Dish & Serve: Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe

Our little family loves to spend time cooking and baking together in the kitchen.  When, DeAnn from the S.I.P. Project asked me to share a recipe for her Dish & Serve series on her blog, I was delighted.  Now, since we've been away on an extended business trip in Alaska, it wasn't a matter of finding a great recipe to share, it was figuring out who to give the treats to once they were made.  Luckily we've become friends with two other business travelers who work for my husband's company.  Since one of them isn't big on sweets, we decided to find out what kind of things the other one would like --- carrot cake was her choice, and Zion loves cooking cupcakes, so it was easy to decide on making mini carrot cakes!

After we got our cupcakes cooking in the oven, it was time to make a delicious cream cheese frosting.  Now, anyone who makes frosting from scratch will tell you that it is no easy task to do by hand.  Since we don't have a hand mixer up here where we are staying, I used the next best thing --- my strong husband!  After much elbow grease and a slight variation on the ingredients to make it easier, we finished our delicious frosting.

We taste tested a few of the cupcakes to make sure we weren't going to be sending over any disasters to our friend, and then packed up several to bring to her.  We knew she'd love them and couldn't wait to see her reaction!

She was thrilled to receive some home made goodies, especially since she has been away from home much longer than we have been!  I loved seeing Zion proudly hand over the cupcakes she had made.

Paleo / Grain-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Adapted rom PaleoOMG)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs, whisked
• ¼ cup virgin coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• ¼ cup raisins (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put your shredded carrots in a bowl, mix in almond flour, follow with remaining dry ingredients except for raisins and walnuts.
3. Whisk your eggs in a small bowl, add honey and vanilla and stir until mixed.
4. Add egg mixture to other ingredients and mix together.
5. Fold in raisins & walnuts if using.
6. Place cupcake ingredients into a muffin tin lined with paper liners . Should fill 10-12 muffins depending on size.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Easy Mixer-Free Cream Cheese Frosting: (Adapted from SpinachTiger)

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces whipped cream cheese (1 1/2 containers)
• 5 tablespoons pastured butter, softened
• 5 1/2 - 6 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons of heavy cream  
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together. 
2. Add in confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time until about 5 cups have been added. 
3. Add in heavy cream and vanilla. 
4. Add an additional 1/2 to 1 cup of confectioners' sugar.
5. Beat until fluffy.

       

Simple, Healthy, FunLifeway ProBugs Frozen Kefir

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Lifeway Kefir but all my opinions are my own.  #pmedia #lifewayprobugs http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

In our house we are always looking for great ways to incorporate healthy eating, and several months ago we discovered Lifeway Kefir.  Kefir is a creamy probiotic dairy beverage that promotes gut-health by re-establishing necessary intestinal microflora.  Essentially it makes our tummies feel great! Lifeway Kefir is gluten-free, and made with organic milk from grass-fed cows!

When we had the chance to pick up Lifeway Probugs Frozen Kefir, their new product made with kids in mind, I couldn't wait to see how Zion would like it.  I think you can tell from the picture above that all it took was one taste for her to be a big fan.

Of course, I like to get a little fancy with my frozen treats, so I thought up the perfect Summer dessert that you can eat totally guilt-free, a frozen kefir fruit and nut parfait!

While I created this yummy parfait with layers of berries, coconut and Lifeway Probugs - with me in mind, when Zion saw me bring it outside she couldn't help herself.  And I don't blame her at all - the girl definitely gets her love of frozen treats from me.  I love that this healthy probiotic abundant snack can be considered a treat!

After enjoying our Lifeway Probugs for several days, we decided to do something fun with our leftover tubes.  We are big on recycling in our family and I love that so many things can be reused and re-purposed, even if its just for the sake of getting our craft on!

With Zion's birthday just around the corner, and a batch of cake pops getting ready to be made this week, I thought these containers would make a perfect backdrop to our cake pop stand.  We started out by painting the containers, then after they were dried fully we used a paper fastener to hold the tubes together.  

We used glue and glitter to write on the tubes and will use a popsicle stick or possibly cake pop sticks to attach it to our stand.  For the final display I'm going to make you wait until later this week, that way you can get the big reveal with the cake pops made.

We are now big fans of Lifeway Probugs Frozen Kefir - which you can find in the freezer section at your local Whole Foods.  They come in three delicious and fun flavors: StrawNana Split, Goo-Berry Pie and Orange Creamy Crawler.  You can sign-up for coupons and offers from Lifeway here.

To learn more about Lifeway and their products connect with them here:
Web // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest.

Have you tried Kefir?  Do you think your kids will love this healthy frozen snack?  Let me know if you give these a try!

       

Natural, Sustainable & Gluten-Free Box!Introducing Conscious Box + Giveaway

I received a complimentary Conscious Box for the purpose of this review, however; all opinions within this post are my own! http://cmp.ly/1/t8BRoC

 When my first Conscious Box arrived last month, I was excited to open it up and see what kinds of samples and goodies were within.  When I saw the size of the box, I have to admit, I was thinking, well, there may be a couple of things in there, it was SO tiny!  You can imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found all of these awesome product samples inside:

I am pretty sure the box sent to me for review was February's Gluten-Free box, which is awesome since we adhere to a gluten-free lifestyle.  Contained within was everything from chips to food bars, chocolates, chia seeds, organic spice mix and then samples of cleaning products and baby products.  I still can't believe it all fit within the tiny box it came in!  Conscious Box also offers a vegan box and classic box!!

Most of the brands that were included in this box were new to me, so that was also great!  The only thing I love more than a good subscription box is one that introduces me to great new brands and products I probably wouldn't have tried on my own!  The Perfect Foods mini bar (above) was something I would have never known about - and it was delicious!  I also had a few recognizable brands, including a sample of the Honest Company laundry detergent and a Go Raw live apricot bar!

About Conscious Box: Conscious Box is dedicated to introducing you to the most ethical, sustainable, and honest businesses that create the purest products available. We scour the marketplace to find those that stand above the rest. Discovery defines the Conscious Box experience.

I am really excited about Conscious Box and I'm pretty sure you will want to try it to, so of course I couldn't leave you without every opportunity to get in on it! 

For starters, you can get your first Conscious Box FREE with promo code: SECRETCODE, you just pay shipping (approx. $7.95) Sign-up for the Monthly Subscription of any box and use code at checkout. And one of you can win a 3 Month Subscription by entering below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!