Zucchini Banana Muffins

Every week, for 5 days, I send my daughter off to school with a snack and a lunch. That’s a lot of snacks and a lot of lunches, week after week. For that reason, at times I like to make a huge batch of muffins and freeze a bunch so that I can easily grab a snack last minute that will be nutritious and exciting for her. She can get bored of the dried fruit mixes and sliced apples.

This recipe is simple in taste, no processed sugars therefor not overly sweet and, in my opinion, nutritious and healthy so that she can stay full longer and have good fuel for her body. Store bought muffins (or coffee shop muffins), are glorified cupcakes without the frosting. In terms of sugar content, they are pretty much equally high. When made well, muffins can be an easy, quick nutritious breakfast/snack.

The kids loved these, I had to hurry and freeze a few batches before they ate them all. Which to me is a win. Giving them something they love while maintaining my nutritional integrity is important to me.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (I used spelt and buckwheat here)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup pitted dates ( I use medjool because they are so decadent and sweet and soft)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp liquid vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• In a large bowl mix together first 6 ingredients
• In a food processor combine the rest, except for zucchini
• Add wet mixture to the bowl, add zucchini, mix well
• Oil some muffin tins, fill them up
• Bake for about 10 minutes for mini muffins, probably 20-25 minutes for large muffins
• I made 72 mini muffins with this recipe!!!

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Zucchini Pasta with Alfredo sauce

Mmmm mmmm. That was a tasty dinner!!! I truly love spaghetti, and I definitely do not want to be eating the real stuff often. Eating it this way satisfies my craving for pasta. Here I had zucchini pasta with my newly created Rawlfredo Sauce 🙂 Because I wanted to keep the whole dish raw, I dehydrated onions and mushrooms to top it off with. I could have easily sautéed them but as I said, I really wanted to keep the dish raw, and these tasted amazing. (Sorry for my lack of photography skills, this photo definitely does’t make this dish justice.)

Ingredients for mushroom topping:

• 1 large portobello mushroom, thinly sliced
• 1 cup buttons, thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 TBS olive oil
• 2 TBS balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TBS dried mixed herbs

 

Steps:

• Put everything in a bowl and gently rub to mix all the seasonings in well with the vegetables
• put on a dehydrator sheet
• dehydrate for about 4 hours.
• Make zucchini pasta , mix in the rawlfredo sauce and top it with the mushroom and onion mixture.

It was my first time making a raw mushroom mixture like this, and it came out perfect. I love it and I will definitely do it again. 

Zucchini Pasta

I was feeling like pasta today. Although I do eat pasta sometimes, I cannot do it too often or I feel sluggish and bloated. That’s the case with most flours in general. In moderation, most definitely. You will occasionally find me eating pizza, a cupcake, or a cookie. But rarely in my own home. When I make food for myself I use the alternatives that I find the healthiest and that will leave me feeling the best and most energized. So I find ways to curb my cravings with all sorts of other fun foods. Today, I made raw zucchini pasta. And it totally worked. What I like most about spaghetti is the long strands of food lathered in tomato sauce that I slurp up. (Sometimes pesto). And this recipe does just that without the heaviness of processed flours. 

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 5 olives chopped
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast

Steps:

• with a Spirilizer make the zucchini into pasta 
• top with all other ingredients
• slurp it up and love it up!!

I’ve heard of people making the pasta with a vegetable peeler. I’ve never tried it so I cannot testify to how awesome it is.

I bought my Spirilizer here   http://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-A4982799-Tri-Blade/dp/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1408220735&sr=1-1&keywords=spiralizer

 It’s a cheap one, and it does exactly what I need it to and I love it. I use it for carrots and squash and all kinds of other foods. It really changes the way you eat vegetables!! 

Zucchini Patties

Most times I end up making patties it is because I have left over grains of some sort. I love making patties for the kids because it is such an easy way to pack veggies in without them paying attention. This is such a quick lunch to make if you have everything on hand. Here is my latest patty creation. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 small zucchini
• 2 TBS fresh chopped parsley
• 4 mushrooms
• 2 eggs
• 2 TBS rice flour (any flour will do)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TBS olive oil

Steps:

• mix everything together in the for processor with the S blade until well combined. 
• make 3 inch patties on a skillet and cook about 2 minutes each side. 
• makes about 12 patties

Since the only ingredient that needs cooking is the egg, there is no need to cook for too long. 

I served it with a leftover red bell pepper sauce that I had made. I didn’t write down the recipe for this one as I was making it but I really liked it so I will be making it again. Stay tuned for an update on that 🙂

Zucchini Hummus

I have a friend who loves hummus but can’t tolerate beans. I made this recipe for her birthday and she was so happy. I myself love all forms of hummus but am particularly a fan of this one because of how quick and easy and healthy it is. In 10 minutes, I whipped this up and now I have a dip and a sandwich spread that will last a few days in the fridge. 

Ingredients

• 1 medium zucchini
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup tahini ( i like to use raw tahini to make this a raw hummus)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• dash of chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Process everything in a food processor until smooth. Serve with fresh veggies, crackers or chips. I usually serve mine with raw crackers that I make in our dehydrator. Double this recipe if wanting to make this for a crowd.