How to Envision and a Perky Peepers Carrot Cake Recipe : Feel Good Friday

“I’m a simple kind of guy, so I just envision myself being happy.” Jon Huertas

(Companion essential oil: Young Living Envision™)

We humans love to complicate things, don’t we?

With the best of intentions, we can take something simple like envisioning the life we dream of and add so many whistles and bells and conditions that our inner guidance system doesn’t know what target it’s trying to hit.

And for the travellers who believe a divine source — call it the universe or whatever name connects with you — is helping us towards the life of our dreams, we can really make it tough for it to perform.

By placing constraints through the limits of our own beliefs, the universe or ‘source’ can be performing so many adjustments and course resets to comply, you can end up slowing things down or restricting yourself to less than the sheer awesomeness the universe was really wanting to conjure up for you.

As Mike Dooley, creator of daily Notes from the Universe, implores us, ‘thoughts become things. Choose the good ones.’

He urges us to focus those thoughts on the big picture first and foremost — expansive, generous dreams that put a spring in our step and bring us joy. And by putting ourselves out there with regular daily action in whatever humble way is ‘do-able’ in that general direction and then being open to life’s magic, we are letting the universe (source) take care of the details, or as he calls them, ‘the cursed Hows’. (You can check out Notes from the Universe and Mike Dooley here.)

For an essential oil that’s conducive to the process, I love Young Living Envision™. Formulated to stimulate creativity and intuition, this beautiful blend helps spark our inner drive to overcome blocks and fears. It includes the single oils of:

• geranium (helps release negativity and elevate spirits)
• orange (both uplifting and relaxing)
• sage (used traditionally for purifying and dispelling negativity)

Envision™ can be diffused or inhaled directly from the bottle, and makes a rather magnetic personal fragrance by applying a couple of drops to the wrists, ears and neck. Genuine, authentic essential oils are highly potent so as always, please read the label and follow the usual guidelines for safe use.

Since today’s post is all about envisioning, how about whipping up a quick nutritious cake for the family to enjoy while giving a healthful serve of carrots and beta-carotene? We’ve been told for decades to do our eyesight a favour this way, so let’s have our carrot cake and eat it, too.

Perky Peepers Quick Carrot Cake Recipe

Serves 16

(Adapted from a recipe by Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef)

• 500 g (17 1/2 oz) grated carrots
• 3 organic eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract or paste
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 300 g (10 ½ oz) almond meal
• 60 ml (2 fl oz) macadamia nut oil or room temp cold pressed coconut oil
• 160 g (5 ½ oz) Young Living Blue Agave nectar or organic maple syrup
• 1 cup organic raisins
• Young Living NingXia Red®
• 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

Yoghurt Faux-Cream-Cheese Icing

• Large tub of organic Greek-style yoghurt
• Muslin or similar for draining
• Generous splash of organic vanilla essence or equivalent vanilla bean paste
• Drizzle of honey
• Zest of ½ lemon and a squeeze of juice
• walnuts or pecan nuts for decoration

The Night Before

Put the raisins in a cup with enough NingXia Red® to generously moisten, cover and leave in the fridge to absorb.

Fasten muslin over a bowl with a large rubber band making a generous well within the muslin, and put the Greek yoghurt in the muslin. Let it stand overnight in the fridge to drain.

On Baking Day

Preheat your oven to 160 C / 320 F and drain the raisins of any excess liquid.

Combine carrot, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond meal, oil, agave, drained raisins and baking powder and mix well with wet hands until nicely combined. Bonus points for giving your hands a vitamin treatment while you’re at it.

Put into a 20 cm baking tin lined with baking paper and pack it down lightly with your hands.  Alternatively, put into individual case-lined muffin tins for individual serves and reduce the cooking time.  Test with a skewer regularly.

Bake for 1 – 1½ hours or until a skewer comes out clean.  Cover if necessary with foil if it’s browning too quickly.

Remove from the oven and cool completely in the tin then turn out onto a serving plate.

Put the drained yoghurt in a bowl, add grated lemon zest and juice, vanilla and honey, blend together by hand with a large silicon paddle or wooden spoon.

When cake is cool, pile on and smooth the yoghurt icing thickly over the top with a palette knife. Sprinkle abundantly with walnuts or pecans for decoration.

Keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days, or leave un-iced and cut and freeze individual slices for easy lunchbox treats. You can also freeze it un-iced and whole then defrost and ice before serving.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the good oil daily.

The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use.