Gluten Free Zucchini Bread and Japan

Japan's been all over the news lately, and with the nuclear crisis reaching it's zenith, I can't get those 50 plant workers out of my head. 50 men who are sacrificing dangerous radiation levels and well--their very lives, all in a valiant effort to try and quell the coming storm. My heart hurts for their families, for a nation that will be displaced soon, and I can't kick this feeling of helplessness. I want to scream at politicians, asking why they haven't evacuated the whole island...why aren't we doing more! I've finally turned off the news, because when I listen to it my blood starts to boil and my heart feels like lead. I can't save Japan, but I can bake.

Reading other food blogger's posts has helped immensely. They echo similar sentiments--the shock of the impending Japanese crisis but also the need to keep going in spite of it. The food blogging world is so generous and I'm amazed at their hearts. There's a bakesale going on at The Tomato Tart. At Eat The Love, Irvin shares with us his experience of traveling to Japan and the effect it has had on him. At Gluten-Free Girl, Shaua shares some great quotes about how to continue to move forward despite tragedies like this. My favorite quote: 

"Food is so much more than a meal, a snack, a craving satisfied. The chance to make food with people we love and feed each other? That?s at the core of life. Those without homes or family members or friends they love? They would love to be able to be in a warm kitchen, doing something as gloriously mundane as making pretzels."
And so with that...I bake, remembering how blessed I am that I can share food with my family and bake in my own kitchen--that I enjoy heat, water, and shelter daily--blessings that thousands of people are having to do without in Japan. For months now I've been trying to perfect a vanilla cupcake recipe, but last night's experiments to that end were failure after failure...messy, globby, too gritty, too soft, too dry. Somewhere during that process though I found the perfect zucchini bread base completely by accident. The base batter recipe would also make great carrot bread, or really any other kind of savory-sweet bread combination. They'd also make kick but breakfast muffins.



Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup rice milk
1 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
1 small zuchinni

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together first and then add the wet ingredients. Whisk together and then gently fold in the zucchini. Pour into a small loaf pan (you can use a 9 X5 pan, the loaf will just not have as much height) or regular muffin pans.  Bake for 35 minutes for a loaf (or 25 for muffins), making sure that you cover the top of the bread with tinfoil the last 10 in the loaf pan. (You don't want a burned top, but it needs the extra baking time to make sure it's not too wet in the middle).

Makes one small loaf or 16 regular muffins.