The Hearty Healthy Treat

When my kids were first starting to eat real food, I always found myself eating their leftovers! Anyone else?

This included Mac and cheese, nuggets, pizza and even cake! AH!

It was almost like I was afraid to throw the left overs away.. even though they had licked their fingers and touched every single piece. So naturally, I ate it.

The dinner part wasn’t so bad, I could easily empty the plate and wash it off, but when it came to dessert… my husband and I fought over who got to eat it! I usually lost, which looking back wasn’t such a bad thing 😉

All my kids ever want is a treat…BEFORE DINNER! My daughter used to only eat her dinner if she had her dessert on her plate. “Mommy, I don’t have room in my tummy for dinner, only treats!” This is what I hear on the daily, and for me, some things are just not worth the fight.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids eat some dinner, but surely not enough to constitute the amount of junk they consume.

I am probably getting a lot of head shaking on my parenting…. but guess what? We all pick and choose our battles.

Anyway, back to my point..when my husband and I realized/decided that our kids will eat cake, and cookies, I decided to try something new.

Now, in my house, I was the only one who ate vegetables multiple times a day…until now.

Sometimes as a parent it’s okay to be sneaky… so I have secretly been giving my kids (and husband) Zucchini, and they have no clue! (Shhhhhhh! If you tell mine, I will tell yours!)

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that can be eaten in SO many ways! Noodles, chips, roasted, fried, baked, bread, and yes, even chocolate cake.

Guilt Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

Cake:

4 Tbs melted butter
1/2 cup Swerve (or any other low carb sweetener)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (be sure to squeeze out all of the excess water)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut flour (I use Bob’s Redmill)
1/3 cup almond flour (I use Bob’s Redmill)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs cocoa powder, unsweetened (I used Ghirardelli )
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Lily’s)

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting:

1/2 cup + 1 TBSP heavy whipping cream
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbs Swerve sweetener powdered
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375.
Blend all ingredients in blender until well mixed.
Pour batter into a 9×9 pan.
Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until middle is just set.
Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

Mix all ingredients together until well combined (scrapping down the sides as needed).
Mix until frosting is thick.
Frost cooled cake.
Store extra in refrigerator.