Grain-free Gingerbread.

 
Holiday baking is always a lot of fun for me.  Since I just completed my undergraduate degree, and have now begun medical school, I don't exactly have a lot of time to bake!  I've been home for Christmas for the past few weeks, and it's been really nice to be "on vacation," and have time to read books, bake, workout, and sleep at my leisure!

When discussing what we wanted to make during the time I am home, as well as for our family Christmas celebrations, my mom suggested we make a gingerbread cake, since my gingerbread men cookies are just too delicious!  (And hooow long has it been since there's been gingerbread in the house??  Apparently years!!)  You see, gingerbread used to be a favorite of mine, but today I realized I haven't had gingerbread cake in probably about 10 years!  What a shock!

So today, I got out my bowl, my favorite spatula, a bunch of yummy molasses and baked this goodness.  My family and I love the cakey texture of this gingerbread, the rich flavor of the molasses, and the punch of the ginger.  And it's not overly sweet, which is what I prefer!

Grain-free Gingerbread Cake.
    makes one 9x13 pan

    1/2 cup  organic palm oil shortening - source
    1/4 cup  homemade vanilla sugar - or any sugar of choice
    4  REAL eggs
    1 cup  molasses
    1 cup  organic coconut flour - source
    1/2 cup  blanched almond flour - source
    1/2 cup  arrowroot flour/starch - source
    1/2 cup  organic applesauce
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    lots of ginger + cinnamon (probably 2 T ginger, and 1 T cinnamon)

To make your gingerbread cake:
  1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees (convection). Grease a 9x13 pan liberally with butter.
  2.  In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add one egg at a time until just incorporated.
  3.  To the same bowl add spices, coconut flour, almond flour, arrowroot, sea salt, baking soda, molasses. Mix. Add applesauce. Mix until combined.
  4.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the heat of your oven.
  5.  Remove for oven when sides are slightly browned, and center of cake is springy. Let pan cool on a baking rack for about 20 minutes, then slice and transfer to desired container.  Feel free to freeze for later! Top with whipped cream, ice cream or eat it warm and slather it with cinnamon butter.

Try it cold (you can REALLY taste the ginger punch this way) and topped with some fresh whipped cream! Yum! And don't forget to share it with all your primal, paleo, or grain-free friends! :)

Merry Christmas.

Hello everyone,

Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating the holiday.  I am having a wonderful time relaxing at home with my mom and dad.  Christmas is one of my favorite days of the year simply because it is a time when we slow down, take a moment to rest, enjoy some Christmas music, cookies, and twinkly Christmas tree lights.  A Christmas run or walk is always in order too, and I find myself braving the cold each year to do so.  Christmas Eve is always a very special day for me because it is a time where I get to see my extended family.  I decided to be a little different this year and made a slightly different version of my lemon cookies; I made them instead like little sandwich cookies with lemon yogurt frosting inside.  My mother always likes to make my pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, and they always taste so good!  And we have leftover muffins at home! They certainly make for an excellent breakfast!

This year we were blessed with a white Christmas.  We woke up in the morning to light snow and a dusting all over the ground.  The snow kept up all day until it warmed up slightly later in the afternoon, and we ventured outside for some exercise and fresh air.  Tonight I think I am going to make some gluten-free pizza for the family and have "movie" night.  One morning this week I plan to make some waffles and eggnog too.  Eggnog is always synonymous with Christmas in my house ;)  While I am home I also plan on making some spiced nuts, grain-free granola, gluten-free crackers for my mom, protein bars for my sister-in-law, and of course Yule Log for my family when we get together to celebrate a little later in the week.  I also hope to make a gingerbread cake or gingerbread cookies, since I have definitely had a hankering for some spice-y molasses-y goodness lately.  While I have a whole pile (in a three-ring binder, actually) of new recipes I want to try, I think I will mostly be staying with some of my tried and true favorites this year.

I hope you are all healthy, happy, warm and enjoying time with family during this Christmas season.

Jesus is the Reason for this SEASON.

The Future of Natural Medicine.

All family, friends, fans, followers and lukers, please take TWO minutes of your time and visit this link:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/include-licensed-naturopathic-physicians-primary-care-providers-federal-healthcare-law-obamacare/rW0MNqMt

Sign the petition to get Naturopathic doctors (doctors who specialize in natural medicine) covered under federal health care. This would further my future profession (I am a first-year medical student), and also open up a whole new scope of practice for NDs so they can be better Primary Care Practitioners for America, as we are LACKING primary care physicians! We need over 2k signatures by this FRIDAY (and have 22k so far, need a total of 25k) - so sign, share, circulate, and get all your friends to sign! Please, think of your health, the health of your children, and the health of America 

For more info on Naturopathic Medicine and what is a Naturopathic Physician, see here: http://www.naturopathic.org/

I plan on doing a more informative post on NM at a later time, (after finals).

Thanks everyone! December is here, and I'll get you some more recipes soon (again, after finals ;).