All American Apple Pie for the 4th of July

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

We made this last night at my sons request.  The kids helped peel apples and pinch crust then enjoyed this pie with a little naturally sweetened whip cream. 

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 can unsweetened apple juice concentrate thawed
• 6 cups thinly sliced apples
• 1- 9 inch double crust pie

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk together the cornstarch, cinnamon and 1/4 of the apple juice.
3. In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer the apples in the remaining apple juice until just tender. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened.
4. Pour into bottom crust and cover with top crust. Bake for 45 minutes or until lightly  browned                           

Cranberry-Lemon Muffins (or any fruit you like)

Looking for a great muffin without the mix...try these. The cranberries are sweetened with sugar, but I made a slight exception for these muffins. But they would be great as Lemon-Blueberry with fresh blueberries also. Oooh, raspberries would be wonderful..... You could also do orange juice and zest instead of the lemon. Post your favorite combo!


Cranberry-Lemon MuffinsAdapted from http://lepetitpierogi.blogspot.com/2009/03/healthy-lemon-cranberry-muffins.html (LOVE THIS BLOG!!)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup agave nectar 

3 Tblsp Honey

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2/3 cup non-fat milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup fruit, diced if needed (I used dried cranberries)

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I used the zest of half a lemon), 
Juice of half a lemon 

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and oil your muffin tin or use paper liners.

Mix the flours, baking powder and salt in a medium-large bowl.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, honey, juice of half a lemon and butter until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and add the cranberries and lemon zest. Fold everything together until just combined.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking, rotate the pan. You might want to keep an eye on them after 15 minutes... make sure a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out dry. Cool slightly and move to a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Enjoy!

Read more: http://lepetitpierogi.blogspot.com/2009/03/healthy-lemon-cranberry-muffins.html#ixzz1OywmMS4F

The Pina Colada Goes "Green"

1 6oz can of unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup low fat coconut milk
1 cup ice
1 ripe banana
your favorite protein powder (naturally sweetened)

Blend all these together and then add a few handfuls of washed fresh spinach. Makes a great summer breakfast "to go". This took me right back to the beach in Cancun drinking virgin fruity drinks!! Would also be tasty poolside or made into popsicles.

Hot Chocolate Goodness

In need of something to fight the evening sweet tooth and make you feel like you are camping in the pines? I've been thinking about this for a few weeks and came up with this recipe tonight...enjoy!

Cinnamon Healthy Hot Chocolate

1 cup unsweetened almond milk or other milk of choice (I'm going to try coconut next time)
1 heaping tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp of agave nectar (you may even want to do less, mine was a touch too sweet)

Heat this in the microwave or stove top. Finish with a 1/4 tsp cinnamon and dash of vanilla. The cinnamon enhances the chocolate flavor and the sweetener. Next time I might have to double the recipe or make a whole pot.

Confessions and Chocolate-Zucchini Heaven

We go with friends for memorial day each year to a cabin and we indulge! I decided this year would be no exception and I would take a "free" weekend off to enjoy what I had been missing. And I did!! From the peanut M&Ms to the wonderful cheesecake I ate and overate. I learned a few things about myself. First, moderation is not one of my strong suits when it comes to sugar. It is either all or nothing for me. The nothing is great...the all part, not so good. I just felt gross to put it mildly. The food was wonderful and I have great cooks for friends, but the binge was not kind to me. It has been very easy this week to stay clean of anything white or refined. I noticed how when I eat sugar, I also crave other fatty foods and soda. That nasty little soda craving comes creeping back when I fall off the wagon. So for now I'm back "off-sugar", as my kids call it and enjoying the challenge of making healthier treats again. Somehow I feel like I have to use my brain a little more to face the challenge of making healthy taste good and I realized how much I enjoy that aspect of this resolution.

So with all that said and a ripe banana and my garden full of squash as inspiration these little babies were born. Enjoy!

This has become one of my new blogs to stalk looking for yummy deserts, check her out:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/06/03/theres-a-zucchini-in-my-cupcake/

Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins ( I changed a few things in the original recipe to make it sugarless)

Servings: 12 cupcakes or 36 minis

• 1¼ cups flour
  
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1¼ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 whole banana, mashed
• ½ cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (the original recipe uses all applesauce, 1/2 cup, if you want fat free)
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  
• ¼ cup almond milk (the hint of nut flavor makes this great!)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 3 Tblsp honey
• 3 Tblsp Agave
• 1/4 cup Sucanat or palm sugar
  

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan and set aside. If using paper liners, lightly spray inside of liners with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. In another bowl, cream mashed banana with applesauce, oil and sweeteners. Add in milk, vanilla, zucchini. Stir until evenly combined. Add flour mix to wet mix in 3-4 batches and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Something about the cinnamon, chocolate, banana mixture if wonderful. Going to try to create a good cream cheese frosting to top these with next time.