Brownies From Heaven

As I sit here eating my coconut bread, slathered in butter made from grass fed cow mommies and a thin layer of locally made blueberry jelly, I wonder.....how did I not know about this way of eating sooner? I am eight days in to my wheat free life. I weigh five pounds less than when I started. I have only gone for one signifigant walk (two miles) in the past week. I bake a lot and I eat a lot. There is no logical reason I should weigh less, I think to myself, as I sip my freshly ground Love Buzz coffee with a bit of bakers cocoa and grade b maple syrup mixed in. I eat lot of yummy food, yet I am shrinking.

I want to talk about grade b maple syrup for a moment. Did you know that grade b maple syrup has antioxidants and anti-imflammatory agents? Both of which have been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses, according to a study done at the University of Rhode Island. It has a low glycemic index. Barely, I might add....but still, a low glycemic index. Be careful if you research this yourself because its tricky to find this information in a general search. Be specific or you will find information lumping together flavored maple syrup and real maple syrup, making it a medium glycemic index.

In case you don't know what that is, I will try to lay it out in plain english. How much a food highers your blood sugar level in relation to glucose, is that food's glycemic index. Whole wheat bread has a glycemic index of 72, which is high. Table sugar has a glycemic index of 59, which is medium and maple syrup has a glycemic index of 54, which is low. Anything above 70 is high, anything below 55 is low, and anything in between is medium.

Wheat free and gluten free has been fun. In the same way as when I found out that Monsanto food was poison and it was easy to stop eating, it has been easy to stop eating this thing that is so disruptive to our bodies, called modern wheat.

Eliminating wheat has been very benificial as far as my childrens' behaviour goes. My overemotional twins are now rational little human beings. Stella and Isabel got in an argument yesterday, over Isabel correcting Stella's speech. Right at the part where Stella would have normally started swinging, she imploringly explains, with wide eyes about to spill over with tears eyes, "See Isabel! This is why I hit you! Because you are making me feel like trash and I want you to feel like trash, too!"

To which Isabel responds, "I just want you to get it right and you never want to practice. I just want to help you." And then they fall together in a hug, saying they love eachother. Two minutes later, I was paparazzi snapping pics of them through the dining room window, while they sat on the swing set, arranging their painting kits. World peace has arrived in my neck of the woods. Hallelujah.

And now that you know THAT, lets talk about those brownies I made last night!! Holy heaven and hell and everything in between, they were fantastic!! I found a recipe online but of course, I changed it a bit. I didn't use raw honey as it called for and I used celtic sea salt instead of regular salt. End result: everyone's eyes glowing because they can't understand how brownies with no sugar and no wheat flour can be so delectable.

The recipe is as follows:
2/3 cup local grade b maple syrup
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract, pure and organic, WITHOUT corn syrup
3 local eggs
1 cup almond flour (I used the only one available to me at the co-op, Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour)
1/2 cup Equal Exchange Organic Baking Cocoa (I am going to try raw cacao next time!)
1/4 tsp of Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda
A little more than a 1/4 tsp of celtic sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and eggs until smooth. I actually added my salt at this point because its chunky and I wanted it to dissolve/disperse evenly. Then I put the almond flour, the baking cocoa and the baking soda in a sifter. I sifted half of it into the egg mixture and mixed until smooth. Then added the remaining half and finished mixing. I wish I had someone to tell me, like I am about to tell you, that the batter is going to be disturbingly thin looking. Don't worry about that. Its perfect. I then poured the batter into a buttered 8x8 glass pan and put it in the oven for twenty five minutes. Oven times may vary. I have a shitty electric oven so I have to be careful.

Next time, I will cover my wheat free and gluten free pizza.

P.S: this blog would have been up hours ago if I hadn't tried and failed to upload a cute video of the kids talking about going wheat free. I will try to get it up on facebook ;)

Instead I will leave with a picture of this amazing brownie that I fell in love with yesterday.


Peace, love and good food!!