Tag: immune boosting

Healthy Butternut Squash Chocolate Bread, that you can feel good about eating!

~ Lisa Kearney ~ Leave a comment

 

‘Tis the time of year for baking some yummy treats! For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you will have noticed by now that I like to bake with butternut squash! 🙂

It’s the perfect ingredient in my opinion to create yummy yet nutritious treats for you and your family.

Issey (my 4-year-old) loves butternut squash desserts and she will happily choose this over something store-bought, which is a mom win 🙂 I like to use butternut squash because it’s a great filling substitute and you’re also getting more nutrients into your diet. For example, butternut squash is loaded with vitamin A, contains half your recommended daily intake of vitamin C – which is good for your skin, so will keep us moms looking young and healthy!  And what I find amazing is that a protein found in butternut squash has been found to inhibit the growth of melanoma (skin cancer) cells, making it a potential anticancer agent. 

Overall, butternut squash is high in antioxidants, it’s immune-boosting and can lower inflammation! (and you know what I always say about inflammation…. it is the root of all disease…)

And, lastly why I love this recipe so much is that you can just throw all ingredients into one bowl and you’re done, this is how I like to bake!! This bread is super allergy friendly, vegan and shred-friendly (for those moms in our shred group), gluten and dairy free!! 

So I know you need to have this recipe asap! so here it is:

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients
  • 1 medium butternut squash (previously baked in the oven and cooled)
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water, whisk together, set for 10-15 mins)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups gluten-free oat flour*
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup almond meal (I just blend almonds in my ninja blender)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup vegan chocolate chips or 1 bar of 85% dark chocolate (Green and Blacks)
* gluten-free oat flour can be bought in your local health store
 
 
Method 
 
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line an 8-inch bread tin with parchment paper or grease your tin with coconut oil.
  2. Add the wet ingredients to a large bowl: butternut squash, coconut oil, maple syrup, sugar, flax egg, and vanilla. Whisk until well incorporated.
  3. Add the dry ingredients: oat flour, cocoa powder, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Whisk together until difficult to stir.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips or chopped pieces of chocolate.
  5. Pour batter evenly into prepared tin.
  6. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the loaf. Lightly press chips down into the mixture.
  7. Bake for 50 -60 minutes (I normally check it at 45 mins and then see how it is by inserting a toothpick in the centre). 
  8. Allow to cool on a rack for 2-3 hours (note, the first time I made this recipe I tried to take the bread out of the tin way to soon!!!  And it ended up broken in half on my counter ;0 still tasted great though ha!)
That’s it! I’d love to know what you think about this recipe, so please post in the comments below…
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas with your families and sincere thanks for taking the time to read my blogs all year, it means so much to me. 

Love Lisa XX

PS: if you’re not already in our free private facebook group then I’d love you to join (we are an encouraging and friendly group of moms) so head over via this link here

 

Credits:

Beaming Baker

References

Butternut squash benefits 1 

Butternut squash benefits 2

 

 

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