Meatless Monday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!!!!

I have had a lot on my plate lately, and I feel that I start many posts like this, but it's true. So I apologize for not posting anything on Friday or for Sweet Saturday. I know some people like to link up with me, and I hope Sweet Saturday will be back soon (as well as the Meatless Monday link-up). I have some personal things going on right now plus planning for my Lily's birthday (which is today!!!!) and have had to turn my attention else where.

I hope today's post makes up for my slight absence :)

I decided to try my hand at baking a cake for Lily's mini party which we had on Saturday with my parents and a close friend. The big party is this upcoming Sunday, so expect a fun post on that next week. I wanted to try this recipe I concocted for whole wheat lemon-blueberry pound cake, making this the third cake I have ever made. I found a fairly simple and basic recipe to base it off of, and the results were quite tasty, yet things did not go exactly as expected as you will soon read about.

Whole Wheat Lemon-Blueberry Pound Cake

(based off of this recipe from food.com)

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
2 eggs , well beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unbleached flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
^{1 tsp lemon extract}

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together sugar and butter in large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, then add lemon juice and extract. Mix together. In a separate bowl, combine flours, salt and baking powder, then add bit by bit to the wet mix until well blended. Lastly, mix in milk and then the blueberries. Pour cake batter into parchment paper-lined 8" or 9" round or square pan, or tube pan (I used a round pan because I do not have a tube pan). Pop into the oven for 1 hour, or until toothpick can be inserted into center of cake and comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for about 20 minutes before removing from pan, then setting onto wire rack or cutting board to cool. Serve as is, or frost with whipped cream cheese frosting, recipe below.

^{Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting}

^{(makes 2 cups)}

8 oz package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form in a large bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients into a separate large bowl and beat together until well combined and creamy. Slowly add in the whipped cream until completely combined, but still fluffy. Spread on to cake once it is completely cooled. 

Now, I have to admit, I did not line my pan with parchment paper. I used a non-stick pan (despite the fact that I prefer not to use those, I had one I figured I could use for this purpose this one time), so I thought I would not have to line it. Boy was I wrong. When I got the cake loose from the pan, it broke into several different pieces, as you can see from the image below.

mixing...

After adding the blueberries

Looks good...

oops.

I was not happy, but I just had to laugh at myself for not following proper instructions, and I felt it was clearly a lesson learned. BUT, not to be discouraged, I brainstormed a bit and then came up with a solution for what to do with the now crumbled cake pieces. I broke the cake up further into small, cube-like chunks and then layered them in wine glasses between layers of the whipped cream cheese frosting. The results were not only delicious, but stunning as well!

This version of pound cake is yummy, but also healthier than the average pound cake with the added benefits of whole wheat flour and blueberries. I would've used 100% whole wheat flour instead of a combination of both whole wheat and unbleached, but I wanted to maintain the fluffiness and not have it come out too dense. It came out tasting like a wholesome blueberry-lemon muffin. Tired little Lily didn't even make it to the serving of her cake, so we didn't sing happy birthday to her. She's only 2 though, and I don't think she really cares...

Everyone who did have some loved it though, and the few guests who came for the small party were impressed not only with the taste, but with the presentation as well. So, if you ever have the same problem I did with the cake falling apart, don't stress! Just get creative! There are plenty of ways to salvage a yummy dessert without losing your cool.

As I said before, I don't have a whole lot of experience in cake making. When I bake desserts, I usually bake cookies and brownies because...well, they're easier! But, I hope to test my hand at cake making a lot more, and will let you know what I decide to do for the cupcakes for Lily's big birthday party which is next weekend. I'm thinking basic yellow or red velvet...

This cake is safe for babies to eat who are at least 9 months old, as it's not too sweet and has natural fruit for baby's benefit. However, you may not want to give them too much icing as there is a lot of sugar in it, but it's chock full of calcium and vitamin D as well with the amount of dairy it contains.



Have a great week! I will be doing my best to get back on my regular blog schedule this week, but next week I'm MOVING, so I can't say what things will be like during the latter half of the month. So much change is coming, change that is desperately needed. I'm still holding my recipe contest which you can read all about here, so send me your favorite healthy family recipes! I've only received a couple so far, and they both sounded awesome!!!

Sweet Saturday Blog Hop #2

Do you love synchronicities? I do, and I just noticed I've published 70 posts (now it's 71 though) and now have 70 followers. Perhaps I should play the lotto with number 70???

I just thought that was cool and that I would share :) I hope you found it interesting too!

Anyway, I have had the longest week and just want to keep today short and sweet, hence another Sweet Saturday blog hop. Yay! It's almost my baby girl's 2nd birthday and I thought I would share some pics from her 1st birthday just for fun, and because they're sweet! I made a really sweet cake that year, and am trying to decide what to do this year. She really likes chocolate now, so I am thinking a healthy version of a chocolate strawberry shortcake. What do you think?

Getting some love from Auntie

The cake!

The decor!

The fam :)

waiting for her cake...

with her present from Grandma

Thank you, Grandma!

I'm also trying to decide what theme to use. So far these are the choices I've come up with in relation to what she's into these days:

1. Elmo/Sesame Street
2. Animals
3. Mickey Mouse
4. Dancing
5. Cats and dogs

This year we'll be inviting a lot more people than we did last year, so I've already started planning. I just gotta send the invites and pick a theme already (I should probably choose the theme first, right?). 

If you have a sweet birthday party-related story to share from your blog, please link that up! Of course, you can link whatever you like as long as it's something sweet. It can be a blog post, an Etsy shop, your lovely website, your FB page, whatever! Link as many as you like, just don't link the same thing more than once, thanks!

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="" alt="Healthy Mommy Healthy Baby" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Have a great weekend!!!!

Chocolate Sour Cream Tea Loaf

First of all, I just want to share that I broke 50 followers on Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who helped make that possible! It's kind of a big deal for me as I have only been writing this blog for about a year now, and to know that that many people actually follow along really means a lot.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, today's recipe will be a little more on the sweet side than the healthy side, but it will be good for the soul, which I think makes it healthy in a different way! You can use whole wheat or unbleached flour for it, and either way it will taste delish! This is perfect bread to make for a tea party or anytime you're having company over and want to serve an "ooooo-ahhhhh"-inducing dessert that you don't have to break a sweat over baking! this recipe was designed especially for my Kenmore Bread Maker, so if you notice anything that needs adjusting according to your machine, go ahead and adjust, or else make by hand. This is a cake bread, so it can easily be made with a dough mixed and then baked in the oven.

I can't live without it!

Chocolate Sour Cream Tea Loaf (makes 1 lb loaf)

6 tbsp lowfat milk or almond milk

1/3 cup sour cream

1 large egg, room temp

6 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour, unbleached or whole wheat

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

3 tbsp chopped cherries and/or cranberries

Place all ingredients into your bread machine in order, unless your machine's instructions state otherwise. Select the "1 lb loaf" and "Cake" setting and press start. If desired, remove kneading blade from machine when it indicates it's time to do so. Once finished, remove from machine and allow to cool on rack before serving. Make about 8 servings.

You can also add some sliced almonds on top when the loaf is starting to bake by brushing the top of the loaf with a little honey mixed in water, then placing the almond slices on top. The loaf basically tastes like a chocolate chip-cherry cookie cake. Yummm.

Consequently, I have not made this bread in a while and the last time I did, the picture I took came out blurry, so I don't have an image :( It is very good, as you can clearly see just by reading the ingredients list. Paul once told me this was the best thing I ever made with the bread maker. Your whole family will love it, I promise!

This would even make a great cake for a small birthday party for your young child since it's not as sugary as most cakes are. Slap on some light egg-white icing or a honey glaze and voila! Birthday cake!

The addition of chopped cherries and/or cranberries to this recipe does not only make it even sweeter, but also adds a strong antioxidant benefit. Cherries and cranberries both contain a high level of antioxidants as most berries do, as well as a lot of vitamin C. An interesting fact I recently learned about fresh fruit versus dry fruit is the nutrition content is greatly diminished in the drying process. Some might say, "well, duh!", but honestly, I didn't think it had as strong an effect as I found out it does. Read here to learn more; it turns out you may also take in a greater number of calories and sugars when eatting fruit dried since the pieces of fruit are smaller, and therefore you may unconsciously eat a lot more than a single serving size. 

The reason I bring up dried fruit vs fresh fruit is because this recipe originally called for dried fruit which I used the first time, but when I found out fresh is (obviously) better, I opted for some chopped cherries instead that I had recently picked up at the local fruit stand. So, feel free to use dry instead for convenience, but just keep in mind that the nutritional value is not the same.

However, dried fruit is a much better on-the-go snack alternative to candy and cookies, or any other overly processed, sugary snacks they make for kids these days. Lily LOVES dried fruit, especially prunes, raisins and cranberries. Putting a handful of mixed dried fruit into a ziploc bag or re-usable container (like a snack trap!) along with some nuts is a great snack to take with you for your family on an outting. If you want to stay fresh, of course, you can also simply chop some fruit up and take it with you, or share and apple or an orange.

Birthday Time!

Right after my last post, I suddenly remembered I said I would blog about the birthday cake I made for Lily’s first birthday, so here it is!

Note: I just made a single layer cake for her because I wanted to keep it simple and not have too many leftovers as we just had a small birthday party gathering. The recipe below is the original recipe I based mine off of for a double layer cake. To make it single, just halve all ingredients.

Lily's First Birthday Cake (adapted from “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots

1 cup apple juice concentrate

1 1/2 cups raisins

Vegetable spray, shortening or butter

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 whole eggs

4 egg whites

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 tbsp low sodium baking powder

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 9” square cake pans with waxed paper and spray the paper with vegetable spray/shortening.

Combine the carrots with the juice concentrate in a medium size saucepan.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender, 15 to 20 mins. Puree in a blender of food processor until smooth.

Add the raisins and process until finely chopped. Let mixture cool. Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the oil, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Fold in the carrot puree and applesauce. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.

Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 mins. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. When cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting below or sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar if desired.

Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/8 tspn salt

1 tspn vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. In a small bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the cream cheese mixture.

For the colored frosting we (Grandma and I) added vegetable-based food coloring and powdered sugar to the cream cheese frosting. Grandma decorated and I added shredded coconut to the sides.

 

The frosting came out especially well, and the cake was tasty and moist. Not bad for my first cake, although I did make two test cakes prior. The first one was way too wet because the original recipe said to add a cup of apple juice to the actual batter as well. So, for the second cake I didn’t do that and it came out perfectly. If you try making this cake and think the batter is too dry for any reason, add some apple juice to it gradually to get desired consistency.

Also, I came across this recipe from WholesomeBabyFood.com for a banana glaze that sounds really good if you’d rather not use dairy or any frosting. I didn’t try it, but here is the recipe below.

Banana Glaze

1/2 med. banana

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup chopped nuts optional

2 or more cup powdered sugar

Mash banana well then add lemon juice and nuts. Gradually add powdered sugar until you obtain right spreading consistency. Ice cake after completely cool.

And I don’t mean to direct you to another site, but WholesomeBabyFood.com is a wealth of information on how to feed your baby and great recipes. I refer to it quite often.

Aside from the cake being yummy and everyone enjoying it, the party was a success. We had about 20 guests and a variety of hors d’oeurves were served including tortilla chips, hummus, veggie dip, carrot sticks and baby cookies. Lily looked super cute in the outfit I got her for her special day with matching custom-made headband, and she got a lot of great gifts, although I was the one who opened them all. She also got a lot of playtime in with her cousin Rhys which was really sweet.

The only downside was that it took us about three days to fully recover from all the madness and cleaning and having to get Lily re-introduced to her routine. Then once that happened, I got the flu, and then Lily got a resurgence of roseola. It was not a pleasant week. But, we are all good now and Lily is walking around all over and getting into everything. So, I’m exhausted again. Sigh. But, she sure is fun to watch :) 

Enjoying her cake?