Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

The one thing Brett and I fight most about is bread. I'm not sure if this means our marriage is going well or not. I'm guessing if a stranger saw the two of us trying to decide which bread to buy at the store they would probably go with not. Bread is a hot topic in this household.

I am on a constant quest to force encourage our family to eat more whole grains. Brett has told me on many occasions that whole grains are gross and suck the joy out of life. He acts like I am purposefully trying to torture him, and my weapon of choice is whole wheat bread. Sigh.

This recipe doesn't really solve our problem, because it's not really "Let's have eggs on toast" bread or "I'm going to make a peanut butter sandwich" bread. However, this recipe is 100% whole wheat. It's healthy. It's delicious. And Brett devours it. Kate does, too. Win.

The recipe is adapted from an old Betty Crocker's New Cookbook. Ok, I just looked at the copyright and it's 1996. So not really that old. I'm not sure if the newer version has changed the recipe or not. But this is seriously the best cookbook for baking I have found. It used to be Brett's mom's before I stole was granted permission to take it.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini (about 2-3 medium zucchini)
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup applesauce (can substitute oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves or nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup mix-ins, if desired (i.e. nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.)

Put your oven rack at the lowest position - you want the tops of the pans to be in the center of the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan no-stick cooking spray. You can use two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 pans instead if that's what you have around the house.

Mix zucchini, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Gradually stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture.

Stir in your mix-ins if that's your style.

Bake for about 1 hours 10 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). If you are using two smaller pans bake about 50-60 minutes.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaves and transfer to wire rack. Cool completely and enjoy. And go ahead and keep on enjoying it. Because unlike zucchini bread made with white flour, which magically disappears the same day you bake it, this zucchini bread will actually last you awhile because it fills you up! And it freezes well. I have two loaves in the oven right now. I think I'm going to make two more tonight. I am stocking up for the winter.

Oh, and in case you think this is really awful timing to be posting a recipe for zucchini bread, my apologies. Substitute a 16 oz can of pumpkin for the zucchini and this is officially fall bread. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds yummy.

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

Note: I wrote this blog post a little while ago, before the whole Jeffress/Romney/Cult thing. It was inspired by something completely different, but I decided to post it now because given the current events it seems rather relevant. 

I am going to write about something that I hope I can convey with sensitivity. However, I am also about to make some bold statements. I hope I can find a happy medium. Please forgive me if I fail.

If you know anything about my church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - you probably know that we consider ourselves Christians. It is in the very name of our church. We affirm, as the popular hymn states, that we believe in Christ.

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ...that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
2 Nephi 25:26, The Book of Mormon

And yet, some of my Christian friends don't believe this. I have heard those of other faiths claim that I don't believe in the "real" Jesus and that they pray I will get to know the "real" Jesus. If you want to pray for the welfare of my soul, please do. I probably need it. But who is this real Jesus? Why I am being accused of worshiping a fake one?

The Jesus I believe in is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. He is the one who gave us the sermon on the mount. He is the one who suffered in the garden of Gethsemane. He is the one who was slain on the cross. He is the one who was resurrected on the third day.

According to my belief, there is only one Christ. You either worship Him or you don't. With all the energy of my soul, I proclaim that I do.

But this is why some other Christians think I don't (at least, this is my understanding). I don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. I believe, as the First Article of Faith states, "in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost". But I believe they are separate beings. I know, this is a huge doctrinal difference between me and some other Christians. We have different beliefs about the very nature of God. That difference affects a lot of doctrine. I get that. 

But I find it very insulting when I am accused of not knowing the "real" Jesus. To all my wonderful Christian friends, please stop using this phrase. It is so degrading to my faith. We worship the same being. I know that to me, Christ probably looks a little different than he does to you--but we still both believe in the same person. We just see him colored a little differently. However I assure you I am not worshiping a false Christ. I am worshiping the Christ of the bible. The only one Christ there is. The one who ransoms my soul. The one who made salvation for me possible.

I don't need other Christians to validate my status as a Christian in order to worship my God. However, I would plead with you to examine what I believe about Christ. We share more similarities than differences, I promise you. Imagine what we could accomplish if we could accept our fundamental similarity as disciples of Christ. Imagine how we could be uplifted by sharing our testimonies with one another.

When it comes down to it, this is how I see things:

I love Jesus.
You love Jesus.
Jesus loves us.
Jesus commanded us to love each other.

And that, to me, is real.