Rhubarb has made its grand entrance at my local farmers’ market. I brought home a small bundle and set about making them into something delicious. When I was a kid, we used to have a bunch growing in our backyard. … Continue reading
Today I awoke to a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining through the cracks in my curtains and the temperature of my apartment didn’t make me want to curl up under the covers and go back to sleep. It was fitting that this is the first day that feels like spring because it’s the day we celebrate new life through the resurrection and it’s the day I celebrate being alive! Praise the Lord for these 26 years and for regaining a great deal of my health through eating SCD/Paleo for 11 months now.
To celebrate, I decided to make a special cake. A crepes cake. A stack of thin, sweet, crepes layered with chocolate frosting. I started with the recipe I use for savory crepes and added more honey.
Almond Flour Crepes:
I used coconut oil and a 10 inch skillet. I mixed all the ingredients together. I made sure the oil was really hot before pouring 1/4 cup batter into pan and cooked it for about 2 minutes on each side. It made 10 crepes.
Next, I whipped up some chocolate frosting using the recipe I use for my chocolate cupcakes.
Chocolate Frosting:
Lastly, I cut up about 1 cup of strawberries to decorate the cake!
When I got ready to serve it, I used Danielle, from Against All Grain‘s recipe for coconut whipped cream. The only thing I did differently was use Aroy-D coconut milk because I am still off of Guar Gum.
The result was pretty incredible. I shared it with our friend’s Griff and Brittani and we were all enthralled with the fluffy whipped cream contrasted against the firm french pastry taste of the cake. And it photographed so pretty! So pretty in fact that I tilted it too far down and dumped it on the floor! Luckily I am the birthday girl so no one got after me. 🙂
Eaten on hand-painted plates from the amazing Lauren Wilgus at The Handmaden, what a treat! Happy Birthday to me!
There is something magic about opening up your home for entertaining. Whether it’s the cleaning up the “lived-in” qualities of your rooms, planning the menu, considering the food restrictions of the guests, buying flowers for the vases or just anticipating the arrival of the guests, it’s magical! It fills my thoughts for days before and drives me to spend way more time than I have preparing food.
This past fall, my younger sister Anna moved to my town! I wish I could say it was to be with her cool older sister, but really it was so should could get an awesome education, explore Chicago and make great new friends. Check, check and check! For her birthday this year, I decided to throw her a brunch! Because I am a selfish cook that wants to eat all of the food that I make (and because I fear cross-contamination) I made all foods either SCD legal or Paleo.
A is for Anna!
I wanted to serve a variety of foods so after weighing my options, I settled on this menu:
Grain-free granola with coconut milk and topping options
When we were growing up, we would celebrate our birthdays at our Grandma Beth’s house and she would inevitably make us her famous Banana Chocolate Cake for our birthday cake! Sweet, almost to the point of being too sweet, it was sheer birthday indulgence and we always look forward to it. Since being diagnosed with Crohn’s, I haven’t been able to tolerate sweets as well and since beginning SCD, there has been no Banana Chocolate Cake for me. I decided to try and re-create one of our childhood favorites in Paleo form. I experimented with several different versions of this recipe before settling on this one.
They are light and moist with a lovely fruit driven sweetness. Topped with rich Paleo chocolate, they brought a rush of nostalgic childhood memories for me and smiles for us all!
The original Anna Banana and her darling friends!
Anna Banana Cupcakes
Ingredients: 
Icing:
For the frosting, I launched from this recipe of Elana‘s at Elana’s Pantry. However, I made some alterations. First of all, I halved the recipe. I used 1/2 of the Ghiradelli 100% Unsweetened Pure Cocoa Baking Bar (about 1/2 cup). Second of all, I added 1/3 cup of raw honey and kept the 1/3 cup of coconut oil. I decreased the vanilla to 1 tsp. I followed all other instructions.
Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 300. Line a cupcake/muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Mix together all dry ingredients until well mixed.
3. Blend eggs, honey and bananas in an electric mixer until smooth with no large chucks of banana.
4. Fold in dry ingredients.
5. Fill the tin about 3/4 of the way with batter. They won’t rise a lot but aren’t too dense. (I use an ice cream scoop to fill mine).
6. Cook at 300 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
7. Top with Elana’s icing after letting the cupcakes completely cool.
Me posing with empty plates and feeling soooo smug. 🙂
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