Peanut Butter, Dried Cranberry and Chocolate Chip Cookies

When dark chocolate first started becoming popular I hated it. There was something about the taste that I thought was bitter and I just could never eat more than one bite. I did love milk chocolate and I had a sweet spot for 5th Avenue candy bars. To this day there is something about that candy bar that makes me happy. After getting married and having kids I decided that I should give dark chocolate another try. I fell in love. Now I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and the darker the chocolate the better. I have even been known to eat parts of the bittersweet baking bars that I buy to make cakes and cookies. I think a large part of it has to do with getting older. The older I get the more I notice that my tastes for certain foods has changed as well. Foods that I used to cringe at in my 20's I now love in my 30's and the foods that I thought I would never stop loving I barely touch. What hasn't changed is my sweet tooth. I still love to bake and do so at least once a week. This weekend I tried a new recipe for Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies from the February 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 41 minutes, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 45 cookies. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First instead of all-purpose flour I used brown rice flour. Second I substituted honey for the granulated sugar and sorghum syrup for the light brown sugar. Finally, I had just bought powdered peanut butter at the store so I used it instead of the 1/2 cup of regular peanut butter. The first time I made these cookies they came out of the oven and would not set. This can happen with gluten free baking, it is a lot of trail and error. So I crumbled the cookies, added an egg and rolled them into cookies again. I put them back into the oven for approximately 10 minutes per batch.

Even after all the changes these cookies turned out very well. The combination of the chopped chocolate and the dried cranberries was delicious and the cookies only lasted a matter of hours. These cookies could also be modified to use other dried fruit such as cherries or a darker chocolate such as bittersweet. I think an even darker chocolate and dried cherries would make this recipe even better.

For the recipe go to Peanutty Fruit and Chocolate Chip Cookies. (registration required)

Delicious Vegan Oatmeal Dried Cherry Cookies

I love cookies. There have been very few cookies that I have ever eaten that I haven't had more than one. Cookies just cry out to be eaten by me. However, as I have gotten older I have began to understand that my metabolism isn't what it used to be. I also have made efforts to eat as healthy as I can to prevent the health problems that my mother and grandmother had. In order to still be able to eat cookies, while thinking of my health I have learned ways to modify recipes. One great way to reduce the bad fats is to replace butter with olive or canola oil. I also replace granulated sugar with honey, molasses, sorghum or agave. It is a great way to increase the healthy qualities in baked goods. Today I tried a new recipe for Vegan Oatmeal Dried Cherry Cookies that I received in a pamphlet in the mail.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of total time, 5 minutes of which is active and makes 25 cookies. I made significant changes to this recipe. First instead of using granulated sugar I used sorghum. Additionally since I eat gluten free I replaced the whole wheat flour with brown rice flour. I didn't have chocolate chips in my pantry so I used dried cherries instead. Finally, I found my baking time to be much longer than the ten minutes suggested by the recipe. I would suggest adding an additional 5 minutes to fully brown. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I wasn't sure what my kids would think of gluten free vegan cookies. They loved them though and ate almost the entire batch by themselves. My husband was an even bigger surprise since he loved the cookies almost as much as my kids. These cookies were definitely popular in my house and I love that they are made without granulated sugar and use canola oil instead of butter. This is a recipe that I will make again and try new options, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips etc.

For the recipe go to Chewy Oatmeal Cookies.

Easy Homemade Chocolate Pecan Pie Granola Made with Sorghum and Olive Oil

My youngest is becoming more and more like me everyday. It's not just the way that he looks and acts, but the way that he approaches life in general. He makes the sames faces and reacts to situations much the same way that I do. In addition he has a very high metabolism and a huge snacking habit just like me. He literally seems to eat from sun up until sun down. My oldest is also a big snacker, especially when he gets home from school. Due to the fact that my family is full of people who love snacks I try to keep as many healthy snacking options as I can. One snack that my whole family loves is granola. Since store bought granola is so expensive and almost all brands have gluten I have learned to make my own granola at home. Today I tried a new recipe for Chocolate-Pecan Pie Granola from the November 2012 issue of Southern Living.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 6 cups of granola. I made considerable changes to this recipe. First off the thought of using butter and dark corn syrup to make granola just wasn't something that sounded healthy or delicious to me. I try to reduce artificial sugars and saturated fat from dairy when I can. So I modified the recipe to work with the ingredients that I already had in my cupboard. First, instead of the butter I used olive oil. I love using olive oil in baking, it is much lower in saturated fat than butter and the texture and taste is similar. Instead of the dark corn syrup I used sorghum. I love using sorghum, molasses or honey in recipes that call for corn syrup. Agave syrup would be another option that would also work. All of these options are good substitutes for granulated sugar or corn syrup in recipes. It was brought to my attention after I wrote this up for the first time that I failed to mention that I modified the wheat germ. I eat gluten free (I have to due to health reasons), so I left out the wheat germ and added a 1/2 cup of brown rice flour. When I added the granola to the pan I pressed it down with a spatula until it was flattened. Make sure to stir the granola every ten minutes or it will burn. I let the granola partially cool and then I broke it into bits and added the chocolate when it was still a little warm in order that the chocolate partially melted. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Making all the changes to this recipe worked very well. The sorghum gave the granola a great taste and the olive oil made the granola a healthier breakfast or snacking option. My husband felt that the chocolate pieces were unnecessary, he would like the granola without the chocolate. However, my two boys were big fans of the chocolate pieces, so it would work either way depending on how sweet you want your granola. Overall, a delicious granola recipe that I would make again following my changes.

For the recipe go to Chocolate-Pecan Pie Granola.

Coconut-Carrot Morning Glory Muffins

 I have been in the kitchen literally all weekend. My youngest is in a massive growth spurt and as soon as he has finished one meal he is ready for the next. He also doesn't just eat little meals or sandwiches, he wants full on pot roast or burgers. I think that he gets this from my husband. On Friday I made a pasta dish with chicken sausage. Today I found out that after dinner my husband went in and made himself turkey sausage as a snack since the meal didn't have enough meat. Some days I think that it might be easier to have girls instead of a house full of three males. I don't even want to think about how bad it will be when they are teenagers. Since I am being eaten out of house and home I have been baking and cooking a ton. Last week I tried a new recipe for Coconut-Carrot Morning Glory Muffins from the February 2013 issue of Eating Well magazine.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 12 muffins. Since I eat gluten free I did make a number of modifications. First instead of using wheat flour I used all-purpose gluten free flour. The flour that I prefer has coconut flour as a base and works very well. I also use foil muffins cups. I would highly recommend these if you haven't tried them before. The muffins never stick and they come out so much easier than the paper equivalents. Best of all the generic brand is only 59 cents at my local grocery store. I did find that I had to bake my muffins for slightly longer than the 35 minutes suggested by the recipe. This might have been due to the gluten free flour. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These muffins weren't sweet enough for me. It might be that I like my muffins almost as sweet as cupcakes, but even my husband who prefers things not sweet thought that these needed more sugar. I also thought that there were too many shredded carrots. I would reduce the total amount of shredded carrots, as written the muffins taste too much like carrots and not enough like raisins or coconut. Increasing the amount of raisins would also help the sweetness and flavor of the muffins overall.

For the recipe go to Coconut-Carrot Morning Glory Muffins.

Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce

 I took the Christmas tree down yesterday and put away all the decorations. As soon as the holiday is over I like to box up all the decorations and get back to normal. I have always been like this. Growing-up my mother would keep our tree up until well into January and it would drive me nuts. I like to get things over with and move on, Christmas is one of those things. Don't get me wrong I like Christmas, but all the dust from the decorations and the lack of space from the Christmas tree drives me nuts. So as soon as Christmas is over I get up the next day and put everything away. My living room is now back to the state that it the rest of the year and I am happy and content. I have survived another Christmas and things can start settling into the cold winter months ahead. Winter to me always means beans. I cook with beans a lot in the winter, I find them filling and comforting when the weather is cold and depressing. Last week I tried a new recipe for Lentil Sliders with Sesame Sauce from the January issue of Parents magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 sliders. I did have to go to multiple stores to find all the ingredients, but that is normal when I am looking for tahini. Be very careful when cooking these sliders, they have a tendency to burn if you follow the amount of oil in the recipe. Watch the sliders very carefully and add more oil if necessary. I served my husband and kids portions with pita, but I ate mine with just the sauce since I can't eat gluten. For the lemon juice I used fresh squeezed, the taste is better and lemons are inexpensive. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce in this recipe was too sweet. I think it would be better if the honey was eliminated or there was a touch of crushed red pepper. As the recipe is written the sauce is just too mild and sweet. The sliders on the other hand were delicious and everyone in my family enjoyed them. My husband thought that they were actually better the way that I ate them without the pita.

This recipe is currently not available online, but can be found in the January 2013 issue of Parents magazine.

Alpine Muesli

As I've stated in a few of my previous posts I am determined to be better about eating breakfast. My son starts school in two weeks and with the start of school my eating habits go quickly down-hill. I am great about making my two sons eat a healthy breakfast, I just don't follow my own advice. Honestly, I have never been great about eating breakfast. Growing up my dad worked nights and my mom left for work before I went to school. So when it was time for me to eat breakfast my dad was getting ready to bed for the day and I would literally eat peanut butter out of the jar. My mom tried really hard to get me to eat, she even left pre-made breakfasts for me. It never worked. I preferred the peanut butter on a spoon. If given the choice now and if my metabolism was the same as when I was younger I would still be eating jars of peanut butter a week. I love peanut butter. I know better now, but it is still a daily struggle with myself. Last week I tried a new recipe for Alpine Muesli from Martha Stewart Living magazine, which I was hoping would help to encourage me to eat breakfast.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 3 hours and 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients for this recipe at my local grocery store and I made no modifications to the ingredients. For the chopped fruit I used plums and for the sliced fruit topping I used strawberries. I had planned on also using raspberries, however, my two children ate almost all of the fruit out of the fridge before I had the change to make this recipe. Luckily I had just enough fruit. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

As written this recipe needs some work. First, I was not a fan of the fresh orange juice. My two boys refused to eat their servings due to the overly citrus taste. If I was to make this again I would make the following changes. I am not a huge fan of citrus, but if you like the taste of fresh oranges, then I would use vanilla almond milk instead of cows milk. The low-fat cows milk and the orange juice did not work well together. Almond milk would solve this problem. Personally, I think the recipe would be better without the orange juice entirely. I liked the whole recipe, except the citrus taste. So leave out the citrus and add a little more honey and this recipe will be a great way to start the day.

For the recipe go to Alpine Muesli.

Healthy Energy Bars

When I was younger I was very active. I was on the swim team, I danced and I competed in marathons. All of my free time involved doing something physical. After having kids all my free time started being eaten up by spending time with my kids (which don't get me wrong I love!). Taking them to t-ball practice, play-dates, and school activities. My workouts have been delegated to workout videos and yoga. While my type of workouts have changed I am still very active. I hardly ever sit down and I am always looking for something to eat to keep my energy levels up. As I was looking through the pages of the July/August issue of EatingWell Magazine I noticed a recipe for Energy Bars which looked perfect for my busy workout and life schedule.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 1 1/4 hours of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 12 bars. I chose to double this recipe. My boys have been known to eat the majority of any granola bar recipe that I make so in order to actually have enough energy bars I figured I should double the recipe. I was unable to find straight pumpkin seeds, so instead I used a combination of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Instead of using light corn syrup I went to the health food store and bought brown rice syrup. For the rolled oats I used old-fashioned since that is what I already had at home. I also bought the crispy brown rice cereal at my local health food store. I tried my regular local grocery store and wasn't able to find it at all. Instead of following the recipe to press the bars before going into the oven I modified to make it easier. I sprayed a spatula with non-stick cooking spray and pressed as hard as I could with my body weight. This method worked well and was easier than the written instructions. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I wasn't sure if my two boys would eat these energy bars. They aren't overly sweet from the brown rice syrup, which I liked, but with kids it can be hit or miss. I was very happy when my oldest told me they were delicious. My two boys ended up eating more than half the batch. I liked that these bars are filling, not overly sweet and have a great taste. They were perfect after one of my workouts and I would definitely make these again.

For the recipe go to Energy Bars.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

I love baking. The smell, the taste, the whole process is something I thoroughly enjoy. I'm lucky that my five-year-old loves to help me bake and cook and is becoming a great kitchen helper. However, he is also very vocal about his likes and dislikes. Oatmeal cookies fall into his dislike category. The spices in regular oatmeal cookies aren't among his favorites and he will rarely eat them. A couple of years back my mother-in-law gave me a recipe for Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies, which my five-year-old actually loves and I make pretty frequently. This is the recipe.

•  1 1/2 C Flour ( I use all-purpose)
• 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
• 2 C. Instant Oats
• 1 C Shortening ( normally just use unsalted butter)
• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 1 C White Sugar
• 2 Eggs

Combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside. Cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and beat mixture. Add oats and flour mixture. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 degree for 15 minutes.

These cookies have a slightly crunchy texture. They have less spice than a lot of other oatmeal cookie recipes and the addition of the brown sugar is delicious. An easy and tasty cookie recipe.

Adapted from a family friend's recipe. 

Bon Appetit Spelt Pancakes

As I've stated in many of my previous posts, my two sons are hit or miss with eating a well rounded breakfast. They prefer sugary cereal or snacks and I'm lucky if they will eat anything with protein or any form or nutrition. In the last couple of months I have been experimenting with various breakfast recipes in an attempt to add something healthier into my two boys breakfast routine. The July issue of Bon Appetit had a recipe for Spelt Pancakes, which looked like the perfect healthy breakfast idea for my two boys.

This recipe has 13 ingredients and goes together very quickly. I had no problem finding any of the specialized flours in the health food section of my local grocery store. Instead of using rice or soy milk I used whole cow's milk, since that is what I already had on hand. One word of caution for this recipe, the pancakes seemed to brown quicker than pancakes made with all-purpose flour, so I kept the temp lower on my gas stove.

My two year old loved this recipe. I served the pancakes with fresh peaches for breakfast, which was a hit. He went back multiple times throughout the day for more pancakes, which I topped with homemade peanut butter (recipe to be posted later). This recipe is a great for people with a gluten intolerance and according to the magazine, maintaining a low-gluten diet may improve muscle recovery after a work-out.

For the recipe go to Bon Appetit Spelt Pancakes.

Redbook Oat-rageous Chocolate-Chip Pancakes

I've been struggling with getting my two growing boys to eat breakfast. Some weeks they love eggs, the next they hate them, and so on and so forth. I have tried just about every breakfast recipe I can find, with no luck in getting them to eat anything more than a bite or two. The one breakfast food that they have been pretty good about eating at least a little of, is pancakes. I love pancakes also, but most of the time I prepare them with white flour, sometimes with fruit, but overall they are lacking in the nutrition department. I have been trying to find a healthier pancake recipe and was pleased when the July issue of Redbook magazine had a recipe for Oat-rageous Chocolate-Chip Pancakes.

This recipe has 10 ingredients including salt. I used regular egg whites, rather than liquid egg whites and tripled the recipe, so I used 3 egg whites total. I made the rest of the recipe as stated with no modifications. I did notice that even when tripled, the recipe made far fewer pancakes than the 5 suggested per serving. In total my tripled recipe made about 10 pancakes.

My two boys really enjoyed these pancakes. They only noticed that the pancakes had chocolate chips, not that they also included whole-wheat flour and old-fashioned oats. I liked that since only egg whites were used that the fat is lower and that there are whole grains, which Im trying to incorporate more in my kid's diet. I would recommend using two eggs whites per serving. I felt that the pancakes were a little thick and increasing the egg whites would make for fluffier pancakes. Overall,  a great nutritious way to get healthy grains into my family's diet.

For the recipe go to Redbook Oat-rageous Chocolate-chip Pancakes.