Monthly Archives: February 2018

{Low Carb} Cupcake Recipe

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9F47D194-BA90-42EB-AD21-D17F14C6A8ED25AFD926-2D26-4845-880B-4E092F03ECDBThese little treats were pretty easy to throw together. It took me as long to make the batter as it took my oven to preheat.  I put some jam the middle of a couple of them just to make them more appealing to the children. One of the girls made herself a strawberry shortcake as a snack with the cupcake/muffin.  These are very versatile. They could be frosted, filled with a variety of things, used as any kind of shortcake, or the base of almost any kind of muffin you might want.

Low Carb Cupcake/ Muffin Recipe

2 eggs (beaten)

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (melted)

2 1/2 cup  blanched almond flour

3/4 cup Torani sugar-free brown sugar cinnamon syrup

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tablespoon cake batter extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add melted oil and syrup. Stir. Add dry ingredients. Finally, add the extract. Put into lined muffin tin. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and baked through.

 

Valentine’s Exchange {free printable}

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This year I decided to go the easiest route of all, and let all the children give the same kind of Valentine card. I went to Amazon and got a 72 count tub of Haribo gummy bears since most everyone likes gummy bears. I chose this free printable from one of my favorite bloggers. We should be able to assemble these very quickly and easily.

 

gummy

photo credit: Haribo

 

We have a little party planned for Valentine’s Day, and I look forward to sharing those details later.

Don’t forget tomorrow is Mardi Gras. Get those beads and King cakes ready!

king-cake-m

photo credit: Southern Living

Double Chocolate Cake {Keto}

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I’m trying to experiment with new recipes at least a few days a week.  I also have a new obsession with avocados. I used to think they were so gross, but now they are among my favorite foods. Now I eat one almost every day.   Avocados are super nutritious and are one of the approved fruits for the keto diet.

 

Anyway, I was trying to make an avocado chocolate pudding the other day. After letting it refrigerate for a couple of hours I tasted it. It was not flavorful. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I decided that I didn’t want to waste it, and would see if I could make a cake with it as part of the batter to add moistness. The cake I made turned out to be delicious, and I am so glad that I didn’t waste that avocado.

Keto Double Chocolate Cake

1 avocado (mashed)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup Stevia (or sweetener of your choice)

1 egg

1 cup of Torani Sugar-free syrup (I used Belgian Cookie)

1/4 cup of softened butter

2 cups of almond flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. meringue powder

1/2 cup of Lilly’s sugar-free chocolate chips

Directions:

Mash the avocado. Add wet ingredients together. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients a little bit at a time.  Lastly, gently add the chocolate chips in and stir until combined.

Pour into a greased baking dish or cake pan. Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick put in the middle comes out clean.

Let completely cool before trying to cut it.

This would be a lovely cake for a special occasion like VALENTINE’S DAY!

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Educational Sites Worth Visiting

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As a homeschool parent, I am always looking for websites to help bring lessons to life, to enrich, or to explain in better ways all the things we are learning. Some of my favorites right now are Khan Academy, Mensa For Kids, and the History Channel. There are so many websites that are truly wonderful, but I want to share why I am particularly impressed with these three right now.

While my children do not yet realize it, we are going through the top eleven pieces of art recovered by the Monuments Men. The first questions of our second-semester art were: “Is art important? Is art worth protecting? Is art worth risking a life to save and why?” They each had to write out their responses to these questions, and we will revisit their responses at the end of the semester after we watch the movie. Khan Academy has been a tremendous help as we learn about these works of art. I just put the piece of art we are studying into the search area and a video with two professors explaining the piece of art comes up. It also has a quiz to make sure that the information is understood. I especially enjoyed the lesson on the Ghent Altarpiece. They explained so many tiny things that I would never have even noticed and most certainly not understood the importance of without the lesson.

 

ghent closed

photo credit: Khan Academy

 

Mensa For Kids is another great site that we are currently using for our science lessons. It presents the lessons and has great questions for review. It also includes other sites to visit that help teach the lessons as well. I am fairly picky when it comes to science and find this site to be a very comprehensive one for the lessons we are covering.

Obviously, the History Channel is a great resource for teaching history. Personally, I learn best visually and auditorily so watching things on History Channel is very helpful.  We are currently learning about the slavery and the Civil War.  Roots has been remade and is on the History Channel. Their website has a full guide to help students as they watch the show. It is very comprehensive and has many other sites to visit. It also has thought-provoking questions. There are activities that are suggested to help the viewers explore their own roots and to understand the time period better.

We are very excited to have discovered these sites and to be learning more from them every day.

Caramel Chocolate Cookies {keto}

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IMG_3500IMG_3501It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a recipe so I wanted to do that today.

My husband and I were looking for a treat, so I decided to whip up a batch of cookies.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

1 stick of softened butter

2 cups almond flour

1 1/2 cup stevia

1/4 cup salted almonds (chopped)

1 bar of unsweetened chocolate (chopped)

1 Tablespoon of caramel extract

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking soda

Mix all the ingredients together. Place in small spoonfuls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until lightly browned (it took mine 7-8 minutes).

Enjoy!!