100th Post! Recipe, Blog Review, and GIVEAWAY!

Hurrah!  It's my 100th post!  This post is sort of split up in to three parts:  Recipe, 100 posts in review, and then a GIVEAWAY!

When I started this blog back in January, it was to get out of a creative funk that I was having with my artwork.  I loved cooking and figured people would at least be amused by how I eat.  I had the goal in mind of sharing health advice and nutritional information as well as recipes.  I also wanted a log of sorts of the meals and snacks that I had made.

I feel like my 100th recipe is true to my nature.  It's something that I created by just playing around.  It includes a vegetable.  It's a dessert type dish that's also ridiculously healthy.  I'm going to call it a Carrot Crumble, but my husband calls it "that delicious huge carrot cookie in a pie plate thing."  Call it what you will...but carrot crumble is a bit catchier, don't you think?

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm sort of in a phase where I'm putting grated carrots in everything.  Cookies, breakfast, granola, you name it, I'm sweetening it up with some carrots.  Carrots are chock-full of antioxidants, a whole bunch of vitamin A, and are not only good for your vision, but also your heart.  As a brightly colored root vegetable, they're perfect for adding to autumn dishes.

This crumble began when I wanted to make carrot oatmeal cookies, only to discover that I was nearly out of flour.  So I just poured the mixture of what I had into a pie plate, not sure what to expect.  Sweet and wholesome, I enjoyed this served both warm and cold.  I feel like a little vanilla or ginger flavored ice cream on the side wouldn't hurt, either.

 

Carrot Crumble

• 4 large (or 6 medium-sized) carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup gluten free oats
• 1/4 cup millet flour
  
• 1/2 cup trail mix of your choice
• 1/4 cup walnuts, crushed
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• up to 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or you can use apple sauce as your liquid)
• reserved 1/8 cup gluten free oats, for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and grease a baking dish or pie plate with butter.  In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients besides the 1/8 cup of gluten free oats.  Look for a relatively dry texture -- you want the mixture to be only slightly moist.  Once ingredients are mixed thoroughly, spoon the mixture into a 8x8 inch baking dish or a 8 inch round pie plate.  Sprinkle with the reserved oats.  If you like, you can drizzle some melted butter on top or a couple spoonfuls of sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the edges have just begun to brown.  Serve warm, with dinner or afterwards with a nice scoop of ice cream.

Now on to the giveaway! 

image from kevita.com

A few months ago I heard about Kevita, a company that makes organic carbonated probiotic drinks.  At first I admit I wasn't too interested -- I figured kombucha was working just fine for me, and the flavors of Kevita that don't include included coconut water, which I thought didn't agree with my stomach.  Then one day, I saw it on sale.  It was a particularly hot day, I was dehydrated (headache and all) and felt a craving for it.  I selected the strawberry acai flavor, which was pleasingly sweet and refreshing, and it made me feel wonderful.  As it turns out, I can have coconut when it's in this form, because drinking Kevita hasn't bothered me ever!  Now I treat myself to a bottle whenever my belly is feeling funny, I am feeling dehydrated, or I spot it on sale.

So, what exactly is Kevita?  It's slightly sparkling drink with added probiotics from a non-dairy kefir culture.  These probiotic strains help support our digestive system.  Four of their flavors are certified organic, and the other four have at least 70% organic ingredients.  They come in a variety of flavors:  pomegranate coconut, mango coconut, living greens, green tea, strawberry acai, coconut, lemon ginger, and pomegranate.  

My favorite flavor is plain old coconut.  It's light, slightly sweetened with stevia, and makes me feel particularly refreshed after a workout or yoga session.  I've also tried the mango coconut, which I admit was a bit too sweet for me.

Would you like to try Kevita?  Or are you already a fan and would like to score a couple of free bottles?  There are three ways to enter -- leave a comment for each method that you complete!
1.  "Like" Kevita on Facebook
2.  Leave a comment telling me what you think of probiotic drinks -- which is your favorite?
3.  "Like" Spiced Plate on Facebook

Contest will end this Saturday, September 24th at 6am, and the winner will be announced later that day.

Good luck!  And thanks for reading my blog, 100 posts later.