Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

I just made these cupcakes for my dad's birthday. They were delicious as usual so I decided to share the recipe. I love these cupcakes because I can eat them without feeling as guilty as I would when eating a "regular" cupcake.  Instead of using flour as the main ingredient, they use black beans. Yes, you read that correctly! You can't even taste the beans. They are moist and scrumptious and don't even need frosting (unless you're a frosting lover). Hope you can enjoy this recipe as much as I have. If you make any improvements, please share! 

Preheat over to: 325 degrees

Recipe:

15oz can of black beans

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

6 Tablespoons softened butter (you could probably use coconut oil instead)

2 eggs

6 Tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions: 

Place first purple ingredients in blender and blend until smooth, set aside. Mix green ingredients in bowl for several minutes until fluffy. Whisk red ingredients together and then slowly add to green ingredients. Finally pour the mixture to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into cupcake pan with liners. They don't rise very much so only leave a little room between the batter and the top of the liner. Once batter is in cupcake liners rap the pan on the counter a couple of times to reduce air bubbles. Put in the oven for 30 minutes. 

These are great without frosting. I did put my mom's coffee frosting on top and they were amazing. Will post her recipe later. 

Question: 

Was the color coding of the ingredients confusing or helpful?

I found the recipe for these cupcakes online a long time ago. Since then I have modified the recipe quite a bit. I tried to find the original recipe, but couldn't. 

I have taken a break from blogging to try and gain a little bit of sanity in my life. I would like to start again soon, but it will be a slow process. I still have one more class to go before I complete my master's degree. I will be finished in September! Till then my posts will be few and far between. 

News Flash: 

In November I had a beautiful little girl, Lana. 

Lana, two weeks old

Lance has taken on the role of big brother quite well (most of the time). 

Lance (21 months) feeding Lana (6 months)

"MaMa"

Lance said "MaMa" for the first time yesterday (March 21, 2012)! He said it several times throughout the day. I can't believe how fast he's growing! He's also sitting up on his own and reaching and grabbing for toys.

It looks like he may have two teeth breaking the surface soon. This makes me nervous for several different reasons. I've heard horror stories about babies when their teething. Hoping Lance breezes through it!

Veggie Quiche

As most mothers know, it can be hard to find the time to eat a healthy breakfast. I have been trying to find recipes that freeze well so I can make them in bulk. I freeze them and then just have to zap them in the microwave when I'm having a busy morning. So far I've found two great recipes that I'm really excited about! The first one is a crustless vegetable quiche. I think it's delicious! The second is a scrumptious muffin recipe. I'll post the muffin recipe later.

I did a test run to see how it tasted (pictured above) and then did a triple batch for the freezer. I like to use little 1 cup glass containers because they are single serving, I think it's easier to manage. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon minced onion

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 zucchini, chopped into small pieces

1 carrot, shredded

1 red pepper, chopped into small pieces

2 cups spinach

12 eggs

1 and 1/2 cups 1% milk

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons flour

2 and 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (I think Cabot is the best, but use your favorite brand)

Preheat over to 350 degree

Coat a large pan with oil (I use olive oil) and add all veggies accept the spinach, use medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, remove veggies and add spinach. Cook spinach till wilted.While veggies are cooking mix together the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Once blended, slowly add vegetables. 

Grease glass containers and add egg mixture, fill container half way. I was able to get one large pie plate and 5 individual containers out of this recipe.

As always I found a recipe as a base and altered it. You can find the original here:
http://www.food.com/recipe/crustless-vegetable-quiche-284627

Maple Salmon Glaze

Maple Glazed Salmon

I've been trying to live a more healthy lifestyle. Be more active, eat more veggies, eat less fast food, etc. It's been easy making sure my 7 month old only eats whole foods. Doing that myself has been difficult. Soon he will be old enough to chose what he eats and I need to set a good example. I'm hoping that posting on here will keep me motivated.

Last night's dinner was delicious and healthy! I made a maple glazed salmon served with brown rice, asparagus, and zucchini and summer squash. 

Maple Glaze Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/8 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 clove garlic (or 2 teaspoons dried minced garlic)

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Mix ingredients together and use marinate salmon in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Place salmon skin side up in baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. 

3. Bake for 15 minutes and flip salmon over, cover, and bake another 15 minutes.

4. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes depending on how thick your salmon is.

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it. You can find the original recipe here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/maple-salmon/

Peas Please!

1st Time Trying Peas

 Lance had his first taste of peas the other day! He actually liked them, I was afraid he wouldn't like how they tasted. My husband thought they looked disgusting. I thought they looked gorgeous, I loved the rich green color.

I made a huge batch and froze most of it. All I have to do is reach into the freezer at dinner time pull out a few cubes, heat them, and Lance eats them. I had no idea how easy making your own baby food really was! 

So far my son has only had whole foods that I have prepared for him. I hope to keep it this way. He's still eating (or drinking) mostly breast milk. I like to give him a serving of either homemade brown rice baby cereal, bananas, or peas before bed. I keep hoping that this will miraculously help him sleep through the night. Hasn't happened yet, maybe one day.

I think we'll try avocados next week. Does anyone have any recipes or know if you can freeze them?

Feeding Baby Whole Foods

I have decided that I want to only feed my son whole foods. I will be making all of his baby food (as long as everything goes according to plan). 

So far things are going well.  His first taste of solids was homemade brown rice cereal. He really wasn't impressed, but I have given him a little every night this week. Next week I will try adding some banana to the cereal, hopefully he will like that better!

Lance's first taste of baby cereal

I had no idea how easy it was to make your own brown rice baby cereal!

Brown Rice Cereal Recipe:

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Ground Brown Rice

1/4 cup Breast Milk or Formula
A little something for sweetener (banana, maple syrup, etc)

To grind the brown rice take regular brown rice, but it in a blender, and blend until it reaches a fine powdery consistency. 

Next boil the water, then SLOWLY (this is key) while stirring, add the rice powder. Take off the burner and add the milk. Make sure it is cool enough for your baby before feeding it to them.