Grain Free Zucchini Loaf

Some days, you just need to bake (well...I do anyway...!!!) Those who know me well are aware that when my stress level gets high, nothing calms me like some kitchen time, with the music cranked (and sometimes a glass of wine...it helps with the whine :) )  

We have alot going on right now, with buying and selling a house, packing, 

and renovations on the newly bought house starting very soon.  

So, after a crazy day of work...and meetings...and lawyers... and house stuff... 

I came home with a SERIOUS need to de-stress. 

With my zucchinis going crazy in the garden (no one in their right mind should ever plant 4 zucchini plants!!!) 

I decided to play with my 

Carrot Cake Muffin 

recipe and turn it into a zucchini loaf. It worked well enough to share, 

so here it is! 

I made up a batch of this Maple Cashew Cream Frosting (I had envisioned a lemony cream cheese topped loaf, but...that would have entailed a trip back out to the grocery store...and that was NOT happening lol!!)  A bit of searching for a recipe,  and with all of these ingredients on hand, I bravely unpacked my food processor and gave it a go. It matched the flavour of the loaf perfectly, and was not too rich or sweet. I will definitely use it again! 

Thanks CotterCrunch for a great topping for my loaf! 

Pictured here with this amazing Maple Cashew Frosting

Grain Free Zucchini Loaf

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup of kefir or yogurt

4 eggs, preferably pastured

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup organic coconut oil, softened

1 tsp organic cinnamon

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of cloves

Whiz all of these ingredients together with a stick blender (or whisk if you are feeling particularly ambitious!) until very well incorporated. 

Add:

1 cup grated zucchini, (with liquid squeezed out as much as possible!!)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup organic  raisins

Mix well, ensuring ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Let batter stand for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Scoop into parchment lined or well greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
(my pan was quite large, 9X5 I think?  If yours is smaller, you will need to adjust your baking time until it is cooked thru!)

Let cool 5 minutes in pan before removing to a rack to cool.

Keep at room temp for the first day, refrigerate after that for a few days, if you have any left!!

Orange Chocolate Chia Donuts (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Sweetened with Honey)

These little heavenly morsels were created for two reasons. The first being that I was ever so kindly given a bag of Salba Chocolate Chia Seeds a while back to see if I could come up with a recipe to incorporate them into (thanks Deb!) They have been sitting staring at me for way too long, awaiting a burst of inspiration for a new recipe. 

On to reason number two… We have been house hunting as of late, and our wonderful agent-who-is-also-my-sister-in-law has been driving us around kingdom-come for a number of weeks. We were embarking on another road trip and I wanted to surprise her with some tasty treats for the drive. (She is celiac, so cooking for her, with all of my own dietary issues, is a proverbial piece of cake!) So on went my thinking cap. My brain jumped to donuts pretty quick, and these lovely little chocolate coated chia seeds were screaming at me to use them. I also had some beautiful organic cara-cara oranges, for further inspiration. Chocolate and orange is such a classic combination that is so well represented in these lovely little morsels, I was absolutely thrilled with the results! The texture is not unlike a poppyseed muffin or loaf, with a delightful bit of crunch, and the mix of flavours conjures

 a little happy dance in your mouth!  So, to Deb and Jo, a labour of love, and a brand new recipe!

This is also my first post using pictures taken with my son Mac's amazing camera..I am totally enamored with it..(so much that he had to buy me my own memory card so I quit filling up his...)

Orange Chocolate Chia Donuts

½ cup tapioca starch

½ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

3 eggs

Zest from 1 orange (make sure its organic!)

Juice from one orange (3-4 tbsp approx)

¼ cup melted coconut oil (***see end of post for handy tips to melt your oil!)

¼ cup honey

¼ cup kefir, yogurt or non dairy alternative

______

¼ cup chocolate chia seeds (Salba brand)

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease the donut pan with coconut oil or butter and set aside.

I love my silicone baster for greasing pans!!

Measure all ingredients except chia seeds into a large mixing bowl and mix with an immersion blender until well blended. If you measure your coconut oil first, and then use the same scoop for your honey, it will slide right out of the cup, no scraping required!! 

Handy dandy kitchen rasp is awesome for zesting citrus fruits!
be sure to zest first, and then cut and juice your orange !

 Ensure no lumps are left.

Stir in the chocolate chia seeds and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Scoop batter into a zip top bag, squeeze out the air, zip, and cut off one bottom corner of the bag (alternatively use a piping bag with no tip), 

fold the edge of your zip bag down when filling to keep it clean!

and squeeze evenly into pre-greased donut pan.

 

Bake in preheated oven for approx 10-12 minutes or until cooked thru.

Tip out onto wire cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying!

Store at room temp in an airtight container for 2-3 days. 

Alternatively freeze for later enjoyment!

 

***How to melt your coconut oil with ease!!

I keep my coconut oil in a mason jar, and melt it one of two ways: 

1. in-front of the vent on my
gas stove-top

2. immerse jar in your hottest tap water until
melted enough to pour out your measurement!

Grain Free Chunky Monkey Muffins

Oh, what a bad blogger I have been! Having not posted a brand new recipe since Christmas, I knew it was high time I got on with it! 

So, on a blustery April Sunday afternoon, baking was on the agenda, and these lovely muffins were just  begging to be blogged. Two overly ripe bananas were the starting point, and the rest just fell into place. I had intended to blend the peanut butter in with the immersion blender, but decided at the last minute that the crunchy peanut chunks in the peanut butter would lend a lovely texture to the muffin, and I was right! Smooth peanut butter would work as well, and if that’s all you have, don’t dismay. The flavour will still be lovely!

You will notice there is no added sugar in the batter. With two bananas, and the chocolate chunks, I think they are perfectly sweet enough. They are grain free, gluten free and dairy free too, for those who avoid dairy! Lovely for breakfast, or with an afternoon cup of tea, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Grain Free Chunky Monkey Muffins

Batter:

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 ripe bananas

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 eggs

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Add ins:

¾ cup crunchy peanut butter (natural, no sugar added!), at room temperature!!

¾ cup chocolate chunks (or chips...Enjoy Life are my favourite!)

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Topping:

Sliced fresh bananas for the tops

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line a 12 section muffin tin with parchment liners and set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl mix all the batter ingredients together 

with an immersion blender until well combined.

Fold in the peanut butter and the chocolate chunks with a silicone spatula 

or wooden spoon until completely mixed.

Scoop evenly into lined muffin tins, and top with sliced bananas.

Bake in preheated oven for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 4 minutes, and then remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

Store leftovers at room temp for 1 day, or in the fridge for 2-3 days. Freeze for longer storage. 

Grain Free Maple Pecan Cookies

These little beauties are made start to finish in a food processor. If you don’t have access to one, you could use your blender to process your pecans, just pulse until they are fairly uniformly ground. (If you go too far they will become pecan butter!)They keep well at room temperature for a few days, and freeze wonderfully too. 

Grain Free Maple Pecan Cookies

1 cup pecans

¼ cup butter, slightly softened

½ cup arrowroot flour

3 Tbsp coconut flour

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2-3 Tbsp coconut sugar (use 3 for a slightly sweeter version)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

In the bowl of a food processor measure your pecans and pulse until they are fairly fine crumbs. You still want them dry, if you process too much you will make pecan butter!

Measure in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until it all comes together into a sticky dough.

Scrape out of food processor onto a plate or bowl, and chill for 30 min plus to firm up the dough.

Preheat oven to 350F

Roll chilled dough into balls and palace on parchment covered cookie sheet. Press a pecan into the top of the ball and bake in preheated oven for 10 -12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Keep leftovers in airtight container for a few days, or freeze for later use. 

Grain Free Baguette

This recipe has been a work in progress since the end of September. We were taking a much needed break in the Fingerlakes with our wonderful friends. We planned a 4 day escape and rented a lakeside cottage over one of the most beautiful fall weekends you could ask for.  We hiked Watkins Glen, and had some absolutely delicious meals! (in a cottage with hodge podge of kitchen implements, it was a bit of a challenge to cook!) But, we succeeded in creating some memorable meals, and enjoyed some very much needed time away.

Our view from the deck

Watkins Glen has to be one of the
most beautiful places I have been!

renamed this one "flatbread"

Anyhoo, the whole grain free baguette quest started with a trip to Wegmans (Have you been to Wegmans?? What an amazing grocery experience!! We need Wegmans in Canada!!)We picked up a frozen Against The Grain baguette to go with dinner one night. It was pretty darn tasty, and you would honestly never know it was grain free. Which, of course, made me want to make it myself. Easy peasy…or so I thought….(those of you who follow my Facebook page may remember some of these...)

Dense! But the right shape!!

This one went straight in the trash :(

Well, multiple tries and multiple fails later, I FINALLY came up with a winner! Taste, texture and look, it has it all. It has a great shelf life for grain free as well.  It keeps well for 4 days on the counter in an airtight container, and freezes like a dream. I have toasted it as crostini, used it as a bruschetta base, and have enjoyed multiple slices with a simple skim of butter. It does not disappoint!

In all my trials I have used multiple different types of cheese, and I find ones with less moisture content work best, like a grana padano (my fav) or parmesan. That being said, I have used cheddar, asiago and mozzarella as well with good results.

My favorite cooking method is on my pizza stone in the oven, and while it gives the crust a bit more crunch, it is not absolutely necessary if you do not have one. I have used a sheet pan as well, and it works just fine.

The dark interior colour comes from the chia. I have a very large bag of black chia seeds right now, and all my experimenting has been with them. Using white chia would lighten up the inside of the bread although it won’t alter the taste at all. Give the seeds a quick whiz in a blender before using!

Grain Free Baguettes

1 c whole milk

½ cup avocado oil

-----------

finely grated Grana Padano

3 c tapioca starch

½ c ground chia seeds(whiz in a blender jar!)

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

-----------

2 eggs

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

--------------

100g  cheese, grated with small side of grater (just shy of 1 1/2 cups, NOT packed!)

Heat milk and avocado oil on medium low heat until bubbles start to form all around the edges of the pan, approx 6 min. You want it very warm but not really boiling. 

While milk is heating, in your stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix the tapioca starch, chia, baking soda and salt on low until combined.

Add the hot milk and turn up a notch on your mixer. Let mix until the mixture becomes a fairly smooth dough. Continue mixing until the dough becomes cooler to the touch.

When the dough is cooler, add the vinegar, and the eggs, one at a time, letting them combine somewhat in between. 

Mix until the eggs are well mixed in and your dough smoothes out again. It will take a bit to mix in, but trust me, it will!!

Add the grated cheese and mix well. Turn mixer off, scrape down sides of bowl with firm spatula and mix again for 1 minute to ensure all ingredients are well combined. 

Preheat oven to 425 with rack in the middle position. If you have a pizza stone, put in oven on the middle rack before preheating.

Divide dough in half evenly and with WET hands shape into two long thin baguettes on a piece of parchment paper.  Rewet hands as needed, the dough is sticky and wet hands help greatly with the shaping of your loaves!

With a wet serrated knife, slash shallow cuts diagonally across the tops of your loaves, re-wetting knife blade if it starts to stick.

Using a pizza peel (or the back of a cookie sheet) slide your loaves (still on parchment) onto hot stone in preheated oven. (alternatively, if you have no pizza stone, place the loaves (still on parchment)  on a large sheet pan and place in preheated oven)

Bake for 25 minutes or until baguettes are nicely risen and browning. Do not under bake as it changes the inner texture of your loaf.

Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks before slicing. Store in airtight container for up to 4 days at room temp. Freezes really well.