Chocolate Zucchini Doughnuts

Doughnuts are something my whole family loves but the gluten free doughnuts the stores offer leave something to desire. I did buy myself doughnut pans in both regular and mini doughnuts and the long ones are on my wishlist. The ingredients used in these doughnuts make them perfect breakfast food along with a glass of cultured coconut milk. 

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Zucchini Doughnuts
adapted from BruCrew

What you need:
1/2 cup dairy free butter softened
2/3 brown sugar
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1 6oz carton dairy free yogurt (I used vanilla almond yogurt)
1 cup zucchini, shredded
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Shortbread cookie mix
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the salt, applesauce, yogurt, milk, and zucchini and continue to combine. Sift together the cookie mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Slowly add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. 

Spoon the doughnut butter into a large ziplock bag and cut one tip off. Fill the doughnut pan cavities at least 3/4 full. Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To serve top with powder sugar or dairy free whipped cream, try this one or use this, with fresh fruit.

Fast Friday - Zucchini Jam

The original

My mom is the youngest of 7 kids and she has 4 sisters. When my grandma passed away the boxed up all her recipes and they have been traveling the country via the mail to each sister. My mom currently has the recipes and it has been so much fun going through all of them. One recipe that we came across was for zucchini jam. Since we have zucchini growing in our garden right now, along with getting some in our CSA, we decided to make some. This is my new favorite jam and I will be making several more batches this summer. I made a few small changes to the recipe as I don't use real Jello and I don't wax jars. The end result was perfection and Caden now calls it the yummy jam.

Yummy Jam!

 Zucchini Jam (aka Yummy Jam)

What you need:
6 cups grated zucchini, no seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 package Sure Jell
6 cups sugar
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
2 3oz or 1 6oz package of Jello any flavor (I used Natural Desserts, which you can find here)

Directions:
Combine the grated zucchini with the lemon juice and cook till clear. This will take about 10 minutes. Add the Sure Jell, Sugar and crushed pineapple to the zucchini and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then remove from heat. Add the Jello and stir till combined. Ladle into 12 half pints and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This is also linked to: