Day 2: Vegan Sugar Free Vanilla Frosting

I just wanted to say my heart goes out to everyone in Boston; to those who have lost loved ones and to those who are injured. We will be praying for you.

Now on to the frosting!  I've been wanting to make yesterday's cupcakes but whats a cupcake without frosting? I've been endlessly searching for a frosting recipe that didn't use butter or sugar. I finally found this one. I had to do a little tweaking in the end and as you can see it calls for agave nectar or maple syrup neither of which are sugar free. But! Yes a very excited But! I have my own sugar free maple syrup substitute! In face you can easily make any kind of syrup substitute using Xylitol and water! I'll have a post on this tomorrow I think.

The finished product *insert huge grin here*

The quick Xylitol syrup recipe is as follows.
1 part water
2 parts xylitol

Combine in pot and set on low heat. Stir until Xylitol is completely dissolved. Cool.  Cool?  Cool!

I swapped this in for the agave in this recipe at the same measurement and it came out great.  So here is my modified recipe.

Sugar-Free Vegan Frosting

2 cups organic palm shortening (Spectrum)
1 cup arrowroot powder
1 cup Xylitol Syrup
4 teaspoons non-alcoholic vanilla
2 teaspoons almond flavoring (non-alcoholic)

The original directions say to just throw this in a bowl and mix it up. Done. But when I did that I got this:

Um... Yuck!

 And this was with the Vegetable Shortening at room temperature. Things just didn't want to properly combine. So rude! To solve this I heated the mixture up slightly (I turned on my oven and sat the bowl on top of it.) Then once the shortening melted down a little I mixed it all together.

Aaa looks like we're on the right track.

Once I got it to the above consistency I cooled it in the fridge. Every fifteen minutes for about an hour I took it out and whipped it a bit until finally it looked just right!

Alllllmost...

Yes!! Beautiful! Stay that way, you're beautiful, don't ever change!

 Once I got it looking like above all that was left was to add it to my cupcakes from yesterday and Voila! Vanilla, chocolatey almost perfection!

The icing itself was very tasty. Not too sweet not too too oily, but good. My ultimate verdict: Gonna keep looking. This icing, though tasty, was a little too difficult to put together. Also I don't know how this would work if I let it sit out any longer. I iced this baby and then ate it up. Chances are it would have started separating and melting all over again, which is a little less than ideal. Just a little. Also I'm not too keen on literally eating mouthfuls of Vegetable shortening. I know its probably the least evil of all frosting ingredients but there has to be something better. In the future I might try messing with a coconut cream/oil whipped topping. Still this was very satisfying. I hope you enjoy it!

Day 1: Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

I pretty much always crave chocolate. Its just an ongoing longing for chocolatey goodness. If you came up to me on the street and offered me chocolate I would NOT immediately call you crazy and run away and I think thats saying something.  I haven't had anything chocolate for awhile.  Well except for that small bite of dark chocolate at that super tasty chocolatier yesterday. Hey! It was free! Leave me alone!

So its time for some cocoa. The mood is right for some sweetness. The clock has chimed and its chocolate time. Whoa... I had a corny attack out of excitement!! 

I may have cheated a little here. On my trip to Whole Foods to buy supplies for these cupcakes I stumbled upon my salvation. No sugar added, Erythritol sweetened Dairy Free (Jeez enough descriptors here?) Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream!!!!! It was delicious!  And wouldn't ya know my freezer is broken so I had to eat the whole thing... last night... by myself... IT.... WAS.... GLORIOUS!!

Awesome Sauce!

Anyways back to the cupcakes! While on the Body Ecology diet, I'm not just paleo or gluten free. I'm super gluten free. I have a cape and everything. It has a sad face on it.  On the BE diet I can't have even gluten free grains like rice or potato starch or corn. I have to stick to the big four. Amaranth, Millet, Buckwheat and Quinoa. (Note to self: get some Quinoa flour. I've never tried it). I've made some pretty tasty things with these but I am trying to limit my intake of them in flour form. After a recent break out (that I now suspect was due to hormones) I am trying to limit anything that may be inflammatory. 

In comes Coconut flour. Coconut flour is mostly fiber, is thought to be anti-inflammatory, and has a ton of nutrients like manganese and lauric acid. Here's a little more from Nourished Kitchen (I'll be back in a second. I need to add this link to my pinterest!). 

THE Cupcake

The recipe I'll be modifying is from The Wannabe Chef. You can see the original here.

Below is the same recipe with my own modification. If you see that I am doing something horribly wrong, please let me know. It might explain a few things.

Liz's Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients(Makes a dozen cupcakes):
1/2 cup +2 Tablespoons coconut flour
4 eggs
2 egg whites
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup xylitol or lakanto
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 cupcake holders with paper liners.
Mix together the coconut flour, eggs, egg whites, cocoa powder, xylitol, coconut milk, baking soda, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
Slowly add just enough water so that the batter is slightly runny and easy to mix by hand without exerting too much effort.
Scoop the batter evenly into the cupcake liners. Hit the pan against the counter a few times to even the batter and knock out any air bubbles.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are firm to the touch.

Num Num Num. Get in my mouth!

So here is my evaluation. The cupcakes are very dense. More of a pound cake/devil's food cake consistency which isn't bad. They are very moist. This may be because I added too much water when mixing. The cupcake was also not sweet enough or chocolatey enough for my tastes. I think I'll have to try this recipe with a little less water OR with more Xylitol and Cocoa powder. I'm leading towards the latter. Still I'm sure none of this is going to stop me from eating every last one. Mmmmmm. Tomorrow's post will feature the Vegan Sugar free icing I'll be trying to make to put on these bad boys.

Ooo look it just jumped right up in there!

The Chronicles Begin!

Hi! My name is Liz and I'm a life long acne sufferer. Its really hard to talk about how I got here without first mentioning that. I don't remember a time when I didn't have at least one zit. Well maybe when I was on antibiotics but that was a false-clear, something I've learned on this road to truly clear skin. And let me tell you I have learned a lot. I've learned that the practice of dermatology is flawed though it does still have its place. I've learned that the typical acne treatments only treat the effects not the cause of acne and can even make things worse. I've learned that truly fixing the issue, at least for some people, can only happen through lifestyle and diet changes. I've learned that this is not something we need to just accept, it is something we can absolutely change if we have the resolve. Oh, and this was an interesting one, I've learned that our diets can control how our skin heals. Like big time.

Zucchini Buckwheat Pancakes!

This all started for me at a beauty spa. I was trying to get a PCA peel (A combination of acids are applied to your face to kill of layers of skin revealing fresher softer skin underneath, a truly horrible idea when you think about it) but I had been using retinal (one of the many forms of vitamin A) on my face and therefore my face would be too sensitive. PCA peels had been hailed for softening acne scars, of which I had many. So I was really looking forward to this. As I was leaving, feeling heartily dejected, a spa worker stopped me and asked why I wanted this. I said it was for my acne and my acne scars. At this point I had regular deep cystic acne that would leave horrible pock marks on my cheeks and chin. She then told me she too had cystic acne. She had been able to get it under control by completely eliminating dairy from her diet. At that point I would try anything, so I bought some coconut milk and dug in. Over the next few months I started phasing more and more things out of my diet and I continue to notice positive effects.

Crispy Garlic Rosemary Gluten Free Bread

So here I am. I am following the strict Body Ecology diet for the next couple of months but will continue to be gluten/sugar/dairy free thereafter. It hasn't been easy but most of the cravings are gone. Most of my acne is gone. I effortlessly lost about 10 pounds (which I had no desire to lose mind you). I feel more clear headed, less sleepy and less anxious. The only problem is I really miss baked goods. Brownies... muffins... bread!! And that's really what this blog is about. I've been trying for about a month now to build up some good baking recipes for my new lifestyle. At first it was insanely frustrating. Recipes didn't work. I unsuccessful swapped ingredients. Things just tasted horrible. But others have been pretty good. All and all it has been entertaining. So I'm hoping to try at least 1 baked good each day for a year. Will I make it? Who knows but I'm sure it will be fun!

Pretty tasty Buckwheat Zucchini Brownies