A Healthy Cake For Helen's 2nd Birthday (Coconut Flour, Paleo Friendly, Gluten Free)

OUR LITTLE GIRLIE IS TWO!

The last couple of years have definitely been the most challenging of my life (so far). I have learned so much, about myself, about how hard it is to be and mom and wife at the same time, about how frustrating and lovable kids can be.

I knew months ago that I wanted to make a cake for Helen's second birthday. She's never had cake before. I also knew that I wanted to make a healthy cake because I wanted to feel good about letting her eat lots of it.

A WORD ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS:

First let give you the reasons for the ingredients I chose. I don't intend to feed Helen a gluten-free diet. She has eaten (organic) white flour on occasion and I haven't noticed any adverse effects. However, I don't like the idea of her eating gobs of white flour.

This might seem strange to some, but I also don't want her eating whole wheat flour. In fact, I would much rather she ate organic white than whole wheat flour. You see, whole wheat flour can be very difficult to digest unless it is properly prepared. And I didn't feel like sprouting or soaking her cake (so much work!).

Some people like to use nut flours in place of grain flours, but, as I mentioned in a previous post, nuts can also be difficult to digest if they aren't properly prepared. I didn't feel like soaking, dehydrating, and grinding nuts.

Then I discovered The Urban Poser's recipe for coconut flour cake. I had some coconut flour on hand, so I thought it would be a great recipe to try. I was quite pleased with how it turned out!

DETAILS ABOUT THE CAKE:

I followed the recipe for the cake pretty closely, cutting out just a smidgen of the honey. I also used butter in place of coconut oil. I doubled the recipe and baked the cake in two 6-inch cake pans and a loaf pan.

For the filling, I made a quick strawberry jam by boiling and mashing a bag of frozen strawberries with a little honey, lemon juice and gelatin.

For the frosting I made stabilized whipped cream. I sweetened it with sucanat and stabilized it with grass-fed gelatin.

I also made a half batch of my Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, but I subbed vanilla extract for the beans and cut out a bit of the sweetener (I used sucanat).

If you prefer a paleo-friendly cake, you can follow The Urban Poser's recipe.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT HELEN, CHECK OUT MY POST ON MY PERSONAL BLOG

Monday, February 23, 2015

A Healthy Cake For Helen's 2nd Birthday (Coconut Flour, Paleo Friendly, Gluten Free)

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Pretty Failures + Life Lately

OR: Why I Haven't Been a Good Blogger

Here's a bit of an explanation for why I've been blogging so sporadically lately: I have had a run of bad luck with the recipes that I've been testing for Buttered Side Up. Take this Homemade Root Beer. I absolutely LOVED the pictures. But it tasted somewhat medicinal. I didn't feel right sharing it with you guys.

Then there's this Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream. It didn't taste bad, but the amount of peanut butter wasn't right. I still want to share this recipe with you guys once I figure it out.

These Gooey Cinnamon Biscuits sounded so so good. I must have tampered with the recipe too much, because they were pretty bland. 

Lastly we have this Fresh Tomato Pasta. I thought it would be full of flavor, but it too was fairly insipid. Once I added some pepperoni it was a bit better, but nothing special.

Another reason I haven't been able to keep up with blogging as much as I like is that we have been pretty busy of late. Here are a few highlights from our summer:

Sparklers at our family Reunion.

We took a trip to Duluth, MN. You can read more about it on my personal blog HERE.

We made it to the family cabin a couple of times.

We attended the Lake Itasca Family Music Festival. Well, attended isn't quite the right word. We worked volunteered until we were dog tired, Reuben in the kitchen and I taking care of Helen and TRYING to take good photos. And Helen decided sleep was optional. I was worn out and very ready for home by the end of the weekend. 

Our little girlie is 18 months now! You can read more about it HERE.

So that's my excuse for being a bad blogger. 

I'll leave you with two questions:

1) What have you been up to this summer?

2) What would you like to see this fall on Buttered Side Up?

xoxo

Erica

Monday, August 25, 2014

Pretty Failures + Life Lately

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Life Updates

Hey guys! I made pizza for y'all, but it turned out to be a bit of a fail. It was pretty yummy, but there were a few technical difficulties -- the cheese slid all over the place. 

So today I'll update you on what's been going on in our life lately instead!

I do believe that this has been one of the longest Minnesota winters. Or at least it feels that way. I'm usually quite content with cozy winters full of hot tea and warm blankets; but the snow came early and it has been lingering. I just want warm sunshine and growing things.






To make the winter a little less tiresome, we took a ski trip. Reuben's sister kindly watched Helen for us while we hit the slopes. It was the first time we had the chance to go skiing in two years.






This is the food I packed for Helen for the ski trip (she's still nursing): kimchi, grapefruit, oranges, cheese, yogurt, butter and eggs.

Reuben's family keeps chickens, and the hens started laying recently. It's so nice to have good quality eggs again. And they are so very pretty.

Affogato al Caffè. Need I say more?

Helen has really started to enjoy her food lately. For breakfast she'll eat over half a cup of yogurt, two egg yolks, frozen blueberries (hence the face above), and a pickle (go figure). She'll be eating us out of house and home soon.







Our dishwasher is broken. You never realize just how many utensils you use up until you have to wash them all by hand.

I got my hair cut! You can read more about it over on my personal blog.

I have been a bit obsessed with watercolors lately. I gave Buttered Side Up a bit of a facelift -- I painted a new header and social media buttons. What do you think?

I'll leave you with this one of our little munchkin. She loves being outside. I can't wait for the ground to dry up so she can explore without getting sopping wet.

What's been happening in your life lately? Anything new or exciting? What has been bringing you joy?

xoxo

Erica

Monday, April 7, 2014

Life Updates

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A Pretty Failure + Other Things

I really wanted to like this recipe, guys. When I read the words "Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal," I was certain that this was something that I wanted to eat for breakfast AND dessert. But with my first bite I thought, "This isn't sweet enough." And with subsequent bites: "I don't think there's enough salt."

Reuben agreed that it just wasn't that good.

But I really liked the photos. I was able to capture some steam, and I think it LOOKS like something I would like to eat. Ah well.

On a happier note, I took my lovely sister's senior portraits. You can see more photos on my personal blog.

I made pear jam using my Peach Jam Recipe as a base, leaving out the lemon juice (I didn't have any on hand).

Caramel Corn! Om nom nom. I'll have to share my recipe with y'all sometime...

Fall is in full swing here in northern Minnesota. I really need to stop mentioning to Reuben how much I love fall - I'm sure I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Have you had any failures or successes in the kitchen lately?

Thursday, October 10, 2013

A Pretty Failure + Other Things

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Cooking Inspiration + Life Lately

I have been obsessed with roasting veggies lately. Here's a little something that I dreamed up: Roasted Vegetable Chicken Alfredo. I baked up a pan of broccoli, grape tomatoes and garlic (drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt) and added it to a basic Alfredo sauce. It was awesome.

By the way, lining your pan with parchment paper is the best. No dangerous aluminum and no nasty cleanup.

I also roasted up a pan of heirloom tomatoes that I got from the co-op. I pureed them with some cream and used it as a sauce for pasta. Reuben really like it, even though it didn't have any meat! Here's what the finished product looked like.

I usually roast my vegetables between 400 and 450 degrees F for about half and hour, or until they look done to me.

You guys. Infused water is so refreshing. I experimented with a blend of lemon, cucumber and mint. Reuben calls it pickle water (he doesn't care for cucumbers), but I like it.

I tried figs for the first time! It's quite a different flavor, but I enjoyed it. We sauted them with butter and honey and served them over vanilla ice cream. Delicious.

I LOVE the vintage silverware I got from Reuben's grandma. Some of the pieces are very odd. I'll have to do a bit of research to learn the intended uses for them.

I finally purchased a Kitchen Aid stand mixer! I found it for almost half-price on Gilt (BTW, if you use my link you'll get $25 off your first order and I'll get $25 off my next order!). I have waited for over two years for this. Now I can make bread without hand-kneading it!

And of course I have to throw in a Helen update. This little rascal started crawling last month (at 6 months old) and is starting to pull herself up onto things everything (almost 7 months old). She keeps me on my toes - she's already an expert at Getting Into Things. And she's VERY interested in my food photography.

If you'd like to read more about Helen and see pictures from my everyday life, check out my personal blog and my Instagram.

Also, let me know in the comments if you like these inspiration/life update posts, or if you'd prefer that I keep it to recipe posts. 

Have a lovely day!

Erica

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Cooking Inspiration + Life Lately

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