Sweet Vanilla Coconut Butter

I got the idea for making this from Chocolate Covered Katie's blog, although my recipe has more ingedients. This stuff is really rich, but so delicious! I currently have some lumps of it in the freezer, waiting to be put on a stick and coated in chocolate.
I suppose you could probably spread it on bread like peanut butter, if you really wanted. Might make a nice filling for a cake or sandwich cookie too!

approx. 5-6 cups unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
1/3 coconut milk or coconut oil
the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
1/3 organic cane sugar

Dump ingredients in a food processor and blend until it forms a sticky dough. If you want it thinner add more coconut milk 1 tablespoon at a time. Store in the fridge or freezer.

Mild pesto

Pesto is such a potent sauce. I LOVE LOVE LOVE basil, but wasn't sure how I would feel about it in as large a quantity as pesto usually calls for. Here's something a little milder, but still smooth, creamy, and very bright green. :) The secret ingredient is coconut milk! Don't worry, the basil covers up any coconut taste. It's a tad cheaper than pine nuts, and more likely to be found in your pantry. The resulting texture is something like green alfredo sauce. Very yummy!

approx. 1 cup packed basil leaves (Any kind will do. I haven't tried it with sweet basil, but I think it would be really nice)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2- 2/3 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 clove of garlic

Rinse basil leaves. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. If you want you can add a little more olive oil or coconut milk to made it thinner. Makes about 1 1/4 cup. Serve over hot pasta (With parmesan and more pepper, of course!). Refrigerate or freeze to store.

Sugar free, dairy free hot chocolate

Near Christmas time a year and a half ago, back when my husband and I were still dating, I visited him at his sister's house and she made the best hot chocolate I had ever had. Unfortunately James could not drink it because of the high sugar content, and I technically shouldn't have either because it had a TON of dairy. I drank it anyway. Then I asked for the recipe and made it for my family. Then I almost threw up.
But boy was it delicious!

I wanted it so bad...
...so I came up with a similar recipe which both of us could drink safely:

4 cups almond milk (May contain some cane sugar. Check the label first)
1 can coconut milk (Lite works too, but for some reason it tends to separate from the almond milk. I recommend the full-fat kind)
1/3 cup Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Whisk ingredients together over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Serve hot.

Someone told me it tastes like cupcakes. :)
I love the combination of flavors and that I can drink it without getting sick!

Decadent Sea Salt Brownies

I bought this bag of chocolate chips one time which had a really great brownie recipe on the back. Naturally it was packed full of sugar. It sounded so good, so I did what I always do: adapted it.
Here is my slightly healthier version.

Ingredients:

1 cup dark chocolate or carob chips

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable  or coconut oil

1/2 honey

1/2 walnuts (optional)

Hershey's syrup 

course sea salt 

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt dark chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl for 1 min. Stir until melted completely. Add flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, honey, and vegetable oil. Stir in milk chocolate chips and nuts. Spread batter into 8X8 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm topped with a drizzle of Hershey's syrup and a sprinkling of sea salt.

James' Valentine's Day Gift

This what I made for James this Valentine's Day.

One of my few attempts at watercolor. I think it turned out pretty well. :)

It's a tree in the greenbelt behind our apartment. Maybe it doesn't look exactly like that tree, but at least it looks like a tree, right? :-)

Sugar-Free Carrot Pineapple Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

I found the most amazing carrot cake recipe online the other day.

Here's the link:

Carrot Cake

But...it's Lent. And lots of people give of sugar for Lent. James can't eat it any time of the year. Not having done much baking with sugar for a while I was surprised by how much was in this cake. Then add a ton of sugary frosting and you've got a Lent-unfriendly, headache-inducing disaster. Bummer, since I really wanted to eat it...

So I changed a few things. 

Check out my revisions below for a HEALTHY cake and frosting that doesn't actually taste healthy.

 Ingredients I changed:
For the cake
~2 cups all purpose flour----> 2 cups whole wheat flour
~1 cup of granulated sugar + 1 cup of brown sugar ----> 1 cup of honey + a little baking powder (about  1/2 tsp) to help it rise properly

Those were the big ones. I did use fresh pineapple instead of canned, but only because that was what I had available. These also were no nuts or raisins in my cake (hate raisins, and somebody was allergic to nuts).

The frosting recipe is my own. Here's the post:

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Frosting

It didn't taste sugar-free and had no harmful replacements. Yay!

Now for the flowers. Check out this tutorial:

Pineapple Flowers

Yeah, I know it's in chinese. Just use the pictures. :) 

The flowers may be moist and a little squishy if they didn't get cut thin enough, but they should still hold their shape.

Place directly on the frosted cake and glue on additional layers with extra frosting. Add small carrot slices for the centers...since this is carrot cake and all...

Uh, YUM!

Seed Stitch Neckwarmer

Seed Stitch Neck Warmer

 By Lexi Cushing

                              

Materials 

Elsebeth Lavold Chunky Al (50% FS Alpaca, 50% Peruvian Wool; 50g = 75 m / 82 yd) [or any heavy worsted]

Main color: One ball dark red 

Contrasting color: One ball black 

Tools 

Size 8 needles 

Size K (10 1/2) crochet hook 

Gauge 

15-16 sts in 4 in.

Size 

One size fits most. 4 1/2 in. wide, 27 in. long.  For a longer neck warmer, get a second 

ball of dark red and continue in pattern until desired length. 

Pattern Notes 

Separate about 6-7 yards of main color before starting. 

Picot sequence: *3 sc, ch 3, sl in front loop of last sc, rep from * 

Neck warmer 

With main color, cast on 15 

Row 1: K1, *P1, K1, repeat from * until the end of the row. 

Next row: Rep. row 1 

Continue in seed stitch for 2 1/4 in. 

Button hole 

Next row: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, bind off next stitch, attach the 6-7 yard length that 

was set aside earlier to next stitch, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 

Next row: continue in seed stitch, keeping the two balls of yarn and sides of the button 

hole separate.  When the button hole has reached 2 1/4 in. long move on to next row. 

Closing the button hole 

Next row: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, cast on 1, tie off smaller ball of yarn (saving extra 

for the flower button), K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 

At this point you should have 15 stitches on the needle again. 

Continue in seed stitch pattern until you have about 24 in. of yarn left.  Bind off. 

Picot edging  

With contrasting color, attach yarn to a corner of the neck warmer. Using picot sequence 

work in 30 picots (counting the corners) on each long side and 4 on each end of the 

neck warmer, in the corners work in 3 sc in same stitch while keeping in picot pattern. 

Flower button 

Layer #1: With contrasting color, cast on 30. 

Row 1: K30

Row 2: P30 

Row 3: K2tog 15 times 

Row 4: P15 

Row 5: K2tog 7 times, K1 

Row 6: P8 

Row 7: K2tog 4 

Row 8: P4 

Bind off.  

Sew side seam together to make a trumpet shape. 

Layer #2: With contrasting color make a second flower using the 8 row layer #1 pattern.  

Do not sew side seam. 

Coil layer #2 into a spiral and place on top of layer #1.  Using crochet hook, attach, 

looping yarn through several times to hold the two pieces together securely.  

Attach main color to the edge of layer #1 and, with crochet hook, sl sts along the edge.  

Rep for layer #2. 

Attach main color in center of flower: *Ch 5, sl in original st, Rep from * 2 times, ch 7 sl 

in same st. 

Finishing 

Attach flower button to neck warmer 4-5 in. from end furthest from button hole. 

Weave in all ends.

[Please note that this pattern belongs to me. You are free to share it, but not to use it for personal gain. Check out my Creative Commons License for more information. Also, please comment if you find any errors {or if you like it!} and I will fix it as soon as possible. Thank You!]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.