CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD

It's that time of year.  Zucchini is over-running your garden beyond your wildest expectations.  Here's a recipe to utilize that gorgeous ingredient that I think you'll really enjoy.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2  cup cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 large eggs
4  tablespoons (1/4 cup) coconut oil, room temperature
1 cup monk fruit/erythritol blend sweetener
1 1/2 cups zucchini, grated and drained/squeezed to dry out
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions
In a food processor combine almond flour and cacao powder.
Pulse in salt and baking soda.
Pulse in eggs, coconut oil, and sweetener.
Briefly pulse in zucchini. (Add 1/2 cup walnuts now if you prefer.)
Transfer batter to a coconut-oil-greased 6.5 x 4 inch medium (preferably glass) loaf pan.
Bake at 350° for 60-65 minutes. Loaf is done when cake tester comes out clean.
Cool for 2 hours.
Serve

Home made Chipotle Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, if bought at the regular grocery store, is not fit for human consumption.  Here is an easy, delicious recipe for a spicy mayonnaise that will keep in the refrigerator for at least three weeks. . .if it lasts that long. (The beautiful photo which I use here is not my own.  My mayonnaise never lasts long enough to take a great picture like this.  Props to the original photographer.)

Ingredients:
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon Chipotle powder
1 - 1 1/4 cups olive oil

Method:
Add all ingredients except the olive oil to a food processor or high speed blender such as a Blendtec or VitaMix. Blend or process, while very slowly streaming in the olive oil until the mixture becomes mayonnaise.  It really is that simple.
Enjoy.

Delectable Pumpkin Bread - Wheat Free and Sugar Free

This might be my new favorite use for almond flour and for pumpkin puree. The batter is made in a food processor in record time!
However, let's do the "Notes" first:
1.)  The pumpkin bread is easier to remove from the loaf pan if you let it cool for about an hour.  This is only an assumption on my part, since the warm loaf was far too appealing for me to wait.  Delicious warm or cold! (I'm thinking toasted, for breakfast. . .)
2.)  I enjoyed the process of making my own pumpkin puree, following Elana Amsterdam's easy recipe.  I am sure you would have wonderful results using 1 cup of any good organic pure pumpkin puree.
3.)  This recipe, like so many of my favorite almond flour recipes, is adapted from one I found at Elana's Pantry.
Enjoy.

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons good quality ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg (If you can grate your own nutmeg, use less)
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup roasted pumpkin puree
1/8 teaspoon "Kal" brand or "Now" brand concentrated powder stevia
6 organic eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, and seasonings in a food processor.  Pulse to mix.

Add the pumpkin puree, the stevia, and the 6 eggs to the mixture, and process for approximately 2 minutes.

TASTE the batter.  IF you want to add seasonings or stevia, do so.  (When I made my roasted pumpkin puree, I used a Grey Ghost organic squash, which has a sweeter taste to start, so I did not need to add anything.)

Pour the batter into a glass loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes. You will have a wet batter, and your end product will be moist when it has cooled.

Maximized Grainless Rolls

Maximized food has become a no-brainer for us.  I hear all kinds of protests about the "cost" of organic, grain-free, sugar-free cooking.  I can only reply that my health is worth paying for.  In fact, I can not think of anything that is more worthy of my money.  I will admit, though, that the idea of a grilled organic turkey burger without a bun has often left a little to be desired.  That's why I needed to share with anyone who doesn't already have the recipe. . .these Maximized Grainless Rolls are the bomb!  The recipe is from Kimberly Pease-Roberto,  co-author of The Maximized Living Nutrition Plan, so rest-assured, your health need never suffer from eating a burger again!
By the way, they freeze beautifully. . . .if they last that long.

Kimberly's great recipe goes like this:

1 1/2 cups almond flour
5 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 organic eggs or 3 organic egg whites
1 cup boiling water

Mix all of the dry ingredients together.  Add the eggs and apple cider vinegar and mix well.  You will have a very stiff mixture on your hands.  Add the boiling water and continue to mix until well combined.  The mixture will then turn from a "soup" into a very sticky dough.  Split the mixture into 5 rolls.  You will want to “form” them into nicely shaped rolls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I do this using a very large serving spoon (for rolls) and (for "buns") I place a ring on the parchment to make them "round." Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

These can be used for sandwiches, grass fed burgers, or own their own.

Here is the link for this and a plethora of other great recipes:

http://smartmeals.wordpress.com/category/breads-and-baked-goods/

Enjoy.

Garlic Parmesan Flax Seed Crackers

Have you tried the Garlic Parmesan Flax Seed Cracker recipe in GOOD FOOD? I make it at least every two weeks, simply because it smells so great, tastes so good, and provides that "crunch" we tend to miss when we get the junk food out of our lives.
This recipe can be tricky to make. Over the past 6 months or so, I have developed a somewhat easy method for preparation, and I thought it might be good to share it with you. If you read ALL the tips below, I know it will help you.

For those who do not have the book, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup Italian Parmesan cheese, grated (To be on the safe side, I use a cheese that is a product of Italy ONLY)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
1) Mix all ingredients together.
2) Spoon onto sheet pan which is covered with a silicone mat or greased parchment paper.
3) Cover the mixture with a piece of parchment or waxed paper. Even out the mixture to about 1/8 inch. I find a straight edge, like a ruler, works well. I also use a rolling pin and that does a good job of leveling the dough. The important thing is not to let it be too thin around the edges or that part will overcook before the center firms up. So after you spread it out, go around the edges with your finger and push the thin part inwards to even it up.
4) Bake until the center is no longer soft, about 15-18 minutes. If it starts to get more than a little brown around the edges, remove from oven. Let cool completely - it will continue to crisp up.
5) Break into pieces.

Note: Some cooks rolled the dough into balls and then flattened them with a cup measure.

TIPS:
I mix all the dry ingredients together, add the water and mix it all together. This forms a "ball of dough" which I form into a rectangular disc and place on a silicone baking pad in the middle of a cookie sheet. (If I didn't have the silicone pad, I would place the "disc" on a sheet of parchment paper big enough to cover the cookie sheet.) Then I cover the disc with another sheet of parchment, again big enough to cover the cookie sheet, and I roll out the "dough" between the two sheets with my rolling pin until it is approximately 1/8 of an inch thick. The rolled product covers nearly all of the cookie sheet. Rolling the dough between the two sheets allows the rolling pin to glide evenly without sticking, so getting it to 1/8 of an inch is much easier. Then I simply remove the top sheet of parchment, and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes. I set my cook timer for 15 minutes, and then WATCH the sheet of cracker VERY carefully, and AS SOON as the edges become dark, OUT of the oven it comes.

Here's another hint. Sometimes, when the outer edges are beginning to brown, the middle is not quite done. What I like to do, once the giant cracker has cooled, is to take the "softer" middle of the cracker and put it back in the turned-off oven. This helps to dry that middle so it will be nice and crunchy.

One of these giant crackers is supposed to be broken into smaller pieces and served with hummus or some other dip. In my family, this almost never happens, because breaking off pieces of the giant cracker is so irresistable when it is cooling, half of it is gone before we know it.

Maybe I should prepare two recipes.

DARK RYE BREAD

We have used this bread for anything we would have used traditional bread for in the bad old days, including sandwiches and croutons.

Note: Be sure to read the next post here, "Almond Flour Revisited," before you attempt this recipe.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour

1 1/2 cups ground flax meal

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

6 eggs

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup water

4 tablespoons caraway seeds

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a loaf pan with olive oil or (better still) coconut oil. I like to add a piece of parchment for easy removal after baking.

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl except for caraway seeds.

Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.

Stir wet ingredients into dry, then mix in caraway seeds.

Allow batter to sit for 1 or 2 minutes to "thicken."

Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Cool and serve.

ALMOUND FLOUR REVISITED

I have wanted to share a few important links and recipes with all of you for quite a while. Sorry for the delay. First, I want to talk about Almond Flour, Almond Meal, the difference between the two in recipes, and the cost factor.

I avoid purchasing almond flour in the grocery store at around $15.00 per pound. One example of almond flour you will find in retail stores is Bob's Red Mill. This product, really more of an almond meal, has a very coarse texture. I do not recommend using Bob's Red Mill almond flour in my recipes, although, it will yield a decent result – just not the amazing results that a finer textured Almond Flour will produce. The least expensive almond meal I have seen locally is in the “Bulk Barn,” where the cost is roughly $9.39 per pound. In the bulk stores, it is referred to as “ground almonds,” and that is closer to the truth of its texture. I prefer to purchase almond flour of the finest quality and texture online where the price is considerably less than retail in either the grocery store or in bulk. Of course, there are shipping costs, which add to the bottom line price. Ultimately, almond flour is still expensive, but it is packed with protein and flavour, allowing me to have baked treats like cupcakes and breads. So for me, it is worth the cost.

Here in Canada the best link to order almond flour online is:

JK Gourmet at www.jkgourmet.com 1-800-608-0465.

Search the website carefully. You are only interested in the blanched almond flour! You will be buying in bulk from JK Gourmet, but you will save money, your results will be wonderful, and you will have plenty on hand when you need it.

Other online sources, best for US orders, are:

Benefit Your Life (organic) at www.benefityourlifestore.com 1-877-295-2407

Honeyville at www.store.honeyvillegrain.com 1-888-810-3212

In the US, you can purchase smaller amounts per online order, which, based on your budget, might be helpful.

I store my almond flour in the freezer, taking out 8-10 cups at a time to keep on hand at room temperature. Trying to use frozen almond flour is more work than it’s worth.

By the way, if you have enjoyed the almond flour recipes in GOOD FOOD using almond meal or ground almonds, you will enjoy those recipes even more using this better quality almond flour. You need not make measurement adjustments.

I will follow this post with a recipe which, thanks to the finer textured almond flour, I have really enjoyed, “Dark Rye Bread.”

Enjoy.

"DORITO" Bread

This bread is the perfect accompaniment to Caesar Salad or any variety of your favorite chili. But honestly, you will find yourself wanting to munch on the bread alone. . .like the "bad ol' days" when you polished off a bag of Doritos in front of the TV.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

8 oz. organic (preferably raw) old cheddar cheese, grated

1 organic free range egg

Preparation:

1. Combine all dry ingredients (including grated cheddar) in a bowl.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk egg; then combine it with the dry ingredients.

3. Knead the mixture with hands to ensure proper distribution of ingredients. The "dough" will form a ball.

4. Form the dough into a large circle about 2/3 inch thick.

5. Cut circle into 16 slices.

6. Place slices on parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 - 10 minutes.

8. Open the oven door, turn off the oven, re-close the oven door, and leave the bread in the oven for another 7 - 10 minutes. (If you like a softer consistency, remove the bread when the initial 10 minutes has elapsed.)

Advanced Plan Pizza- What?!?

What?!?

I know. When I found this recipe (at a website called "Tropical Traditions"), I was extremely skeptical. The second time I tested the recipe, I made two batches, because I knew we would snack the first one away (as we did the original test) before a whole pizza could be made. Honestly, we love this recipe as a kind of a cheese bread and as a pizza crust.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk organic (raw is preferable) mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 large organic eggs
2 tablespoons flax meal
2 tablespoons organic coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder

Preparation:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper to line two baking sheets.

Mix cheese, eggs, flax meal, coconut flour, and baking powder together until a sticky wet dough is formed. Spread with a spatula to 1/4 inch thickness on a baking sheet lined with one piece of parchment paper. I usually cover it with another piece of parchment, once I have it shaped into a circle, and roll it out with a rolling pin a bit more, because it will "rise" a little while cooking, and I want it to cover as much surface area as possible, and remain thin like a pizza crust.

Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven. Halfway through the baking process, flip crust over by lifting it from the baking sheet, flipping it over onto the second parchment lined baking sheet and peeling the old paper off. This is easier than it sounds. Return to oven to finish baking for the remaining 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, and flip over again (onto a cooling rack) for cooling. Once crust is cooled, top with Maximized toppings (we used some cold diced organic chicken and tiny broccoli florets) and, yes, more cheese. (I have also used home made bruschetta topped with the cheese, and it was wonderful.)

Place crust with toppings under the broiler, about 4 to 6 inches from heating element, on high heat, for a minute or two until cheese is melted and bubbly. I do this on yet another piece of parchment paper, but watch it carefully because the broiler will burn the parchment paper if you leave it too long. My parchment paper has been brown, but not burnt, by the time I remove the pizza from under the broiler.

Makes 2-4 servings. (I suggest you make two.)