Squash It

This year’s garden so far has produced an overabundance of summer squash. With the freezer full, I went searching for another idea.

I love zucchini bread so I thought, why not use squash? I wanted something with a little less oil and sugar than some of the recipes on Pinterest, so here’s what I did:

Lemon Squash Bread

½ cup canola oil

6 oz unsweetened applesauce

6 oz lemon Greek yogurt

1 tbsp lemon juice

3 eggs

3 tsp lemon zest

1 cup Stevia (or your favorite sugar substitute)

1 cup sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 ½ cups grated yellow squash (about three mid sized squash)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

Topping

2 tbsp lemon zest

Instructions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350 and coat two loaf pans with Crisco or baking spray. (I use Crisco.)

2.       In a large bowl cream together oil, applesauce, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, stevia and sugar. Once combined, add in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in lemon zest.

3.       In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4.       Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until combined.

5.       Add in squash and vanilla extract, stir.

6.       Divide batter evenly between loaf pans.

7.       Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

8.       Allow to cool 10-20 minutes in pan and then place on a cooling rack.

Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar together until combined. Pour glaze over the bread while on cooling rack. Sprinkle zest over the top of the glaze.

I was pleasantly surprised how good this came out. The sweetness and lemon flavor is just right, and the squash and applesauce give the bread the perfect amount of moistness. I could eat the whole loaf! ENJOY!