Lunchbox Series Part 1: Savoury Zucchini Nut Loaf

This is the first recipe in my mini lunchbox series.

I love the idea of having pre-made lunch food, both for myself and my daughter. Healthy eating guru’s usually advocate an organised meal planning approach (spending 2-3 hours on a weekend pre-preparing food for the week). You know what? It doesn’t really always work that way… not in my house anyway. First off, I value weekend downtime too much and being in the kitchen for 2-3 hours on a Sunday just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes though, I get inspired to pre-make something and it’s usually on a Sunday evening. 10 minutes of prep then I can read a book! This is a 30-minute exercise though so there’s nothing stopping you from making this on a weeknight too after dinner

This loaf has good protein profile (because of the eggs, nuts, milk and buckwheat flour if you so choose to use it) and the zucchini gives it an interesting moistness. This is good on its own, or slathered with butter, or as part of a lunchbox. Today I took this to work with a boiled egg and some peanut butter slices (recipe coming soon!).

Ingredients:

4 free range eggs
2 zucchinis (shredded)*
1 cup wholemeal flour**
1/2 cup almonds (coarsely chopped)*
1/4 cup full cream milk (I use full cream unhomogenised as much as possible but in a pinch use any full cream milk not low fat milk)
1 Tbsp maple syrup (somehow this small amount gives the loaf an additional layer of flavour or “umami”)
2 tsp baking powder (aluminium free, is possible)
1 tsp sea salt
Optional: 1/2 cup shredded cheese

*Tip 1 – For loaves, slices and raw desserts which require shredded or finely chopped veggies and nuts, I use the food processor as a half-minute’s blitzing does the job. Less tears for me while cooking! For coarsely chopped nuts, I just blitz away for 10-15 seconds.

*Tip 2 – For a gluten-free version (which is what I made today), use 1/2 cup all-purpose gluten free flour and 1/2 cup quinoa or buckwheat flour. Both quinoa and buckwheat have a higher protein profile, which balances out the more starchy gluten free flours (which usually contain a combination of rice, arrowroot, and potato flours). You can buy gluten free flour mixes at Coles and Woolworth’s, and some branches also sell plain rice flour. Also try to make your own.

*Tip 3 – For impromptu baking, always have a variety of flours and a good baking powder at hand. Even a combination of wholemeal and gluten free flour lowers the gluten footprint of the dish.  Milk and eggs are usually part of the weekly grocery trip and shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Make it!

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

• Blitzing – Chop the almonds in the food processor for 10-15 seconds and transfer to a bowl. Slice zucchinis into roughly 4 parts per zucchini, and then blitz these in the food processor for approx. 30 seconds. Add this to the almonds.
• Mixing dry stuff – Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix with a spoon.
• Adding wet ingredients – Add eggs, milk and maple syrup and combine with either a fork or whisk. Add the zucchini / almond mixture and mix through with a fork. (If using cheese, you can add it at this point).  This is a very forgiving mixture so you really can’t go wrong. Transfer everything to either a loaf pan or a baking dish (I used a shallow baking dish roughly 30cm x 20cm).
• Baking – Bake for 25 mins. Test with a skewer and this should be done when the skewer comes out clear.

How long did this take in total? The blitzing took under 3 mins. The mixing of flours, egg, etc. took under 2 mins. And the baking took 25 mins. So roughly 30 mins… totally possible on a week night!

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