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How to avocado toast... so many ways
I think the cliche is to blame Millennials for making avocado toast trendy. But I grew up in South Africa is the 70s/80s and "avo on toast" was a regular weekend lunch (along with baked beans on toast). So if Millennials are to blame for making this delicious meal easily available in restaurants, hats off to them.
This humble meal packs a nutrient punch and avocado is one of ZOE's recommended gut-healing foods. So I eat it often and so should you! Here are some ideas for mixing things up - variety matters. What's ZOE? Learn more here.
First, I generally use the grain-free, nut and seed bread that I make myself. But in a pinch, I like this imported bread by Delba and it gets top marks from ZOE:
Since this combination gets such a high score, it's a great meal to play with a little. What do I mean? Well, if you're craving something crunchy (see my post on incorporating packaged snacks) add a small portion. They hardly skew the score:
It's one of the great things about eating this way - you quickly start to see the power of combining foods the right now. Eating a bag of parmesan chips would be hard on your body and I don't recommend that. Adding a handful to this meal though? It satisfies your need to eat these kinds of snacks and keeps the experience from feeling like a "diet" of some sort. It's not.
I LOVE adding green onions too, because they're so good for you. And let's face it: anything that's used as an ingredient in Guacamole is a no-brainer addition to your avocado toast.
Add grilled or fried mushroom and BOOM - this is such a yummy, filling meal that is now restaurant quality. Oh, and ZOE agrees:
Snacks
If you're a nut-butter and jam person, then get excited about Choc Zero jam, available in strawberry, raspberry, and marmalade. It's delicious and this is how it scores:
Last item on the sweet list are these delicious candied pecans by Trader Joes! And again, the ZOE score will make you do a happy dance: 
You should obviously NOT live on sugary things and these nuts are sugary. But they're a perfect partner for a handful of blackberries, especially as dessert. Another thing you start to learn using this app is that eating sweet treats after a meal is a much better idea than having them on their own as a snack. 
If you're on the go and really need a snack between meals, Trader Joe's Teriyaki Seaweed is a great option. Here's how ZOE scores it: 
This snack is also a great way to add sea greens to your diet. The goal is "diversity of plants" and for most people in the US, seaweed doesn't pop up often in regular meals. With my poor blood fat control, it's better to eat this in combination with a meal. But in pinch, I'll eat it on its own.
If you're craving something savory and crunchy, then most parmesan crisps score decently:
Here's how the whole meal scores ... again, combining foods in the right way makes all the difference: 
Incorporating pre-packaged snacks on ZOE
The ZOE personalized nutrition program scores hundreds of thousands of products (you can scan barcodes with the app). If you have poor glucose and fat control, you're not going to find many high-scoring pre-prepackaged snacks because, well, they tend to represent all the things we don't want to eat: they're extremely processed, often high in sugar and/or the hydrogenated fats, and very salty. And one of things ZOE emphasizes is that you eat a diversity of gut-healing plants. You even get a plant score every day!
That said, you won't eat this way for very long if you feel deprived. So, when I do find snack-like things that feel like a treat and add some crunch, I keep a record! I'm sharing my finds here so that you know they exist. (Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.)
First, Choc Zero has two products that are gifts to those of us unable to eat sugary things. This is how their delicious hazelnut spread compares with traditional Nutella:
If you love Nutella, the good news is that you can eat it, as long as you combine it with the right things. The ZOE app helps you do figure that out—nothing is off limits when you eat this way. But when you want smooth, chocolatey deliciousness, the Choc Zero Keto Spread is your friend and it comes in four flavors - the dark chocolate is my favorite.
It scores like berries, but tastes like really good jam.
But not great for my blood fat so again, I'm definitely not going to eat a whole bag of these. Instead, I love to eat them as part of a meal, like with avocado toast:
Breads & Muffins
Recipes
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- Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 6-cup nonstick muffin pan with either olive oil or baking spray.
- Stir together the almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until there are no dry patches. Once the batter is smooth (and the oven preheated), fold in the blueberries. It's crucial that they go in last, otherwise they start defrosting in the mixture and turn everything purple.
- Divide batter evenly among 6 muffin cups. Give the pan a few gentle taps on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 25-30 mins. The muffins are cooked if a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for 10 mins before serving. Leftover muffins can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to 6 months. So make a double batch!
No-sugar blueberry muffins
There's a lot to love about these almond-flour-based muffins. Yes, they're sugar- and gluten-free and each one serves up 10g of protein. But the best part? Feel free to top them with favorite sweet things like Nutella or nut butter and jam, and they'll still get a high score from ZOE. (What's ZOE? Read about it here). My recipe is inspired by one I found in The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook by Dr Mark Hyman. (Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.)
First, here's the ZOE score for the muffins alone:
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With ZOE, you're aiming to eat meals that score 75 or more so this is great score for a muffin. Here's what happens if you pair it with Nutella:
It's still a decent score considering how much sugar is in Nutella, and my 12-year-old daughter loves this combination. Instead of Nutella, consider Choc Zero's keto spread - there are 4 flavors.
Want to take the score up to 93? Pair a muffin with almond butter and my favorite sugar-free jam:
I hope you're convinced that a sugar-free muffin can be really delicious! Let's get into the recipe.
You need a couple of mixing bowls and a large muffin tray (this makes six big muffins). Muffin ingredients:
Olive oil or non-stick cooking spray
Almond meal
Baking powder
Cinnamon
Salt
Eggs
Unsweetened applesauce
Vanilla extract
Frozen blueberries
Hemp seeds (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 6-cup non-stick muffin pan with olive oil or baking spray.
Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another (except the blueberries - they go in as late as possible). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until there are no dry patches. Once the muffin pan is greased and the oven is ready, add the blueberries. They need to go in right before you put these babies in the oven. This prevents the berries from defrosting into the mixture and turning it all purple.
The muffin cups should be close to full, then pop them in the oven for 25-30 mins.
They're done when they're golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
Pop them out onto a cooling tray for at least 10 mins before serving.
These muffins can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months so do yourself a favor and bake a double batch!
And remember: adding almond butter and/or Choc Zero raspberry or strawberry jam will add even more plants to your meal and make them extra yummy.
HOW TO MAKE SUGAR-FREE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
INGREDIENTS
- Olive oil or non-stick cooking spray
- 1 cup of almond flour (or meal - that works too)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 4 large eggs (I haven't tried a vegan substitute but I bet it would work fine)
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup of frozen blueberries (the smaller the better)
- Optional: 1.5 tablspoons of hemp seeds because they're great for you and this is good way to sneak them in.
STEP BY STEP
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 6-cup nonstick muffin pan with either olive oil or baking spray.
- Stir together the almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until there are no dry patches. Once the batter is smooth (and the oven preheated), fold in the blueberries. It's crucial that they go in last, otherwise they start defrosting in the mixture and turn everything purple.
- Divide batter evenly among 6 muffin cups. Give the pan a few gentle taps on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 25-30 mins. The muffins are cooked if a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for 10 mins before serving. Leftover muffins can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to 6 months. So make a double batch!
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