Healthy Wheat-free Pumpkin Cakes

These super-moist, healthy pumpkin cakes will be sure to please your kids! They are wheat-free, refined sugar-free, and yet they still manage to fill the kitchen with the delightful scent of autumn baking, and to satisfy tummies with the pleasant pumpkin taste that goes with the season. My kids enjoy turning their cakes into jack-o-lanterns by adding chocolate chips.

Healthy Wheat-free Pumpkin Cakes

4 eggs
1/3 c. agave nectar
1/4 tsp. stevia powder
1 c. extra virgin coconut oil
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
2 cups barley flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
** grain-sweetened chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, agave, stevia, oil and pumpkin with a mixer until well-blended. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, stirring until thoroughly combined.

Spread the batter evenly into a large ungreased baking pan (I use a 15-inch x 10-inch x 2-inch Pyrex baking dish, but two smaller dishes could also be used).

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool, then use pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut pumpkin cakes. Add grain-sweetened chocolate chips for jack-o-lantern faces.

Note: These can also be cut into bars and/or topped with a cream cheese frosting (try tinting yours with some natural orange food coloring).

Stevia approved by FDA!

It had to happen eventually. The sugar industry and artificial sweetener industry were no doubt dreading this day, but it has finally come. As of December 2008, the FDA has "no objection" to stevia. They didn't take it further and give it the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) rating, but "no objection" means companies can now use it without labeling it as a "natural supplement" and stores can carry it in the sweetener section instead of the supplement section (some stores were already doing this anyway, at least in my city). I'm very excited about this! Hopefully this means we will start seeing more and more stevia products on shelves. I'm hoping we'll start seeing stevia packets at coffee shops and restaurants right along side the sugar packets and Splenda packets (better yet, the Splenda packed will get tossed).

Mike Adams has an article about the FDA's decision over at NaturalNews.com. He discusses some of the reasons behind the FDA's ruling (hint: it had nothing to do with health and all to do with money).

Coca-Cola is already rolling out its natural soda that contains stevia. Sprite Green will be on a store shelf near you soon. I don't know what all the ingredients are, but I'll be sure to take a look at it.

I'm reminded of the letters I sent to Coca Cola and Wrigley's years ago, asking them why they didn't use stevia in their diet drinks and gum instead of artificial sweeteners. Maybe those letters really did make a difference. It was because of big companies like Coca Cola that the FDA finaly approved of stevia, after all!

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My husband and I are regular iHerb customers. We love this site because it has better prices and better shipping costs than anywhere else we've found so far. This is where we order our flour (usually buckwheat, barley, rice and sorghum), our SweetLeaf stevia (the cheapest place we've found it), our toothpaste (JASON for us, Weleda for the kids), and also some of our supplements like Vitamin C and my prenatal vitamins (Rainbow Light "Just Once"). We appreciate their low, flat fee shipping rates especially when our orders are heavy, like when we order a lot of flour. Not only are their prices good, but their customer service is excellent as well. We often find that when we order something, we receive it the very next day with their unbelievably fast shipping. When we've made mistakes with our order or forgotten to add something, they have been very helpful and understanding.

I highly recommend iHerb.com. Give them a try!

The Versatile All-Day Snack Cake

My husband created a cake recipe that is definitely a family favorite. We literally eat some version of this cake everyday. He makes a couple batches in the morning, and we get to eat it at meals and snacks all day long. It's so nice to have tasty cake whenever we want it. This is not a birthday-style cake. This is a slightly sweet cake that you can spread cream cheese or butter on. This recipe is so great because there are several different ways to make it. We alternate each day so that we eat a variety of grains in our diet. It is a key way that we avoid eating a lot of wheat. This recipe is also egg and dairy free.

Buckwheat Cake
(This is a thick, hearty cake that tastes great with peanut butter or cream cheese, or just by itself. One of our favorite ways to eat it is to mix extra virgin olive oil with organic peanut butter. We break up a piece of buckwheat cake into the mixture and allow the pieces to soak. Then we eat it from the bowl.)

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Place a stoneware or Pyrex baking dish (approx. 8x11) in the oven (while it is heating up) with a small strip of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom and sides once it's hot).

Meanwhile, mix together:
2 cups buckwheat flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder

Then:
Pour in 2 cups water.
Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil.
Pour in 1/4 cup agave.
**Optionally you can add a 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 tsp. lemon extract

Stir everything together thoroughly, especially the bottom where dry flour collects.

Pull out the heated stoneware from the oven.

Pour mixture into the stoneware. It should pour easily like cake batter.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Makes 8 servings. (28 carbs per serving)


Barley Cake (with Barley Ginger variation and Barley Chocolate variation)
(This is reminiscent of an English pudding cake. It is very much like a pudding in the middle, with a crisp outer crust. We like to melt butter on top of this and eat it warm.)

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Place a stoneware or Pyrex in the oven (while it is heating up) with a small strip of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom and sides once it's hot).

Mix together:
2 cups barley flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder

Then:
Pour in 2 cups water
Pour in 1/4 cup safflower oil.
Mix in 2 tsp. stevia powder.

***To make the Barley Ginger Cake, add 1/8 c. ginger powder (and less than this if you don't like as strong of a ginger taste).

***To make the Barley Chocolate Cake, add 1/8 c. cocoa powder.

Stir everything together thoroughly, especially the bottom part where dry flour collects.

Pull out the heated stoneware.

Pour mixture into the stoneware. It should be slightly thick, and you will need to spread it out with a spatula.

Bake for 16 minutes

Makes 8 servings. (19 carbs per serving)

Note: This cake stays very pudding-like in the middle even when it's done.


Rye Cake
(This cake is thinner than the buckwheat cake but has a wonderful flavor and texture, also very good with cream cheese on top.)

Place a stoneware or Pyrex in the oven (while it is heating up) with a small strip of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom and sides once it's hot).

Meanwhile, mix together:
2 cups rye flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder

Next:
Pour in 1 3/4 cups water (add slightly more if too thick).
Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil.
Pour in 1/4 cup agave.
**Optionally you can add a 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Stir everything together thoroughly, especially the bottom part where dry flour collects.

Pull out the heated stoneware.

Pour mixture into the stoneware. You may need to spread it out with a spatula.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Makes 8 servings. (31 carbs per serving)

Oven Fried Chicken

People often ask me how it's possible to eat healthy when natural and organic foods are so expensive. The truth is, we have to pick and choose which organic items we buy. Living on a single income in Southern California is difficult. One of the main reasons we're able to select healthier options is because we pretty much never eat out. We have also been blessed with family members who gift us with healthy groceries from time to time.

We are always on the lookout for the cheapest healthy foods. Lately, chicken legs have been our favorite cheap protein, and this is our favorite way to prepare them. My boys love these!

Oven Fried Chicken

10 chicken drumsticks*, skin removed
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder or flakes
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 dash white stevia powder (approx. 1/8 tsp)
1/4 c. flour (I have used oat, rye, and amaranth flour. I recommend using something other than wheat since most of us get more than enough wheat in our diets already.)
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat each drumstick with olive oil. Mix all spices and flour togther in a large bowl. Roll oil-coated drumsticks in spice mixture until well coated. Place chicken in a large Pyrex baking dish. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

*I strongly advise that you only buy chicken that is clearly labeled as being hormone and antibiotic free if you can't afford organic. We usually get natural-fed chicken from Trader Joe's, and only occasionally splurge on organic.

Stevia tips from SweetLeaf

I was contacted by Mariam of Wisdom Natural Brands, Inc. (the makers of SweetLeaf), and she offered some really helpful tips when baking with stevia. In response to my comment about stevia sometimes making recipes dense and flat, she said:

"...this is so true, which is why we recommend using recipes that are adapted to stevia (like the cookbook you used). So if one already has a recipe calling for stevia, then it should be just fine, but if they’re using an old recipe and just replacing the sugar with stevia, then something else needs to be added to attain the bulk of the missing sugar. The stevia gives the recipe a sweet taste, but the volume of the sugar needs to be replaced. If your recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, we suggest using 1/3 c. plain apple sauce, apple butter, plain yogurt, powdered milk, sour cream, cream cheese, (or whatever else you think will work) as the volume replacement."

She went on to say:

"Also, Stevia is safe for cooking and baking, and heat stable to over 400 degrees. In baking, the only real difference from sugar is that stevia doesn’t caramelize or activate yeast."

I, for one, am glad to get the suggestions about good volume replacers in stevia recipes. Thanks, Mariam!

If you're ready to get started with stevia, go here for a great SweetLeaf equivalency chart to help you as you replace sugar with a healthier alternative.

The Wonderful World of Stevia

Five years ago if I had been writing a post about stevia it probably would've been titled "The So-So World of Stevia." When I first heard about this natural, sweet herb, I was initially really excited about it. Not only was it 300 times as sweet as sugar, but it was calorie and carbohydrate free. For a person like me who easily gains weight if I overdose on carbs, this sounded perfect.

The first step to entering the world of stevia was to actually buy some. I eyed it several times at our health food stores, but I had a hard time forking out the cash. It came in tiny containers that were over $10. When bags of sugar could be purchased for pennies, this was tough to reconcile in my mind. Finally, though, I took the plunge and bought my very first container of white stevia powder. I went with what seemed to be the top name brand - SweetLeaf.

When I got home I set out to make some stevia cookies right away. The results were less than what I'd hoped for and I was disappointed. The flavor of stevia seemed strong and almost bitter. I looked for more recipes on-line and tried a few other things like chocolate cheesecake bites, which also didn't live up to my expectations.

For two years, I experimented off and on with stevia powder, and was usually underwhelmed by my creations. Later, I found liquid stevia for sale by SweetLeaf, and tried it with my tea. Now that I could handle. It only took 4-5 drops in a cup of tea to create a pleasantly sweet drink without any weirdness in taste.

Not long after this that I found out about agave nectar. Agave became my sweetener of choice. Not only did it taste like sugar, but it also acted a lot like sugar in most recipes so that I could bake all my favorite desserts again (stevia, because it lacks bulk, caused problems in my recipes - many things turned out flat and dense). While I adored agave, I still faced the same problem as before - I was eating too many carbs, making weight loss and weight maintenance difficult. Because it is a fruit sugar, agave still has lots of carbs. It's nicer than most sweeteners because it has less effect on blood sugar, but other than that benefit, my baked goods were still jam-packed with carbohydrates.

Two years ago for Christmas my husband got me this stevia cookbook. Some of the recipes called for very obscure ingredients, or combined stevia with other sweeteners, but there were a few gems that I have made again and again. The Frozen Strawberry Cream and the Mexican Wedding Cakes recipes are worth the cost of the cookbook! I was encouraged that there really are some excellent stevia uses out there.

The main thing I've learned about stevia usage over the years is that it's better to use a little than to use too much. If you use too much stevia, it will ruin the recipe. The key is in finding the perfect amount for your particular recipe, which may take some experimentation. I've also found that stevia works well with certain types of foods. I love it in drinks, sauces, marinades, and in some baked goods.

Something else I've learned more recently about stevia is that it does take some getting used to. It's not sugar. I had to get my brain wrapped around that concept before I could learn to accept it. I had wanted it to be sugar. It can't be sugar, but it can sweeten food. When I first started using stevia I had a hard time with the taste. Now? I actually enjoy the taste! I can eat something sweetened with stevia and think "Mmm, that's stevia." and actually like it. I guess it makes sense that after almost 30 years of using sugar for my sweetening needs, that it would take some time to accept something different. I owe much of my stevia appreciation to my husband, who wouldn't give up on it. Even when I'd thrown up my hands in frustration after countless attempts to use it, he pressed on, and began doing his own recipe experimentation.

I have many stevia recipes now and look forward to finding even more. It is such a versatile sweetener; it's not just for desserts either. You can add a few drops to pizza sauce, or shake a little into your taco meat mix, or into soups or stews.

I love how stevia is finally becoming more mainstream. At health stores it's usually in the "supplements" section (since the FDA has not recognized it as a sweetener... there's plenty of controversy on that topic out there if you want to do your own Google research). But at stores like Trader Joe's, it's (rightfully, IMO!) in the baked goods section with the flour and honey and agave and vanilla.

One final thing worth mentioning here is that not all stevias are equal. I still find SweetLeaf brand to be the best, most reliable company for stevia. It also tastes better, with less chance of that bitterness I discussed earlier. There are some less expensive brands out there to be sure, but they often include fillers, and sometimes even added sweeteners.

I will be sharing some of my favorite stevia recipes here for you.

For starters, here is my:

Easy Pizza Sauce

1 can (15 oz.) sugar-free tomato sauce
1 small can sugar-free tomato paste
1 Tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. fennel powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder (opt.)
10 drops liquid stevia

Mix all ingredients together in a small sauce pan, heat on medium until bubbly. Use immediately or refrigerate (or freeze) for later use.

Other easy stevia uses:

To sweeten a cup of tea, brew tea as you normally would, then add 3-5 drops liquid stevia and stir. You can do this with hot or cold tea.

Like chocolate milk? Try Stevita Delight. Mmmm. My husband got me some of this for Christmas and I love it. You mix 1-2 tsp. of Stevita Delight with 8 oz. of your choice of milk and shake it up or blend it up well.

If you have a favorite stevia use, I'd love to hear about it in the comments section!

Chili for an Autumn Evening

It is our annual tradition to have crock pot chili on the evening of October 31st. We like to eat it with organic corn chips and organic sour cream. The house smells so good right now as it cooks. I can't wait for tonight!

Chili in a Crock Pot

3 cans tomato sauce (sugar free)
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion
2 cups pinto beans, cooked
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stalk celery, chopped finely
2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1/2 Tbsp. oregano
1/2 Tbsp. basil
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 c. beef stock or water
ground pepper, to taste
10 drops liquid stevia (optional)

Brown ground meat with chopped onion in a large skillet. Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low all day (approx. 8 hours).

Good toppings include chopped lettuce, scallions, fresh spinach, grated cheese and sour cream. Eat with corn chips.

Soft Drinks

I have never been a huge fan of soft drinks. When we gave up sugar and artificial sweeteners over five years ago, eliminating soda didn't feel like a loss. I know this is a big issue for some people, though, when they find out how my family eats (and drinks). I often hear "I could never give up Coke." and "How can you live without soda?" or "Your children will be so deprived if they can't have soda!" It turns out, folks, that there are some natural alternatives out there!

A few years ago a friend discovered Dr. Tima's Root Beer. Dr. Tima's is sweetened with honey and has a very small, simple list of all-natural ingredients. Coupled with Rice Dream vanilla ice cream (sweetened with brown rice syrup) we even made some fabulous root beer floats for Tie-Dye's birthday one year.

In very recent months, however, DH found what I think is an even better root beer. Virgil's Diet Root Beer is wonderful! It's sweetened with stevia and xylitol, making it incredibly low-carb. Only 2 carbs per bottle! This makes it the perfect treat to have alongside a more carby meal like pizza. We find our Virgil's at Mother's Market (Newport Beach, CA) and Henry's Farmers Market (various SoCal locations). I'm guessing it's also available at Whole Foods stores and other natural stores. Make sure to get the Diet version. The regular version contains sugar.

Reed's Premium Ginger Beer is another tasty soft drink, sweetened with honey. We get this occasionally and usually share a bottle between the four of us.

I've been following a news story about how Coca-Cola is planning on making a Diet Coke sweetened with stevia for the United States (they are calling stevia "rebiana"). The Japanese already have stevia-sweetened Diet Coke. I think this is a step in the right direction, but I still wouldn't want my kids to drink it everyday. Soft drinks contain high levels of phosphorus, which has been shown to weaken bones, especially in young girls (read more about the problems of phosphorus in soft drinks here.) It won't ever be a staple item in my fridge, but I would certainly allow it for special occasions, and I'm glad to see that major corporations like Coca-Cola are realizing they should make healthy changes in their recipes. Hopefully more and more companies will do the same.