Birthday Cupakes: A Chocolate Success!

I promise to post non-sweet non-chocolate recipes soon. :) But I have to share these cupcakes I made for my baby girl's 1st birthday. I was tempted to ditch Paleo for this special occassion, but when I found this simple recipe, I gave it a try and was not disappointed...aparently, neither was she! Just a note on the frosting, I was never able to get it to thicken even after several tries. So on mine it ended up looking more like a chocolate ganache than frosting. Still delicious.



Getting every last crumb!



Thanksgiving Weekend & Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Unfortunately, at this point, I'm not going to give you amazing Thanksgiving alternative recipes. We didn't even have a regular Thanksgiving meal this year because hubby had to work, nevertheless, we had a really wonderful day before his work shift, just relaxing, playing with the kiddos and watching (or trying to watch) movies. If you have little kids, you know how that goes. We got through "seeing" most of a movie without being able to hear much until we finally gave it up. Haha.

Soon after this Thanksgiving weekend is over, I'll continue my Part 2 of our Pre-Paleo-ing journey. You can read Part 1 here if you haven't. Meanwhile, I'm going to do some gluten/dairy-free baking experiments in the kitchen with my mother-in-law. We're trying scones, brownie bites and cookies today. I'll let you know if they're amazing, although I can tell you right now that the cookies are because I've already made them before. These Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are very easy to make, absolutely delicious and dangerously addicting! And they come from another Paleo-cooking wife and mom who has many amazing recipes on her website. I asked her if I could link her decription of "why Paleo" from a Christian perspective because she says it so well, so here it is! It's short and to the point, so go check it out.

The Healthy Brownies

I've mentioned that I found a healthy brownie recipe and already I've been asked "where's the recipe?" So before I post anything else on this blog, chocolate comes first! :) You can find said brownies by clicking here.

I made them exactly like the recipe, except I only had regular honey, not raw honey....one of those things I have yet to discover. But the other new ingredient for me was almond butter and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it took me forever to find it because I had no idea what it looked like. I was looking in the dairy section....you know, butter? Totally wrong. It's like peanut butter, but with almonds instead of peanuts. Duh! I'm sure you're way smarter than that...but just in case you were wondering what it is, now you know. I found mine at Trader Joe's but I'm sure some other large grocery stores would have it too.

Now, if you went to the link already and saw the recipe, you might be thinking: zucchini?? Gross! But wait, give it a try. People do make zucchini bread, you know? It's not that weird. And I peeled mine so that you don't even see any green specks anywhere.

The result? Amazing. We loved them! I will never recommend a recipe on this blog that I haven't already made and loved, as well as my husband and kids. Keep in mind that brownies have been at the top of my favorite dessert list all my life, and desserts are at the top of my favorite foods list. Over the years I've made many, many, many delicious desserts from scratch. So for my husband to say that these Zucchini Brownies are his new favorite dessert, that's saying a lot! Also, I have to say, they are not going to taste like a regular box brownie mix. You just have to know that. Almost all "healthy re-creations" of common classics are going to taste a little different. I would really describe these like a moist banana bread with tons of chocolate chips. But have as many as you want...they're good for you! :)

Toddler-tested and approved!