Mother's Day Tea party treats

What’s for breakfast? Coconut scones and Cheese Cake stuffed strawberries, of course. I can’t let the leftovers go to waste now, can I? Yesterday was mother's day and this year I thought I would throw the mom’s in my family a little tea party. Hats and all.  I had been preparing all week. Who am I kidding, the week before that too, doing a little bit here and there. You kind of have to, with two little ones who seem to need something every time you start doing something that doesn’t involve themJ OK, back on point. The tea party was a success. Mostly everyone was able to attend, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect, there were no disasters, and the food all turned out great and I wasn’t a total stress ball like I can sometimes be when throwing a party. My husband VOLUNTEERED (I swear) to serve us our tea. We even had a little bell to ring when we needed refills. My 6 year old had a lot of fun ringing Daddy.

Back to the Scones and Strawberries. The scones are vegan friendly. The strawberry filling was made with organic cream cheese which could easily be swapped out for a soy based cream cheese for those of you who can’t have any dairy. There is one called Tofutti, that is suppose to be pretty good, although I haven’t personally tried it so don’t hate me if its not your cup of tea. Pun, pun pun:)



Vegan Coconut Scones

Ingredients:

4 cups Organic (regular is fine too) All purpose or pastry whole wheat flour
1.5 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup virgin coconut oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
About 1.5 cup Coconut milk (or other milk substitute)



Preparation:

*Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
*In large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients
*Mix in coconut oil (work it around a bit, I use a spoon to smash it in good so it breaks up a bit)
*Add vanilla extract
*Slowly add coconut milk, working dough as little as possible, until you have a dough that just barely stick together. I usually don’t need to use all of the coconut milk.
*Turn the dough out on a heavily floured surface
*Knead the dough slightly. When it is done it should be smooth and easy to handle (if you see little balls of coconut that’s fine, they will melt in)
*Gently pat dough into two 1.5” thick discs
*Cut each disk into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on how big you want them. I usually do 8. I use a pizza cutter and slice It like a pizza.
*Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, turning pan halfway through.
*Cool on baking sheet
*Once Cooled, apply the glaze if you want to use one.


Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
4-5 Tbsp Coconut Milk, added 1 -2 Tbsp at a time
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract




Cheesecake stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 lbs large strawberries
8 oz softened organic cream cheese or cream cheese substitute
¼ tsp Pure liquid stevia (or to taste) Or 3-4 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
Graham cracker crumbs or Oreo crumbs ( if making dairy free, be sure to read ingredients on box, there are some that are dairy free)


Preparation:

*Cut tops off strawberries
*If you want strawberries to stand upright, cut off a little bit of the bottom.
*Rinse
*Clean out inside of strawberry with a vegetable peeler or small knife
*Combine cream cheese, vanilla, and sweetener by hand or with a hand mixer, till smooth.
*Add cream cheese mix to piping bag and fill the strawberries.
*Dip each strawberry in crumbs
*Serve or Refrigerate if making ahead of time.

Note: If serving outdoors in warm weather, don’t plate until ready to eat.

I hope you all had a wonderful mothers day surrounded by love ones. Now go on and make your self some scones. You don't need to have a tea party to do so.

Carter's Black Bean Chocolate Birthday Cake

My son just turned three years old last week. For his birthday I made a delicious and nutritious chocolate birthday cake guaranteed to minimize the dreaded sugar crash that so often accompanies the typical sugary laden cakes. All of you with children out there, you know what I’m talking about.:) The recipe is adapted from one of my favorite food blogs, Healthy Indulgences. The recipe for the frosting is a basic vegan butter cream frosting. If I wouldn’t have spilled the beans, about the beans, (pun intended) not one person would have guessed there were black beans in it. The Kids loved it, the adults loved it and being packed with protein and fiber takes away any guilt that you might feel normally after eating cake. The recipe makes enough for one 9" layer cake. I tripled the recipe and was able to make a small two tiered cake and 8 cupcakes. I found this recipe when we were on the South Beach Diet, trying to stay low carb and satisfy a sweet tooth. If you are on a low carb diet, and want to cut your carbs even more, you can use 1.5 cups of canned soybeans instead. Enjoy!

For the Cake:


Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup honey + 1 teaspoon pure Stevia extract
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
*Spray a 9" cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray
*Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. This helps it from sticking and easier clean up.
*Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.
*Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake them a bit to dry.
*Place the beans, 3 of the eggs, stevia, vanilla and salt into blender.
*Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied.
*Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
*Beat butter with honey until fluffy. Add remaining two eggs.
*Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix.
*Lastly, stir in cocoa powder and Mix till its nice and smooth, you can use a hand mixer or mix by hand. I prefer to use the hand mixer.
*Pour the batter into pan. Grip pan by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to get out any air bubbles.
*Bake for 40-45 minutes.
*Cake is done when the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night.


For the Frosting:

Ingredients:
*1 cup soft vegan margarine
*1 lb powdered sugar
*2 tsp vanilla
*3 tablespoons almond milk or other milk substitute

Preparation:
*Mix all  ingredients together until creamy and smooth.
*Cover and refrigerate until needed.
*Makes two cups of frosting
*Note: If you are not making a birthday cake and don't want all the sugar that the frosting comes with, the cake is delicious by itself. When I make this for my family i usually just sprinkle a little powdered sugar all over to make it look pretty:)

This is my second homemade birthday cake I have made for one of my children's birthdays and I must say it was a success. The racetrack was made from crumbled up dairy free Newmans Own Oreos. I used the inside of the Oreo for the little white dividing road lines. It was however, challenging to  put this together without my son noticing what I was doing. At one point he was sitting on the counter by me trying to eat all the crumbles and asking for "just one more cookie". In the end though, I had one happy boy.