The Last Bit of Summer & "Healthy" German Chocolate Birthday Cake

Water skiing is SO much fun! I hadn't done it for nearly 3 years until today. 

This is a spring fed lake less than a hour from our house and since today is my mom's birthday and kids are back in school, it seemed the perfect opportunity to be outside on the water! 

And, then this? This is where my dad was having way too much fun. :P Obviously, I went down :-) 

Thumbs up!

The lunch spread. :) 

I love homemade packed lunches. :) 

We got the tube out after lunch. It's pretty much understood that if you get on this thing there's a 99.9% chance you're gonna get thrown, so hang on! A recipe for a good time :0)

"Smile for the camera, Mary and Josh!"

SoBe waters on boat. :)

~

This evening we celebrated my mom's b-day with dinner and dessert. The health roller-coaster events of the past year make me really grateful for today! I love you so much, Momma!

I made a cake for the occasion! You have to have cake for a birthday, right? Right.

German Chocolate Cake (naturally sweetened, well - mostly :)

3/4 cup freshly ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt (finely ground)
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 eggs
1 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups agave nectar (I used organic blue agave)
Vanilla extract

Combine your wet and dry ingredients in a separate bowl. For the wet ingredients, use an electric mixer thoroughly blending in the coconut oil. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients bowl and mix. Oil (2) 9-in pans and evenly divide your batter. Bake at 350° for 25 - 40 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

You want to be careful not to overcook these as the coconut oil makes them appear like they need more cooking but it doesn't. Of course, that depends! If you like your cake dry -  keep cooking :-)

Cakes a coolin', getting ready to go on a pretty platter :) These smelled so good straight out of the oven!

Getting started on the coconut pecan filling:

1 cup coconut milk (I used Blue Diamond almond coconut)
1 cup agave nectar
pinch of sea salt
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut  

Click here for the rest of the recipe. {When I say I don't follow directions, I mean it :) My version still turned out, though!}

Halfway through this recipe, all I could think was "this better taste amazing for the all the prime ingredients I'm putting into this!" But, special people call for special efforts and since mom really does such a great job trying to stay away from white sugar I volunteered for the adventure. :)

I'd say it turned out well although it was a little heavy (but for whole wheat flour, not bad). Super sweet, though! Happy Birthday, Mom!

{Feb 2012}

With Neil Armstrong passing away over the weekend and seeing a biography laying around, I decided to do some reading on him. I finished up the book just this evening - learned some things! Real stories are the best, don't you think?

I skipped my run today because I figured water skiing was a pretty good workout in and of itself (ha!), but tomorrow I'm planning to get up early and go a few miles before breakfast. :0)

What water sports have you enjoyed this summer?