setting was actually a bit scary.  The nurses made me change into a hospital gown (I didn’t want to).  They made me get on the hospital bed where they rolled me down to X-ray (I offered to walk-they said I had to legally lie on the bed.)  I know-physicians make the worst patients.  The female physician made my boyfriend leave the room and asked if he had hit me (Yes, I know, all mandatory and thorough questions), but it was still a bit hard to swallow being on the other end of things.

The good news?  No broken bones-just a pretty massive sprain and a very bruised ego.  And so, for the next few days, it was ibuprofen and ice.   No cooking.  No unnecessary typing.  Blog on the back-burner until I felt like I could actually use my hand a bit.  So I saved a good (no, great, actually) recipe for my current full recovery status.

This recipe is really good.  I love zucchini bread, but this one literally is one of the best I’ve ever had.  I made mine with whole wheat flour (you can substitute whole wheat pastry if you like-I was out.), and the texture/crumb was still almost cake-like.  Made with a little canola oil and applesauce, this is a much healthier version of a standard zucchini bread.  Served with a bit of tea or a glass of milk, my (never-satisfied) sweet tooth seemed content (for a bit.)

Enjoy.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Serving: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 large eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups finely shredded zucchini (about 1 medium)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.

2. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or, in a bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat together the sugar, canola oil, and eggs, mixing until combined.

3. Add the applesauce, mixing well.

4.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

5.  Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, beating just until moist.

6. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

7. Transfer the batter to your prepared 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

8. Bake at for 1 hour or until a tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

9. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack, and remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Source: Barely adapted from Cooking Light, as part of my monthly contribution to the Cooking Light Bloggers’ Connection.