Cooking
Zucchini Bread-healthy style
Healthy Zucchini Bread 
This summer, I planted a large garden filled with all of our favorite vegetables. The zucchini plants have gone crazy and are producing daily a crop of delicious and nutritious zucchini. I have baked, stir-fried, barbequed and added them into omelets, pizza and frittatas. So, this is not your typical red-white-and blue recipe to celebrate Independence day but it is a fun way to incorporate a healthy vegetable into a delicious breakfast or snack treat to enjoy. We will pack up some zucchini bread for our walk to the Fourth of July Parade tomorrow. The following is a conventional recipe for zucchini bread with healthy adaptations and the second recipe has a surprise chocolate spin to it.
ENJOY!!!
Ingredients
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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
I have had zucchini chocolate cake in the past but never understood how just adding zucchini to the regular cake ingredients actually made it a healthy choice. This recipe is delicious and satisfies that chocolate craving and is actually full of heathy ingredients. I made a loaf and a few muffins out of this recipe. The muffins were moist and delicious and a perfect dessert snack. So bake up a batch of either one of these zucchini bread recipes and pack them up for your Fourth of July picnic or munch on them while you walk down the parade route.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar (you can use coconut sugar)
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups flour (I used a combination of white and wheat)
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips
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Healthy Surprise Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
Today is Bekah’s post day but I am standing in with a post telling you about one of the many fun things we baked while she was here with Ashkon visiting with us and taking care of me before they went back to Grenada. I am on day 23 of recovering from a back injury and beyond grateful for the prayers of many and the amazing help I received from my family. My husband and I just got home from dropping them at the SF airport (we left the house at 3:30 am). Bekah and I wanted to try a few of the recipes she had pinned on her Pinterest boards to take to our second “SURPRISE” for my husband’s 60th birthday and this recipe looked intriguing. The first surprise was a family day at Disneyland and this second one was a group of friends and family gathering at AT&T park for a Sunday afternoon Giants game. 
This recipe includes a can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) and since we are big hummus fans and we know the benefits of eating legumes, we thought we would give it a try. These cookies are gluten free and grain free and use completely natural and organic ingredients-definitely do not use any type of nut butter that has added sugars or fats because it will alter the consistency of the cookies and they will not turn out. We adapted this recipe from a blog called Texas Erin (www.texaserin.com)We have tried a few quinoa cookie recipes as well but these are our very favorite healthy cookie so far!
Ingredients
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Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a stewed vegetable dish from the French Provencal traditional menu, originating in Nice.The French word touiller means to toss around. In most recipes, the key ingredients are the same but the process of cooking the dish vary between each chef’s preference. Some sauté all the vegetables together and simmer on the stove top, some sauté the vegetables separately and layer and bake. Our family favorite (recipe below) is as delicious as any I ever tasted when traveling in France and is the easiest recipe of them all!! Ratatouille was a family favorite of ours way before the Pixar animated “RATATOUILLE” movie was released in 2007. The movie brought awareness to the delicious French dish but many were put off by the lengthy steps to prepare the recipe. You no longer need to be intimidated because you can try our family favorite Ratatouille and wow all your friends. Most often this is our side dish served with BBQ skewers of chicken or beef, but I sometimes will add white beans or grate some parmesan cheese over the top and serve it as the main dish over rice pilaf. You can also eat it cold stuffed in pita bread with hummus.
Ingredients
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A Daughter’s Special Day/Celebrate with ICE CREAM PIE
We love to CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS in our family!!! The tradition usually includes a special dinner menu chosen by the birthday girl or my husband, aka Poppa. We try to include friends and extended family. This may be the first time in MANY YEARS that I have actually missed celebrating Bethany’s birthday with her in person. My heart will be full of JOY today as I think and pray for my precious Bethany. I had planned to drive up to spend the day with her but last week God had a different plan for me, including being flat on my back for the last 10 days. When you suddenly have a serious physical illness or injury that takes you down, your plans quickly change. So this year I will have to celebrate Bethany by letting everyone know how much I love her and posting about a delicious birthday dessert idea…..
ICE CREAM PIE
Ice cream pies are the easiest birthday dessert to make and you can be creative and style each pie to the particular likes of the person you are trying to honor. Bekah and I had the privilege of making two ice creams pies this week. One was to celebrate the homecoming of her fantastic husband who had been finishing up his visit with his family in Southern California. (Bekah flew up north 5 days early to help take care of me when I was recovering) The other pie was for a pre-birthday/father’s day celebration for my husband. We had so much fun planning out and creating our ice cream pies. We used one 8 inch and one 10 inch spring form pan for our two pies but you can use a regular deep dish pie pan, or any shaped pan you want. It is just easier to serve …
The Brave Little Toaster Oven
I do not have an oven. Yep, believe it! I live on the island of Grenada, on the campus of St. George’s University Medical School, and we do not have an oven. You can imagine that it makes cooking a little difficult! But…we do have a TOASTER OVEN!! (And yes we packed it in our carry-on and brought it with us!! One of the best decisions we made for this move!)…
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One of our favorite family snacks is hummus. We love all flavors and most brands, but our very favorite hummus is this homemade recipe for healthy creamy hummus. We love to cut up all kinds of vegetables and put out a big bowl of hummus, some pita chips or pita bread and sit down as a family and watch out favorite sports team-the San Francisco Giants!…
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Bran muffins are a power packed nutritious breakfast. This recipe was created after a friend introduced me to a delicious and moist oat bran muffin that she had bought in Monterey. She asked the bakery for the recipe but all she was able to obtain was a list of main ingredients. I fiddled around until I was able to create a muffin recipe that was comparable to the one from the bakery. It has been a hit with the girls and their husbands and the grandkids. …
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