This blog is all about Food. Real Food. Food that Nourishes, Heart and Soul.

Real Ingredients, Organic and Locally sourced whenever and where ever possible, shared with love.

No packages, no ingredients that are impossible to pronounce.

Real, honest food, from my kitchen to yours. Enjoy!

Saturday 31 August 2013

Grain Free Nut Free Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

If you garden, and you grow zucchini, you know as well as I do that one plant can supply you with more zucchini than you can possibly use in one season. In my garden this year I planted 3 zucchini seeds. I am still not sure why I did that...at the time it seemed like a great idea. Mother nature vetoed my crazy plan though, and only one plant actually grew. In hind-site, mother nature was smarter than I, one plant was the perfect amount of zucchini for us, three would have been overwhelming. The illustrious "zucchini fairy" would have been gracing everyone on my street with a plethora of zucchini had all three actually grown!
I am always trying new recipes for zucchini, to use up the bounty from our garden. We have made lots of zucchini noodles with our spiral slicer this summer, multiple simple salads from the zucchinis thinly sliced on my mandolin, lightly marinated in Herbamare,  and grilled zucchini from the gargantuan ones that grow seemingly overnight have become a favourite this year as well. 
This cake is a favourite too. It is a  nice moist chocolaty treat, perfect for an after school snack, lunch box treat, or even a dessert if you dressed it up with a little cream cheese icing. 

Grain Free Nut Free Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

2 cups grated zucchini
1 tsp salt 
3 eggs
1 banana, very ripe
1/3 cup kefir or yogurt
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup hemp flour
1/3 cup chickpea flour
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ cup coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 350F

Sprinkle the grated zucchini with 1 tsp salt, stir and set aside to drain in a colander. (this helps to release the moisture from the zucchini, helping to keep the snack cake from being too moist)
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl with an immersion blender until well mixed, scraping down the sides as needed.
Squeeze and drain the excess moisture from the zucchini. Mix into the batter well.
Scrape into a greased or parchment lined 8x8 glass baking pan
Bake for 50-55 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in pan completely before cutting. 

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Grain Free Coconut Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars

Very tasty grab and go bar that stores well in the freezer. Great for lunchboxes, trail rides, or mid afternoon snack attacks.

Grain Free Coconut Chocolate Chip Blondie  Bars
1 cup almond flour
¼  cup coconut flour
¼ cup chickpea flour
¼ cup hemp protein powder or hemp flour
3 Tbsp ground Chia flax mix
1/3  cup honey
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 eggs
1/3 cup sunflower seed butter (or nut butter of choice)
1 cup plain kefir or yogurt
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
ADD INS: (optional but YUMMY!)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut
***See alternate add ins below

Preheat oven to 375F

Place all ingredients except the add ins in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a immersion blender, scraping sides of the bowl as necessary.
Let batter stand for 5 minutes to thicken up, and then stir in the coconut and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Scrape into well greased 9x13 pan and smooth out with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Bake in preheated oven for 33-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cool in pan and cut into desired shape. We cut ours in to 16 long “bars”, dividing the pan in half  first lengthwise down the middle, and then cutting into 8 even sections width wise. Wrap individually as desired and store in fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer for longer storage.

***These are also great with 1 cup chopped dates, 1 cup shredded coconut and the zest of an organic orange in place of the other add ins :)






Monday 5 August 2013

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 I woke up craving muffins for breakfast today. Lemon poppy seed muffins to be exact. I have been using a lot of different combinations of alternative flours lately, and while they make a decent muffin, they also make the muffins quite dark (and with the sunflower flour, dark and green!!) So I kept this batter simple, with just coconut flour and a bit of chickpea flour, to keep the colour nice and light. The bright yellow yolks in the pastured eggs really help give this muffin a bright sunshiny yellow hue, just the thing you’d expect from a lemon muffin, with no artificial colours or ingredients.  The lemon flavour is subtle, they might benefit from a lemon glaze, but they are pretty tasty on their own.

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

5 eggs, preferably pastured
1/3 cup coconut flour
¼ cup chickpea flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Juice of 1 lemon (3-4 tbsp)
¼ cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Zest your lemon and set zest  aside.
Using a immersion blender blend all ingredients EXCEPT the lemon zest and poppy seeds together well in a mixing bowl. Scrape sides of bowl and blender to ensure the dry ingredients are well combined.
Stir in the lemon zest and poppy seeds.

Fill 12 lined or greased muffin tins with batter and bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, and then place on a wire rack to cool.