Hot cocoa / Chocolate Milk Mix

     Just in time for the holidays and cold weather! Today I'm sharing our favorite hot cocoa/ chocolate milk recipe! 

     One of the hardest parts of eating healthy for kids is being different from their friends or suddenly finding out they can't have something they always had before.       My goal is always to make things that help my kids feel normal, and nourish them at the same time. I cannot get past the labels on the chocolate milk and hot cocoa mixes any longer! 

     We have tried a couple varioustions over the year and this recipe is by far our unanimous favorite! 

Hot Cocoa

1c cocoa powder or cacao

2c of some type sugar. I usually use coconut palm sugar but use what you have.

1 teaspoon sea salt

1teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon cinnimon

Vanilla (which ever is easier. Liquid goes into cup after hot milk. Pwdr goes into the powder mix)

   Liquid - 1t per cup

  Pwdr - 1 1/2 Tblsp  

To use 

1 T mix (or more to taste)

8oz hot milk.

Chocolate Milk Mix 

Simply omit the cayenne pepper 

And vanilla is optional. We don't usually use vanilla for cold chocolate milk. 

Tips

A drink whisk is very helpful getting this mixed up. 

If you use essential oils, this would be a great way to use them! I would add 1 drop of cinnimon to the cup. 

If you enjoyed this recipe, have questions or comments please post them in the comments below. 

                                                       Thank you for reading! 

Protein Powerhouse Pumpkin muffins

     It's pumpkin season! Maybe you've heard? You know simply becuase pumpkins are ripening right this time of year, every business takes it upon themselves to utilize this fact as a marketing campaign. Why not me? 

      Actually, I didn't set out to jump on the pumpkin fluff bandwagon.  I was just cleaning out my freezer for the incoming fall crop when I ran across a container of pumpkin purée from last winter.  Moreover, I was looking for easy foods I could cook up to send with my kids for school lunches. What could be easier than muffins?  

     The best part of cooking paleo is knowing that I can I enjoy my favorite foods but they are also meeting my nutritional needs. Not only do these muffins contain loads of protein, but veggies too! No wasted calories in this recipe! 

     At first glance it you might be surprised by the amount of spices in this recipe. I assure you it is not over powering. While coconut flour is fairly mild, when mixed into batter it can be difficult sometimes to taste anything else, especially since I also used coconut oil. In this recipe, I worked really hard to minimize the coconut flavor and create that fluffy muffin texture I always got when baking with wheat. Additionally, I used my muffin top pan for this recipe.  I have regular muffin pans too but I tend to use the muffin top pan more often. The cooking times may vary for traditional muffin pans. 

Protein Power House Pumpkin muffins

Makes approximately 14 muffins

Prep time 5-10 minutes 

Cooking time 25-30 minutes

2 1/2 cups Pumpkin purée 

1 cup Coconut Flour 

1/2C Arrowroot Powder

1 tbsp Aluminum-Free Baking Powder (2T if your using regular muffin tins) 

6 Whole eggs

1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup (honey would do well too) 

2 tbsp Cinnimon

2 tbsp All Spice

2 tsp Cardamom 

1/2 cup Coconut Oil - melted 

 Topping 

1/8 C date sugar (other options would be acceptable, such as coconut palm sugar,  maple sugar, turbinado) 

1 teaspoon cinnimon 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F 

Grease your muffin tin well with coconut oil or use liners. Be sure to oil in between each set if reusing the same pan. 

I used a bowl and whisk for this recipe, a mixer on low speed would work fine as well. 

In a large mixing bowl combine pumpkin purée, coconut flour, arrowroot powder, baking powder and spices. 

In a separate bowl whisk 6 eggs completely. 

Add the eggs to the large bowl and mix well.

Pour in maple syrup and melted coconut oil stir thoroughly. 

Measure a 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup. 

Sprinkle topping over each muffin.

Bake 25-30 minutes. My first 2 batches cooked for 25 minutes exactly. The second one 30 minutes. Both turned out well. Most importantly keep an eye on them around 20 minutes as some ovens run hotter. 

If you liked this recipe, have any questions, comments; please post your comment below. 

                Thanks for Reading! 

Zoe's 21 Day Sugar Detox : day 1

     Hey everybody, I'm Zoe and today I'm starting the 21 day sugar detox!!!!!!!! I know that I was supposed to start the detox yesterday but I forgot and I'm very sorry. So today for breakfast I ate oat meal with butter and warm maple syrup.  For snack I had a berry almond milk smoothie and a trail mix. Then for lunch I had a fruit cup, carrots, 2 mini crescent rolls with cheddar cheese and mini hot dogs ( I  know I cheated ). Lastly for dinner I had Paleo style beef stroganoff with miracle noodles and zucchini noodles.

      Thank you all for coming to  my moms blog to read my blog posts. The last day of the detox on April1, 2014. If you would like me to try any of foods or snacks please comment on this blog or you can share it on my moms Facebook or Pinterest pages please #Zoes21detox .

Thank you so much!!!!!!

                

           Love Zoe