Baked Rose Zucchini
I know this picture is confusing - it does look very much like a rose apple pie. However, your eyes may have tricked you because it is actual zucchini! I know - your brain is like why is this loony lady telling me about zucchini in a desert??? I thought the same thing until I tried a recipe - much altered - from my partner’s mother who has a very extensive home garden with more zucchini than she knows what to do with. So why substitute zucchini for apples? Well, it all comes down to blood sugar control. In my 20’s I was unknowingly a slave to my blood sugar. Intense mood swings, shaky legs, fatigue, random bouts of crying. I learned to eat every 2 hours to keep my mood more stable however, eating a bag of pretzels or a bagel is not helping to solve the problem. I later learned more about the danger of hypoglycemic episodes (extremely low blood sugar) and one particular lecture where a professor pit a slide up with the list of symptoms of depression next to the list of symptoms of low blood sugar and I was really floored - my brain immediately started down a rabbit hole of connecting dots, unhelpful medications and lost time.
More recently this is of interest to me in prevention of gestational diabetes. Lily Nicholas gave a wonderful presentation through Fullscript (she also wrote Real Food for Gestational Diabetes). At the writing of this I have been preparing for a baby for a little over a year but am not pregnant. The complications have really long term consequences from an epigenetic standpoint so I am creating and adapting a lot of recipes to make delicious, fun foods I can eat any time without worry.
Are apples bad? No, they are wonderful! A Granny Smith apple has 4.7 grams of fiber, some vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin E, potassium, a little magnesium, iron and manganese. Zucchini has less fiber - 1 cup comes in at 1.5 g but it also offers 44% of your vitamin C needs for the day, some B vitamins, choline, vitamin A, vitamin K, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium and a little iron.
Recipe adapted from Carol Hanba’s baked zucchini and Tasty.co Carmel Rose Apple Pie.
Ingredients
Zucchini
2 tbsp + 1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 tbsp Grass fed Butter melted
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp of vanilla powder or 2 tsp of liquid vanilla
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
3/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Cardamom
Pinch of salt
Coconut sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat your over to 350 F.
Peel your zucchini - don’t forget to save the skins for some Kitchen Sink Bone Broth!
Slice Zucchini into thin rounds. Then slice them in half so the become half circles with a round top and flat bottom.
Mix the spices and lemon juice together. Add the zucchini and mix well.
Mix the butter and yacon/Maple syrup together and set aside.
In a pie dish start lining up the zucchini half circles around the edge of the dish with the flat side on the bottom of the dish. Once you have made it around the entire dish star a new layer overlapping the first. To complete the rose shape make sure to off set the second layer so the top of the round lines up were to rounds meet from the first later. This doesn’t have to be perfect, the goal is to not have the circle top of the rounds lining up the whole way round in all of the layers - different visual experience, same taste experience:)
Once your zucchini rose is completed pour the butter and yacon/maple syrup over the rose. IF you are using coconut sugar sprinkle over the top of the rose.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Cool, and enjoy!
Notes
If you prefer you can substitute Maple syrup for yacon syrup.
All nutrition information was calculated using Cronometer
A note on sweetness - I prefer things on the less sweet side. I enjoy 95% dark chocolate. I have increased the sweetener amount to what my partner calls “normal tastebuds” however, if you are someone who really likes sweeter deserts you may want to adjust accordingly.
Leave a comment below AND/or Tag @meganpfiffnernutrition so I can share your work on Instagram stories! Gotta keep that kale conversation going…..