Grain Free Cherry Coconut Zucchini Loaf

Anyone who follows me on my Facebook recipe page will know that I am in the midst of being inundated by zucchini. It is the season that all gardeners love to hate, and I am no different. Two zucchini plants keep us in zucchini for a good chunk of the summer and into the fall. But they grow like crazy!!! One minute you have beautiful tiny little zucchinis, and the next minute you have these gargantuan beasts that resemble watermelons more than the summer squash they are. I have no idea how they actually accomplish these spectacular feats of growth overnight, but it really is kind of amazing.

They really are delicious, too, and I have been going crazy pinning zucchini recipes on my Pinterest page. From sweet to savory, (and even a soup recipe!) I cannot wait to try out some new recipes.

I made this zucchini loaf today, and it turned out quite tasty. The sour cherries add a lovely zing of flavour to this moist grain free loaf. It was a great use for one of the smaller of the 6 (!!!) zucchinis that I pulled from the garden yesterday.

 A slice of this loaf would be lovely to have with a nice cup of tea on the patio…now I just need to find the time to sit and relax!

Grain Free Cherry Coconut Zucchini Loaf

4 eggs

1 T Apple cider vinegar (I like this one!)

1 cup milk kefir (or yogurt or non-dairy substitute of choice)

1/3 cup coconut oil, softened

½ cup coconut flour

¼ cup arrowroot flour

This sized zucchini grated into
 a generous 1 1/2 cups

2 Tbsp chickpea flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup coconut sugar

1 tsp vanilla powder (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

¾ tsp sea salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

ADD INS:

1 ½ cups grated zucchini (mine was a very generous cup and a half!!)

½ cup dried sour cherries (sub raisins or dried cranberries if you wish)

½ cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a loaf pan (mine measures 9.25x5.25x2.75) with parchment or grease well.

 Set aside.

Measure all ingredients EXCEPT the add-ins into a large mixing bowl. Blend together well with an immersion blender or a whisk and lots of elbow grease. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken up.

Grate zucchini with a regular sized grater

Place grated zucchini on a clean kitchen towel, and gather the top together

 and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.

 

Add squeezed zucchini, coconut and dried cherries to the batter and mix in until well distributed.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. 

Bake in preheated oven for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove loaf from pan using parchment, and set on a wire rack to cool before slicing.

Store leftovers in refrigerator or freezer. 

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. 

Grain Free Nut Free Rosemary Chia Flax Crackers with Cranberry

Topped with a cheese called
"5 Brothers" from an awesome
 little cheese shop in Paris ON, called
 The 3 Blind Mice Cheese Company

I have yet to find a grain free gluten free cracker in a package that I love. They either contain ingredients that I am not willing to eat, or they are just not very tasty. Up until now, these almond crackers have been my favourite to bake. They are very tasty, but I find they don't stay crisp for storage. A few versions of this flax style cracker have been floating around for a while, so I decided to give my own version a try. I am really glad I did! I thought the onion would be overpowering, but it gives a nice background flavour to the cracker. Perfect for accompanying soup, or topping with a slice of cheese or nut butter for a snack.

My Inspiration recipe can be found here; my recipe goes something like this: 

Grain Free Nut Free Rosemary Chia Flax Crackers with Cranberry

1 medium organic onion, cut in chunks (mine was just a white cooking onion, a Vidalia would give you a milder onion flavour)

2 cloves organic garlic

A sprig of fresh organic rosemary, tough stem removed (alternatively use one tsp dried, or other herbs of choice)
1/3 cup  organic pumpkin seeds

¼ cup melted coconut oil

½ tsp Herbamare or other sea salt of choice

1 cup milled Flax seeds 

½ cup milled Chia seeds

¼ cup unsweetened or fruit juice sweetened dried organic cranberries, chopped into small-ish pieces

Semi Coarse salt to top crackers before baking

Preheat your oven to 300F

Puree onion, garlic, and rosemary in a food processor or blender. You want it to be a pretty smooth puree, no real chunks left. Scrape down the sides if needed. 

Add pumpkin seeds and pulse until they are just coarsely chopped in the onion mixture. (alternatively, you can puree them until they are smooth too, but I like the texture the coarse chop gives)

Dump this mixture into a mixing bowl and add the coconut oil, salt, flax, Chia and the chopped cranberries, mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until all ingredients are evenly mixed and it forms a ball of soft dough. Let stand for approx 10 minutes, to let the Chia absorb some of the moisture.

Between 2 large pieces of parchment, roll your dough evenly into a thin rectangle, approx 17’ by 12’. You want them quite thin.

Cut into 2’ squares (or other shape of choice) being careful not to cut right thru the parchment paper.(I wouldn't recommend trying to roll these without the parchment, the dough is pretty sticky!)

Using a salt grinder or your fingers, sprinkle the tops of the crackers with about ¼ tsp of extra semi coarse salt. Cover dough once more with the parchment, and press lightly to adhere the extra salt to the crackers. Peel parchment from dough again, and set aside for another use.

Leaving the dough on the bottom sheet of parchment, transfer to a large cookie sheet, and bake at 300F in the lower 1/3 of your oven for approx 1 hr, or until your crackers are crisp, with no moisture left in them at all. Check frequently during the last 15 minutes to ensure they don’t burn. If they aren't  quite crisp, bake longer but check every 5 minutes until they are crisp.
Let cool, and serve with toppings of choice! They are pretty amazing with a full flavoured cheese, like the one pictured above!

Chocolate Espresso Almond Power Balls

Chocolate Espresso Almond Power Balls 

1 ½ cups raw almonds

1/3 cup raw cacao powder

2 tsp finely ground organic espresso

9 medjool  dates, pitted

2 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp Chlorella or Spirulina powder (optional)

2 -4 tbsp raw honey

In food processor, grind almonds with cacao and espresso until very fine. Add pitted dates and pulse will very well combined. Pulse while adding vanilla, Spirulina/chlorella powder and just enough honey to make it start clumping together (this step may take a bit of pulsing to make it all come together)

Remove “dough” from processor bowl and roll into balls…mine made about 20 bite sized ones. 

Store in refrigerator. Enjoy!