Pineapples are currently in season and because of that I like to use them as much as possible. I have used pineapples on pizzas, salads and drinks and because of the tropical flavor I like to use them as much as I can when they’re in season. Pineapples really remind me of summer.

I think the combination of pineapples and lemons is sensational–don’t you think? I mean what is more indicative of summer other than lemons and pineapple, that is the reason why I came up with this recipe.

This summer, I was able to take a trip to Spain where I got to visit with family and friends. While there, I spent some time in the kitchen and developed a few recipes. While I was there, I came up with something very similar to this recipe, but have since spent some time perfecting it. The result was this Grilled Pineapple Lemonade, and I really hope you enjoy it! 

This Grilled Pineapple Lemonade has an amazing, refreshing, tropical flavor. My original recipe called for regular pineapple juice, but using grilled pineapple instead elevates the taste of this drink. It truly makes a big difference.

Another thing I love about this recipe is how flexible it is. You can make two different versions, a kid-friendly version or a spiked one. Any coconut rum would work great in this drink. So, if you’re feeling up to it, add it. I have tried both versions and they are both equally refreshing and delicious.

Some notes to mention about this recipe:

1. While grilling the pineapple gives this recipe a unique flavor you can also hack the recipe and use bottled pineapple juice instead. If you are in a hurry this would be the perfect solution, so don’t be afraid to use bottled pineapple juice. 
2. I don’t like my drinks on the sweet side, but you can adjust the amount of sweetness to your taste and add some maple syrup if you like. In my opinion, this recipe is already perfectly sweet.   

For the lemonade, I used Florida’s Natural Brand Lemonade. Florida’s Natural Lemonades are a family favorite of ours: delicious and refreshing on their own, or used in marinades, salad dressings or drinks like this Grilled Pineapples Lemonade. They come in five tasty flavors to play around with in whatever recipe you make, including traditional Lemonade, Lemonade with Strawberry, Lemonade with Raspberry and Peach, Lemonade with Blackberry, and Zero Sugar Lemonade.

I hope you get to try this Grilled Pineapple Lemonade–with a refreshing, tropical, unique flavor, it is nothing short of amazing.

Enjoy! 

Grilled pineapple lemonade

miryam's original recipe

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 oz fresh pineapple, cored and sliced
• 2-4 cups Florida’s Natural® Brand Lemonade
• 2 tbsp maple syrup, optional
• 1/2 cup Coconut Rum, optional

Directions:

Heat grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Grill pineapple slices about 5 minutes on each side or till desired. Set aside until cool.

In a blender, blend the lemonade and pineapple until you get a smooth consistency.

Add coconut rum and maple syrup if using and whisk until well combined.

The post Grilled pineapple lemonade appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

This Lemonade Layer Cake is a classic dessert and perfect for every occasion this summer, from birthday parties and picnics, to celebrating simply making it through the week! It’s bright, zingy and full of lemony flavor—bold, tangy, and unique. Each slice is essentially a ray of sunshine in your mouth!

The cake bakes up light and moist, and together with the frosting makes the most divine combination—delicious, simple and just the right amount of indulgent. It’s ideal for hotter weather when you don’t want a heavy dessert, but you still want something sweet that will hit the spot. It’s decadent in all the right ways!

To get this cake’s bright and zingy flavor I used Florida’s Natural^® Brand Lemonade. Florida’s Natural Lemonades are a family favorite of ours: delicious and refreshing on their own, or used in marinades, salad dressings or desserts, like this cake! They come in five tasty flavors: traditional Lemonade, Lemonade with Strawberry, Lemonade with Raspberry and Peach, Lemonade with Blackberry, and Zero Sugar Lemonade.

And, last but not least, this cake is gluten-free! The fact that it’s gluten-free makes the cake light and airy. It is truly one of a kind, and proves that gluten-free baked goods can be just as good, if not better, than conventional gluten cakes.

Enjoy!

. 

lemonade Layer cake

Miryam's Original recipe

Yield: 10 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 4 cups almond flour
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 6 organic eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 3/4 cup Florida’s Natural® Brand Lemonade
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp aluminum-free baking soda
• 1/2 tbsp grated lemon zest

Frosting

• 16 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup Florida’s Natural® Brand Lemonade
• 1 cup swerve sugar substitute
• 1/2 tbsp grated lemon zest
• Edible flowers or mixed berries, for decorating (optional)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Line the bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans with unbleached parchment paper. Grease them lightly with butter.

In a medium mixing bowl add the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla extract, sugar and Florida’s Natural Lemonade. With a wire whisk mix until combined. Add the flours, baking soda, baking powder and lemon zest. Combine until well-mixed.

Pour batter evenly into  the two prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes before removing from the pan to completely cool on a wire rack.

While the cake cools, prepare the frosting by beating together the cream cheese, Florida’s Natural Lemonade, lemon zest and sweetener in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined.

Finally, assemble the cake. Place one cake layer on your cake stand or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with about 1 1/2 cups of frosting. Top with second cake layer and evenly spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. Finish by decorating with edible flowers or mixed berries, if desired. Refrigerate for at least 30-45 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.

The cake can also be covered and stored in the fridge for up to two days.

Cover any leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to five days.

The post lemonade Layer cake appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I love Halloween, however, the part that I dread the most is all of the candy my kids collect around this time. As a rule, I only allow them to keep a few and since I am able to make them healthier alternative treats they are ok with it.

During this time I also get to make them treats to take to their friends parties, which they always get super excited. Perfect for any kid between the ages 6-12.

These Halloween coconut date bites are also a great dessert to make with the little ones since it doesn’t require baking and it is fun for them to roll them out. My kids often help in the kitchen and since these are easy, it is perfect for them, and lets not forget they are just 3 ingredients!

With all of the extra sugar around this time all I want my kids to drink is water. Water is the drink of choice for us most of the time since all other drinks just add unnecessary sugar which we really don’t need.

These little Halloween water bottles also makes it kind of fun for the kids to drink so they are pretty happy about that. They love the little Halloween designs! They actually have 8 different designs so your kids could pick their own.

NESTLÉ® PURE LIFE® “Share-A-Scare” 8oz water bottles are the perfect size for trick-or-treating, making it easy for kids to stay hydrated throughout the night.

In a 2015 survey conducted by NESTLÉ PURE LIFE, moms and kids revealed many surprising insights about their hydration habits.

It was found that water is one of the biggest “healthy habit” struggles moms have with their kids (38%), even more than struggles like “eat your fruit” (29%), “get enough exercise (23%), “eat your breakfast” (19%), and “drink your milk” (18%).

Today, beverages account for 47% of added sugars in the US American Diet and more than 13% of calories consumed per day. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that the primary beverage consumed be either calorie-free – like water – or should contribute beneficial nutrients such as fat-free and low-fat milk and 100% juice. Replacing a single 12-ounce, 140 calorie sugar sweetened beverage with water each day for a year can cut more than 50,000 calories from one’s diet.

• • To learn more about NESTLÉ® PURE LIFE® and find the limited edition “Share-a- Scare” bottles at a store near you, visit this link.

• • Show us how you use “Share-A-Scare” bottles in your Halloween festivities with the hashtag #NestleShareAScare and by tagging @nestlepurelifeus.

Well I hope you like these Halloween coconut bites, 3 ingredients, super easy to make and much healthier for you than conventional treats.

Enjoy!

Halloween coconut date bites

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 24 bites

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pitted dates
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup walnuts
• Candy eyes

Directions:

Place the walnuts in the food processor and pulse until you obtain a powder. Add the dates and coconut and pulse until the dates come together and form a homogenous mixture. You may need a couple of tablespoons of water.

Place mixture in a bowl and form little ball. You can dip them in extra unsweetened shredded coconut.

At this time you can decorate them with the sugared eyes and make them more fun.

NOTE: You can use any other type of nuts if you don't like walnuts

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Nestle® Pure Life® . The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Halloween coconut date bites appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

For this version I opted by adding some cream cheese frosting on top. I think this makes the cake to be honest. It is not often that I use frosting for my cakes but once in a while is OK and this one taste very lemony so I hope you like it.

My best friend actually tasted some of it and decided to have this cake for her daughter’s birthday party. She liked it a lot so I guess it was a total success.

Now keep in mind that this cake makes quite a big cake. I used a 9×13 baking cake pan. Like I said before, it is not often that I bake cakes that require frosting and are a little bit more elaborate so I opted for making quite a big one so that I could enjoy it for a few days.

Granted this cake is not to be consumed all the time but once piece here and there is perfectly fine. After all, this is not something we have on a regular basis.

On another note, I have about 3 weeks for the torture to begin, school. I hope I have enough time to keep the recipes coming. I anticipate to be able to at least post twice a week. Cooking and baking are things I do to decompress and relax so I know I will have to in order to keep sane.

Well I hope you like this whole wheat blueberry lemon cake. I sure will be making it again soon when I crave a cake and something sweet.

Enjoy!

Whole wheat Blueberry lemon cake

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 16 servings

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup milk of choice
• 3 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• juice of two lemons
• zest of two lemons
• 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1 tsp mexican vanilla extract
• 2-3 cups fresh blueberries
• Pinch of celtic salt

Frosting

• 16 oz cream cheese
• Juice of two lemons
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup natural powdered sugar

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 9x13 cake bake pan with unbleached parchment paper and grease and flour the sides. Set aside.

In you stand mixer add the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Combine. Add the melted coconut oil, milk and mix through.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon juice. Mix until you obtain a homogenous mixture. With a spatula fold in the blueberries.

Place cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely.

For the frosting. Place all the ingredients in your stand mixer and combine until combined. Frost cake and serve.

Keep leftovers covered refrigerated.

The post Whole wheat Blueberry lemon cake appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I love the flavor of Baileys and since I had some on hand I figured I use it for both the cake batter and then frosting. This type of drink goes perfectly with chocolate so I thought, why not?

If you don’t like Baileys or would like a virgin version I will give other alternatives in the recipe so don’t worry about it and make an alcohol free version.

It has been a long time since I have made a chocolate cake of any kind so my kids were pretty exited. Yes I let my kids had a piece of the cake, I don’t think that is going to kill them, so there…

When you make the frosting just be patient, it will become nice a thick for you to spread over the cake. It will just take sometime especially if it sits at room temperature. If you like you can place it in the fridge for 10 minutes to speed up the process, that is what I did. Just make sure that the  cake is completely cooled when you place spread it. I didn’t wait for my cake to cool all the way and it made it harder to spread so don’t do what I did. I was not patient as I wanted to dig in already…

Where there isn’t much to say about this baileys chocolate cake. If you like chocolate cake you are going to love this version.

P.S: This is not your average sweet treat. Indulging once in a while is part of life. Don’t start freaking out about the nutrition facts. If you like something healthier skip this cake. For me, having something like this once in a blue moon is OK. Keeping it real over here!

Enjoy!

Baileys chocolate cake

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup Baileys
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1 tsp Mexican vanilla extract

Ganache

• 1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup Baileys
• 1 tbs coconut oil
• 2 tsp Mexican vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of an 8 inch round cake pan with unbleached parchment paper and grease the sides with coconut oil. Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate chips, Baileys, sugar, coconut oil and cocoa powder. Melt at 30 second intervals until the chocolate in completely melted. Stir and make sure you obtain a homogenous mixture.

Let the chocolate mixture cool. With a wire whisk, add eggs one at a time, and combine.

Add the flour, vanilla, baking powder and baking soda. Fold with a spatula and transfer batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. I baked mine for 35 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before adding the ganache to it.

On the meantime, prepare the ganache. Add the ganache ingredients to a microwave safe bowl and melt at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is almost melted. Stir the mixture and let it sit at room temperature until you obtain a spreadable consistency. Alternatively you can speed up this process by placing the mixture in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

Spread the ganache over the cake and serve.

NOTE: If you would like a virgin version of this cake use heavy cream for the frosting and any milk of choice for the cake batter in place of the Baileys.

The post Baileys chocolate cake appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

After searching for quite some time through quite a few chocolate recipes I combined, tweaked, replaced, and substituted some of the ingredients and came up with my own sensational chocolate mousse cake version.

I decreased the sugar content by a lot, used coconut oil which has medium chain triglycerides that are digested differently, and used whole wheat pastry flour to increase the fiber content. I would have used flaxseed meal but exposing flaxseed meal to heat would destroy its properties.

When ever I don’t require to make a chocolate cake that has to be gluten free or vegan this is going to be my chocolate cake recipe to go for. However, if you need a gluten free chocolate cake recipe here is another recipe for you. Also super delicious.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse cake

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 oz dark chocolate, melted
• 3 tbsp instant espresso powder
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 3 organic eggs
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1/2 tsp himalayan salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Mousse

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp maple syrup

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two 9 inch round cake baking pans with unbleached parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add the eggs, sugar, coconut oil, vanilla and warm water with the expresso powder dissolved in it and mix with a wire whisk. Add the melted chocolate gradually whisking at the same time if possible. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine. If you like you can add a stand mixer if you like.

Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before letting the cake cool completely on a wire rack.

On the meantime, place the maple syrup and heavy cream in a large mixing bowl and beat until stiff picks form. A the cocoa powder and fold with a spatula.

To assemble the cake. Place one cake layer previously baked in a cake stand and spread half the mouse over it. Top with second cake layer and spread the top of the cake with the remainder of the chocolate mousse.

Decorate as desired.

 Nutrition facts calculate based on the recipe giving 12 servings

The post Chocolate Mousse Cake appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.