Who doesn't like a brownie?

My friend sent me a link to this great blog to make some yummy brownies. 

http://www.elanaspantry.com/brownies/

I tried them tonight and my family loved them.  Try a scoop of Rice Dream to cut the sweetness.

Here is my modified recipe:

Chocolate Chip Brownies
1 (16) ounce jar salted almond butter, smooth roasted
2 eggs
1 cup agave
1 tablespoon vanilla

½ cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips (optional by good)

1. In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender
2. Blend in eggs, then blend in agave and vanilla
3. Blend in cocoa, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips
4. Grease a 9x13 glass dish
5. Pour batter into dish
6. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes

Sunday Dinner Dessert- Apple Cake

I got this recipe from one of my favorite no-sugar blogs. www.thenourishingapron.blogspot.com.
I tweaked it just a bit, cut the icing amount in half and it make a great Sunday treat.

For the cake:

4 cups diced apples (I used three Fuji apples, organic from Costco)

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (the coconut worked great!)

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup palm sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup honey

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

For the icing:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons milk or cream (optional, but it does add a nice smooth taste to the icing)

Combine apples, butter, eggs, water, palm sugar, applesauce, maple syrup, and honey in a medium bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Prepare icing either during the final minutes of baking or once it comes out of the oven. Put butter, honey and maple syrup in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add milk and boil 1 minute more. Pour over hot cake.

Cool to warm before slicing. Enjoy! (We didn't get to the cool part, but it was so tasty)

This recipe would be great with maple/cinnamon whipped cream or some of the vanilla ice cream from the next post.

Happy Sunday, have a great week everyone.

We scream for Rice Dream!

When Lanae wants ice cream she just makes it.  I would rather open up the freezer and voila there it is!  Maybe some of you lazy gals like me would like this Rice Dream Organic "Ice Cream".  We mixed the vanilla tonight with "Root Beer" and had floats.  My son said "No sugar is totally fine Mom"!! They have a few different flavors.

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/rd_frozen.php

In the Morning...I'm Making Waffles!

These are beginning to be a Saturday morning tradition. So tasty!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 coconut oil
  
• 1 tablespoon honey or agave
  
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Add remaining wet ingredients. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add wet to dry and blend until just smooth.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.
3. Serve with warm fruit, whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup and cinnamon, maple syrup or applesauce.
   

Foolin' the Kids Chocolate Chip Cookies

My little girl will not be fooled with "no sugar" treats but she loves these cookies. Mommy does too!
Please try them and let me know what you think. I invented this recipe using a couple others so tell me if you found a way to improve it.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup xylitol

3/4 cup agave

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups grain sweetened chocolate chips (I got these at Sprouts)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream together the butter, xylitol, and agave until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, and chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Homemade Ranch

My friend Sherri shared this recipe with me. Store-bought ranch is full of tons of chemicals and also often contains MSG so here is a great alternative:

15 saltine crackers
1 C. dry parsley
1/2 C. dry onion
2 T dill weed
1/2 C. onion salt
1/2 C. garlic salt
1/4 C. onion powder
1/4 C. garlic powder

Put all ingredients in a food processor until blended and crackers are fine crumbs. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Mix 1 T dry mix with 1 C. Mayonaise and 1 C. buttermilk (or 1/2 C sour cream and 1/2 C. milk)

Enjoy! Thanks Sheri

Super Easy Vegan Banana Bread

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used un-bleached white because I didn't want to wake the kids with the grinder and it was great)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 Tblsp of ground flax seed meal
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients first, then mix in bananas, oil and honey. (If you measure out the oil first, when you pour out the honey, it will all slide cleanly out of the cup.)

Pour into oiled bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Because it has lower fat you can take it out when there is a few crumbs left on the toothpick. Fight the urge to over-cook. This recipe is also great for muffins. Muffins are more like 20 minutes until done.

I found this recipe tonight because I was out of eggs and butter and had some ripe bananas begging to be turned into something delicious. The texture was a little heavier than an egg/butter recipe, but it was good to make something without dairy. A lot lower fat too!

Amazing Pizza Dough

I wanted an alternative to Dijorno's for our Friday night pizza night. This recipe was so easy and refrigerated and froze well. Just take the frozen balls out the night before and leave them in the fridge to thaw. I cooked it when it was still cold so it doesn't rise too much while cooking. My boys loved it!

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 1 package)

1 teaspoon honey

1 cup warm water, 105 to 115 degrees

2 1/2 cups of flour, whatever kind you like 1/2 all pupose and 1/2 wheat works great (you might need to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4-cup warm water (100-110 degrees).
2.In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and the salt. (can do by hand with spoon if you don't have a mixer).
3. Add the oil and rest of the water
4.If the dough is still sticky, then simply add a bit more flour until it pulls cleanly away from the hook.
5.Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand 2 or 3 minutes.
6.The dough will be very firm. Place in lightly oiled bowl an cover with plastic wrap.
7.Let sit for about 30-45 minutes. (When ready, the dough will stretch as it is lightly pulled).
8.Take dough out of bowl and divide into either 2 or 4 balls, depending on whether you want 2 large pizzas or 4 small.
9.Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat 4 or 5 times.
10.Cover the dough with a damp towel (I just use plastic wrap, loosely fitted) and let rest 15 to 20 minutes.At this point, the balls can be used or wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days, or put in the freezer.
11.To make pizzas, I stretch out the cold dough onto greased pizza pan, top with sauce and toppings, and bake at 450 degrees for 12-16 minutes, until done. (smaller pizzas will take less time, so keep watching it)
12.I slid the pizza off the pan for the remaining 2 minutes to crisp it up a bit.

(If you want a flavorful alternative you can add 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder and a tsp of freshly minced rosemary, it is so fantastic!)

Soda!!!!!

The dreaded flu season had both us of down for most of February between sick moms, kids and hubbys. So, we are still here and going strong and will post a slew of recipes soon. In the meantime if you sugar addiction comes in the form of anything in a 44oz cup through a straw here is a great new find! They run about a dollar a bottle, come in some great flavors and are sweetened with organic agave. Definately still a carbonation no-no, but once in a while these will keep me on track. With homeade ice cream the possibilities are endless. And, yes for you die hard caffiene junkies they make a cola. Check them out and tell us what you think.

Here is the link: http://www.oogave.com/OOgave/index.cfm We found them at Sprouts.

The Big Winner!!!

Congrats to Jolanda from Canada! 

She has won our first giveaway.  Good job everyone and keep us posted on your progress or any questions you may have. 

PS-Please comment if you are enjoying reading.  The more comments we have the more motivated we are to post more recipes :)