Warm Carob Pie

The holidays were good overall.  I loved spending time with family, and felt good overall, definitely a blessing!  However, avoiding all the food was a drag.  I brought my own dish to most of the celebrations which always ensured that there was something I could eat.  My family is supportive, but the IC diet is just not something that is easy to explain.  Additionally, I HATE dictating a menu and requesting that special foods be cooked for me.  My general rule is that I bring something that I love that I can share with others.  It works well, keeps me satisfied, and avoids hurting feelings.  Because of my rule, I did well over the holidays.  However, I was left with a craving for something chocolaty.  You know how that is... So, I started poking around my kitchen and found a pie crust in my fridge leftover from holiday baking and some carob powder in my pantry.  I decided to combine/tweak some recipes from some of my old cookbooks and came up with an amazing carob pie. 

I have to be honest, the word carob never gets me excited.  I usually make a face, my tongue waters in a bad way, and I choose to bake something else to try and satisfy whatever sugary craving I have that day. Tonight, the giant and relatively expensive can of carob was making me feel guilty, and I thought I would give carob yet another try.  I prepared the pie and put it in the oven and then started making some quick vanilla ice cream, because I had a feeling that the I would need to offset the usual bitterness of the carob with some tasty ice cream.  However, to my pleasant surprise, this pie is delicious!  Completely convincing for chocolate, and it definitely didn't need the ice cream.  I'm happy to have found such a suitable chocolate substitute! It's a good night in the kitchen, and my chocolate tooth is definitely satisfied!

Warm Carob Pie

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons carob powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1 (9-inch) pie shell, unbaked

Directions

Combine and mix sugar, flour, butter, carob, vanilla, and eggs.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.  Slice and serve (with completely optional vanilla ice cream)

Carob Peanut Butter Bars

Alright, Halloween is later this month, and the stores are filled with candies and pumpkins.  I love fall. I love pumpkins.  I love many things about this time of year that IC does not interfere with.  However, my least favorite thing about this time of year and Halloween is the re-appearance of stupid seasonal Reese's treats.  We've had a nice long break of these treats not being available.  Really it's only been like 4 months, but, whatever the case, I really enjoy not seeing these things in stores.  Now they will be available again until May.  Don't believe me? Think about it.  It starts with the Halloween pumpkins, then outcome the Christmas trees, then the Valentine's day hearts, and ends with the Easter eggs.  Whhhhyyyyy?! Maybe there is a week break in there, but for me, seeing these things in stores just makes me bitter and annoyed.  I LOVE THEM.  Okay, enough of my moaning and complaining about how unfair and miserable store trips and holiday candies are.  I decided to come up with an IC-safe substitute, a treat that will quench your peanut butter and chocolate craving.

Generally, I am not a huge fan of carob.  I really don't know what it is, but it makes the edges of my tongue water, and it never quenches my desire for chocolate.  However, the glaze I came up with for this recipe is actually awesome.  No tongue watering, except from looking and smelling these bars because they are AMAZING.  Get your peanut butter chocolate fix and try these bars.  You won't regret it.

Carob Peanut Butter Bars

Recipe adapted from Leigh Anne at yourhomebasedmom.com 

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
` `/2 c. quick oats
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 c. all-natural peanut butter (ingredients are just peanuts and oil- nothing else)
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Glaze:
1/4 c. butter
1 Tbsp carob powder
3 Tbsp milk
2 c. powdered sugar

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Cream together butter and sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, salt, and oats until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until combined.
5. Spread this mixture on large cookie sheet.  (This is easiest if you use your hands and some flour and just pat it all out until it is even and pan is covered.)
6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes
7. Mix together the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla for the peanut butter filling.  Spread this mixture over warm crust.  Be patient, the natural peanut butter is hard to spread, but it will if you work slowly and patiently
8. Prepare glaze: in a small pot over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in carob until dissolved and smooth. In a medium bowl, combine this carob mixture, milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.
9. Spread glaze over peanut butter layer
10. Let set for a few hours and enjoy!

Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

As the years pass, the pumpkin spice latte seems to only gain popularity.  This year, they've added a hashtag, and everyone is all like "Yeah! #PSL!" and I'm all like "Humph." until a few days ago.

The weather is getting a little cooler here- at least in the mornings and evenings, and all it does is make me want to follow the trend and drink a pumpkin spice latte.  Before IC, I was a HUGE coffee drinker, especially in the winter.  When it is cold outside, all I want to do is curl up under a blanket and drink a nice hot cup of coffee.  These days a large mug of herbal mint tea works most days.  However, what I've learned is that some days just demand a warm pumpkiny fall drink.  On one of those days is when this Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate was created.

Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

(makes 2 large mugs)
4 Tbl Pumpkin
2 C. Milk
1/2 C. white chocolate (chips, chunks, whatever)
A sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice**
milk frother

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, white chocolate, and pumpkin.  Wisk periodically allowing chocolate to melt and ingredients meld together.  Once ingredients are mixed and very warm, pour into 2 mugs.  Using your milk frother, froth the milk until you have several inches of delicious foam.  Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice at your own risk... Enjoy!!

(Warning- my little milk frother had a little bit of pumpkin in it after frothing this mixture- I soaked it in hot water and soap and was able to pull the little bits of pumpkin out.  As an alternative, you can just froth the milk and pour it on top- however, just know this pumpkin foam is to die for, trust me.)

**So, pumpkin pie spice has cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves listed as ingredients.  Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are all on the "foods worth trying" list.  Cloves, however, are a caution ingredient..  Sprinkle at your own risk- if I would have looked up cloves before topping my drink with this spice concoction, I would have just left this out or topped it with a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. However, I didn't.  So. top at your own risk! (all that being said, that tiny bit of sprinkling caused no pain.)