Yesterday, I saw a FB post from one of my more beloved snarky friends from the Northern Plains. To narrow it down a bit further, his tribe has a small reservation in northern North Dakota, I’ve always been impressed with how that reservation punches so far above it’s weight, in the production of artists, intellectuals and smart asses. Creative juices must be in the water there.

Thanks Melvin Monette-Barajas (Turtle Mtn Chippewa) for this timely Valentine’s Day observation: “I wish I loved someone enough to give them a big box of diabetes.”

Of course, diabetes is no joking matter – but like everything else in Indian country – we figure out a way to make healthy humor out of it. And so many of us are engaged in figuring out how to keep it at bay: away from ourselves, away from our families, away from our communities.

I spent the morning exploring various internet recipes for healthy ways to indulge in a treat that might help us celebrate this day of love. I’ve heard that whipped avocado makes for a nice substitute when making icing or frosting – depending on what you call it in your neck of the woods.

I do note that there are clear definitions that settles this dispute between icing and frosting, but I’m not going to fight you over it. I’ll just acknowledge regional differencess similar to the soda versus pop versus soda pop versus coke debate. Whatever you call the finger-licking yumminess on the top of a cupcake – I made that today with no sugar and no dairy – and it was delicious.

Chocolate Avocado Frosting

2 avocados (use the very ripe ones that are teetering on the edge of going bad)

1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips melted (I used the allergy free kind picture below)

2 table spoons of maple syrup

a dash of salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla

the juice of half a lemon

Throw it all in the vitamix and whip it up. That’s it. I had to add a little water to control the thickness. My only do-over would be less dark chocolate, it was almost too rich (something I would not have thought in a million years).

I put it on a gluten free yellow cake (that I substituted almond milk for dairy and apple sauce for eggs).

Many of the online recipes used cocoa powder instead of chips (which I did not have on hand). Others used 1/2 cup of almond milk, which I might try next time. Others used powdered sugar instead of maple, but to me, that defeated the whole point.

Happy experimenting!