Prayers from the Mouths of Babes

My children amaze me and challenge me and stretch my faith and my heart every single day.  Yesterday after dinner my four year old son was running around being playing super hero.  We've been going through this Super Hero series that I found and love.  So as he is playing he keeps saying, "I'm going to be a wise super hero."  My heart rejoices at his words and I think Amen, son.  I desire you to be a wise super hero for God.

At bedtime he was his usual rambunctious self jumping around and flipping on his bed while I read the Bible stories and answered the many questions of his older sister.  We were in Joshua and I read that they were getting ready to march around the city, I hear him in the middle of his jumps and tumbles say, "Oh the battle of Jericho, the walls are all going to crash down, and Joshua is going to win."  Again I smile inside thinking yes, that's right.  You are listening.

As we turn off our lights and start to say our prayers he is still jumping and playing on the bed behind me.  Then I say it's your turn.  I expect him to quickly rant off, "Thank you God for momma and daddy and my sisters, Amen," like he normally does.  This time he jumps up, lands sitting, bows this little head and folds his hands and sighs this deep sigh.  Then very seriously he says, "God help me to go to the right place, help me to go to the right place.  I want to walk by Faith, God, and not by Sight.  And God when I grow up please make me into a wise super hero.  I want to be Wise. Amen."

I sat there staring at him, repeating his prayer over and over in my head so that I could remember and record it to keep forever.  The sweetness, the heart felt desire, the truth in that prayer.  I saw that scripture was embedded in his heart and that his desire is to serve the Lord.

This is my little four year old who last month officially asked Jesus into his heart and tells us regularly he wants to be baptized. This is my little boy who if I lay next to at night and sing to, he'll start to tell me Bible stories, and be in awe of God and how Daniel was safe in the Lions Den or how Shadrack Meshack and Abindigo were in the fiery furnace.  Though his all time favorite is David and Goliath.  When he's having an exceptionally hard time with something we'll say, "You want to be David and throw some stones, knock down that giant."  He'll pretend to swing his sling around his head and throw the stones and say things like "Leave me alone fear" or "Go away satan, you can't make me angry anymore."  He'll even say things like, "I will share", "I will obey my mommy and daddy".  After throwing his stones, he'll feel so much better and be his sweet self once more.  Every day he amazes me and makes me stop and ponder in my heart asking God what will you do through my son?  At the same time he is all boy and tries my patience and makes me ask God if anything I'm saying is sinking in. 

Right before falling asleep he said, "I want to have a dream tonight of God crushing satan under my feet."  He likes to sing Romans 16:19, but I thought to myself wow, that dream might be a little scary for a four year old.

This morning while driving to school he says, "Mom I had a dream last night.  There was this dragon and it was following me, but God had a plan and it was a good plan, and then the dragon was crushed under my feet, and our family went up into heaven and the dragon went into hell."  Okay I have read him kids Bible stories and filled him with the word, but I have never read him Revelation!!!  I sat there thinking, wait, he doesn't know this is in the Bible and he's telling me exactly what the Bible says, that God will defeat the dragon.  I had to find my cell phone and call my husband and tell him this immediately.  Then I looked back in the rear view mirror at the tiny, brown hair, brown eyed boy still 5 point harnessed into his seat, and told him that his dream is true, that it says that in the Bible. God will defeat the dragon, he does have that plan and he's right it's a good plan.  He smiled wide and his eyes sparkled.  I wanted to stop time and just hold him in that moment and rejoice with him over God's good plan.

Yummy Strawberry Cake

With a family full of allergies and a home-school co-op with more allergies, I have to come up with new inventions at times in the way of food.  I find it incredibly fun trying out new "science experiments" of taking a base recipe and making into something completely my own.  So today I present to you a homemade Strawberry Cake, gluten free and dairy free!!! 

My inspiration was a little girl turning 5 who has a dairy allergy. We all wanted to celebrate together. With my family's gluten problems, I had to come up with a cake we could all eat.  I like testing things on kids. If kids don't like them, then they don't really taste good as far as I'm concerned.  So this one wins--one of my students had two pieces in a matter of seconds! I hope you enjoy too.

Before Mixing anything I had to prepare my ingredients. I again used raw, unbleached, unrefined sugar, so my first step was to blend it down in my husband's coffee grinder. 

My next step was to take 2 1/4 cups of gluten free oatmeal and pulverize it in my food processor so it was flour and set aside. 

Last I pureed the strawberries, thus the sticky stuff would be in there last.  I used 1 cup of frozen strawberries, slightly thawed, and pulsed them in the food processor until they were a smooth puree. You will use half in the cake and half in the frosting.

• 1 3/4  cups  raw sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk * if you do not use vanilla then add vanilla to your recipe.
• 1/2 cup strawberry puree
• 2 1/4 cups oat flour (pulverized)
• 1 c. coconut butter (not oil)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  zanthan gum

Frosting...

• 1 cup of coconut butter (not oil)
• 1/2 c. strawberry puree
• 5 T vanilla coconut milk
• 1/2- 1 cup sugar you grinded up. 
• 1 Tablespoon of pure cranberry juice (not cocktail)

Preheat oven to 350° F / 176° C

I did two rounds. 

1. In a small bowl mix the eggs, 1/2 c of puree, and milk with a fork.
2. In your mixing bowl mix up dry ingredients.  add the coconut butter, the batter should become crumbly. 
3. Pour in wet mixture.  Beat for 1 minute, scrap and beat for 30 seconds. 
4. Pour into two well greased pans.  Our trick is to coat in coconut oil, freeze the pans for a couple minutes to harden the oil, then cakes won't stick.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or more before putting on cooling racks.  Cool completely before frosting.
7. While cooling, make the frosting.  Pour all the remaining ingredients into your food processor with the remaining 1/2 c of puree.  Blend well, and then frost the cake.  
8. Tada! You are done: a strawberry cake with no artificial colors or flavors, and gluten, dairy and nut free.  

If you aren't allergic to dairy I think the cream cheese frosting would be divine on this cake as well with strawberry puree folded in.  Check out my last post on the carrot cake for the cream cheese frosting recipe.  

Carrot Cake YUMMY

I made a carrot cake for my Hubby's birthday and wanted to share the recipe with you.

My husband loves carrot cake. With a gluten allergy he can't eat carrot cake--just look at it and dream.  So I decided the time had come to experiment with my new love, gluten free oatmeal, and make him a cake for his special day.

I used raw, unbleached, unrefined sugar. It has more of a brown look (it does not have the molasses extracted from it, and it has an excellent flavor and tests good). It is lumpy so my first step was to blend it down in my husband's coffee grinder so it didn't make the cake or frosting lumpy.  I used this in both the cake and frosting instead of regular sugar or powdered sugar.

My next step was to take 2 cups of gluten free oatmeal and pulverize it into flour using my food processor. Most gluten free flours contain rice, which my son can not have, or they smell awful and give shoddy results because of all the fava bean. What is the point in cooking a cake if  you can't enjoy the batter, I ask you? There is no point. None. You must be able to lick every utensil clean at the end and take little tastes here and there. How else will you know that it is exactly what you want? You cannot do that with fava bean flours. If you do, I promise you will need a trashcan close by!  

• 2 cups  raw sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups coconut oil
• 2 cups oat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3 cups freshly grated carrots

Frosting...

• 1 stick of unsalted sweet cream butter (organic if possible)
• 1 brick of pasture cream cheese (organic if possible)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar you grinded up.

Preheat oven to 350° F / 176° C

I made two round cakes.  One of mine fell apart. I tried to flip it too soon.  It will make two round cakes.

1. Cream sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl with an electric beater or stand mixer. Add oil and vanilla and beat just until smooth.
2. Add in oat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt,  beat until blended.
3. Stir in grated carrots and nuts. Pour the batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
5. While cake or muffins are cooling place butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until smooth. Add sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
6. When cake is cool frost. 

Make sure it's cool before you try to flip it out of the pan.  I tried to flip it out onto our cooling rack and it broke apart. One my children and I devoured it. The other we decorated for Hubby and ate it later. It is super good! You may decorate it with lovely nuts like I did or whatever your creative mind likes.