Mint Chocolate Cake

Our weather has been super fantastic this week. If only our whole summer could be like this. It is unbelievable to me as I sit here with every window in the house wide open that this weekend it is going to turn cold again and they are actually calling for snow flurries Sunday night. Yes, snow. It has been in the 70's all week. Luckily we know enough about our weather to know you have to enjoy the nice weather while it is here because it never lasts very long. Therefore instead of cooking, we've done more walking.

Last night we decided it was time to bake something. Kay went through all my cookbooks and came up with this cake recipe from here. It tastes just like a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie! The book listed a glaze but the cake is so moist, we ate it plain.

Mint Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a bundt pan.

Sift together the following:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar

Stir together the following:
1 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon peppermint extract

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Pour into the bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

Kay: This cake was really good. Before it even came out of the oven you could really smell the mint. It was also very easy to make but it took a long time to cook.

Mom (Dana): This may look like just a regular chocolate cake but it isn't. You've got to try it!

Psst...

Did anyone notice that my 10 year old daughter is now my 11 year old daughter?!! Her birthday was yesterday.

Chocolate Candy

I have experimented quite a bit with Stevia, but I haven't had good luck at all. Unlike other sugar substitutes, it is much sweeter so when you would normally use a cup of sugar, you might only use a spoonful of stevia. Every time I've tried to use it, I get a bitter after taste. Until this time! These were fantastic.

The funny thing about this recipe is that Kay claims to not like coconut so, obviously, I didn't tell her there was coconut in these. You definitely can taste it but she never said one word and absolutely devoured these! So when adding her comments today, hopefully she won't look up and see the ingredients!

I wasn't able to get a good picture of these. They basically look like a piece of chocolate. I did get a picture of Kay eating one though!

This recipe is based off one from the show The Sweet Truth.

Chocolates

1 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup peanut butter

4 tablespoons agave nectar

2 teaspoons powdered stevia

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup almond meal (or ground almonds)

1/4 cup coconut (unsweetened)

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Grind the pumpkin seeds, coconut, and almonds (if using whole) in a food processor until finely ground.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Line 3 mini-muffin tins. Fill each completely full.

Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

Kay: I thought these tasted really good. I thought they might taste funny because they have different things in them like pumpkin seeds but I liked them a lot.

Mom (Dana): We thought these tasted best if kept in the refrigerator. They got a little too soft at room temperature.

Chickpea Tahini Patties

Kay hates bean patties. I make all kinds of them. Black bean, kidney bean, navy bean, butter bean, etc. with Mexican flavors, Italian flavors, Indian flavors, etc. She doesn't like any of them. I make special sauces to put on them, buy special buns, it doesn't matter. I never get a good reaction when I make bean patties. Until this time. Not only did she not complain, she actual enjoyed them. I knew sooner or later I'd find something she would like. Apparently the secret was to stop relying on cookbooks and just throw together whatever I thought sounded good.

Chickpea Tahini Patties

1 large sweet potato (about 1 lb.)

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup tahini

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon agave nectar

juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup water

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

Peel the sweet potato and cut into one inch cubes. Place in a pot and add water just to cover. Boil until tender. Drain any remaining water.

Place all ingredients except for the bread crumbs into a food processor and puree. By hand, stir in the bread crumbs. Scoop up about a palm-full of the mixture and form it into a ball. Place the ball on an oiled baking sheet and flatten slightly.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, flipping the patties half way through.

We ate these with a ketchup/mayonnaise mixture.

Kay: I liked these. I usually don't like bean patties but this one I really liked. I thought maybe the soy sauce should be cut down though. Other than that I thought they were really good. They would be a good substitute for hamburgers.

Mom (Dana): You can use the store bread crumbs but they won't be as chunky as the ones I make fresh so the amount might be different. Keep adding them until you can form the mixture into a ball.

These also warm up well. I know they don't look like much but they sure were tasty!

One last Public Enemies post

We couldn't help ourselves, we kept going back to the set! It seemed somehow wrong not to go every night. When will we have something like this so close to home?! We never did get a picture of Johnny Depp. Every time we showed up, we would hear that just a half hour before he had been out. The worst, though, was Tuesday. I thought we should wait until after dinner so Bill could go with but then I asked Kay when she got home from school and she wanted to go right away. It was looking promising for awhile. His car pulled around to the front of the jail so everyone was sure he was about to leave but then after about 30 minutes some unknown woman got in the car.


Kay's cold was really bad and she wanted to leave but then changed her mind and wanted ice cream instead. I was pretty sure the ice cream shop on the corner closed early but we headed down there anyway. Of course we had to detour several blocks away. When we were almost back to the street but on the other side of the barriers, we heard screaming. Kay took off running. He was apparently on the porch but I couldn't distinguish him from any of the other people standing up there.


We stood there for a few minutes until I took a false step, tripped on the curb, and went flying to the ground. I'm really graceful like that! We decided that was a good time to continue to the ice cream shop which was, of course, closed. So we headed home, Kay very grouchy and me, in more and more pain by the second. After dinner Bill asked if we wanted to go back but I could barely walk by this point and Kay was a grouchy mess so we said no. To add insult to injury (literally) the next morning the paper said that shortly after we left, he had walked up and down the line giving autographs and taking pictures.

Still we had to go back! Last night we waited until after dinner. They had more of the roads closed off than usual so they must have been doing some of the street scenes earlier in the day. We stood around for awhile then we heard people screaming down towards the back of the building. Again Kay takes off running but I took my time because I was scared to death of falling again! Apparently he had just walked out of the back door and into his trailer. There were too many people down at this end so Kay couldn't see anything but I kept my eye on the light in the trailer window. Finally he came out and went back into the building but it was too dark to really see anything. So we left.


Even though we didn't get a picture, we had fun (except for the part where I collapsed!) and it was interesting to see how they do things. Here are a few of our pictures from the past two days.

First from Tuesday:

Here are some of the old cars they used.

Here's one of the extras in an old police officer uniform. Obviously he wasn't filming at the time since he is carrying a cell phone!

Here you can see the passenger side door of Johnny's car which we stared at for about half an hour!

And finally, here we are, moments before I fell. He is apparently up there on the porch among all these people. Do you see him? Me neither!

Now for Wednesday:

Here are those big lights turned on.

Here is Kayleigh IM'ing her aunt on my phone.

Eventually, my cell phone started to die so she had to resort to...

stretching. Yes, she is actually doing her soccer stretches while we waited on the side of the street! Very glamorous, don't you think?!

But now the picture we waited days to get. Johnny Depp.

I guess you will just have to trust me that he is there!

We've been fitting in all of this stalking around our normal work, school, soccer practice, homework, and orthodontist appointments. We are exhausted so I plan to pass out in front of the tv for the rest of the night! I'm just not cut out for all this excitement!

Fennel and Spinach Soup

Soups never take very nice pictures but this tasted so good. I loved it. Bill wouldn't even try it but Kay said it was "ok" and then ate it so I'm counting it as a success!

This recipe comes from Eating for Diabetes which is a cookbook my mom loaned me. She wanted me to try some of the recipes and then let her know which ones were worth making. My other favorite recipes were the Black Bean Burgers and Tofu Fajitas but there were actually several that were good.

Fennel and Spinach Soup

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 cups vegetable stock

4 cups baby spinach leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fennel tops

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lemon, juiced

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and gently saute the onion, celery, and fennel until soft but not brown. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the spinach, bring to a boil again, then remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Blend with immersion blender or cool slightly and put in a blender or food processor. Return to heat and add salt, pepper, and fennel tops. Heat through and serve immediately with a sprinkling of lemon juice on each serving.

Kay: This tasted ok. I usually don't like cooked spinach but it was ok in a soup like this.

Mom (Dana): Next time I think I'll blend the fennel tops too. I didn't like getting pieces of that in an otherwise smooth soup. Don't forget the lemon. It really bumps this up from being a good soup to a delicious soup.

Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

The movie is filming here through Wednesday but I don't know if we'll be back there since Kay and I both woke up with terrible colds this morning and it was snowing on my way to work! We might bundle ourselves up one more time though.

In the meantime, we are posting a recipe!! I happened to stumble across a show called "Zonya's Healthy Bites" last weekend and she made these cookies. They already had half the sugar and most of the fat removed so I didn't even have to adjust the recipe for once!

Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 4-serving pack of instant vanilla pudding mix

4 egg whites

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pudding mix in a large bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool and cut in squares.

Kay: I really liked this. We were watching a movie and I waited for mine to cool because then it tastes better. I had about three already.

Mom (Dana): These tasted best after sitting for a day, probably because the oats begin to soften. We made them a few days ago and they are holding up well.