No one needs *ANOTHER* zucchini bread recipe. Which is why we all need this one.
Raise your hand if the picture you paint in your mind when you think of zucchini bread is basically-a-cake-masquerading-around-as-a-healthy-snack-because vegetables? Me too. The amount of sugar in most zucchini bread recipes is staggering.
The recipe you’re about to read is different.
For starters, you won’t find a boatload of granulated sugar in here. In fact you won’t find ANY sugar, but you will find mineralizing, super-charging dates and maple syrup! You won’t find any gluten, but you will find protein-packed almond flour and buckwheat flour! You will kind alkalizing dark chocolate and sprouted walnuts! You WILL find a home for a healthy boatload of the zucchini that you’ve got stashed in your fridge by making it, and what you’ll get is a just-sweet, still-decadent, pocket friendly treat that fits into your day, and your pockets.
This Date-Sweetened Chocolate-Studded Zucchini Bread is completely devoid of refined sugar which is a wonderful change because it makes it a smart choice for breakfast slathered with ghee, or snacks on your ride, or at your desk (again, probably slathered with ghee if you’re me!) It’s sturdy enough to stuff in your pocket for a bike ride, hike or adventure, and it’s studded with extremely dark chocolate and sprouted walnuts which adds crunch, intrigue, and a little protein and an alkalizing punch to your typical baked snack.
A few things to note about this stellar late-summer recipe. First, the inclusions are a little bit different than what you’re used to. My formula here calls for sprouted walnuts (what the?!) and 100% unsweetened chocolate. These two are preferences for sure, but the reasons behind the choice are worth mentioning.
By now I hope you’ve gathered that Ayuvedic medicine doesn’t traditionally speak about “macros,” “micros,” or “alkaline diets,” and yet consuming balanced plates, keeping digestion strong and steady, and enjoying a diet that keeps the body’s pH balance in check is everything that Ayurvedic medicine is all about. One of the tools that we use to ensure that we’re doing all of these things with the foods that we eat is by tracking the Six Tastes.
Chocolate is bitter in flavor, and bitter foods are very important for our bodies because they help balance pitta and kapha doshas, decreasing water tension, reducing inflammation, and helping the liver to clear naturally accumulated toxins. The more bitter the chocolate, the more positive bitter impacts we get to enjoy from this typically sweet food.
The bitter flavor is important in the case of this zucchini bread because it balances the recipe and ensures that – even though we’re eating something sweet – the pH of the body will remain as balanced as possible, making this a great option for a ride food or adventure snack for a longer effort where the digestion starts to be challenged by duration, and “gut rot” is more likely.
The bottom line, I know it sounds weird to put unsweetened chocolate in your bread, but trust me its delicious AND so so good for your body in all the ways that bitter foods, pH balance, and eating chunks of chocolate is meant to be!
Yep! That’s right. Sprouted nuts and seeds and grains and beans ALWAYS!
Why?
Well, all foods that contain the life force energy to sprout a new being if planted in the ground (ie: all of the aforementioned foods,) coat themselves in a natural biotoxin called phytic acid to prevent predators (ie: humans) from destroying their chances to get that new being into the world. Effectively, these seeds coat themselves in a toxin that prevents our bodies from absorbing the nutrients effectively, causing some gas, bloating and distension in the process. “Surely our predators will be so uncomfortable eating us that they just…won’t!” I imagine these seeds saying. Heartbreaking to know that we go right on consuming foods that make us feel so uncomfortable anyway.
So, how do we enjoy these foods with freedom? Simple – we SPROUT them. And the process is easy. Simply place your nut, seed, bean or grain in a jar and cover with up to 2 inches of water. Add a pinch of salt, and then soak overnight. This process introduces minerals and liquid ample enough to encourage the seed to shed their phytic acid. After 8-12 hours, your seeds are ready to be processed; cooked or steamed in the case of grains or beans, and dehydrated in the case of nuts.
For these walnuts, I did just as I describe above, then baked them in a 175°F oven for about 8 hours. I do this overnight and in the morning my nuts are ready to be baked into zucchini bread!
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