Gluten-free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Yep, that's right. Gluten-free chocolate zucchini bread. I know what you're thinking - it probably tastes like cardboard. But, let me just tell ya that is so not the case! Even EJ had no idea that he was eating as many vegetables as he was.

My sous chef with his baby spoon.

First off, if you've never made zucchini bread - you need to. It's literally the best way to eat veggies, especially if you have a toddler that says "ew" to everything that's green. (... we're working on it!)

Secondly, if you've never made chocolate zucchini bread - this is going to rock your world.

As part of my goals for this year, I've been intentionally trying to make better food choices for my family. None of us technically have to be gluten-free, but I just notice that my belly does better when I don't include as many wheat products in my diet. I've also been wanting to try making and using my own flour for my gluten-free baking, and this was the perfect recipe to try it out!

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty intimidated to bake with oat and almond flour. I quickly found out that it's so incredibly easy to make your own gluten-free oat flour - you literally just need gluten-free oats and a food processor or blender! One good thing to note, you'll need more liquid whenever you're baking with oat flour as oats are really good at soaking liquid up. So keeping that in mind and tweaking the original recipe a bit, the consistency of this zucchini bread turned out as fluffy and incredibly moist (ugh, I am not a fan of that word but it's the only word that perfectly describes it!) as a perfect chocolate cake.

First, you want to pre-heat your oven to 375° and mix all your dry ingredients - oat flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and ground flax & nuts (optional).

Next, you'll want to strain as much water as you can from your grated zucchini before you add it in. It helps to have them rest for a few minutes after you grate them.

Then, you want to beat the eggs for a little bit so they're nice and fluffy - this will help with the consistency when it's all said and done! And then add all your wet ingredients - eggs, almond milk (or regular milk), vanilla melted coconut oil and chocolate. If you only have cocoa powder on hand you can definitely use that instead, just add it in with the dry ingredients!

And then you want to add a few more chocolate chips... you know, for good measure.

Pour into a bread pan lined with parchment paper and add just a few more chocolate chips. (Because obviously you can never have too many!)

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. 

Final step is to try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting! Seriously y'all, it's that good.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups or about 2 medium zucchinis, grated
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup almond mik
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 chocolate chips melted (or 1/2 of cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 chocolate chips (for sprinkling on top before baking)
• optional - nuts (I used pecans) 
• optional - 1/4 cup ground flax seed

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Combine oat flour, almond flour/meal, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground flax seed in a bowl.
3. Strain grated zucchini and add to dry ingredients.
4. Beat eggs for 5 minutes, until they are a little fluffy.
5. Add to mixture along with almond milk.
6. Melt chocolate chips with coconut oil and vanilla.
7. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
8. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with coconut oil (optional). Pour mixture in and sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top.
9. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until it's cooked through and passes the toothpick test.
10. Let it cool before slicing and enjoy!

New Years Resolutions (In March)

It's been a minute, hasn't it!

Last year, I started this blog so that I could have an outlet that not only was creative, but also a great way to keep me writing and taking photos. I loved writing the posts and hearing feedback. I can't even explain how sweet it was to read messages from people about how much they enjoyed reading my blog.

But then a job promotion happened, followed by leaving said job for another full time job, and then just life in general happened. (Oh, and EJ turned two !! and decided to turn into a big kid over night.) I felt like I could hardly keep my thoughts together most days, let alone sit down to write them out! But here's a few moments from the year:

I honestly contemplated just starting all over and creating a new blog with a new, exciting angle so my failure to keep up with my little bitty blog wouldn't be so apparent, but I realized that the whole reason why I started this blog in the first place was to share my passions. And, although, my passions from last year to this have shifted and priorities have rearranged, I think it's important to let people in on the journey and show growth. In doing so you invite others to be okay with changing and grow in their own journey, whatever that is.

Last month, I was talking to Josh about New Years resolutions (yes, in February haha) and after thinking about them for a good, long month I realized it was hard to nail down because I didn't necessarily have the typical "new year, new me" resolutions. Instead, I decided to set goals for myself and for our family.

Resolutions are easily and often broken. Goals are more of a journey, goals keep you going and give you a "why" to your "what", which is the most important thing to keep in mind. I decided that this year would finally be the year where I slowly but intentionally make it a point to live as healthy and holistic as possible.

It can get so incredibly overwhelming to see people share this about organic food and that about living chemical-free and the other about how amazing fermented food is for you. When I stepped back and looked at my life, I felt like I had to change so many aspects of my life to achieve this holistic lifestyle that I wanted for my family.

Now, I don't doubt that any of those things are good for you, but I want to see and experience it for myself. So this year, I decided, would be the year where I'm finally intentional about living a healthier lifestyle. But, instead of overwhelming myself with all of the changes in every aspect of my life all at once, I'll do them intentionally and one at a time and share with anyone and everyone that is interested in hearing.

So this is where my blog comes back into play! I might still share the occasional outfit picture, but mostly I want to share my journey to a healthier lifestyle because I truly believe that if I can do it, anyone can do it!

Goals for 2017

• Eat healthier - Eat more real food, cut out preservatives, eat organic when possible, make more meals.
• Be more active - I actually for the first time in my life got a gym membership! (Thanks to my sister who basically and lovingly forced me into it!) It's amazing how much more you value something you invest in.
• Try new things - so far I've started going to spin classes (love!), started a new yoga class, and I started brewing my own kombucha.
• Cut out chemicals - did you know our skin absorbs like everything? Chemicals are everywhere, from our makeup to our household cleaners and your skin can absorb every bit of it. Yikes!
• Try essential oils - but like, actually give them a shot. Not going to lie I was pretty skeptical, especially the ones for emotional support, but I'm definitely becoming a big believer in them!
• Save more money - pretty self explanitory! But it starts with cutting out unnecessary spending and being more mindful of what I already have.
• Take better care of my skin - I'm 26 now and my skin is only going to get older! Plus, preventative is always better than reparative.
• And while we're making this long list, let's go ahead and add capture more moments. I'm all about being in the moment and putting my phone down often, but one thing I want to do this year is capture more moments, both exciting and mundane. That, and actually get in more pictures, not just be the one to capture them. 

So there you have it, my list of "healthy" goals for this year, and at the end of the year I'm going to evaluate what a difference each change has made and whether or not it was worth it. If they're worth it, I'll probably have formed some habits by then and it feel much easier to keep up with, and if they're not worth it, I'll just go back to eating microwave popcorn and drinking cheap red wine for dinner. 

What were your New Year's resolutions?

xo Kristina