Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Well hello all!!  I am back!!  :)

So happy to finally say that!  Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me here at Healing Cuisine and on our Facebook page over the last few months.  I have been away while my "day job" kept me extremely tapped out.   If you remember my posts back in December/January of this year, my husband, Dr. Dave, and I opened our dream business the first week of the new year.  Our natural health clinic is called Triad Health Center and we are located in Greensboro, North Carolina.  I am happy to say I am finally at a place where I can care for our almost 2 years old Austin, manage clients and keep up with posting recipes again.  Yay!  I have a whole list of recipes to share from all the way back in December!  It's about time  :)

Hope you all have been well while I have been away.  I appreciate all the emails you have sent checking in and sharing your pictures of recipes from the archives.

I HAVE EXCITING NEWS!!!
August marks my 4th year anniversary since beginning this blog.  To celebrate, Healing Cuisine is getting a facelift!  Look forward to a BRAND NEW HealingCuisine.com in the coming weeks.  We are putting the final touches on the new design.  Some things to look forward to: simpler sleeker design, better search function, labels & categories for easy searching, easier commenting function, and more!  I hope you'll enjoy the new layout coming to Healing Cuisine in less than two weeks!

And now, on to a NEW RECIPE!  If you're growing zucchini at home this year, you've probably still got it coming out of your ears...  For me, I've made every single zucchini recipe from my archives already this summer (check them out here).  I was in need of something new.  Dr. Dave and I sure love our Advanced Plan zucchini bread, but eating it every week all summer long gets a little boring.  It was time to try making chocolate zucchini bread to fit the Advanced Plan.  Here's what we came up with, and boy is it good!  It has more of a moist cake texture than bread texture, which comes with using almond flour.  It was really good!  And it passed the toddler test!  Austin gobbled it up and asked for more!  I love it when we can take an already healthy grain-free recipe and sneak in vegetables.  Makes me feel like a supermom.  :)

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Makes 8-12 Servings

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup organic zucchini, finely grated
1 egg (room temp)
1/4 cup organic full fat plain Greek yogurt or coconut milk (room temp)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure liquid stevia
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup raw pecans, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup 73+% dark chocolate chips (optional)

1.)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a medium loaf pan with unbleached parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking soda, cacao powder, ground cinnamon and sea salt.

2.)  In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until foamy.  Whisk in Greek yogurt, coconut oil, vanilla, stevia and apple cider vinegar until well combined.

3.)  Wrap the grated zucchini in a clean tea towel or 3-4 layers of paper towel.  Over a bowl or sink, squeeze out the excess water from the zucchini.  Shake the zucchini from the towel into the bowl of liquid ingredients.  Stir to combine the grated zucchini.  Stir in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.

4.)  Fold in the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Spoon the batter into loaf pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.  Store in fridge in an airtight container.