Low-Carb Chocolate Coconut Scones

I'm putting this here more for my own records because Josh liked them so much that he doesn't want me to forget the recipe.

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup flax seed, ground

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¾ to ½ cup xylitol sugar

½ cup coconut oil

5 or 6 eggs

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup coconut milk (use your judgment)

1 cup kefir (same)

chocolate chips

vanilla

Combine all ingredients and mix until the consistency is fluffy, moist, and thick. Flatten all the dough in a circle on a large cookie sheet, about 1/2 inch high. Bake at 375 until top and edges are browned.

Healthy Cheesecake

Normally, you might not think that the two - "health" and "cheesecake" - could go together. But if you are of the mindset that its carbs, not fat, that make people fat, cheesecake is your dessert of choice. Of course, when you buy it at a resturant, it's junked up with sugar. However, when you make it at home and follow this recipe, you won't be disappointed.

Filling:
1 tub (16 oz.) cream cheese (not the low fat stuff)
1 tub (15 oz) ricotta cheese (not low fat)
4 eggs
about 1/2 cup sugar (I use turbinado)
2 heaping tsps of flour
dash of salt, or two
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest from 1 lemon and a splash of lemon juice

Crust:
1 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup ground or crushed walnuts
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup coconut oil
sprinkle sugar to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Combine crust ingredients and pat them flat in a cheesecake pan, or a traditional pie pan (if you don't like the consistency, add more flax)
Bake pie crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool
Combine pie ingredients. Make sure to use softened/room temp cream cheese and ricotta. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
Pour pie filling into pie crust
Bake for one hour at 350
Pie is done when the top is slightly brown and the center wiggles a little when you move it.
Let cool and serve cold from the refrigerator. 

You can also make a lovely topping for this with berries... I'm serving this for Valentines Day with a sauce of blackberries boiled in a bit of sugar, flour, and lemon juice.

Summer Goodness of the Edible Variety

I don't know about you, but I hate eating when it's hot outside. Cooking the necessary three meals a day turns into an hour long trip to purgatory. Not only is cooking unenjoyable, but my appetite is off. A while back, my friend Sarah over at The Happy, Resourceful Home posted some smoothie recipes. I liked the idea but never went anywhere with it because frankly, I'm terrified of my blender. Thank my mom for this - I have this subconscious fear that I will forget to unplug the blender and chop my finger off, electrocute myself, or accidentally grind up my wooden stirrer. Oh, and to add to all that, I'm scared of cleaning it, too. Those blades! Way too close a proximity to my fingers. Well, the happy end to this story (and the purpose of this post) is that I overcame my fear of blenders (small round of applause) and am smitten with a smoothie-making craze.

Smoothies are the BEST way EVER to eat lots of veggies and fruits and never know it! For those of you with kids... I have never cajoled Greta into eating so much spinach except under the guise of a spinach-strawberry-banana smoothie. So get out your blenders, clean them up, hit the grocery store for a refridgerator's worth of fruits and veggies, and get ready for summer smoothies.

First of all, basic smoothie making techniques. I credit a few of these to Sarah. Start by blending your softest and wettest ingredient first or your blender will jamb. So start by adding your yogurt, coconut milk, fruit juice and blending that with the next softest ingredient (usually bananas or spinach). Next add your harder ingredients, like berries. Then put in the apples, carrots, pears, etc. If you like a really smooth smoothie (i.e., no chunks or grittiness), blend all this together on the "liquify" setting until the consistency is as you desire. Last of all, add your ice to taste and blend it on the "chop ice" setting. If you "liquify" the ice, it melts and your smoothie becomes watery.

All-purpose smoothie:

* As many handfuls of spinach as you want to stuff in your smoothie maker (spinach has next to no flavor and practically dissolves in the blender.
* A ripe banana or two
* Strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries; or peaches, nectarines or plums
* A serving of whole milk, unsweetened yoghurt or a cup of unsweetened kefir AND/OR
* A cup of coconut milk if you want to make the smoothie lactose-free
* A teaspoon of honey (Optional)
* About 2 handfuls of ice cubes.

Blend the yoghurt, kefir or coconut milk with the spinach. I usually use the "chop ice" setting or the "pulse" setting. Add the bananas. Add the berries. Add the honey. Blend on the "liquify" setting for a few seconds. Add the ice and let the machine pulse until the ice is blended. Pour into cups and enjoy!

Breakfast smoothie:

Just tried this out today and it was a hit with the husband. You can add whey protein or some sort of protein powder if you like that stuff. I can't stand the taste :) With this one, unless you don't mind gritty carrots in your smoothie, you should leave the blender on the liquify setting for longer before adding the ice.

* 1 cup yoghurt
* half a cup coconut milk
* 1 banana
* 1 chopped up apple
* 2 chopped up carrots
* 1 teaspoon of honey
* a pinch of cinnamon
* ice cubes to taste

Adults only smoothie:

* Simply Lemon lemonade, about half a cup
* lots of berries, raspberries, blueberries or strawberries are good
* chocolate syrup to taste
* a shot or two or three of rum
* ice
It's also called a daquerie :)

Pumpkin Cake Cookies - Healthier version

I've been feeling an autumn-food-craving lately, so tonight I put together some pumpkin cookies. They are definitely better for you than the cake mix/pumpkin puree version you'll find if you google it. Super light and fluffy.

Mix together dry ingredients
2 1/2 c. flour (I used half whole wheat and half white)
1 c. oatmeal
1 c. sugar (raw or turbinado is best)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
ginger
nutmeg
allspice
cinnamon... all to taste

Next mix up wet ingredients
1 stick melted or softened butter
1 c. yoghurt (not the low fat kind)
1 small can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Then put it all together. You may need to make adjustments, such as adding more flour or more yoghurt for normal altitude. We're at 6,500 ft. here.

Drop 1 tbsp. of batter on metal baking sheet, spacing each cookie about 2 inches apart as they expand in the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes (again, altitude adjustment if necessary). They will come out with the same color, but slightly risen and expanded. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Makes several dozen super soft, spongey cookies that literally melt in your mouth

Easiest, No-Bake (Berry, Citrus, Chocolate) Cream Pie EVER

And, my friends in blogging land, it is NOT made from a can or from a mix! I put this recipe together for dessert tonight and both the baby who was craving it and the mommy who concocted it were well pleased. The best part of it is that with a little creativity, you can turn it into any kind of cream pie. First I'll give you the base recipe and then explain the variations.

Filling~
8oz. cream cheese (1 pack), softened
2 tblspoons sugar (I used turbinado and it was fine)
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped until firm and peaky
1 tsp vanilla extract (if making a non-citrus version)

Cream the cream cheese and sugar together. Whip the cream. Add the vanilla. Mix ingredients together. Pour into a baked pie crust (you can use a graham cracker one or a regular one. Just make sure it's already baked). Put in the freezer for half an hour if you want to eat it sooner, or put it in the 'fridge until it is firm enough to cut. I think mine 'cooled' for about 2 hours before we ate it and it was in the freezer for about half an hour. Don't leave it in the freezer too long or it will freeze solid. :)


Variations~

The Berry...

Put about 1 cup of fresh or frozen berries of your choice in the blender on a low setting. They should look slightly mashed, but not quite smoothie texture. Mix in with the whipped cream and the cream cheese mix.

The Citrus...

Zest one or two lemons. Juice remaining lemon and add the juice to-taste. If you like, set aside enough zest to lightly garnish the top of the pie. Mix remaining zest into pie mix. Don't add vanilla extract.

The Chocolate...

I'd leave off the vanilla extract. Add about 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips or cocoa powder (moistened) to the cream cheese mix. You can mix it in thoroughly, or simply marble it.

Yoghurt / Apple Sauce muffins - my own

1 cup yoghurt
1 cup apple sauce (natural)
2 eggs
2 tbsp. milk (give or take)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar to taste (turbinado or raw is best)
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal (not "quick")
1 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

*the following to taste or preference
ginger
allspice
vanilla
nutmeg
cinnamon
chopped apples
raisins

Mix all dry ingredients and then add softened/lightly melted butter to dry mix. Mix wet ingredients separately and then slowly add to dry ingredients. Grease muffin pans thoroughly with butter and fill to half. Bake in 400` oven for 8-10 minutes or until sides are brown. Remove from muffin tins as soon as possible. Cool.

What to feed babies?

Every mom has a different way of introducing solids and a different time. I am still fascinated by the fact that Greta does something other than nurse. I started her on solids when she was 9 months old because she was very interested in eating. She never "went" for baby food or rice cereal. She started with avocados, which are awesome because she eats them right out of the shell. Then we moved on to yams, which were not and are still not a big favorite. Carrots are acceptable on most days (I steam them until they are soft but not too squishy). Bananas also go over well on most days. Greta is 11 months now and we've moved on to egg yolks. She really liked those! I hard boil eggs and feed her the yolk. She, as experience has shown, would prefer to eat the egg whole - shell and all - but as her mother has stopped allowing her to "help" peel eggs, this near-disaster has been averted.

Greta's latest favorite?? Coffee. No, I'm not completely stupid or eclectic in my choice of suitable foods for my child. Greta LOVES to drink whatever I am drinking and every morning, rain or shine, we fight over my coffee cup. This morning, I hit on something new - I would let her taste it to show her how much she hated the bitter taste. So I did. And that's right, she loved it and kept trying to get more. I should have known that she probably developed a taste for coffee via the coffee-laced breast milk she's been getting for 11 months.

Oh babies... what a daily adventure!

Awesome Chewy Choco-Oat Cookies

I am not a huge recipe fan. Pretty much everything I cook is made from scratch and whatever needs to be used up in my 'fridge. However, I am not an instinctual baker. I religiously follow recipes whenever the urge to bake hits me. I found the following recipe online and modified it... so now it's mine :) These are seriously amazing cookies.

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup sugar (raw or turbinado is so much better!)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Cream sugar and butter; add other wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients. Form balls, place on cookie sheet, bake for 12 minutes at 325`. Allow to set before removing from sheet. ENJOY!