Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I got this original recipe off of allrecipes and changed it a bit to fit my needs better.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbls ground flax seed
4 Tbls water
(you could use two eggs in place of the flax and water)
1 cup Sucanot
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
3/4 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water (could use milk, or almond milk)
3 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. mix all dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Lastly add the zucchini and carrots and mixed until just moistened. Bake for 35-45 min or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Serve plain, or add this simple frosting recipe from Robyn, at greensmoothiegirl.com

1/2 cup powdered sucanot (if you don't have powdered sucanot just put sucanot into a coffee grinder and make it)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water

My boys at this up like crazy! They loved it and I didn't mind so much letting them eat it!

Healthified Doughnut Drops

(This is a post that I posted on my family blog a long time ago. I forgot about it until I was looking through my blog the other day and saw it. I thought I would transfer it over here and share)
My neighbor posted these on her blog the other day and I have been wanting to make them ever since I saw her site! I had to healthify them a little bit also to fit our needs, but they turned out beautifully!

Healthified Doughnut Drops
(Check out the link above for the original recipe to get great ideas on how to make these when in a hurry.)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat or Spelt flour
1 1/2 Tbls vital wheat gluten
1/3 C. sucanat
2 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C. water, almond milk or rice milk (I used water)
2 Tbs. cocount oil, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg or egg substitute using 1 Tbls ground flax or chia seed and two Tbls water mixed together and allowed to sit and make a gel.
Coconut oil for frying

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough. In a large saucepan, heat 2 to 3 inches oil to 375º. When oil is heated, drop five or six doughnuts into hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side to a deep golden brown. I used my small cookie scoop to drop them in the oil. Drain on paper towels. If you like you can top the dounuts with powdered sucanat or drizzle honey or agave over the top of them. It would also be fun to roll them in some agave and then some chopped nuts and/or shredded unsweetened coconut. We just ate them plain and they were delicious and plenty sweet!

Basic Cake Recipe

For cub scouts the boys were asked to decorate a cake and bring it to pack meeting for part of the Blue and Gold celebration. I was really concerned about this because I wanted to bring something healthy, but I still wanted him to be able to participate. I found this recipe for cake and it turned out really well. I am not sure where I got the original recipe from.

Basic Cake

2 C water
1/4 C olive oil
1 cup agave
3 C whole wheat flour or spelt flour
1 tsp gluten
1T vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbls baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
You can also add in anything else to the batter to make it the kind of cake you would like. I added some whole blueberries to the batter to make a blueberry cake. You could add nuts, another kind of fruit, some kind of flavoring etc.

Mix all the ingredients adding baking powder last. Bake @ 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes in a 10x15 cookie sheet with high sides, until cake pulls away from the sides and bounces back when you touch the middle.



Jonah frosted it with this frosting recipe that I used for sugar cookies. We colored it with blueberries. He then decorated it with almonds and some shredded coconut that I put just a little green food coloring in. I didn't love that, but I didn't know how else to color something green and he really wanted some grass on his cake. He had fun doing it and it was pretty healthy also.

Personal Triumph and Loss

I have wanted to share this part of my life for a while now, but I wasn't quite sure what to say. I think maybe, I haven't been quite ready. I think that I am now. I share this for a few reasons. I want to bring hope to people. I want everyone to see that with faith, and by treating our bodies the right way, that any problems we are having with our bodies can be fixed. We are capable of being healthy and strong and whole. I am also writing this for a selfish reason. I think it will help me to continue to heal.

Last August my husband and I found out that I was pregnant. For us, this us truly a miracle. We had been trying to get pregnant for 12 years. We had been told that the only way that we ever would get pregnant would be through IVF and the chances of that happening were also slim. We actually were planning to do IVF and as I was waiting to start my next cycle so that we could start the process we were stopped in our tracks. My cycle never started. I have not been regular my entire life. Even when I was a teenager I was not regular. However for the last 9 months (before August) I had been for the first time in my life. The reason for this was because I was finally taking good care of my body. I was keeping bad stuff out and letting good stuff in. I knew that this was a blessing from my Father in Heaven. I was told that if I do everything in my power, by taking good care of my body, that he would make up the rest. I followed through with it and he blessed me. So you can see why I was so confused when i was late. The doctor told me to take a pregnancy test and I laughed. I took one anyway and it was negative. I waited two more weeks and was trying to be patient. I made a doctors appointment to get an ultra sound to see if I might have a cyst that may have been making my late. The doctor told me to take one more pregnancy test. I took one the morning of my ultra sound and it was positive. I couldn't believe it. After all these years, a positive pregnancy test! I went ahead and went into the ultra sound appointment to be checked out to see if everything was ok. I was 5 1/2 weeks along.
Fast forward two and a half weeks. I went into my Midwife for an 8 week appointment. My first pregnancy appointment. Everything was going great, until she tried to listen for the heart beat. She couldn't hear anything. I wasn't worried at that point, it was still early or so the doctor said. We scheduled an ultra sound for the next day however just to make sure that everything was ok. It was not. My baby died at 6 1/2 weeks. I was devastated. My baby would have been due the middle of April. I cannot believe that so much time has passed. Most days I don't think of it. Most days I am great. I have felt the loving hand of the Lord guide me through this trying time.
It took me a few weeks to actually miscarry. After the miscarriage my body returned to normal. I started having regular periods again. I actually was kind of shocked. I thought for sure that my hormones would be confused for a while, but it seemed like they were good. The last few months however, that has not been the case. My hormones are really out of wack again and I have been trying to get them back to normal. It has been a struggle. I am having to be really strict with my diet (which emotionally I am having a hard time with). I will get there. I know that my body will find balance again. It did at one time and because of that I was blessed with one of the biggest miracles of my life, getting pregnant. It would have been nice to stay pregnant and have another baby; my heart longs for that, but the Lord has a different plan for me right now. I need to strive to keep my body healthy so that I will be able to do what ever it is that he wants for me to do.

Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream

Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup agave

2 cups frozen strawberries

Place all in blender and blend until smooth and thickened. Do not blend too long.

Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream

Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream

1 cup almond milk

2 cups frozen blueberries

¾ cup agave

½ tsp vanilla

Place all in blender and blend until smooth and thickened. Do not blend too long.

Milk

Almond Milk - or any other nut milk or seed milk such as macadamia, cashew, sunflower or seasme

In a large mixing bowl combine one cup of almonds and four cups of water. Leave your almonds to soak for a minimum of 8 hours. After they are done you will notice that the almonds appear plump and tender. If you don’t have time to soak it is ok, but will work better and be more nutritious if you do. Drain your almonds, place in blender along with 4 cups of water. Start on a low setting and blend for 30 - 60 seconds. Increase power on blender to high and continue to process until almonds are chopped fine, approximately another 60-90 seconds. After blending, you will need to strain your milk. There are several ways to do this, you can use a milk bag, a sieve, or just a piece of cheesecloth or muslin. Try to squeeze out as much milk as possible. It is very important to properly store your almond milk immediately after use. Most almond milk can be stored safely for up to 3 days in the fridge. ALWAYS REFRIGERATE ALMOND MILK IN A COVERED, PREFERABLY AIR TIGHT, CONTAINER!

Rice Milk

4 cups water

½ cup uncooked brown rice or 1 cup cooked brown rice

1 vanilla bean or ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Cook rice, vanilla bean or extract and water until very soft.
2. Let cool, remove vanilla bean (if using) and put mixture into blender or food processor.
3. Blend until very smooth.
4. Let stand for at least 45 minutes, then strain through cheese cloth.

Alternatively- Place 1 cup cooked brown rice in a blender with 4 cups water and blend until smooth. May strain if wanted.