Have Your Cake... and Vegetables too!

I don't know about you, but when I think of brownies, vegetables are about the furthest thing from my mind.

Until now.  ;)

This is our first year to have a vegetable garden.  It's not a beautiful garden by any means due to our lack of gardening tools, but that's okay.  :)

Look at these beauties.

When we picked these, I immediately knew what I wanted to make.

Zucchini Brownies.

I apologize for my pictures.  I love my camera, but the kitchen has terrible lighting!!

If you've never had Zucchini Bread, then you're first reaction is probably something along the lines of 'yuck'.  I understand, I'm not even a huge vegetable fan.  Yes, I eat them, because they're good for me.  But, if I have the option of a salad or a slice of pizza, I'm going for the pizza without hesitation.  For now, at least.  ;)

I found this recipe a year or two ago, probably when looking for a Zucchini Bread recipe.  I had no idea if it would be good or not, but I decided to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did.

These are DELICIOUS.

It isn't what you would expect at all.  You can't even tell there is Zucchini in there!  It's just crazy!  Talk about a good way to get your kids (or yourself) to eat their veggies!  (Granted, they will be getting sugar as well, so you have to weigh your options here, I suppose)  ;)

Let's make some!  :)  Here is the original recipe from allrecipes.com, in case you want to go check out more reviews.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting:
There is a frosting recipe included on the link above, but I prefer the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting.


1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.


Now, on to the brownies..
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. 

Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt.
  

Stir into the sugar mixture.

Not very appetizing is it?  I didn't even want to show you this picture, because, well, yuck.  The first time I made these, I was very confused at this point, because the only liquid I had added to the mixture was the oil 
and a little vanilla.  How in the WORLD would this make brownies???


Enter zucchini.


I peeled (using a vegetable peeler) the zucchini and chopped it into large chunks before throwing it in the food processor.  Then, I just pureed it until they were little, tiny pieces.  :)

Fold in the zucchini and walnuts (I didn't use the walnuts and they were still awesome).  I'm going to be honest here... this last time, I was a little lazy, and did not fold in the zucchini.  I was tired and wanted to hurry, so I just blended it quickly with a mixer.  I knew this could cause problems, but again, I was lazy.  So, my brownies were more like a cake this time around, but it was still SO good! 

Spread evenly into the prepared pan.   

Bake 25-30 minutes, until brownies spring back when touched.  (I also insert a toothpick to check if they're done, but I'm always a little paranoid about my brownies being done, although this recipe doesn't even have any eggs.)

Sorry, I didn't think to take any pictures as I made the icing.  It's super easy, though.  :)

And, 'wa-lah'.

I tried to take a picture of just a bite, to show you that you can't even really see the zucchini pieces, but it didn't turn out very clear.  Here it is anyway, just to give you an idea.

Isn't that amazing??  The zucchini adds SO much liquid--I never would have guessed that.  You will definitely be able to fool your kids with this one.  Just don't tell them it's in there.  ;)

(That makes me think of the Chef Boyardee Commerical, love it!) 

Enjoy!!  :)

Check out the links tab to see where I party! :)