For your Valentine: Refined Sugar-Free Nutella and Chocolate Frosting on Cupcakes

       I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been very busy! Besides working and taking a class for school online, I’ve been busy in the kitchen!

         I’ve been testing recipes for Ricki of Diet, Dessert, and Dogs. She is creating a breakfast e-book: Top of the Morning: Breakfasts without Sugar, Gluten, Eggs or Dairy! Most of my pictures don’t turn out too great…so I only have one here that came out halfway decent! But that doesn’t mean her recipes are that way! No way! Some of my favorites have been the whole grain waffles (scroll down to see a picture with ice-cream a- top them!) I actually did try and make the ice-cream too but something went wrong in my freezer…and my ice-cream came out with a burnt-freezer taste! Definitely was my freezer and not the recipe though because I tasted it before and it tasted rich and creamy!

Ricki’s Fluffy Pancakes from her upcoming cookbook

Here are the fluffy pancakes from her e-book that I tried! And seriously, they were very fluffy! You can’t tell a whole lot from my poor photo, but they were. In fact, these are probably the best gluten-free pancakes I’ve ever had! (And not only that but they were sugar-free, dairy-free, and egg-free!…you couldn’t even tell!) I highly suggest her book! It’s got so many great breakfast recipes that are anti-candidia and just allergy in general friendly! (Disclosure: I do not have to recommend her book because I am testing recipes. I choose too because it is such a great book!)

      Amy’s Perfect Bread…it rises high, looks beautiful, slices thin, tastes good, what more could you want?

   Also, I made Amy’s Perfect Bread. And she’s right. It’s pretty close to perfect! It was probably the best gluten-free bread that I have made. I still haven’t found anything that I like as well as my store-bought Udi’s but if you’re going to make bread, this one would be a great one to try. I shared this with my friend who has celiac and her whole family enjoyed it (and they do not eat like us). Great work Amy!

The inside view of Amy’s Perfect Bread

   Bird’s eye view close up of Kelly’s lasagna

I also made Kelly’s lasagna. Gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. Say what? Yes, dairy-free lasagna. And that’s with no processed fake cheese, either. The cheese even had the right texture! It was so good, I think it is better than regular lasagna! Thanks Kelly!

 

Kelly’s lasagna—a slice for you!

Kelly’s Chocolate Cupcakes with her frosting turned mine

And finally, I made Kelly’s Mini Chocolate Cupcakes Kabobs only I made them over to be regular cupcakes and no kabobs. And I started with her frosting as a base from my frosting and added and added until I was happy with it.

I think that these would make a sweet Valentine’s treat! And what Valentine’s Day be without chocolate! Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Doesn’t that frosting just look “real?”

Chocolate Protein-Rich Frosting or Hazelnut-Free Nutella

Based on this recipe by Kelly, with lots of my own changes

This frosting is very good. It’s smooth and delicious just like frosting is supposed to be. And there is no “floury/starchy” taste that you find in lots of sugar-free frostings. This is good right after being made but seems to even improve it’s texture and spreadability once it has been in the fridge overnight. You can change up the butters to fit your tastes/allergies/what’s in your pantry. This has a slight “peanut-like” taste even though it doesn’t contain peanuts… I find that that happens with cashew butter. It can also be used like Nutella and I love to spread it on rice cakes!

Ingredients:

1/2 c. cashew butter

1/4 c. almond butter

1/4 c. agave

pinch of salt

1 t. coconut flour (optional, I will probably omit next time as it gives it a texture—texture is gone though after being refrigerated for several hours)

1/4 c. + 2T almond milk

1/4 c. + 1 T. cocoa

1 t. vanilla

Directions: Mix the “butters’ together. Add salt and coconut flour and mix again. Add almond milk and cocoa and mix again. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes or other desserts or if using for Nutella, keep in a container in the fridge until needed.

Makes 1-1/4 c. which is way more than I needed for my cupcakes. Hence, the use on rice cakes!

*Note: For those who also would like to make Kelly’s mini cupcakes, I have two things to mention:

1. To make them into normal size cupcakes you need to bake them for about 30 minutes rather than 12. And you can use muffin liners since you’re not putting them on kabobs.

2. I loved these fresh or frozen. If frozen they are a little more like a brownie and fudgy in texture.

Please Help McKenna!

McKenna

(portrait provided by her family)

 

Dear Readers,

   I’m interrupting my normal posting of recipes to share with you this story that is very true and very serious. This story is dear to my heart because I know her and her family personally and I know personally how hard health problems can be!  McKenna and her family are dear friends of ours. She is only 12 years old and she and her family have been dealing with her health problems for years. It has gotten so bad lately that she has had three near-fatal seizures in the last 6 months! McKenna and her families only hope is to get a medical dog that would help her prevent these seizures. The dog is ready and trained for McKenna, the only thing that they are waiting on, is the money. It cost $10,000 (US) to get this dog. If there is any way that you can help, even donating a couple of dollars, please do so here under McKenna Vogt. If you let me know (in a comment or email), I will do my best to come up with something for you in return. I am thinking of making an e-book with recipes or something, but if you have better ideas, let me know. This is not a hoax. This is a true life story. Usually you hear these stories but do not know whether they are of actual people in need and you don’t know where your money goes to. You would know in this case.  Please read the full story in McKenna’s mother’s exact words below:

Dear Friends and Family:

McKenna was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes on October 15, 2007.  After a stressful year of trying to regulate her blood sugars through a constant carb diet, and insulin shots, we were able to put her on a Diabetic Insulin Pump.  We had great hopes that this would "normalize" her life somewhat and regulate her sugars.  Since then we have found out that McKenna is very sensitive to insulin which makes it very difficult to regulate her blood sugars.  We have watched her struggle through school work, spending mass amounts of time in the nurses office and trying to keep up with her sugars that make her so ill.

One year ago, McKenna was watching tv with her grandmother and her mother, when she fell over, unable to move.  Her blood sugars had fallen so low that she was paralyzed.  We had no idea that is was a type of seizure, nor the damage that those cause.  We made adjustments worked closely with her doctor and did all that we could.

Recently, McKenna's diabetes have caused some serious medical issues.   With her insulin sensitivity, we have found that it is an exhausting process.  We test her through the night, every two hours and then make adjustments.  This past July while at Girls' Camp, McKenna's blood sugar fell too low, she had a horrible seizure and she couldn't breathe.   We were able to get her the help she needed and then we carried on with camp.  We had no idea, she should go to the hospital.  When we returned we went to the doctor and did all the necessary medical tests.  In October, she had another seizure and was placed in the hospital.  This time her blood sugars were too high and she went back into DKA (diabeticketoacidosis).  She was very ill.  They released her from the hospital, however we were not able to get her blood sugars down to the appropriate range and it took months to remove the ketones from her body.  She missed 31 days of school.  We then, under the direction of her Doctor, went through a battery of tests to try to figure out what is wrong with McKenna.  So far, we still have no answers.

Three weeks ago, we woke McKenna up to get ready for school.  We left the room and carried on about our business of getting ready.  We felt very uncomfortable, anxious, like something was wrong.  Tanya went in to check on McKenna who by then was completely paralyzed, lying on the floor, appearing as if she had had a stroke making a horrible sound because her mouth was paralyzed also.  She couldn't respond and we knew she was having a horrible seizure.  We called 911, we gave her glucose and we waited for help, all the while holding our baby as she appeared to be slipping away from us.  Her blood sugar had fallen dangerously low again causing another seizure that was almost fatal.  They told us that once she was given the sugar, it would take 15 minutes to an hour and she would regain her memory and functions.  The clocked ticked by and that just didn't happen.  She couldn't remember her name, she didn't know who we were, she didn't know where she was, nor the date or time.  Her brain was functioning right with her body.  It was painful to watch.  There was a communication error between her body and the messages being sent from her brain.  We watched and waited. Then they ran a CAT Scan, a CSPINE and we waited.  She was later admitted to the PICU at Cedar Crest.  It took over 12 hours for all of her functions to come back and longer than that for her memory retention to work. Three major seizures in 6 months is a lot.  We also are fully aware of the repercussions these episodes will have if we cannot get them to stop.

We know that it was a miracle that McKenna didn't suffer brain damage.  We know the doctors were surprised that she is functioning normally now.  We know that her life was spared once again.  We know that the Lord has a plan for her and already knows when she will return to Him.  We know that she was His first and in the end if we have done our job right, she will be His again and only He gets to decide when that is.  It is very humbling.  In the meantime, we feel we need to do everything possible to help McKenna and to try to improve her quality of life.

They currently have Diabetic Service Dogs that can be trained to help people with uncontrolled diabetes.  The dogs are trained specifically for the person that they will work for, so in this instance for McKenna.  They take samples of her saliva when she is high and when she is low.  They train the dog to recognize those scents.  The dog will then wake McKenna up, or warn her when she is too low and when she is too high.  The dog will go with her wherever she goes.  Studies have shown that these dogs can detect blood sugar changes 1 hour before a continual glucose monitoring system can.  The can detect the blood sugar change even if she is swimming in a pool and the dog is waiting by the side of the pool.  The night time is what scares us the most.  We sleep pretty light trying to listen for her, but we don't always hear her.  McKenna is afraid of the night times now.  We are hoping the dog will help us during that time.  We want to get her this dog.  It is very expensive and so we need help raising the money to get the dog.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.  If you would like to donate money for the dog please click on the following link and then click on the donate button, next to McKenna's name.

http://www.pawsibilitiesunleashed.org/home/donations

We appreciate any sacrifice that can be made whether it is monetary or if you can include her in your prayers, or if you would be willing to forward this email on to your family and friends.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Love,

The Vogts

McKenna in the hospital, where she has been way to much in her short life!

(Photo provided by her parents.)

       Please help McKenna. She needs all the help we can give her. I would give this girl everything I had if I could. She is one super strong girl and calm and peaceful about this whole situation. She has much to teach us all still in her life.  She is a wonderful girl and has made a great impact on my life and many others already. If there is any amount, a dollar even, that you can donate, she and I would really appreciate it. Her family doesn’t have the finances to pay for this dog either and that is why we need your help. The dog is ready, we just need donations. Please share what you can and SPREAD the word with EVERYONE you know!

 

Again, the link for the donations is: http://www.pawsibilitiesunleashed.org/home/donations

Click on the link and then click “Donate’” next to McKenna Vogt’s name…it is at the bottom.

 

And again, I will come up with something in exchange for your donation if you like. I am hoping to figure out how to make an e-book or something like that. If you have any ideas, let me know.

 

Help McKenna!

 

With love, Ari