So here's the thing, I know how to eat healthy, and I also know how to eat for my own unique body makeup's optimal function. That said, here lately, I just haven't cared.
A lot of that I think was due to the fact that I was so ill for the past twelve weeks or so, and it took what little energy I could muster to even function. The idea of cooking for my family and then making me separate dishes that fit into my whole auto-immune disordered realm was met with a bit ol steaming pile of mental meh.
Yes, that was terrible of me. And it wasn't like I was binge eating bags of cheeseburgers or forty-two gallons of ice cream in a setting. In fact, I only ate sugar once a week on average, but I have been eating refined flour a lot more than I usually do (which is pretty much never), and oof, do I feel it.
So, with that explanatory explaining out there, and baking season wrapping up (very little baking happens during growing season on the farm), I thought a good way to recommit to being more conscious about taking good care of my carcass would be to start baking and cooking more things that I can eat and are healthier overall.
Plus, there were a bunch of apples languishing in my fridge.
I still don't know why the herd of teenagers that inhabit my domain haven't annihilated the manzanas like the fructose destroying horde that they are, but for some strange reason these little Pink Lady apples weren't inhaled.
Upon inspecting them, I could see no visible blemishes, but they were shoved to the back of the fridge so I that got me to thinking it was more of my dad's paradox sort of scenario (If you can't see it, it doesn't exist)
Anyway, my brain started percolating with ideas. I then tied back my hair. In that manner I am like Violet Baudelaire off of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Instead of things getting invented when I tie my hair back recipes get created. Sugar-free, flour-free baked goods can be super yummy, especially after sitting a day or so, and before you can say there's how many loads of laundry to fold? I had a recipe scratched out.
Now, what I came up with is like a streusel-ish snack cake. It's super simple to prepare, doesn't require a mixer, and other than the sugar substitutes and almond/coconut flour, doesn't really call for any odd ingredients.
Dodging the corgi and two of my ever-present cat contingent, I grabbed the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and bulk bag of Lankanto monk fruit/erythritol sweetener out of my cupboard.
I also might have been singing Blondie's Heart of Glass super, obnoxiously loud as I whisked the dry ingredients together.
Then, I peeled, cored, and diced the apples. Not my favorite job, but not my most hated either. That would probably have to be the time I had to sort and entire pallet of hairy, moldy strawberries in a Tacoma, Washington food bank in search of the few that were edible. Eeee....
Anyway, Then I added some duck eggs, sour cream, melted butter, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and using all my bicep power, beat that conglomeration into a cake batter sensation.
I spread that thick batter in a greased 9X13 and moved on to belting out Where Is My Mind? by the Pixies, which if I am to be perfectly honest, is probably my theme song.
As soon as I kerplunked the apple bits into another mixing bowl, I measured out some of my Swerve brown sugar substitute (I LOVE that stuff), some cinnamon, and a bit more almond flour. Using a spatula, I mixed that stuff together with the apples, and then poured melted butter into the apple cinnamon topping.
After mixing that a bit, I spread the apple topping on top of the batter and popped the whole thing into a preheated oven for a bit of a bake. Thirty-seven minutes later I removed it. I think if you baked this cake in a glass pan you'd need a full forty minutes of bake time at 350 degrees, but since I was using a metal cake pan, thirty-seven minutes was threat level alright!
Then I had to fold forty loads of laundry while the cake cooled, which was a good thing because 1. It smelled beyond amazing, and 2. I WAS HUNGRY!
Side note: Do you ever fold so much laundry that you start having visions like you are wandering a desert and are parched with thirst. I swear I wasn't having a sock puppet show with the kid's athletic sock while wearing a FFA dress shirt as a mock queenly robe.....
Anyway, after I emerged from the Great Laundry Expedition, I sliced a piece of the still slightly warm apple cake and sat in my nook next to a toasty, crackling fire. Now, like a lot of sugar-free, flour-free baked goods, the cake was a bit on the crumbly side, but a lot of coffee cakes are so I didn't care about that too much, and if it really bothers me I'll throw a little xanthan gum in the dry ingredients next time.
But the taste, oh so freaking YUM! It was buttery, with just the right amount of sweetness, and I really, really dig the apple cinnamon topping. Like a lot.
Apples are not carb free, but thanks to their fiber content they are relatively low in carbohydrates, and as long as you eat one slice of this cake I don't think you are going to have an insulin surge as the entire cake only has two cups of apples. The whole cake has two and half small apples in it, so you are looking at 45 carbs total, in the WHOLE cake, from the apples. Not to mention all the fiber from the apples, the coconut flour, and the almond flour.
And I would know, because I also ate a piece for breakfast this morning😉
Sugar-free, Flour-free Apple Snack Cake
The Base
2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup melted butter (you could use melted coconut oil)
1/2 cup sour cream (or coconut yogurt)
3 duck eggs (or 4 regular large eggs)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup Lankanto monkfruit/erythritol blend (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)The Filling
2 cups peeled diced apples
3/4 cup brown sugar substitute (I used Swerve)
6 ounces melted butter
2 TBSP almond flour
2 tsp cinnamonGrease a 9X13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
In a mixing bowl, whisk almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and Lankanto sweetener.
Next, add melted butter, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix everything well. The batter will be thick.
Spread batter in greased 9X13 pan.
In another mixing bowl, add apples, brown sugar substitute, almond flour, and cinnamon. Mix it all together, then add butter and mix until well combined. Spread filling on top of the base batter in the 9X13.
Bake in preheated over for 37-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out fairly clean.
Let cool, and devour! I think this would be super yummy with some whipped cream on top!
I love apple-cinnamon flavored foods so I'm definitely trying this one.
!PIZZA
Oh I so hope you like it! Apple-cinnamon is the best!
!PIZZA
You have such a natural culinary talent. In the past I have worked in a few restaurants in many different positions over the years, and I can always tell when a person has not only talent but also a passion for food. If I had a prize I would award you with it :-D
Holy compliment time! Thank you so much, seriously, your kind words made my day!
And I bet you have seen soo many things during your restaurant time! I would love to hear some of those stories! Because you totally called it, I am super passionate about food, sounds like you are too😊
I will start to include some food service stories, but I have no idea what community to publish them to 😀
When I have something that doesn't fit really into anywhere, I publish it in GEMS, and I feel like your food service stories would so, so be gems!
Thank you so much I will do that 👍
This looks so good! I will definitely have to try this sometime.
Thank you so much!!
It looks delicious. I need to stop reading these posts at night because I feel hungry and it's almost time for bed.
Oh no! I hate going to be hungry or right after I eat! Hope you found some food though and thank you so much!😊
wow it looks very good
Thank you!!
This looks delicious! I am not a fan of Pink Lady apples just to eat, but I have a feeling if you cut them up and put them in something they are probably pretty amazing. I just don't think there is much that can beat a Honeycrisp apple for eating raw. They just have an amazing crispness and the way the piece comes away when you bite into it is beyond compare. They are so expensive though. Pretty cool that this is flour free. I might have to adapt it for my dutch oven when we are camping. I found your post via List Nerds by the way. Awesome stuff!
Honeycrisp apples are the most glorious apples ever! I love slicing one up and just eating it like a heathen, letting the juice just run down my face, lol! I had those pink lady apples because I tend to buy anything fruit-wise that I find on sale for the inhaling teen horde that lurks about here, because you are so right about the honeycrisps, they are soo costly. I need to put in a Honeycrisp tree!
And I hope you adapt and try this cake recipe in a Dutch oven! I would love to hear about that!! One of my favorite Dutch oven recipes in the whole universe is the butter, canned peaches, yellow cake mix cobbler, I seriously love that!
Thanks a bunch, hope you are having smashing day!
We have done that recipe you talked about in the dutch oven. I don't think we used peaches though. I am pretty sure we used some other kind of fruit. We have another one where we use a oatmeal cookie mix along with a pie filling and that one is pretty awesome. A honeycrisp tree would be awesome!
I bet cherries would be awesome, or blackberries, or pretty much any fruit, that recipe is so yum!
The oatmeal cookie mix crumble thing is super intriguing, I am so going to try something like that soon, thanks for the idea!
And yes...Honeycrisp tree definitely needs to be a thing lol!
Glad I could help a little though it doesn't seem you need any help from me! My wife is the real kitchen master of the house! She is pretty amazing.
Very Good
Thank you!
You did it again! I really have to try this one too .... Once I am really better!
Oh! I have been wondering how you both were feeling? Hopefully more towards the better side and not towards the worse feeling realm!
And the cool thing about this cake is it doesn't have any inflammatory sugar effects, I am now going to eat a piece for breakfast, it gets better the longer it sits lol!
It's slowly getting better. Although we both still have the feeling of being "tired". It's not that I'm saying that I'm still really sick, but I just can't concentrate very well and have a bit of trouble putting myself into something. Hopefully it will get a little better every day. I have to, the dogs are getting tired of doing 'nothing' ... Lol!
Oof, that tired feeling is so horrid, I hope it goes away quickly for both of you. That and the stupid brain fog, I hated that part the most! And I bet your pups are ready to go for a run! LOL! Hope all is well today😊
The pups are definitely ready for some more action. Skipper was even just now diving into the compost bin just 5 minutes ago, he came out with a sprout of chicory. I swear to you, that dog needs some action instead of chicory. Although he seems to appreciate vegetables. Last year, I also found him outside with a large zucchini that he had bitten off the plant.
LOL! I just envisioned a dog with a piece of chicory, head cocked to the side as if he was saying it was not his fault he had been reduced to playing with food waste, lol! My grandma's dog loved corn cobs and watermelon rind, it sounds like you got a real lover of veg there. 😆 Hope Skipper contains himself for a bit longer!
He will, he's a good boy!
interesting looking dish) unusual
Thanks! Yep, it is a bit different, but also very edible lol!
salivating ! Can’t get enough of your mind blowing dishes and recipes !!
Why thank you @typebox! Always good to hear from ya!😊
Always good to hear from you too ! Best Regards!!
Awesome, one of your great-looking treats that I can actually try and not raise my blood sugar. I have printed it off so my wife can make it. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I really hope you like it! And yes, I was feeling a bit bad for constantly posting blood sugar sabotaging goodies, so I decided to lean into healthy food land for a bit, so many of my dear friends and family have autoimmune, allergies, and other health issues, so I want them to be able to enjoy treats that don't cause them harm too!
Okay, okay, Okay. My first thought on starting to read this post was: YUK. Lol 😆
But the more I read I started to go: HUMMMMM.
I am a sugar freak. A super freak. My wife made rice pudding once. Only thing I never liked in her cooking. Rice in a dessert? For Frack sakes. Maybe it was more my mind than the taste but I had to spit it put.
But the more I read this post, and the recipe I think I would try these and just might like them.
I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie earlier with MMs. Chocolate ones and peanut butter ones. Num num num.
That is how I keep this fantastic body going. Lol.
I did not know you were unwell. Hope you come around 😀
!BBH
!ALIVE
@generikat! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @bradleyarrow. (1/30)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
LOL!
It's okay Bradley! I still have lots and lots of sugar-laden goodies recipes to foist upon you! Have to focus on the healthy and feel good yums for a bit! I wish I could eat all of the yummy, sugar containing things of awesomeness all the time (it's my dream), unfortunately I end of not feeling so great if I stay in that realm for long.
That said, um, M&M cookies are my favorites, crumbled in a bowl of ice cream and drizzled with caramel and hot fudge. DANGIT! Now I am hungry!
Gonna go get a slice of that apple cake once of finish replying to you all!
And I have an autoimmune disease that I beat into submission through proper health and nutrition (positive thinking and behavior!), needed to get back on track, definitely have, and am coming around nicely.
Hope you are having the bestest day ever sir!
!PIZZA
Lol
Thanks
Happy you have control of your issues 😀
!BBH
!ALIVE
@generikat! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @bradleyarrow. (13/30)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
Because this is such an awesome post, here is a BBH Tip for you. . Keep up the fantastic work
That's looks so yummy!! I'm going to have to try to make it. 🙂
Thanks! For an experiment in sugar freeness, it didn't turn out bad at all, and believe me there have been some experiments that have lol!
Hope you enjoy it!
I'm sure it will taste great! 🙂
Sugar-free? That's interesting! My mother used to do something similar when I was a kid but with sugar.
Perhaps I should try this out since both of my parents have diabetes and they no longer can enjoy sweets 😢
My mom used to make an apple cake thing like it too! That's what gave me the idea!
And I hear you about parents with health issues. My dad had a stroke last fall and isn't supposed to eat a lot of refined carbs, so I am trying to come up with stuff that tastes yummy and is non-inflammatory.
Hope you and your parents are having a marvelous day!
I'm sorry to hear about your dad and I hope he will have a fast recovery and enjoy life as much as he can.
Thank you, I hope you and your parents have a nice day too and take care of each other!
He's doing really well and can even walk again, so we are all thankful! And thank you for the kind words:)
Hope you are having a splendid day!
I just printed the recipe so I can make it as soon as I get some apples. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! I hope you get to try it and you like it!
Because this is such an awesome post, here is a BBH Tip for you. . Keep up the fantastic work
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
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Now I know where to come if I want something sweet! And it's a good thing that I came to your post because I haven't had desert. :)