Category: Healthy Recipes

This post will be short and sweet. Well, actually more sweet than short. If your looking for a scrumptious dessert for a Valentine’s lunch or dinner, I recommend this Red Raspberry White Chocolate layer cake. An absolute paradise for the taste buds! Every once in awhile, I enjoy laying aside all gluten and sugar free recipes and bake up a lovely, fluffy cake! I usually take it to social functions so we have help eating it!

Red Raspberry White Chocolate Cake

Mix a white cake mix using directions on box, then melt 4 oz. baker’s white chocolate and beat into cake batter. Divide batter into 3 8” round cake pans. I first line them with wax paper then spray them well so they will release easily. Bake at 350* for 18-20 min. Flip onto wax paper lined plates to cool.

Red Raspberry Filling:

Whisk together 3 T. flour and 6 T. milk. Heat and stir over medium heat till thickened. Cool and set aside.

Cream together 6 T. Shortening and 3 T. Soft Butter, then beat in 4 T. melted red raspberry jam, 3 C. powdered sugar, 1/2 t. red raspberry flavoring and a pinch salt. Last beat in the cooled flour mixture. Beat very well.

Frosting:

Beat well 8 oz. soft cream cheese and 1 stick soft butter. Add in 4 oz. baker’s white chocolate squares, melted, and 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar and a pinch salt.

To assemble the cake, put one cake layer on platter or cake stand. (It works best to make the cake layers ahead of time, wrap individually in Saran Wrap and freeze for a day or at least a few hours. This makes them so much easier to work with when frosting and assembling!) Spread with red raspberry filling, some fresh raspberries, cut in half, then another cake layer. Repeat. Once the 3rd layer is on, frost with the white chocolate icing. Decorate with fresh raspberries and white chocolate peels as desired. Some fresh mint sprigs would look beautiful but I did not have any. Also, this is really sweet, so if you want to ice it with the ‘naked’ look, you could cut down on the sugar intake.😛 One of my friends did this cake like that for a party and it looked really pretty too!

Now here’s another cake idea but without all that flour and sugar! This doesn’t look Valentine’sish but it still works for a healthier yum! Surprisingly it has no flour in it at all! Though it’s not a tall, fluffy cake, it is still quite tasty!

Layered Ho Ho Cake

8 eggs separated

1/8 t. cream of tarter

8 oz. cream cheese

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. simple sweet

1/ 3 c. cocoa

Beat egg whites with cream of tarter until stiff. Mix rest of ingredients together, then gently fold in egg whites. Divide batter into 3 8” round pans lined with wax paper. Bake at 300* for 30 minutes. Flip onto wax paper lined plates to cool.

Filling:

6 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. simple sweet

1 t. vanilla

3/4 c. whipping cream

Mix cream cheese, sweetner and vanilla until smooth. Beat cream till stiff and add to cream cheese. Place one cake layer on plate or stand and spread on half of filling. Place another cake on top and spread with remainder of filling. Top with last cake.

Glaze:

2 T. Butter

2/3 c. Lily’s chocolate chips (or you can use another brand of sugar free chocolate chips if desired)

1 T. Simple sweet

1 t. Cocoa

2 T. Whipping cream

Melt butter and chocolate chips on low heat, then remove from heat and add rest of ingredients. Mix well. Cool a little before pouring over cake. Used with permission from Simple Foods.

More important than eating beautiful cakes is the love in your heart for those around you. I think this quote is so true- “Your love for God is no more than your love for the person you love the least.” When we have the Redemptive love of Christ in our hearts, He will help us love those ‘hard to love people’. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:7, 8. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35 A true test of whether we are really followers of Christ! In this day of social distancing and mask wearing, we can be the quiet, courageous person displaying love and kindness to all around us. There are many opportunities in this cold and fearful world. Be kind today!

We all know we should lock our vehicles, right? But why should we especially lock them in July? To keep them from becoming loaded up with your friend’s surplus zucchini and summer squash!!

These plants seemingly either die or produce an over abundance. They certainly don’t seem to know much about moderation…..This summer ours died so we have none. Thus it was I happily grabbed up the oversized zucchini (last one in the box) on my way out the church door Wednesday evening. Somebody’s plants are over producing but thankfully they didn’t load up our vehicles! They just kindly set a big box in the church entry free for the taking! Then some summers I feel disgruntled because I can’t even give away enough zucchinis! And we end up feeding the compost pile.

I love a good old summer medley of fried zucchini, squash, onions and mushrooms! So yum and full of good nutrition! There’s so many ways to fix these veggies and likely you already have your favorites. Perhaps you’ve been diligently making those dishes with your over producing garden plants? And your tired of recipes including zucchini? I’m so sorry if this is the case and here I come loading you up with more recipes! (Hey, at least it’s not a box full of unwanted zucchinis!) I tried a new recipe the other day and was so glad I did! I actually made a double batch of them a few days later because they were so good and didn’t last long! I’d like to share this cupcake recipe with you today. Plus two more recipes that I’ve made other years that are quite tasty!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

1 1/3 c.small chunked zucchini

4 eggs

4 Tbsp. soft butter

2/3 c. Simple Sweet

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

4 Tbsp. cocoa

3 Tbsp. coconut flour

1 c. almond flour

2 Tbsp protein powder

Put zucchini in blender and chop till almost smooth. Add remaining ingredients to the blender and blend till smooth. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake at 350* for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and frost with the following recipe.

2 Tbsp. soft butter

3 oz. soft cream cheese

3 Tbsp. Simple Sweet

2/3 c. whipping cream, whipped till stiff

Beat first 3 ingredients until smooth, then beat in the whipped cream.

After frosting the cupcakes, store in refrigerator. You can add 2 Tbsp. cocoa to the frosting but I omitted it because I’m not a complete chocolate fan. I thought they were quite delicious and pretty with a white frosting! These cupcakes are super moist and yummy! My family enjoys them! Used with permission from Simple Foods cookbook.

Now, maybe you don’t like ‘healthy’ recipes and would rather bake with regular old flour and sugar. If so, here’s a scrumptious recipe for you!

Shredded Zucchini Bars

2 c. sugar

1 c. oil

4 eggs

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 tsp. vanilla

2 c. shredded zucchini

1 c. chocolate chips

Beat first 3 ingredients. Add remaining ingredients except zucchini and chocolate chips. Very last mix in those two. Pour in a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese icing.

6 oz. soft cream cheese

1 c. soft butter

2 Tbsp. milk

4 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter then add powdered sugar and milk.

These are soooo soft, delicious, and moreish!! Musty too! (Must have more) Last summer a church friend made these for us when she brought a meal after Reece was born. Other people’s cooking is so good when your just recuperating from having a new baby and nursing besides! And so it was that I asked her for the recipe!

Recently I attempted to revise this recipe of zucchini bars, since I need to avoid gluten… I used Bob’s Red Mill brand of gluten free 1 to 1 Baking Flour in exchange for the regular flour. The dough looked a little dry, so I added in some applesauce. It was not too bad, but I tried a second shot at it before I was satisfied. I don’t normally use this kind of flour because it doesn’t seem as healthy as almond, sorghum or coconut flour. But it is handy when your in a pinch. This 1 to 1 flour can be used in exchange for one cup of all purpose flour, which is so handy, because then I don’t need to figure out the flour ratios and all that! This blend has a mix of rice flours, sorghum flour and several starches. If you want to bake those zucchini bars the healthier version, here’s what I changed: 1 cup simple sweet and 1 teaspoon stevia to replace the sugar, 2 cups gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour, to replace the regular flour. Then I added a half cup applesauce and used sugar free chocolate chips. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. Then frosted it with the same frosting recipe I used for those zucchini cupcakes. I was pleased and they were very good! They are a bit flatter than the regular version but that’s normal when you’re not using gluten flours. Store in refrigerator after frosting.

(Some grocery stores have a health food section where you could find this flour or online. I got this at our local Fareway)

Lastly, I bet you can fool your family with the following recipe… It tastes amazingly like apple crisp! But it’s made with, well, you know what! I have not made this recipe this year so do not have a picture.

Zucchini Dessert

8 c. peeled, seeded and cubed zucchini

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 c. lemon juice

Cook together until zucchini is tender. Set aside.

Blend the following into crumbs:

4 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. soft butter

Press half of the crumbs into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 375* for 10 minutes.

Add half of the remaining crumbs to the zucchini mixture and stir. Pour over baked crust. Add 1 tsp. cinnamon to remaining crumb mixture and spread over zucchini mixture. Bake at 375* for 35 minutes. As it cools, it will thicken. This is wonderful served with ice cream! Used with permission from Stutzman’s Culinary Secrets.

Mint Tea

What is Spring or Summer without delicious mint tea?!….Some call it garden tea, Some call it meadow tea, some call it creek tea. Whatever you call it tea, would you like a glass of tea with me?

Do you know what is more refreshing than a pretty glass of mint tea? A glass of mint tea sweetened with stevia instead of all that sugar!😛 I really like the Now brand of Stevia Glycerite for drinks. 2 teaspoons nicely sweetens one gallon. If you are used to having it really sweet, you can try 2 1/2 teaspoons. And there is no bad aftertaste! I do not mind my family drinking a lot of this tea because they’re not drinking sugar tea. Reece slurps his down like it’s an emergency when I fill his sipper cup!

I do not have measurements for my tea and I’m guessing most of my readers know how to make this tea too, without specific directions…. I brew a batch of tea about like this for one gallon. Fill with ice and water and sweetner. A refreshing taste of summertime!!

Custard Pie

Jerald enjoys a good pie. One of his favorites would be Custard. A plain, simple, easy pie. I certainly can’t complain on it being too much work to make it for him! Especially when you have crusts in the freezer! I buy my crusts from our local bulk food store. I’m just not a crusty person! 😜 And when you can buy beautiful, flakey crusts at a very reasonable price, why not? It simplifies things for this mom, especially since we don’t eat a large quantity of pies.

And so it is I find myself, often on a Saturday, thinking what could I make for Sunday dessert? I like to make a dessert for Sunday because Sunday is a special day! Custard pie fits the bill at any given time. Especially if I want to surprise my man!

So this is how you make it. First, you dash out to the freezer and remove one of the pie crusts and let it thaw. It doesn’t take long, so you can immediately begin making the filling. Turn oven to 415*. Heat 2 1/2 cups of milk to scalding. While its heating, crack 4 eggs in a small bowl and whisk them up with 1/2 cup raw sugar, (or less) 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. By then the milk should be scalding but not burned yet. If you have a baby, it’s easy to forget things like heating milk temperatures, and thus you end up with burned milk. In that case, discard the milk and heat some more. Unless, of course, you like a burned flavor and black flakes in your pie, you can still use the same milk. So now add the very warm milk to the egg mixture and whisk it all up real nice. Pour it in the crust which by now will be thawed. Or maybe even over thawed because you had to change the baby’s diaper, hang out a load of laundry, and tend to your other screaming offspring. After it’s in the crust, sprinkle it lightly with cinnamon. If your young cook is helping, they will want to sprinkle the cinnamon which will get an overdose, but that is ok. Cinnamon is healthy and the pie still tastes good. If you have time and energy left, it’s lovely to drop in a few raspberries on top. (Fresh or frozen) Or even a few thin slices of fresh peaches. And oh yes I need to mention! This makes a tad more than one pie, so you just pour that extra filling into a small dish to bake. Very gently now, with no toddlers bumping you, set the pie in the oven along with the small dish of custard filling. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350* for another 25 to 30 minutes. If your unsure if it’s finished, you can slide a table knife in the center to see if it comes out clean, then it should be done. As soon as the small dish of custard is cool, sneak into the bathroom or another private room to eat it by yourself. It’s a small reward for all the effort it took to make a simple pie!!

I never knew my Grandpa Kurtz, but Mom would always say that when he ate pie he’d say “pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.” 😍😍