Zucchini Brownies {Recipe}

While visiting with our favorite neighbors and friends yesterday, they were kind enough to share a bag of tasty vegetables out of their impressive garden.

Thanking them, we took the veggies home and proceeded to enjoy the delicious fresh tomatoes and cucumbers... but when I pulled a large zucchini out, I wondered how in the world I was going to get my kids to eat it without them putting up a fight.

Fortunately, after a little digging around online, I found a recipe on AllRecipes.com for Zucchini Brownies that sounded like just the thing - how can kids resist zucchini when it is masked with chocolate?

Brownie Ingredients

½ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts, if using them.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan (the batter will be thick and seem a little dry, so don't worry if you have to spread this in more than pouring it. The moisture from the zucchini will come out when it cooks).

Bake for anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. Don't overcook, as you want these to be moist and yummy, so when in doubt, take them out a little early.

To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

My assumption that the kids wouldn't have any idea that there was anything remotely healthy in these brownies was spot on - they gobbled them up!

In fact, Big Sister E questioned me multiple times to make sure that there were more for later and Little Sister B? Well, she just made sure that she got every last morsel of this one...

Yum!

Do you have any favorite recipes or ways to sneak veggies into your kids' meals?