Pumpkin Surprise

I got this recipe from a friend and after changing it slightly, made these delicious pumpkin square/cake treats that the kids (and all their friends at the park), loved!! Pumpkin is rich in Beta-carotene, Vitamin C, Potassium and Magnesium, it is also low calorie food and high in fiber.

I'm a one bowl baker and simply dumped all the ingredients into a big bowl, put into a cake pan and roughly 30 minutes later at 350F....done and delicious!!

3/4 cup grapeseed oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree (I roasted a pumpkin and then pureed it in the blender but you could use canned organic pumpkin puree).
2 cups flour (spelt, whole wheat or gluten free option)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use dairy free)

before going into the oven

Done!

Prepping for the season

It has been way to long since I have posted. We moved Sept. 1st and with all the things needing to get done in the new house and trying to find our rhythm here, blogging has been a hard thing to do. I thought I would get back into it with something simple today.....remembering the importance of vitamin D. With winter approaching and days getting shorter, I thought I would share this recent journal article on the benefits of vitamin D for the immune system and how effective it is at warding off the flu virus (and viruses in general).

The kids get 1000 IU per day once fall hits and I up it to 2000 IU if someone in the house it sick. About a month ago I exposed Aidan to chickenpox with a 2 + hour playdate indoors with a friend that was in quarantine and full of active pox. Well, a month has nearly passed and no such luck here.......maybe it was too much vtm D? (As an aside if anyone knows of anyone with chickenpox let me know!!). Here is the article.....
http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_vitamin_D_influenza.html