Chocolate Cake

My mom made this cake growing up and when she passed away I started making it. My kids love this cake, they always ask for it and they even get a little bit of the batter in a bowl to eat. I make this for all occassions and it is always gone quickly. Everyone loves it and I have given out the recipe to many people. Please, please use butter. Margarine just doesn't give it the rich taste that makes this cake so good! And this frosting is a must too! I promise, you will not be dissappointed.


Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour, sifted (important or you will have flour lumps in the batter)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (please not only better for you, but taste so much better too!)
¼ cup cocoa
1 cup water
½ buttermilk (or ½ TBSP white vinegar plus enough milk to make ½ cup. Let sit for a few minutes to sour.)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla


In large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour, soda and cinnamon. In medium saucepan combine butter, cocoas and water, bring to boil over medium heat cooking until butter is melted. Add to sugar-flour mixture, blend. Whip together buttermilk and eggs and blend thoroughly. Stir in vanilla. Pour into ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees. You can also cook this in a big sheet cake pan, just don’t cook it as long.

Chocolate frosting

½ cup butter (NOT margarine)
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup cocoa
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

In medium saucepan combine butter, milk and cocoas. Bring to a boil and simmer about 3 minutes. The oil will start to separate when it is finished. Make sure to let it simmer for 3 minutes, this bring out the taste in the frosting. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients, blending until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more vanilla or a little bit of milk. Spread immediately over cake.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Non-Dairy Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
This tastes so good. You can't even tell that it is made with coconut milk. My husband came back for seconds and my 8 month old who can't have dairy loved it too!

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream (Non Dairy)
adapted from Simple Healthy Tasty

1 can coconut milk (not light)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 Tablespoon nutmeg
1/4 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 cups rice milk
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
1 c sugar (can also substitute raw sugar or sucanat)

Put coconut milk in blender and blend until it has all been mixed together. Then add remaining ingredients. Put in the refrigerator until cooled. Add to your ice cream maker container and follow your makers instructions. Yum!

Purely Decadent-Review

I have found an ice cream that is just heaven to me. The brand is called Purely Decadent. They have many flavors, all dairy free, gluten free, organic and vegan. They also come with about 5 grams of fiber per half cup. That is a super bonus if you ask me.

So far I have tried two flavors, Purely Vanilla and Turtle Trails. I have truly enjoyed them both. I really liked the Purely Vanilla with Marie Callendars Razzleberry pie. The Turtle Trails which has swirls of carmel and chocolate covered prailine pecans is so addicting I could eat the entire pint in one sitting. (But I know that would probably make me sick, so I have resisted.) The carmel is SO good!

They have many more flavors all of which I am tempted to try. I am very curious about the Pomegranate Chip which is made with pomegranate and chocolate chips. It is very intriguing to me. Other flavors that look appealing are Cookie Avalanche, Blueberry Cheesecake, and Snickerdoodle.

Soy ice cream

I came across this recipe and served it at my husbands birthday dinner along with some other dairy ice creams. This was a HUGE hit. My guests were scraping at the bowl and it was enjoyed far more than the dairy versions. I'm not a big soy milk fan, but I LOVED this.

2 c. soy creamer
2 c. soy milk (I use the Silk brand. It is by FAR the best)
1 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla- the real stuff.)
3/4 c sugar
*2 TB arrowroot (this is optional. I didn't use it, but it will make your ice cream thicker.)

Mix 1/4 c of soy m ilk with 2 TB of arrowroot and set aside.

Mis the soy creamer and soy milk together in a saucepan. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise, and scrape the seeds into the milk. Drop the bean shell into the milk too. Bring to a slight boil, then lower temperature and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes.

Remove bean shell. Stir in the sugar, and bring to a boil again. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediatly cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount, it will thicken as it cools.)

Chill the ice cream mixture .Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

*If you are using vanilla extract.

Mix 1/4 c soy milk with 2 TB arrowroot and set aside.

Mix soy creamer, soy milk, and sugar together ina saucepan. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the srrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Chill ice cream mixture.Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Better Than Ice Cream

 

About a week ago I got a new book, Go Dairy Free by Alisa Fleming. Because I am nursing and my son has a milk allergy I cannot have milk as it passes through the breastmilk. I have really missed my dairy, not so much the milk itself, but the things that have milk in it, such as cheese and ice cream. When I got this book, I was thrilled. It has a lot of great recipes in it. One of the first that I tried was Better Than Ice Cream. Now, I wouldn't really say that it is "better" than ice cream, because what really is? But it is better for you, and a pretty nice treat.

Better Than Ice Cream
from Go Dairy Free

1/2 c. nuts (I used almonds)
1 c. frozen bananas (I peel my bananas that are getting ripe, break them in chunks and then freeze them)
1 c. frozen peaches or berries
1/4- 1/2 c milk alternative (I used rice milk, and I'm sure regular milk would work too)
1/2 tsp vanilla


Put nuts in blender and pulse until coarse. Then add fruit and pulse until chunky. Add milk and vanilla and mix until smooth, at least 1 minute. (Mine came out a little grainy but if you had a "super blender", I'm sure you wouldn't notice the grainy texture from the nuts.)Poor into a glass and enjoy like a milkshake. Yummy!