Wk 4: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These are no-bake cookies from a recipe in Sam's math book that we tweaked to make it healthy. We froze them and they were simply delish!

Wk 3: Delicious Bread

I'm playing catch-up as we're two recipes behind. Not quite sure how that happened but I'm ready to catch up. All the more fun!

Here is the recipe to our latest creation:

Vegan Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread

Yields 1 Loaf

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 tablespoons warm water

1/2 cup agave syrup
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup mashed bananas (2 large bananas)
1 cup zucchini, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line loaf tin with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine ground flax seeds with warm water. Let stand until it becomes like gel, about 10 minutes.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

When flax seed water mixture has combined, whisk in agave syrup, olive oil and mashed bananas. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Stir in the grated zucchinis.

Pour batter into prepared loaf tin. Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then take out and let cool completely on rack.

Wk 2: Brownie Bites

Well, this week I decided to make brownies. Katherine helped me and we had a good time together. The recipe is below and I recommend you giving this one a try for yourself. I can't remember what website we found the recipe, otherwise I would give them credit. Whoever you are, thanks!!!

For the Brownie Bites:

3 cups peccans

2 tbsp almond butter

1/4 cup honey or agave

1/4 cup cacao

pinch of quality salt (sea, if possible)

Dump the pecans in your food processor and process them down to a fine flour, then until it stops moving -- some of the pecans will break down and release their oil and they will start to clump and turn into pecan butter (yum!) Give it a good stir by hand and then toss in the rest of the ingredients. Continue to process until the mixture forms a solid ball. Transfer to a bowl and give the dough a good stir by hand to make sure it is mixed well.

Grab a small amount of the dough and rool into a ball with your hands. Press the ball down with your thumb to flatten it out and make an impression in the middle. Place the flattened brownie bite onto a plate. Prepare the rest of the dough in this fashion. Next, make the frosting (ingredients listed below) and let it sit in the fridge to a bit. Then fill the indentation of each brownie bite with 'a healthy amount' of the frosting.

These can be eaten right away, though the brownie dough will b e at room temperature. Put into the fridge for thirty minutes to firm up, or if you will not be serving them right away.

For the the Frosting:

2 cups cashews

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup honey or agave

1/2 cup water

Equipment needs:

Food processor

Pastry bage, cone, press, etc

Optional: High speed blender

Wk 1: Raw Chocolate Mousse

My sister Allie and I made this together. We used the Raw Chocolate Mousse recipe from rawmazing.com but tweaked it a bit to make it even healthier! It was very good! And that's coming from an eight year old boy that LOVES his sweets! Thanks Allie, I couldn't have done it without you!

Signing off,
Samuel

The Trek!

Hello,

My name is Samuel. My goal is to make one healthy (raw) dessert every week until November which will total 12 wks. I know this is ambitious but I'm up for the challenge! I will post pictures of my weekly creations. My older sisters have agreed to help me with this for which I am grateful.

Just to let you know a little bit about myself... I am eight years old and the eighth of nine children. I am home educated and this one of my projects. I like to be outside and also work for my Dad. One of the goals of this project is to learn how to use the computer a little bit more and take pictures.

Hope you enjoy your visit and be sure to comment and let me know your thoughts!

Samuel A.