Five months ago I changed my families eating habit's. Mostly for me and my girls but hubby gets thrown in the mix too reluctantly. For me it was to help manage my ulcer and IBS more effectively and without medications and for my girls...well lets just say right before my oldest turned 8 in June, she had a two week long "PMS freakout". That is the only way to describe it. Her mood swings were incredible and even had her first real pimples. No, no, no! I am not ready for this. I know girls are starting their cycles earlier and earlier then we did, but no! She doesn't even know how babies are made...how can I explain a menstrual cycle and panty liners to an 8 year old. This was my wake up call.
I have always made sure my family ate well rounded meals and always had a home cooked dinner, but I never really concentrated on what was IN the foods I bought and served to them i.e. GMO's, soy, hormones, ect. So right into research mode I went, and what I found scared me. This is also when I found out about the paleo lifestyle and I knew my family would benefit greatly from the change. I used the Fast Metabolism Diet to do a 30 day detox. No wheat, soy, sugar, dairy, nitrate free and nothing processed. After a couple weeks on the FMD I saw a difference not only in my own body but a huge improvement in my daughter. After the 30 days we went right into 80/20 Paleo. I made the 80/20 choice because every once in awhile we still enjoy Kerrygold butter, cheese, sprouted Ezekiel bread and brown rice pasta.
A few weeks ago I made another change, to go 100% Paleo. Which means to completely drop out all dairy, wheat, soy, refined sugar and legumes. Now my family is still 80/20 and that is okay. I just make sure whatever I do buy them is organic. I kinda just wanted to see what the difference would be. I still have good energy, I am more calm and collected, less hungry through out the day and a 10 lbs loss in a week isn't anything to sneeze at. I also noticed I do not crave sweets as much as I used too, until yesterday. Lucky for me I had just
pinned a chocolate cupcake recipe a few days before. This was going to be interesting!
Picture courtesy Google images
On my last shopping trip I found the
Navitas Naturals Cacao Powder at my local store. I had heard this was the best product from all the Paleo, Whole 30 and clean eating pages I follow on Facebook. So with my cacao powder in hand I went to my
Pinterest boards and found the recipe from
Living Low Carb On Day At A Time for her
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Filling. I didn't want the filling so I followed the recipe for the cake and frosting using what I had on hand. Being this was my first time making any type of Paleo baked good I was skeptical..especially about the avocado in the frosting..umm what?
Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup organic cocoa powder
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350
In a stand mixer combine the coconut flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, and sea salt.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, coconut oil, and lemon juice.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (mine made 8 cupcakes)
Fill cupcake liners with batter and bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until cooked through.
Allow to cool before frosting.
For the chocolate frosting place the meat of the avocados in a stand mixer and mix until completely smooth. Add the cocoa powder and raw honey and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the coconut oil and mix to combine. Frost cupcakes and top with chopped almonds.
Now my avocados would not blend completely smooth. Next time I think I will smash them through a fine strainer first. And my frosting once made was thinner than normal frosting so I put it in the fridge for awhile. It helped but it was still more like a pudding than a stiff frosting. However the flavor was A-MAZ-ING! I guess avocados in frosting is like mayo in chocolate cake. You can not taste it, but it gives it something special. The cake part was just like any from scratch regular recipe, delicious!!
Now, the true test of these cupcakes was the family. With my family I found that as long as I do not tell them what the actual ingredients are, there is no reason for distorted faces or an "ewww" from them. So hubby and the girls were working in the garage and I brought them a taste test (fingers crossed). Everyone LOVED them!! Hubby especially said he liked the frosting..bwahaha! If he only knew.
