carrot cake with espresso cream cheese frosting

I decided that for my dad's birthday I was going to make a family favorite: carrot cake. I had a bushel of purple carrots from my CSA and it was the perfect opportunity to put them to good use. You can't have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, but - for this - plain cream cheese just seemed too boring. Espresso it would be! Look at me get my bake on ;).

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Greek yogurt

1/4 Cup Butter (Softened)

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1/5 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Grated Lemon Rind

2 Cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tbs Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Allspice

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/4 Cups Packed Shredded Carrot

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

1 Handful Raisins

Icing:

8oz Cream Cheese

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/3 Cup Espresso

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F & grease a 10" round cake pan

2. Beat together butter, yogurt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs one at a time and beat in.

3. Stir in lemon rind & vanilla.

4. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. 

5. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the shredded carrot and raisins, stirring in with a wooden spoon.

6. Spread in you cake pan and bake for approx 50 minutes.

7. Let cake cool

8. Beat together icing ingredietns until you get a creamy, spreadable texture.

9. Frost your cake & decorate!

gluten free fig newton recipe

This post was previously published on Free People's BLDG 25 blog. Thought I'd bring some of the contributing over to Numie :)

When life gives you figs, make fig newtons. It’s a lesson I learned after stumbling upon free figs one Friday afternoon. We were getting ready to leave the office, and noticed someone had left a flat in the kitchen with a free sign. In season and ripe, I couldn’t help myself. They reminded me of fresh markets in Israel and long summers in Italy. I grabbed a bunch and quickly got them home.

Over the stove the figs turned into preserves. When it came time to assemble, I jazzed them up with a little goat cheese and rolled everything up in a gluten free dough. The perfect in season treat, they’ll win over even the biggest gluten free skeptics. You can ask my boyfriend, he ate more than half the batch in one day. Don’t tell him I told you ;).

Fig Preserves:

Ingredients:

3 ½ Cups Fresh Figs – Stemmed & Quartered

1 Cup Raw Cane Sugar

1 ¼ Cup Water

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

- Throw all ingredients in a sauce pot and bring to a boil

- Once boiling, turn flame down to a slow simmer

- Let simmer until preserves lightly cling to the pan when you drag a wooden spoon through (2-3hrs) 

- Remove from heat and let cool

Gluten Free Pastry Dough:

Ingredients:

*Adapted from Gluten Free Homemaker

¾ Cup Brown Rice Flour

¾ Cup Millet Flour

¼ Cup Sweet Rice Flour

¼ Cup Potato Starch

1 Tbsp Xantham Gum

2 Tsp Sugar

1 Tsp Unflavored Gelatin

½ Tsp Salt

1 Large Egg

8 Tbsp Butter

¼ Cup + 1 Tbsp Almond Milk

Directions: 

- Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl

- In a separate bowl, beat together almond milk and egg

- Combine the milk and melted butter with the dry ingredients and mix with a fork

- Using your hands, mush the dough into a ball and work it until smooth.

- Wrap the dough in plastic, and let refrigerate for at least an hour

Filling:

Ingredients:

1 Cup Preserves

4 Tbsp Goat Cheese

Directions: 

- Mix ingredients together in a bowl and set aside

Assembly: 

- Roll out the dough on a well (gluten free) floured surface until about a ¼ inch thick

- Making a 4” x 15” long strip, cut off rough edges to make a smooth rectangle 

- Line one half with fig preserve and goat cheese mixture 

- Fold dough over the top and press edges closed

- Cut into approx. 1.5 inch fig newtons

- Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes

banana almond crunch "ice cream"

I completed a Whole30 about a month ago. Doing so taught me a lot about skipping dairy and going vegan. I quickly came to realize that I wasn't going to be able to live with out a sweet treat once in awhile, and I had to figure out ways to satisfy the craving in a vegan, no added sugar kind of way. Following a restricted diet, it's important to concentrate on what you can eat and finding ways for those foods to satisfy your needs. I happen to consider ice cream on a hot summer day a need, and so this vegan banana ice cream was born. Not only is it dairy-free, but it also has the added benefit of some nutrient blasting maca powder as well.

Ingredients (serves 1):

2 Bananas

1/2 Cup Almonds

1 Tbsp. Maca Powder

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Slice banana and lay pieces out on a piece of wax paper

2. Roll the piece of wax paper up, making sure a layer of wax paper is in between slices. Stick in the freezer for at least 1 hour to freeze bananas.

3. Chop almonds in a food processor and set aside in a small dish. Add bananas to the food processor and blend until an ice cream texture is reached.

4. Add maca powder, almonds, and vanilla. Blend a bit more until all is evenly mixed in.

5. Garnish with sea salt and eat right away, or store in freezer.

weekly scenes

It's that time of year! As with everyone else, there have been celebrations all around. For me: holiday pot lucks with various friends, a fun late-night Chinese dinner with the man, and a family visit in Florence. It was our first Christmas without my grandfather. He passed away earlier this month. Although it was clearly his time, he went in his sleep just two weeks shy of his 91st birthday, there was a hole where his commanding presence was once expected. I'm happy because there was nothing over the top. We came together as family, grounded and laid-back with smiles on our faces despite the loss. After all, the simple things - friends, family, and love (with a little food and booze thrown in) - is what the holidays should be about. Now to head home and celebrate with my parents in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed for a smooth trip.

Much love!

halloween baby

It's my birthday today!

And my friends/coworkers surprised me with the most adorable spread of goodies at lunch. How awesome is the ghost cake they made me? Of course, I can't take a serious picture, but I think you get an idea of how happy I was. I love them all so much. Best friends ever. =)

photos by Julia