Gluten free, vegan (yet delicious) Zucchini cookies

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With zucchini in abundance this time of year, here is another recipe to try out.

Chewy and delicious!
Chewy and delicious!

This makes A LOT of cookies because when there is too much zucchini you need recipes that call for a lot of zucchini.  They are chewy, moist, and filling.  I have served them to many gluten-eating people (including children) and they ask for another.  That says they are GOOOOD

Zuc cookie ingredients
Oats, zucchini, buckwheat flour, oh yeah!
Zuc cookie batter
It’s a thick batter

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups each: sorghum flour and starch of choice (arrowroot, tapioca, potato)
  • 1 cup buckwheat flour (light or dark)
  • 2 tsp each: xanthum gum and baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups quick cook oats (helps with the chewy factor)
  • 1 cup olive oil (you could do coconut oil if you prefer or butter for non vegans)
  • 4 tsp egg replacer whisked into 8 Tbsp warm water (or 4 eggs)
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 3 cups shredded zucchini (I leave peel on and I squeeze the liquid out through a tea towel or cheese cloth)
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup raisins

What to do:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F
  • Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, starches, xanthum gum, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
  • Stir in the oats
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the egg replacer and water.  Add the olive oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Mix in the zucchini.
  • Add wet ingredients to the dry and combine.
  • Mix in the chips and raisins.
  • Using a tablespoon, drop batter onto parchment paper.  These cookies don’t spread a whole lot so you can fit quite a few on one sheet.
  • Bake in the centre of a hot oven for about 15 minutes (the bottoms and edges will start to brown)
  • This makes 5-6 dozen cookies. They freeze very well for future enjoyment.

 

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Fall Butternut Squash Soup

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butternut soup 1

When the weather turns colder, I turn to more soups. I especially like making one on the weekend to take for my lunches at work that week. Here is one I whipped up recently:

  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 apple, cored and sliced
  • chicken stock (reserved from my crockpot stock after roasting a chicken

butternut soup 2

  1. Melt coconut oil in big pot over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and stir frequently till soft, then add other vegetables as they get cut.
  3. Add the chicken stock to cover all the veggies and fruit.
  4. Bring to a boil and simmer until all veggies are soft.
  5. Remove from heat and blend with a hand blender or in batches in a food processor.

Enjoy!

 

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Gluten free granola bar recipe

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granola bars

At last I have made a school friendly granola bar that I am happy to see my boy love.

Store bought granola bars tend to be filled with sugar and rarely don’t have wheat in them.  The gluten-free bars are often very high in sugar and mostly void of fibre.

Here is the recipe that I concocted to make some delicious ones at home.

  • 1 cup quick oats, 2/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup hemp hearts
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup gluten free Rice Krispies
  • 1/3 cup oat flour
  • 6 Tbsp oil (olive or coconut)
  • 3 Tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seed butter, heated until smooth
  1. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8×8 pan with oil then line it with parchment paper that hangs over all edges.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.
  3. In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, honey, vanilla and heated pumpkin seed butter.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
  5. Pour the mixture into the pan.  Use an oiled spatula or oiled waxed paper to press the mixture firmly into the pan.
  6. Bake for 30-40 minutes (until the edges just start to turn brown), remove and place on cooling rack.  Do not attempt to remove the granola bars or cut them until they are well cooled.  In fact, place them into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to firm them up before cutting.
  7. These freeze really well.

Enjoy 🙂

Edit March 8/15: my son asked for granola bars that look like the Nature’s Path ones. They are not as thick as these. So I followed the recipe, but instead used a larger pan and cut the time down to 15 minutes. Worked like a charm!

 

Dr. Kerri

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