Carrot and Zucchini Bars

This recipe came out of The Best Homemade Kids’ Snacks on the Planet: More than 200 Healthy Homemade Snacks You and Your Kids Will Love, on page 91. I adapted it to Alistaire’s needs, meaning I swapped out the eggs for a replacer. The bars were quite tasty, although on the sweet side. If I were to make them again, I would cut the brown sugar back.

I thought the idea of the cookbook to be a fun one, because like so many moms, it is easy to do the same things over and over: fruit, cheese, crackers, that kind of thing. Ideas are good for me. And many I will be trying. But with modifications to suit the youngest (there are many recipes using eggs for example). I can bet our remaining summer time will have so many more choices.

My only real nitpick with the book is that it is printed in China, as most glossy full color cookbooks are now. When I went to open the book, the print fumes were overwhelming, I had to leave it to gas off for a week. While this might seem to be the biggest First World Problem ever, do you want your kids (or you!) breathing in and touching these inks? US printed books rarely have this smell. Just a thought.

Carrot and Zucchini Bars

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups carrots, shredded
• 1 cup zucchini, finely shredded
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + ¼ cup warm water (or 2 large eggs)
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup melted coconut oil
• ¼ cup raw honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Place shredded carrots and zucchini on paper towels to absorb extra moisture (you will want 2-3 layers, and might need to change them).

Preheat oven to 350°, lightly oil a 9×13″ baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Whisk Ener-G and warm water together.

In another large bowl stir together Ener-G mixture, carrot, zucchini, brown sugar, raisins, coconut oil, honey and vanilla.

Add carrot mixture to flour, stirring with a spatula until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting

Note: Once cooled, you can store slices in the freezer.