PALEO POPPY SEED LEMON LOAF

Recently I bought a cookbook called "The Plant Paradox" by Steven Gundry. It has a number of interesting recipes. All of the recipes are gut friendly and lectin-free. The cookbook includes some great looking food and includes a variety of different foods. This recipe is from the cookbook.

This poppy seed loaf looked good and the DH asked if I would make this recipe. One ingredient that I hadn't used before is erythritol. It is a natural sweetener and doesn't spike your blood sugar. You can bake with it. It is sometimes sold under the brand name Swerve. I bought the sweetener just as erythritol and found it at the local health food store. Instead of using a loaf pan I used a round cake pan. For the lemon juice and zest I did something a bit different. Last fall I had a large bag of lemons which were not getting used and I didn't want to let them spoil. I grated the lemons to get the zest and combined the zest with the pulp of the lemons in the food processor. I pureed it and froze the mixture in ice cube trays. Once they froze I transferred them to a freezer bag. I have been using these frozen lemon cubes in recipes that call for juice and zest.

The loaf turned out fine and tastes good. Using almond flour and coconut flour creates a different texture to the loaf than using wheat flour but it holds together and is a good alternative to wheat flour.

Batter in the cake pan ready to go into the oven.

Just out of the oven.

Ready to sample.

Another angle to see the loaf slice.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

3 eggs
1/2 cup erythritol or Swerve (brand name)
1/4 cup avocado oil
juice from 3 lemons
zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flours, salt and soda.
4. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the erythritol, lemon juice and zest, coconut milk and vanilla extract. Whisk the wet ingredients and combine well.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine well.  Fold in the poppy seeds. 
6. Transfer to the lined loaf pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
7. Let cool for a few minutes before removing the loaf to a cooling rack. It can be served warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 to 8 servings.  

LEMONS, LEMONS, LEMONS

Depending on where you live, you might have access to lemons growing right outside your home on a tree or within your community. You can pick lemons as you need them. Sadly, I access lemons at the grocery store. I sometimes get these ideas that I will make a number of things when I buy a big bag of lemons at the store. By big bag, there would be at least a dozen or so lemons. In the fridge, there was a bag of lemons sitting on the shelf for the past number of weeks and I could see that they were going to spoil or start to dry out. It was time to do something with them. There were at least 10 lemons in the bag.

In the past, I have frozen lemon zest in a small freezer bag and thought I should zest the lemons using my lemon zest grater. The next decision was what to do with the pulp and juice. After zesting them, I decided to put the lemons in the food processor. I cut them into quarters, checked to see that there were no seeds and put them through the food processor using the shredder attachment with the large holes. 

I decided to freeze the juice and pulp in ice cube trays. Using one tablespoon per cube, I filled one and half ice cube trays and popped them into the freezer. After freezing for a day or two, they are ready to be transferred into a freezer bag. There are a number of uses for these frozen cubes. You can thaw a cube or cubes and use them to marinate meat, fish or vegetables, in baking, to add to soups or stews that require lemon or to make lemonade. 

Zest in a freezer bag.

Pulp and juice after processing.

Using ice cube trays to freeze the pulp and juice.