Chocolate Zucchini Muffins/Cupcakes

The finished product

We planted a little garden for the first time this year and in it we planted several zucchini plants. They happened to be the only starts from seeds I planted that I didn't kill :/

Old picture of our garden

Our zucchini is actually growing well, a little too well for  me to keep up with.  I've made veggie kabobs and baked it with cheese, but I have so much I decided to find some fun recipes to modify.  I found this one for Chocolate Zucchini Cake and changed some things it to make it more nutritious. 

Ingredients:
* 2 1/2 cups spelt flour
* 1/2 cup cocoa powder
* 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1 cup honey (you may substitute with sugar or other sweetener for vegan option)
* 1 egg (for vegan egg substitute click HERE)
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 4 Tbs pureed avocado
* 1/4 cup prune baby food
* 3 tsp orange zest
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 1/2 cup milk (cow, soy, hemp, coconut, etc)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set dry mixture aside.

In a large bowl, mix honey, egg, avocado, prunes, vanilla, orange zest, zucchini and milk.

LOVE my Kitchen Aid stand mixer!

Slowly add dry mixture to the wet mix and mix until combined well.  Fill each muffin slot 3/4 full with batter. Bake in pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes. 

Optional: serve with cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts. This of course, is not vegan, but neither am I ;-)

Carrot Zucchini Muffins (Dairy and Gluten Free)

Last fall, we discovered our son was sensitive to gluten.  Since then I've been experimenting with recipes and learning about gluten free cooking and baking.  This recipe is based off of this recipe (see link for original), I modified it to fit my needs.  They turned out super yummy!  These muffins are another sneaky way to hide veggies (maybe not the healthiest way, but oh well!)

1 1/4 cup Gluten free flour mix (Click on this link for recipe)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tbs flaxseeds 

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp (heaping) gf baking powder

1/2 tsp (heaping) baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs*

1 Tbs pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup melted coconut oil, cooled 

3 medium grated carrots

1 small grated zucchini

1/2 cup apple sauce

Pre heat oven to 350*. Grate carrots and zucchini, set aside. Melt coconut oil and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and set aside.  In a separate small bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla and oil. Fold wet mixture into the dry mix. Add carrots, zucchini and apple sauce and combine well. Spoon into lined muffin tin. (if using a non-stick pan, liners are not necessary) Place in pre-heated oven and bake 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving. To preserve texture and freshness freeze anything that will not be used in a day.

Ok, the butter on top makes it not dairy free, but it is so good! :)

Enjoy!

* Easily make these muffins egg free by using this egg subsitute recipe.  

skin nourishing "green" smoothie

Growing up, my mom would make green smoothies for us often.  We used to call her green concoctions "Monster Slime".  After high school, I started making green smoothies for myself and I found that greens could be hidden pretty good with fruit.

When C first started eating solids, he had a great diet.  Breast milk, fruit and veggies.  After he turned one and started eating more and more solid "solids" his diet became less and less ideal.  He weaned at 14 months and sooner than I had hoped for. I was 4 months pregnant with J which may have played a role in his early weaning.  Soon C became fairly picky and would eat bananas and cheese all day if I let him. Scratching my brain as to how to get more veggies into his diet, I remembered the green smoothies that I used to make.  I started making them for him too, and guess what?  He likes them!

C has had dry skin issues most of his life despite my best attempts to keep it hydrated, (rarely using soap for baths, lotion, etc) he still has itchy dry skin.  Avocados are GREAT for skin health, both topically and internally.  I wanted C to eat more avocado, but he's not always so keen on eating avocado chunks. I decided to disguise it in a smoothie and see what happened.  
Here's my recipie:

1/2 avacado
1/2 large banana
1/2 cup frozen berries*
1 leaf of kale
1/2 cup plain yogurt with live cultures (probiotics) (I use Nancy's Plain Honey Yogurt)
1/2 cup of water*
1 tsp flaxseeds (flaxseed oil would work well too)
*if you are new to green smoothies,  you may want to add more berries and/or use 100% juice

Blend all ingredients in blender until well blended. Serve immediately.  Makes one pint sized smoothie.

  What doesn't taste good when you have a straw?? :)

Introduction

I've been wanting to start a blog for sometime now and I am finally taking the time to make it happen! 

I am work-at-home mother to two beautiful boys and wife to my awesome husband.  We've only been married just over 2 1/2 years and wow, have our lives changed in the past 2 1/2 years! In the past 2 years I've learned a lot about life and being a parent.  It's funny how much my opinions on parenting and children has changed since I've become a parent.  I've learned that being a parent is a constant learning experience.

I love learning about new things.  Nutrition has been a long interest of mine. I believe birth is such an amazing miracle. I like to try to do things that are environmentally responsible. I believe that it is our responsibility, especially as a Christian, to do our best to be good stewards of the resources God has given us.

I'm not sure yet what direction I'll take with this, but so far I plan to blog my thoughts and experiences in everything from birth and cloth diapers to experiments in whole food cooking and gluten-free baking. (And probably much more in between!)

 ~Amanda~