Foodie Friday: Eat your vegetables desserts

Been a while since I did a Foodie Friday. Oh, who am I kidding? It's been a while since I've posted anything regularly. I just can't get my act together. I mean, I'm only doing school with Mercy, working on an extensive reading list with all four of the pickles, doing circle time with memory work, sewing their summer wardrobe, cooking vast amounts of food, laundry, dishescleaningdishescleaninglaundry...I know, I know. Stop making excuses.

Anyway, the Sommers pickles are very good eaters. They eat lacto-fermented foods and drinks, Brussels sprouts, liver, salads, and I could go on and on. We limit the sweet food they get so they have a taste for good nourishing foods, and it seems to work. Mercy, especially seems to take after her daddy and have a monstrous sweet/carb tooth, but she's learned to eat and like a broad spectrum of foods. Despite the fact that they already eat well, my obsessive-compulsive passion for nourishing food has led me to look for even more ways to pack good foods into their diet. I've made my own tomato sauce, pureeing green beans, spinach, and peppers into it, for a long time,  I grind liver and mix it with pastured ground beef in meatballs or lasagna, put pastured gelatin into soups and stews (good for the gut and joints), and finely chop veggies and put them in smoothies. But recently, I've made some downright brilliant nourishing desserts with "secret" ingredients, and I'm sharing those here. 

First is my red velvet torte. It is grain free, full of beety goodness. And it's beautiful, with it's deep purplish-red color when you slice it.

Red Velvet Torte (grain free)

Servings:12

Oven:350

Time:45 minutes

5 cups grated beets

1 cup water

1.5 cups rapadura or palm sugar (I prefer palm sugar)

8 eggs

1 cup butter, softened

2 Tablespoons vanilla

1.5 teaspoon almond extract (optional. If omitted, add more vanilla)

1 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

Simmer beets, water, and sweetener over medium heat until beets are very tender. Cool. Puree beet mixture in food processor or with immersion blender until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth and well blended. Prepare a springform pan by greasing well with butter and lining bottom with greased parchment paper. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until center is set and a tester comes out clean.

After baking, let cool completely and chill in fridge for several hours before removing from pan. Top with homemade sweetened whipped cream, and garnish with cocoa or shaved chocolate and tart berries.

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Next is my avocado fudge, which can be served as fudge "candy," pudding, or frozen bars.You will not believe how decadent this treat is. It is rich and creamy and fudgy. Here are two of my sweet boys enjoying "fudgesicles" after a warm afternoon playing outside

 Chocolate Avocado Fudge

Servings: about 20 small pieces, 8-12 frozen bars, or 8 small servings of pudding

1 very ripe banana

2 ripe avocado

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp raw honey or maple syrup 

3 Tbsp cocoa or carob

1/2 tsp salt

  In a food processor or with an immersion blender, process the banana, avocado, vanilla, and sweetener until smooth. Add coconut oil and process again.  Add cocoa and salt and process until mixed well.  

Can be eaten right away. It is amazingly creamy as a pudding (if you're watching calories, you'll want to resist the urge to eat a whole cup of it. It's nutritious, but quite calorie dense)

For fudge, pour into a silicone pan or shallow baking dish to 1/2 inch thickness. Can be cut into squares or with small cookie cutters once it's firm. Freeze for about an hour until solid. I use silicone heart-shaped ice cube trays. They were the perfect size, and also adorable for my foodie children.

For "fudgesicles" pour mixture into silicone freeze pop molds and freeze until solid. I think these would also work well in push-pop molds.

Notes: I have added a pinch of stevia (to taste) and omitted the other sweeteners.

I have also used carob powder rather than cocoa. Honestly, it's best with the cocoa, but because of the phytates and caffeine in cocoa, we limit it for the children. It was still quite tasty with the carob.

 You're welcome.