Month: October 2013

Food Allergies, Living Life

Dairy Free Chocolate Lava Cake (To Die For!)

Jennifer Mulchandani

chocolatemoltencake214 1/2 years ago my darling husband proposed to me over a decadent chocolate soufflé at a local French restaurant.  For our annivesary yesterday I intended to try my hand at the classic dessert for the first time!  However, as I researched recipes and considered my options, I worried that converting a classic souffle to dairy free would leave me wanting.  We aren’t always dairy free, but for special desserts, we don’t want to leave out our youngest son, who has multiple food allergies.

So, I found this mouth watering recipe from Paula Deen, and converted it a bit.  Even though I’m no professional chef, I would venture to say that my recipe was amazing. My kids loved, I loved it, and my husband loved it.  Each individual serving is rich, smooth and satisfying.  Though we about polished off our own servings, we could have easily shared one!

Now, I know this isn’t 100% in-line with our new real food way of eating — I didn’t quite have the nerve to substitute honey for the powdered sugar, but otherwise the recipe is real! I have substituted honey in other sweet desserts with no difference, and as soon as we use up what little powdered sugar we have left in the house, I will only use honey.  I would guess that this would have been just as delicious, so now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I didn’t try!

My modified recipe, with my changes highlighted in red. 

INGREDIENTS:
4 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
4 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 cup  whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat)
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.Grease 6 small ramekins with olive oil spray and dust with cocoa.  Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange extract. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins. Place on a cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates. Dust with powdered sugar.
Living Life

14 Years of Marriage (And Not Sick of Each Other Yet!)

Jennifer Mulchandani

Happy Anniversary to us!  Today my husband Prithvi and I are celebrating 14 years of marriage (and almost 20 years together!)

October 10, 1999
October 10, 1999 — Indian Wedding

Not only did I get to marry my soul mate, I got to marry him twice in one day!  Like today, it was a wet day — requiring some last minute changes to our wedding plans, but it was a fabulous day nonetheless!  Its hard to believe that 14 years have gone by, seeing as we haven’t aged a bit from these photos 😉

Spending the last twenty years with Prithvi has been so much fun.  The countless trips together, the stupid tv watching together, raising babies, creating a home, the late nights with good wine (the late nights with bad wine!), amazing dinners out and homemade, terrible take out and burnt attempts to cook, parent-teacher conferences together and errands — I enjoy every day that we get to spend together!  I am lucky!

October 10, 1999
October 10, 1999 — Jewish Wedding

I’m not a marriage or relationship expert, but I am confident in saying that being each other’s best friend is a key ingredient to our being so happy together.  I’m not saying that living with someone doesn’t pose challenges, but having a strong friendship makes it easier to work through life’s struggles.

Being such good friends means that we go out of our way to spend time together.  We prefer to run errands together — even when it means we won’t get as much accomplished.  We make the other wake up so we can sneak a quiet coffee together before the chaos of the day.  And we value and protect our alone time after the kids go to bed — even keeping each other company if one has to work after hours.

I feel absurdly lucky that I got to marry my best friend.  That he got to be the father to my kids.  That he picked me and that he let me pick him.  Happy Anniversary, Prithvi!  I love you, and I look forward to many more years ahead!

Food Allergies, Healthy Food

Homemade Granola

Jennifer Mulchandani

My Homemade GranolaI did it!  I made homemade granola on request from my 5 year old.  He’s my cereal addict, and can burn through a box of Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey Granola in a few days.  At nearly $5 per box, it adds up.  But more troubling to me, in our new Real Food way of eating, are the added sugars and maltodextrin (seriously, tell me you cook with maltodextrin?!)

Despite being certified organic, this cereal is neither real, nor all that healthy (so much sugar!)

CascadianLabel
Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey Granola

As we use up our processed/packaged foods, I’m having to make things from scratch.  I used this recipe for my granola, but ended up modifying it a bit since my son is allergic to nuts and seeds.  I added an extra half a cup of oats, and omitted the nuts/seeds.  I also used coconut oil in place of the butter, since my son is also allergic to milk.  (I plan to make another batch loaded with those goodies, for me to eat!)

Want the truth?  It is good!  It isn’t as sweet as the boxed granola, but both of my cereal eating kids like it.  You can taste the subtle coconut oil flavor, but it isn’t overwhelming.  The cinnamon is the strongest flavor.  Also, this took minutes to prepare (but stays in the oven a long time.)  The only negative was heating up my kitchen on a hot day.

Making the granola felt like going up the next step on our real food journey.  I’m already wondering what next store bought staple will be replaced.  I’m also stuck on what to do about our store bought “O’s” cereal.  I’m buying the Whole Foods 365 brand — its organic, and pretty clean but does have added sugar. I suspect I will phase it out soon.

Please share your favorite granola recipes.  I am excited to try new versions!