Mother's Day

I had an amazing Mother's Day!  My husband and children spoiled me with homemade surprises, an afternoon of letterboxing, and amazing food.  First, my children gave me the presents they made.  They were so proud of their crafts.  Then my husband made an omelet with feta and spinach.  My husband did not use a specific recipe.  He heated a little olive oil in the bottom of a medium skillet and then added some garlic.  He cooked the garlic until it was slightly brown, and then added the spinach.  He cooked the spinach until it was slightly wilted.  Then he added 4 beaten eggs and a little milk to the skillet pan.  He cooked the eggs until they were mostly set.  Then he added some feta cheese and cooked for another minute or two.  Then my husband folded over the omelet and cooked it for a minute or two on each side.  The omelet was so delicious.  The feta added a little bit of saltiness to the omelet, and the spinach was delicious.  My husband served this alongside with bacon and coffee.  

Once all of our bellies were full, we went letterboxing at a local State Park.  Letterboxing is like a treasure hunt, and we love doing it as a family.  Since we planned to arrive at the park around lunchtime, we decided to pack a picnic lunch.  We had hard salami, cheese, hazelnut crackers, strawberries, pineapple, and sweet peppers.  The weather was beautiful, and the lunch was delicious.

We worked up an appetite walking around the park, so my husband cooked a  tri-tip steak on the grill.  We served that alongside corn on the cob.  This is one of my family's favorite summertime meals, and it was so nice to have it on Mother's Day.  Then we finished it with carrot cake inspired by Elana's Pantry.  Everyone helped a little in making this cake, which always makes it seem so much better.  This is our recipe.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

3 cups almond flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1/4 cup honey

5 large eggs

8 large carrots, grated

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Then grease 2 9 inch cake pans with grapeseed oil and dust with almond flour.*

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set this aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk the grapessed oil, honey, and eggs together.  Add the wet ingredients to the almond flour mixture, and then combine thoroughly.  Then fold in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts.  

Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake pans.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a knitting needle or toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool in the pans for one hour.  Remove them from the pans and frost, then serve. 

When the cakes first came out of the oven, there were a lot of lumps.  The batter did not smooth out as it cooked, because there were a lot of carrots in this recipe.  We were concerned that the cake would not taste as good because of this.  Thankfully, we were wrong.  The carrot cake was moist and not too sweet  There were just the right amount of raisins and walnuts that balanced well with the carrots.  We used cream cheese frosting, which complements the carrot cake well.  This carrot cake provided a wonderful ending for a wonderful day.   

*Cooks notes- It is really important to coat the cakes pans with a good amount of grapeseed oil, because almond flour tends to stick when baked.  

I hope you enjoy sharing this carrot cake with someone you love!

~Cassidy