Better Brownies

I do not have enough space in my house to store the hundreds of cookbooks that I would love to have so I rely heavily on the library and the internet for new and exciting recipes for my family. My only issue with searching the internet is that when you put in a dish it is hard to search through the hundreds and even thousands of recipes to find one that has healthy ingredients. It seems that one after another has yucky cream of something, vegetable oil, corn syrup and my list goes on. Also, I am very much an impromptu cook. I never plan for anything and I very rarely have all of the ingredients that are needed so I am always trying to find something that will work in its place. Sometimes it turns out fantastic and sometimes it goes straight into the trash.

Well, today I typed in "brownies" as I was appointed the task of making brownies for a play date tomorrow. I clicked on the first recipe that came up and I was disappointed to see the first ingredient be vegetable oil. What I did like though was the simplicity of it though. So I was looking around wondering what I could substitute for the vegetable oil. At first my eyes went to my very expensive bottle of grapeseed oil but considering that I needed a half of a cup from my small 12 oz. bottle I was less than thrilled. Then I remembered the 54 oz. tub of organic coconut oil in my pantry (thanks again Liz!!), I thought the nutty sweetness would be perfect for brownies. Next on the list, white sugar...that's a no brainer, throw in organic evaporated sugar cane juice plus some organic, pastured eggs. As for the vanilla extract, I have been out for months and trying to use up my bottle of almond extract and it is so yummy. Whole wheat flour is pretty much always used in place of all purpose flour in our house. Unsweetened cocoa powder is something I just never remember to pick up when I am stocking my pantry for baking items but carob powder is always in there. Also, having a really good quality salt is extremely important. I really urge you to look into Real Salt, which is the only salt that we ever use in our home. Now look at that...boring not so great for your body ingredients all replaced with interesting ones that are a much better choice.

I will admit that it took some work to get the coconut oil to cooperate. If you try this recipe please remember to liquify your oil before trying to mix. I did not and had to heat up the outside of my mixer bowl with hot water and then move on to mixing everything together. After getting everything mixed together I took a quick little taste test before pouring it into the pan and I was blown away!!!! The batter was so good! I think that the next time I make these I may even try and go egg free and use the flax seed egg replacer.

Next, what came out of the oven were some of the yummiest tasting brownies I have had in a long time. So yummy that the ladies will be lucky if I even have any left for the play date tomorrow.

If you are looking for a new brownie recipe please try this and be sure to let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup organic evaporated sugar cane juice
  
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 organic, pastured eggs
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup carob powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon Real salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease (with coconut oil) a 9x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, carob, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Magical Moments

There are those moments in a mothers life where you just realize how magical childhood is. Today I had that moment...

We were at a big playground surrounded by many children and off in the distance was a large hill. The children asked to go to the hill so we all headed over there. As the 3 older ones ran up the hill Peylyn and I sat at the bottom. She nursed while I watched them scramble up to the top. Zola and Ajay asked if they could roll down it. After I shouted yes they all got on their bellies and began to roll down colliding into one another. It was hilarious. Then Zola had the idea to roll up the hill, as they all tried to do this they just rolled in circles. Peylyn and I couldn't take it any longer so we ran up the hill to play with them and to take our turn at rolling down the hill.

Does a day get any better than that?