Another new pattern on ravelry!

Just listed the pattern for this shawl I made for my friend Stacy.  It looks trickier than it is! It was fun to watch the pattern develop, and the yarn blocked beautifully. It turned out so nice and drapey, and almost lacy looking.

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stacy-shawl-2

 



Kid Approved Slow Cooker Chili

Really- see?

 

In the middle of grocery shopping Friday, my 5 year old turns to me and says "I have an idea! We can make our own chili with ingredients!"  Which I have been trying to convince him of forever since he loves Trader Joe's vegetarian chili, but we don't eat tofu. So we read the ingredients on the can, and then I let him decide what else we should add.

 

Remember, I don't measure things, I keep forgetting that I should if I want to share the recipe- but hey, I measured for the cake in the previous post, so I'm making progress.

 

We make a ton of everything so we can freeze leftovers...this BARELY fit in my slow cooker! That's why there are so many ingredients.  I add everything I have in the house.

 

Here's our recipe:

 

half an onion

3 stalks of celery

2 carrots

crushed garlic

olive oil

taco seasoning (I use this recipe)

adobo seasoning

extra cumin to taste

optional: browned ground beef

a little tomato paste

a dash of apple cider vinegar

1 cup of chicken, beef, or veggie broth

1 can black beans

1 can cannelini beans

1 can diced tomatoes

half a package Trader Joe's frozen super sweet fire roasted corn

1 package Trader Joe's frozen tri color peppers (or you could chop up your own if you're not lazy like me!)

handful of frozen spinach leaves*

handful of frozen kale*

1 package of Trader Joe's 10 minute farro (you could use rice, but the boys LOVE this stuff!)



 

*I buy spinach and kale bagged like for salad, stick the whole thing in the freezer, crunch up the bag, then throw handfuls in everything for extra veggies that are too small to be detected by picky children.

 

Turn the slow cooker on high, and add chopped carrots, celery, & onion, with a splash of olive oil, all the seasoning, and the crushed garlic.

When the onions are soft, add all the other ingredients except the farro or rice & give it a good stir.

Cook for 6-8 hours, add farro or rice 10 minutes prior to serving.

 

Enjoy!

(Somewhat Healthy) Chocolate Cake!

 Don't you love how my scrapbooking blog has become almost all recipes? It seemed the easiest place to share.

 

Last week I bought coconut cream at Trader Joe's, thinking I could put it in my smoothies since they were out of all forms of coconut milk. Well, it was solid & needed to be melted, and I did not want a warm smoothie, so I needed a plan b for the coconut cream.  I thought I could use it in place of butter or oil in a cake since it was similar in texture. Sure enough, it made an amazing, moist, delicious cake! Now I am not a professional baker, so feel free to laugh at the measurements I used, but it tasted good! And I used whole wheat flour, and no butter or oil, so it's a little bit healthy.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut cream
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Melt coconut cream (I put it in the microwave for 90 seconds at half power), beat in egg, add vanilla, then combine wet and dry ingredients, stir until blended. (I did this with a fork, but you could use beaters.)
Pour into a 9" round cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.

I bet you could do cupcakes too! I will be doubling the recipe to make cupcakes for my son's birthday.

 

 

For icing, I used the paleo fudge recipe I found here.  I poured it on the cake before it had a chance to solidify. I use peanut butter instead of almond butter, so it's not totally paleo, but the cake certainly isn't paleo, I was just aiming for less sugar than a traditional icing. I also sprinkled shredded coconut on top.  Then it got gobbled up before I could get another picture!

 

I hope you enjoy the cake!