Upcomming Birthday/Event Party?

Have you ever noticed how much anticiaption, energy, maddness and craziness can be found in the mentality of a child before, during and following Celebration parties? The excitement of a party, alone, can be a lot for a child to handle, and then we typically throw in sugar as a good measure on top of it. What's wrong with sugar, you ask? Well, the chemical formula for COCAINE is C17H21NO4. SUGAR'S formula is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the 'N', or nitrogen atom... Sugar has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and may give children a HIGH closely mimicking that of a drug, along with an associated low through the night......which is why many kids do not sleep well following a "sugar fest". We had to cut out sugar for a few days and then closely look to identify it! (Desire more sugar info? Please visit: http://tinyurl.com/p9lz6l )

When first finding out about our daughter's need for an all-natural diet, I had searched for months to find a recipe without processed sugar, enriched flour, hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, aluminum, artificial flavors, etc. After trying a few "isch-kie" cakes, I stumbled upon a good-for-you cake that is absolutely delicious, and here it is! I found this Chocolate Cake Recipe on a website of a restaurant, which sells a piece for $15.00/each. The website posted that it always sells out before the end of the evening, and I've gotten rave reviews on it from our party-goers!!!

Even though the ingredients are not staples in a typical "American" cupboard, I have gotten accustomed to just always keeping these ingredients on hand. I didn't have any of these in my cupboard when I first made it, but have adjusted gradually over time.

My Natural Chocolate Cake Recipe Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups spelt flour

1 TBL and 1 tsp of baking powder without aluminum (Bob's Red Mill Brand)

2 tsp baking soda (again--Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup cocoa powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 cup cold-pressed olive oil

3 cups REAL maple syrup

2 tsp of organic apple cider vinegar

4 tsp of Real Vanilla extract

2 cups of water

BE SURE TO MIX LIQUIDS and SOLIDS SEPARATELY and DO NOT OVER MIX WHEN COMBINING!! Lightly spray natural olive oil spray and whole grain flour on pan. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes on middle rack, and do not open door for first 30 minutes!

Here's my Natural Cookie Cake Recipe:

Ingredients :
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup black strap molasses
3/4 cup 100% real maple syrup/Agave nectar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon real vanilla
2-3 cups whole grain flour (spelt, oat, whole wheat) you'll have judge the thickness
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3-4 cups Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

I add oats, because I need a filler....our girls have such a hard time with any flour products, because they have been processed, so I always need to cut back and add more of a whole grain in! The cookies may be very thin or fall apart easily, so I usually end up making cookie "bars" out of it instead. Feel free to "tweak" the recipe and let me know if you can get it to stick together better!!

FROSTING: I whip up natural whipping cream, mixing in vanilla and real maple syrup to taste ...India Tree makes natural food coloring, since many kids also have a behavioral reaction to chemical food colorings. INDIA TREE kinda expensive, but we've made several cakes over the past few years with ours, and still have plenty left for many years.