Baked Zucchini "Fries"

Baked zucchini "fries" for dinner last night...tasty!

It's zucchini season, and we're all delighted with a new way to prepare this lovely vegetable (especially if you find yourself inundated with 'em!) 

We discovered this recipe last year at this time, and we loved it!  (Okay, what's not to like?  Fried crispiness!)

Ingredients

Fresh zucchini*

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c. cassava or coconut flour**

1/3 C. arrowroot flour***

salt

pepper

herbs to taste--I ofte use garlic and Italian mix, but it would be good with curry or Mexican spices, too

How-to

Mix flours, salt, pepper, and herbs or spices.  Cut Zucchini in spears.  Dip in egg wash then roll in flour mixture.

Heat oven to 410 degrees, oil the cookie sheet generously and put fries on it in a single layer, bake for 15 minutes, turn, bake for another 15, and that's that! 

Bet you won't have leftovers...

*Note...this would be fine with yellow summer squash as well.  Or with carrots, or...

** Note #2...Cassava flour is more like normal wheat flour to work with.  Coconut flour is odd stuff, and sometimes soaks up too much liquid. 

This is a gluten free recipe...if you don't have a problem, wheat flour is acceptable

Paleo Zucchini Spice Bread--gluten free and delicious!

Paleo Zucchini Spice Bread

This reminds me so much of the spicy cake my mom used to make...she called it "fishin' trip cake," so of course I made it for our recent trip to Bennett Spring!  Good hot, cold, toasted, buttered, or with cream cheese...give it a try!

We froze what was left for next time...

Ingredients:

2 eggs

½ cup maple sugar, coconut sugar, or unrefined cane sugar

½ cup olive oil (can use another healthy oil of course)

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)

1 cup cassava flour or garbanzo flour or a combination of the two (or sure, wheat if you must...)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cloves
(this time I also added almost a tsp of pumpkin pie spice since we had it...I like spicy!)

½ tsp sea salt

1 cup raisins (optional)

½ cup sunflower seeds (optional) (Other nuts optional as well.)

Use butter, lard, ghee or coconut oil and cassava flour to grease and flour pans, or line pan with parchment paper.

Instructions:

Grate and drain zucchini ahead of time–that’s a SOGGY vegetable. (Sometimes I put it in a cloth and squeeze additional moisture out.) 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and flour one large or two small loaf pans (or cut parchment paper to fit.)

Beat together eggs, sugar, and olive oil, then stir in drained zucchini.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Add to egg mixture and stir to fully incorporate. Fold in raisins, seeds or nuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until sharp knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from loaf pans, invert onto cooling rack. It keeps well if you can stay out of it!

Adapted (quite a bit!) from a recipe from Sarah Ballantyne, the Paleo Mom.

Nordic Nut Bread (okay, mostly seeds...), gluten free

I have no idea if this actually is Nordic...some sources call it Viking Bread, which may be even harder to nail down.  I call it GOOD, and make it when I want a hearty, filling bread-like creature.  (No flour, no grain of any kind, no yeast.)

It's not inexpensive to make, but it is a special treat.

The original recipe calls for walnuts and almonds, but since I'm allergic, I tweak it!  It's quite versatile--the original recipe has no raisins or sweetener, but I added a little of both--sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  It would be good as a savory herb bread as well.

Dense and rich, and full of nutrients!

So here's how:

Preheat oven to 320 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan by greasing and flouring, or lining with parchment paper.

Ingredients

dry ingredients

• 6 T pumpkin seeds
• 6 T sunflower seeds
• 6 T cashews (raw or roasted)
• 2 T sesame seeds
• 2 T poppy seeds (optional)
• 1 T hempseed (optional)
• 1-2 T  flaxseed meal
• handful of raisins (optional)
• 1 T coconut or maple sugar (optional)
• spices, if you like...cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves?  about a tsp (optional)
  
• 1 tsp salt

wet ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil (or other healthy oil)

I'm reasonably sure you can substitute any nuts or seeds you prefer, just end up with about the same amount.  I've made it without any sweetener and fruit and it's still delicious.

Bake for one hour or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Beat eggs, and add oil and dry ingredients, stirring well to mix.

Pour into greased or parchment lined loaf pan (can use two small ones for special treats or gifts!)

Nuts need not be chopped--I didn't--but you can.

Serve with butter, if you wish, but it sure doesn't need it.

Grandma Kelley's Cornbread--AIP style!

Our Christmas dinner at the cabin...sausage with cabbage, apples and onions; cauliflower "potato salad," and Grandma's cornbread, reimagined.

AIP Cornbread (eggs reintroduced)

Wheat-free, corn-free, dairy-free but based on my grandmother Kelley’s version of the old standby...pretty darn good!

INGREDIENTS

Preheat oven to 350̊

2 Eggs (can substitute gelatin eggs, applesauce or your favorite if you're on the elimination phase of the autoimmune protocol)
2/3 C. Coconut flour (for that cornmealy granularity)
2/3 C. Cassava flour
1 C. Coconut milk w/ 1 T lemon juice or ACV for “buttermilky” flavor–add more milk as needed       to make a thick batter
2 T. Palm shortening (or bacon grease, to be more like grandma’s!)
1 T. Olive oil
1 t. Salt
2 t. Baking powder (2 t. cream of tartar, ½ t. baking soda)

Optionals:

bit of turmeric for color
1 T. Nutrutional yeast
garlic powder, optional but YUM!

Coconut flour is very thirsty, soaking up moisture, so you will probably need to add more milk.  Mix well, smooth into a greased 8" x 8" pan, bake for 25 minutes or until firm and brown on top.

Good hot from the oven or cold (I’m going to have to try the “cornbread” and milk I grew up on). We had it split and toasted with breakfast this morning–J. made a cornbread McMuffin with sausage.

Baked Pita Chips--or Crackers, or whatever you want to call them! (AIP-style)

 If you're like me, at all, salty-crispy is a HUGE deal.  For a while there, I was eating WAY too many potato chips and such...I'd been diagnosed as low-sodium, so in order to boost that, I got a little silly.  At first I'd only eat potato chips when we went to a restaurant or shop that made their own, fresh--and them I discovered "healthy," organic ones in the health food store.  Oooops.  Hooked!

So now that I'm using the autoimmune protocol, nightshades--as in potatoes, tomatoes, peppers--are right out. I already don't eat wheat or other grains...so what to do?

Enter AIP recipes for just about anything you'd want, including crackers and chips, this one basically--before my changes!--from healingautoimmune.com.

Our biggest problem is staying OUT of them!  They're delicious.  Great with dips, great on their own.  Serious yums.

So..here's my altered version of the recipe for all my salty-crispy-craving friends, suitable for Paleo, Primal, OR autoimmune protocol!


INGREDIENTS

1/2 C. arrowroot flour*

1/2 C. tapioca or cassava flour*

4 T. extra virgin olive oil

5 T. cold water

1 T. or more nutritional yeast (we use Bragg's)---it adds a cheesy flavor

1 t. sea salt

Medium-coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top, if you wish.

Garlic powder, onion powder, chives, herbs are optional and delicious...I used quite a bit of organic garlic powder and maybe a little turmeric for color.

These days I often add crushed chichiaronnes to cut the carb load, plus hemp seeds and poppy seeds.


INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. (our toaster oven works just fine.

Mix everything together well with a strong wooden spoon, then finish mixing well with your hands.  It's a bit crumbly, like pie crust.

Put the ball of dough on a sheet of parchment paper and press flat with your hands.  Put another piece on top and roll to about 2 mm thick.

That's THIN, folks, but not too thin.  My second batch were too thick, like 2/8", and they got HARD.  We ate 'em anyway...

Score the dough into cracker-size squares...mine are about an inch.  Poke with a fork a couple of times on each one, sprinkle with medium-coarse sea salt, and slide the parchment paper and all onto a baking sheet and into your oven.

I didn't bother poking the third batch, here.

 Bake 15 - 20 minutes, but check to make sure they don't burn, ovens vary!  You can turn the baking sheet a time or two if your oven has a hot spot.  I like them golden brown like this so I gave them closer to 20 minutes, watching closely.

Remove and cool before breaking apart the crackers...and store in an airtight container to keep them crispy.  A mason jar works fine!

Enjoy with dips, spreads, AIP cheese, or all by their cute, crispy little selves!

In theory, the recipe serves two, but we spread it out over several days...hard as it may be to control ourselves.  I mean, warm, salty, crispy, garlicky...where's that mason jar!?

This is pretty quick and easy...maybe I'll make another batch today, with herbs...

* Arrowroot, tapioca, and cassava flours can all be bought in your favorite health food store or online.