Healthy Chocolate Cake?

What started as an incredulous curiosity, is turning into a full blown week of experimental baking in my house!  My friend recently posted this recipe: Healthy Chocolate Cake With a Secret and said that this cake - made without flour and sugar - actually tasted good!  Not only that, but what was so freaky about this recipe used BEANS instead of flour!

Now, I've thought that I would never be one of "those people" who makes weird, healthy-tasting foods and pretends that they are as good as fattening, sugary treats, but I have been on the lookout for some sort of healthy breakfast alternative - like a breakfast bar, but something that is higher in protein and lower in sugar and wheat.  So I thought to myself that if I could modify this recipe, I might be able to make a carrot cake, apple cake, banana-loaf... the possibilities are endless.

But first... my modification of the "Healthy Chocolate Cake".  What makes mine different is that I used kidney beans and only added honey (no stevia) as a sweeter (not because I have any problems with stevia, but it can be a bit expensive and I don't have it in my cupboard).

Good to the last bite!

Yummy 'n Healthy Chocolate Cake

(makes a 9" cake)

Ingredients:
1 - 19oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup honey (heaping, generous cup, depending how sweet you like)
1 tsp vanilla
6 Tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp baking  powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

(variation: add 1/2 tsp almond extract and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to make a brownie-like cake?)

Pre-heat oven to 325*F

Use a 1/2 tsp of butter to grease the inside of  your cake pan - you can also dust it with sifted cocoa powder or use parchment paper.

Begin by blending the kidney beans and 4 of the eggs together in a medium bowl until there are no lumps and you make the bean skins as small as possible.  I have been using my Braun hand-blender and it works out, but perhaps a food-processor would be better.   Set aside.

In a large bowl, whip the butter and honey together until well blended.  Add the remaining 2 eggs, blending after each addition.  Next, add the vanilla, cocoa, salt, soda and baking powder and blend.

Then fold the bean mixture into the large bowl and mix until well blended.  Pour into your cake pan and tap the pan onto the counter to remove any bubbles.

Bake for 45 min until top of cake is rounded and firm. Cool for 10 minutes and turn out of the pan onto a rack if you would like to frost it.

It is recommended that you allow the cake to sit overnight as this might affect the bean taste, but we tried it as soon as it was cooled and thought it was great!

Meal Planning for Lunchtime

Summer's lull of hot, lazy days is coming to an end and I know that soon I will be fighting against busy schedules, endless "to do" lists, and an overwhelming sense of responsibilities that require boundless energy, attention and commitment.  Yes, real life is coming back in full force, and I am doing my best to prepare.


You would think that as a homeschooling family, lunches would be no big deal, and to be honest, and I wish it were so.  However, I think the fact that my kids are used to home-cooked, nutritious food at EVERY meal, means that lunches on busy days are a challenge to plan and prepare.  I mentioned to my husband the other day that our kids are "spoiled" because they don't like simple, normal foods such as sandwiches and soup and Kraft dinner.  Instead, they would prefer Enchiladas, Butter Chicken or Kim Chee Che Gay (Korean soup), with a side of hummus and seasonal vegetables for lunch.  We joked that we should have a "normal" week at home, where we only prepare the standards... tuna casserole, spaghetti, sandwiches for lunch, etc.  We might end up with a full-blown revolt and hunger strike from our children though!


It is also a challenge when simply opening a can of soup in our house equals the expense of opening 3 cans to serve all 8 of us - and besides that, homemade is so much healthier and tastier.  So herein lies my challenge - I would like simple, satisfying, mostly home-made lunches, but I also want to pay attention to nutrition.  In the end, I decided on a fairly simple menu plan (we'll save the exotic foods for dinner), and I have arranged them in a 2 week rotation, to make lunches easy to prepare and plan for.  In the event that my main feature of lunch is lacking nutritionally (usually in the absence of veggies), I am adding either a salad, fresh veggies (carrots, broccoli, snap peas) or a green smoothie to the meal.  All of the meals are easy enough that I could have my 10 or 12 year old prepare them.


Anyway, I thought I would share this idea of a set, 2-week lunch menu plan... and I welcome any suggestions for simple, homemade lunches that I can add to my rotation.  (I've also included the breakfast "menu" that I created, to ward off my kids' daily question "What's for breakfast, Mommy?".)

	B-fst	Cereal	Muffins	Oatmeal	Cereal	Toast/Bagels
1	Lunch	Grilled Cheese &Smoothie	Perogies &Veggies or Salad	Sandwiches &Smoothie	Tuna Macaroni &Smoothie	Breadmaker Bread/Easy Minestrone Soup + Fruit
2	Lunch	Eggs/Toast & Fruit Salad	Pizza (made on bread or pitas, or just a frozen pizza) &Veggies or Salad	Re-fried beans with chips or Tortillas, cheese, sour cream, fresh salsa & Fruit	Tuna Melts or Sandwiches &Smoothy	Calico Beans or Chili &Salad/Veg

My Top 10 Healthy Snacks For Kids (and adults!)

In the past, I have been completely frustrated when it comes to providing snacks for my healthy, growing brood of children.  It would seem that the "system" of factories and fast-food are out to get me and my money, when it comes to convenient snacks.  Unfortunately, most of the snacks on the shelves in the store tend to be highly processed, low-nutrition, carb-and-sugar laden foods.  Everything from goldfish crackers to handi-snacks to those "fruit gummies" that are supposedly "now made with REAL fruit!" just don't made the grade in my house.  Sure, on occasion I don't have a problem with these as a treat, but on a regular basis, I would like to fuel my kids with something a little more... natural.

Having six kids also raises the problem of cost.  I can't just run out to the health food store and pick up their organic fruit and veggie smoothies or 16 grain, gluten-free cupcakes or super-vitamin-brain-stimulating magical cookies, because our food budget would probably double (if not triple)!

So, just for simplicity's sake, here are the snacks that we typically eat in my house:

1. Organic apples (whole... never peeled!). This is one product I typically buy organically because apples are one of the worst culprits for heavy pesticide/herbicide use. (We also eat a lot of other whole fresh, whole fruits: bananas, oranges, kiwis, mangoes, grapes, etc.)

My 4 year old "preparing" apples for a snack...

2. Homemade "snack mix".  This usually consists of dried fruit - banana chips, raisins, apricots, etc - along with nuts (pecans, almonds or walnuts), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.), and then I will use a "filler cereal" such as Cheerios or, better yet, organic shredded wheat squares (President's Choice brand from Superstore).  I will mix up a huge container-full and if it is running low, just add in some more goodies and keep it going...

3. Frozen mixed veggies.  Back when my 12 year old was a baby, I came up with the idea to give her frozen (or very slightly thawed) mixed veggies.  They were a hit!  Now I can set out a bowl of them and the kids will eat it like popcorn.

4. "Bilk" Which is my special name for Frozen Blueberries mixed with Milk.  It's as simple as that.  Fill a cup or mug 3/4 full of frozen blueberries and top with your choice of milk... skim, 2%, goats-milk...   After a couple of minutes, the blueberries thaw a little and turn the milk an amazing purple color!  It's just as good (but nutritionally much better) than a real milkshake!

5. Smoothies.  Do yourself a favor and buy a good blender.  I have found that it is much more economical to buy tasty, ripe fruit from the frozen food section than it is to buy over-priced, out-of-season fruits throughout the year.  Yes, do buy local fruit when it is in season - but if you live in a colder climate, like me, then you know the fresh-local-fruit season is quite limited.  Nowadays, I will throw random frozen fruit into a blender, along with seasonal fresh fruit including apples with the skin or mangoes, or kiwis and top with either milk or yogurt or occasionally some real fruit juice (not fruit punch) and blend it with ice until my kids have what they think is as good as a slurpee or milkshake.  ($$$ Saving hint: Throw your over-ripe bananas, pears, peaches or plums into the freezer to use in a smoothie later.  Another thing I do is take the half-eaten apples, cut out the core and "eaten" part, chop it up and throw it into the freezer for a smoothie later.)

6. Yogurt mixed with fruit and nuts. A while back, I weaned myself off of sugar for a few weeks and made up a snack that consisted of plain Greek yogurt, mixed with either walnuts, banana slices, cinnamon and nutmeg - or mixed with apples, pecans and cinnamon. Recently, I even mixed my yogurt with frozen blueberries and freshly ground flax - although I'm not sure the kids would like that one as much! The trick is to buy good Greek or Balkin style yogurt.  To me, it tastes less acidic and it is nice and thick and creamy.

7. Nuts and Seeds.  I mentioned these before in the context of a snack mix, but nuts are such an excellent snack and good for you in so many ways.  You won't have a sugar-high to deal with and they are full of protein, so you will get a longer-lasting energy from eating them!

8. Seaweed or Nori.  If you want something salty and flavorful, try some dried seaweed! Look for one that doesn't use any artificial seasoning...(no MSG!).  My kids absolutely love to munch on it, and my 2 year old will even preform a "happy dance" to earn his piece of seaweed!

9. Raw Veggies - plain or dipped in homemade Hummus.  Carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers, broccoli, sugar-snap peas, turnip slices, and whatever else looks fresh - just cut it into appealing, bite-able sticks and dip away!  (Time-saving hint: On shopping day or the day after, wash and cut up your veggies and store them in an air tight container in the fridge.  Then when you (or your little snack-ers) are hungry the veggies are ready to eat!)

and now, for number 10.....

10. Homemade baking.  Okay, I bet you were waiting for something that sounded super-healthy.  Yet I have no trouble admitting that we like our homemade cookies/pretzels/muffins/'fill in the blank' around here.  At least when you make it at home, it isn't full of strange un-pronounceable ingredients and preservatives.  Also, when you make it at home, you can sneak in the healthy stuff - shredded zucchini in your muffins or flax seeds in the cookies... just use your imagination and try not to eat the whole batch at once!

There you have it... my Top 10, off the top of my head snacks that we eat in our busy household.  Did I miss something good?  I invite your comments on the healthy snacks that you (and your family) enjoy eating!