Paleo Zucchini Brownies

Summer is zucchini season...abundant zucchini season.  I remember brown paper bags showing up at our house full of zucchini from the gardens of the more domestic of my parent's friends (you would NEVER lump Peg and E. Larry in that bunch...rural upbringing does not guarantee rural talents!).  And we'd have to figure out what to do with them all.

Usually, that meant skillets of zucchini and yellow squash with onions, butter, salt and pepper that ended up on every plate as a side dish.  But on the rare occasion that my mom baked - it was zucchini bread.  It never occurred to me not to try bread made out of zucchini - the benefit of my generation, I think.  My kids, on the other hand, were a little weirded out when I told them I made zucchini brownies.  (I think they had flashbacks to some black bean brownies during a 'weight loss craze' that went horribly wrong...sigh...)

Anyway, I am not a baker.  I am a cook.  I love to cook and it comes naturally to me.  I also love the idea of baking, but the rules make me a little bit nuts and the results require more effort that any dish I choose to cook.  But I can't help myself.  I fancy myself one of those women who whip up a batch of some delightful baked good....so I bake.  Occasionally, the results are so awful it's a complete bust, but usually, we find a way to eat the experiments or less-than-successful batches of whatever.

I find paleo baking to be easier than classic flour & sugar baking...it must be the gluten that hates me even in the kitchen!  So, I am getting a little bit bolder as a baker.  Not always more successful, but definitely more willing to give a recipe a go.

My one rule of baking is - follow the recipe exactly the first time.  Then tweak.  On a good day, the first time is all I need.  Sadly, there aren't as many good days as I would like.  I have a very specific set of taste buds and a couple of picky eaters, so usually a tweak is required.

I can say that I adored these zucchini brownies made exactly from the recipe.  I also felt the need to tweak them for a couple of reasons - one:  cost.  and two: a tad sweeter.

The best part about these - one bowl, one baking dish, one spatula!  Not even a full sink of dishes!!!

If you'd want to try the original (which is the one I took pictures of) - here is the original post from FastPaleo.  They were so moist and yummy...I did have to bake mine for about 5 minutes longer, but my oven is not screaming hot.  I used coconut oil to grease my baking dish and I used an organic 85% cacao dark chocolate bar and chopped it instead of using chips or chunks.

Then yesterday, I tweaked it just a tad and really enjoyed the results.  I substituted cashew butter for the almond butter (which made the brownies a bit lighter in color and saved me about a dollar in cost), added an extra teaspoon of vanilla and 1 Tablespoon of maple sugar (to make it sweeter).  For my taste - this will be the version I make from now on.

Paleo Zucchini Cashew Butter Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup cashew butter
• 1 1/2 cup grated zucchini (about 1 large or 1 1/2 medium zucchini)
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1 large egg
• 2 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1 T maple sugar
• 1 cup chopped dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9 X 9 baking dish (I used glass) with coconut oil.  Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well with a spoon or spatula.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sweet & Spicy Paleo Roasted Almonds

I love flavor combinations - salt and vinegar, cashew and vanilla, strawberry and banana, sweet and spicy!  If you spent much time at my dinner table, you would know that my go-to, "I want the entire family to eat and rave" combination is cayenne and raw honey.  I use it in my sweet potato casserole, my Korean BBQ-style pulled pork, in many of my throw-together glazes for grilled chicken, in many a mason jar salad dressing and almost every time I toss fruit on the grill (pineapple just screams for a touch of honey and a sprinkling of cayenne or chipolte!)

Anyway, when I was playing with recipes for roasted almonds - no one around here was surprised when the Sweet and Spicy ended up being my favorite!

We have teenagers - ACTIVE teenagers, BUSY teenagers, NOT-AS-COMMITTED-TO-STRICT-PALEO-EATING teenagers!  If I don't keep some convenient, healthy, clean-eating snacks at the ready - they are happy to suggest a trip to a convenience store for some kind of junk.  We have worked far too hard to get healthy for me to let that happen.

Besides, I love a snack.  Something that makes me feel spoiled or like I'm eating something really fancy or expensive or gourmet.  Something I can grab when I realize I've lost myself in a recipe or saucepan or blog post and am almost late for an entire afternoon and evening of running and dropping off and meetings and practices and errands and it's a LONG time until dinner and I'm starving!  (like yesterday....oh my goodness!)

So, last week, inspired by a really good sale on raw almonds in the bulk food section, I decided to play around with some different 'sauces' to roast them in.  I pan-roasted (too much work and not as satisfying of a texture in my opinion) and I oven roasted.  I did smoky (NOT a hit with my kids), I did spicy (a little too intense for my tastes), I did sweet (it was such a specific taste and gave us sugar overload) and Sweet and Spicy (the winner!).

It was easy - it dirtied a saucepan, a sheet pan and a rubber spatula and it took less than an hour from very start (meaning I hadn't gotten anything out of the pantry yet) to the very finish...I let mine cool a bit longer before I put them in containers, but really, how much work is cooling?  And if you only have an hour, you can definitely go ahead and store them.  Or just toss a clean, dry dish towel over the top and store them in an airtight container later.  For these almonds...you can make it work!

Now, during the actual 35 minutes of cooking (saucepan and oven-roasting), you do have to stay present.  Stirring turned out to be key in making sure the almonds absorbed all the flavors while they were roasting.

Here's how I did it....

Sweet & Spicy Paleo Roasted Almonds
 
Ingredients
4 cups of raw almonds
for the sauce...
1/4 cup Cholula
2 T raw honey
1 1/2 t sugar-free fish sauce (anchovy based)
1 1/2 t coconut aminos
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t cayenne powder
1 T sea salt
1 t dry mustard
for the sprinkle...
1 1/2 t sea salt
1 1/2 t coconut or maple sugar
1 t garlic powder (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325°

Combine the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until combined and heated through (about 5-7 minutes) 

 Place almonds in a large metal or glass bowl, pour sauce mixture over and stir to coat completely.
 

 Pour the almonds onto a parchment-line, rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  You will need to stir the mixture every 5-7 minutes to make sure the sauce gets soaked up evenly during the roasting process.

Remove from oven, sprinkle immediately with sea salt, coconut sugar, garlic powder mixture

Let cool and store in an airtight container

As with any recipe - play with it!  You can make it spicier with additional cayenne or sweeter with a little more honey or smokier with some liquid smoke or cumin.  Don't like honey?  Substitute Grade B organic maple syrup.  Don't love almonds?  I bet this would work with walnuts or pecans! 

Have some fun in your kitchen - even the recipes that weren't the ultimate 'winner' in this roasted almond recipe test, were still pretty tasty and made it into lunchboxes and some gift packs for friends and disappeared from the container in my pantry!  Not a single almond wasted and absolutely NO reason to stop at the local gas station for a junk-snack. 

Why not stock your pantry with some of these Sweet & Spicy Roasted Almonds?   I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!


 

I bought PANTS!

Normally, I like to write about food.  Clean eating.  Recipe testing and sharing.  Paleo substitutions.  Ways to make the switch to a PaleoPlus lifestyle.  And more food.

If you've read any of my posts, you know I can't help but ramble on about the whys and hows and personal revelations that got me to sit down and write...I write like I talk!  But I don't usually bore you with details of my life, because who really cares, right?

We have our own lives and our own stories and people to share them with in person or over the phone or via text or maybe a Facebook post.  But I can't seem to help myself on this one.

I have told my friends - the 3 that I consider my dearest friends - one via text, one via voice mail and one in an old-fashioned phone conversations - like, a CALL where we chatted with our voices and not our fingers for a half an hour!  And also shared the story with my daughter, who appreciates my stories as much as a 14-year-old can and with the friend who started this pants shopping expedition with me - because, success should be shared!

The point is - and this is my truth, it does not have to be anyone else's truth or story or motivation - buying smaller pants was a Paleo Lifestyle victory for me.

About a month ago I found my "Super Goal Pants" were too big.  These are a pair of originally grossly overpriced khakis that I got on super sale clearance during one of my many dieting phases.  I think it was in 2002, right after I had my daughter.  I couldn't wear them "yet", but they were such nice pants and such a good deal and 'this time I am going to lose the weight'....

And somehow, I have moved them from Phoenix, where I bought them, to Lexington, to the scary apartment here in Fort Worth, to our home to the back shelf of my super-sized suburban closet where they have sat, neatly folder (except for the 6 or 8 times I have dragged them down to try them on to realize they are still too small) for over 10 years.  I am guessing I have made a dozen or more donation runs, but I was never able to donate the "Super Goal Pants".

Anyway, I remember when I tried them on after about 4 months on Paleo.  They were still too small, but closer.  And then they fit (snugly around my middle, but perfectly everywhere else)!  And then they were a bit loose, but it was such a high to be trotting around in my "Super Goal Pants" - not that anyone knew they were my SGP's...but I knew!  And now they are too big. 

Don't get me wrong - I'm never getting rid of them - I've had them almost as long as I've had my children - they are officially a part of the family!

The point is - save a couple of clearance yoga pants I bought so I could go out in public, I have no pants left to pull out of the corners to fit my new frame.  And I have a couple of things coming up that even I can't justify clearance yoga pants as appropriate attire.  So...

...Time to go shopping...

So I went.  I spent the better part of a day pants shopping.  Which is amazing!  (For those of you who have never had to shop in the plus sizes, you may not be able to fully appreciate the amazing-ness of this, but my choices for almost everything except jewelry and shoes has been limited).

I had no idea what size I would be, so I started 2 sizes down from the last time I bought pants.  Too big.  So, what the heck, I'll try another size down.  Too big!  Of course, I have a multitude of issues with my size and weight loss and all that is tied up in my body, but in a pretty loving way - I just have spent years not identifying with my body, because it was so uncooperative.  Anyway, I assumed all the clothes in the store had been somehow mis-marked in anticipation of April Fool's Day and went one size lower - and they fit!  And there were SO MANY CHOICES!  (and yes, I know they weren't mismarked - I just didn't want to tempt fate by getting too excited to finally be lower than my originally dream goal size!)

I found 12 pairs of pants that I liked in that size!  TWELVE????  I haven't found that many pairs of pants that I liked in my size in the past 2 years.  This was in one store in one morning!

I settled on one really nice pair of black pants.  I know - but I like black, it's a start, and I didn't just like these pants - I loved them!  I found 2 other pairs that I like a lot - and will probably go back and get, if I can find some time early next week, but this was an accomplishment and an investment and a commitment to the fact that I am never going to go back to my old ways of eating crap.

And as I was driving home - almost giddy from all the selections, I realized I just bought pants in a size that I haven't been able to wear in over 18 years.  All from eliminating processed, sugar-laden, potentially inflammatory fake foods for real, clean, healthy proteins, veggies, fruits and healthy fats. 

In less than a year's time - I have accomplished something I have worked at off and on for 18 years.  And failed at off and on for 18 years.  And been frustrated by for 18 years.  And given up on off and on for 18 years. 

It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but I can honestly say - reward to effort or sacrifice or whatever you call it - I was the best return on investment I've made in myself other than having my children. 

And I have the pants to prove it!!!