Clean Eating Tropical Birthday Carrot Cake

Our family fell off the clean eating wagon over the holidays, but we decided we'd better hop back on ASAP. And so far, so good! Then I realized Abbey's 3rd birthday was coming up and I had to think up a healthy birthday cake for her family party since we always do a small one on their actual birthday. She loves carrot cake and cream cheese so Isearched online but pretty much every recipe was full of fat and sugar! That's when I decided to take a bunch of recipes and create my own.

This recipe makes one small cake pan and a couple of muffins.

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, semi-drained
1 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease pans with olive oil and sprinkle with flour. Cut out parchment paper to the size of the bottom of the pan and put it in prepared pan.
2) Mix eggs, vanilla, honey and sugar with whisk in a medium mixing bowl.
3) Whisk in cinnamon, applesauce and olive oil.
4) Add baking soda, salt and baking powder. Mix in pineapple, carrots, flour and coconut.
5) Pour into greased pans and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Icing:
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 Tbsp honey
Sprinkle of toasted coconut
Sprinkle of chopped pecans
While cake is baking, beat cream cheese, yogurt and honey together and refrigerate until cake is cooled.
Once cooled, ice cake then sprinkle with coconut and pecans on top.

The birthday girl enjoyed her cake very much and I hope you do too!

Super Fast Ooey Gooey Brownies

One of my biggest weaknesses is brownies, so when I found this recipe I knew it was trouble....delicious trouble! It's a perfect recipe for impromptu brownie sundaes.

This recipe is a microwave recipe for chocolate brownies. They have extra cocoa and are super decadent. I have made them twice now and even with 2 kids running around screaming, pulling on my pant leg and a dog trying to push in to get a sniff of the ingredients I was able to get the recipe just right. This is why I call this a no-fail recipe!

2/3 Cups butter, melted
1/2 Cup cocoa
1 Cup white sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 Cup flour

1) Melt butter on high in microwave for 30-40 seconds.
2) In a small bowl mix melted butter with sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Mix until just blended.
3) Whisk eggs a litter and add to bowl. Add flour and mix well.
4) Grease microwave safe dish and spoon mixture into it. I normally use a loaf pan.
5) Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Chocolate Yogurt Dream!

I found this recipe the other day and decided to try it with my own twist by tring a different yogurt and adding raspberries. It ended in a to-die for dessert that isn't completely unhealthy! This makes approx. 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Greek Yogurt- I used coconut
4 Tbsp. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
4 tsp. Coffee Cream
16 (or more) Raspberries

1) Spoon 1/4 Cup yogurt into each dish.

2) Put chocolate chips and cream in a small dish and microwave for 15-20 seconds. Stir until blended.

4) Spoon some of the chocolate onto each cup of yogurt and smooth over top.

5) Top with a few raspberries.

6) Refrigerate for around an hour until chocolate is set. Enjoy!