Chocolate, Chocolate Everywhere!

Lately, I've been craving chocolate that I can sink my teeth into, but with the whole gluten-intolerance going on, I've been getting a little creative.

First, I made these with sprouted spelt flour. AMAZING. Even our glutenous homegroupies liked them.

Then I happened upon some coconut flour and made these. A little dry for my taste, but still plan to experiment with CF more.

Then I decided to go ahead and make black bean brownies already, since I had read so many people saying they were better than you might think. So I found this amazing blogher who made these "bizarre love triangle" ones with fresh coconut and macadamia nut something or other and I think she deserves a medal. Plus, I wish we could be friends. Needless to say I just made the brownies and they were actually really good and dense. Definitely repeat worthy. (Pictured above.)

Staying with the bean theme, I made a chocolate garbanzo bean cake that a friend had turned me on to (substituting the powder stevia for 2/3 cup of evaporated cane juice.) This was good too. Luke even liked it cold the next day.

Then someone passed on a pound of carob powder to me. (I know, it's a sad state of affairs when you are the kind of person who someone knows they can pass off a big ol' bag of CAROB to. But despite being tortured with carob as a child, I have become my mother's daughter and am determined to make it taste good. And I have a secret that my mother did not - chocolate extract. So with said secret ingredient in hand...) I made the "Carob Chews" recipe from Nourishing Traditions and it wasn't that bad. The kids liked them and we finished the plate within a couple of days. A friend even said they tasted slightly reminiscent of those Samoa Girl Scout cookies because of the coconut crunchiness. So I'll work my way to the bottom of that bag if it kills me! (Or poor Luke.)

But it's still not chocolate. And it will never be.

(I think saying this out loud somehow frees you up to enjoy it more...)

And that friends, is my month in chocolate.

Up next, chocolate coconut milk ice cream (as soon as I can procure a free/cheap ice cream maker).

In the words of my friend Maria's 2 year old daughter Nadia: "Ohhhhh, Chockie. Ohhhhh, Chockie! I love my CHOCKIE!!"

Cooking and Praying for Armenia

Leah and I had a fun time making sou-berag for our women's ministry's monthly Saturday Supper.  Each month we highlight a country or people group to learn about and pray for and also enjoy taking a stab at making a potluck of the local cuisine.  

We have an Armenian friend, Ani, at church who is highly involved in the prayers and politics of encouraging the United States to declare the 1915 Turkish massacre of an estimated 1 million Armenians as a genocide.  (Luke's Grandpa Joe actually lost his parents and many siblings in this genocide and escaped to America by the grace of God.)  It was just recently described as such by a 23-22 vote of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, but there are negative political effects on U.S. relations with Turkey if President Obama states this view.  That is why many past presidents, who have privately communicated there belief in this have failed to do so on the world stage - despite the fact that over 20 other nations have already done so.  If you're interested, you can read more about it here.  

For our Armenian Saturday Supper, I chose to make sou-berag because I still remember Luke's Grandma Mary's version of it and it was delicious!  I've been meaning to learn more Armenian recipes because I respect the spiritual heritage of Grandpa Joe and Grandma Mary and want to pass that on to our children in a variety of ways.  And what a better way to learn about a country, its people and its history than through food!  (I'm reading Julia Child's My Life in France right now and I think she would agree with me. =))  

So Leah and I delicately layered and buttered phyllo dough (you say fee-lo, I say fy-lo) and spread a delicious cheese mixture with a touch of parsley in between.  Though I forgot to take an "after" picture because I was running out the door to the event, I can assure you by its quick disappearance that it was a hit.  I don't know that I'll do it again soon because of the time intensiveness, but I will say that I have even more respect for the amount of time Grandma Mary must have spent in the kitchen so she could feed (and feed and feed) her children and grandchildren such delicious food.  

Little known fact:  Armenia was the first country to declare itself a Christian nation.  Go here , if you want to learn more about Armenia and some points of prayer for this nation. 

Attack of the black bean soup

Mr. Sunukjian is on the news!

With all the drama that's going on at Luke's school (the wonderful principal is being forcibly "promoted" to a possibly temporary administrative position by the dictatorial Chancellor), he was featured in 5 seconds of the Fox 5 local news channel coverage today.  

We would appreciate any prayers for wisdom in handling this situation, that Mr. Pope would keep his job, and that the school would continue its success.  

Thanks,

melanie