Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have one word to describe these cookies: WOW.  I have been trying to consume less sugar in my diet lately, but I have such a terrible sweet tooth that I was driving myself batty not eating any sweets.  On my quest for healthy recipes, I came across this gem. I admit I was skeptical at first but now I'm a believer! Each time I pop one of these little babies into my mouth I can hardly believe it. I find myself mentally recalling each ingredient, sure that I will come up with something unhealthy that is making them so delightful.  But this is one recipe that is actually NOT too good to be true! They are truly healthy and will satisfy those sweet cravings.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 large bananas, ripe and well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed

2 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almond meal (I made my own)

1/3 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt, fine grain

1 teaspoon baking powder

6-7 ounces dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, placing racks in the top third of the oven.  In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla, and coconut oil.  Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconud, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop dollops of dough about 2 teaspoons in size onto cookie sheet (either grease or use parchment paper).  Bake for 12-14 minutes. Do not underbake, you want the tops to be golden and the bottoms to be nicely brown.

To make your own almond meal:

Place blanched, slivered or chopped almonds into food processer.

Grind until you have a fine, consistent texture. There you go - you are set!

123 Pickles

We are a pickle-loving family. I love this recipe because it is so simple, and we love the combination of flavors to get a pickle that is just a little sweet.  This year I used up my different sizes of cucumbers to make pickles 3 different ways. Whole, long slivered, and sliced. I got this recipe from my hubby's grandma when we were first married and it's a keeper! Over the years I have tweaked it a little and added a few of my own ingredients as well.

1-2-3 Pickles

1 Cup Sugar

2 Cups Vinegar

3 Cups Water

1 Tablespoon Pickling Spice

3 Tablespoons coarse Salt

6 Garlic Cloves

3 Pickling Onions

Pickling Cucumbers

Dill

Place a sprig of dil, a garlic clove, and a pickling onion into the bottom of each jar.  Tightly pack jar with cucumbers.  Place an additional garlic clove on top of the cucumbers. Bring all remaining ingredients just before a boil on the stove top.  Pour mixture over cucumbers.  Steam in a warm bath canner for no more than 4 minutes or your pickles will be soggy.  For full flavor, wait about 2 months before eating, though they are still yummy if you only wait a week or two.

Garden Tomato Soup

You know those recipes that are just so delicious you want to share them with everyone you know? Well that is my Grandma's tomato soup recipe. It is so savory and packed with veggis it makes a complete meal. It has become a favorite in our house, and in the homes of the friends we have shared it with.  Now it's always on my must-make list for canning season.  This is a huge recipe, so make sure you have an oversized pot, or else cut the recipe in half.  It will make about 16 pint sized jars of soup.

Garden Tomato Soup

1 Stock Pot Tomatoes (about 2 ice cream pails)

2 Tablespoons Paprika

1 Cup Butter (NOT Margarine) 

2 Tablespoons Salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

5 Large Onions

2 Green Peppers

1 Cup Brown Sugar (or you can substitute apple sauce)

6 Cups Celery

5-6 Carrots (or a small bag of baby carrots)

1 Cup Soup Base (I use chicken stock)

1 Beet for color (optional)

Chop up carrots, onions, green pepper and celery into large pieces. You can see here that I only cut each carrot and celery stalk once or twice, and quartered the onions. Toss the veggis into a large pot and fill with warm water until the level of the vegetables, not quite covering the tops. Boil on medium low for 1/2 an hour to soften the vegetables.

In the meantime, halve and core your tomatoes (or if the tomatoes are large you can quarter them). No need to remove the seeds though - they will all get blended into the soup later on. Place tomatoes into an oversize soup pot. Add butter, paprika, salt, pepper, and soup base. I have never tried using margarine but my grandma insists it will ruin the soup! I took her word for it since it is her recipe :) Turn element on to start warming the tomatoes and getting the juices flowing, stirring occasionally.

**if you choose to add a beet, chop it and add it in. I didn't use one this time because I had no beets in the house.  They do give the soup a lovely color though.

Pour hot veggis and their water over the tomatoes. Add the brown sugar, and then give a light stir. Dont worry too much about blending everything evenly at this point, there will be time for that as everything softens and the tomatoes release their juice.

Simmer on low for about 1 hour, stirring occasionaly. The soup should look similar to this when it is finished.  Turn element off and let soup cool to room temperature or only slightly warmer. This step is VERY important. 

Once the soup is cooled, ladle it into your blender, and puree the soup. Pour into a seperate bowl. I used my large tupperware Thatsa bowl and it just barely fit the entire recipe.

Once your entire batch of soup is nicely pureed, pour it back into your soup pot and bring the soup back to a boil.  Using a funnel, ladle the soup into warm, sterilized jars.  I filled 4 quart jars and 8 pints.

Process in a warm bath canner for 15 minutes. Set on counter overnight and check seals.  To use soup, dilute with equal amounts of water OR milk. (1 jar soup + 1 jar water or milk).  Be sure when reheating not to bring the soup to a boil if you are using milk, or the milk will curdle.  Enjoy your delicious, garden fresh soup!!  My whole family loves this soup - even the kids! It is such a treat on a cool fall day.

Square Circle Skirt

Sewing for my only daughter has been something I have dreamed of doing since she was a toddler, but somehow (insert 3 more kids!) I've never found the time. So when I stumbled across a tutorial for this skirt on Pinterest which was supposedly so easy it would literally take just minutes to make, well needless to say I couldn't resist. So I ordered some pretty fabric and patiently waited until it arrived, and today while the baby had his morning nap I finally found the time.  

Now, I should add a little disclaimer that I am a bit of a novice seamstress. I have made a few quilts and blankets, but only a couple of things in the way of clothing, so this was definitely out of my comfort zone!  My favorite part was that the cutting was so simple. Cutting patterns is always what I dread most about sewing because once you've made a wrong cut, you can't undo it! But this skirt was as easy as cutting two squares with a circle cutout in the center. The trickiest part for me was working with the elastic. I coulda used a third hand to stretch the elastic, keep it from pulling on my machine's needle, and guide the fabric so I would sew a straight line. But, since two hands are all I've got I made do.  Two broken needles and a bunch of wasted thread later I did figure it out :)

 And K loved it. She said it was the most comfy skirt ever, and "Mom, the best part is, it doesn't have any scratchy tags!" I loved it because the knit was so easy to work with - no need to hem!

 And the way it flows when she twirls . . . well isn't that just any little girl's favorite part of a skirt? 

With fall coming up, I think it will look just as cute with a pair of tights.  Hmm, maybe I'll have to try making one for myself as well...

So even though it ended up taking me longer than a few minutes (try an hour!) I think now that I've figured out how to work the machine with the elastic I could make another with a quicker turnaround time.  And it is so fun so see her running across the yard in her beautiful, carefree way wearing something special that I made just for her.

Warm Apple-y Goodness

We woke up this morning to a wonderfully delicious smell. Why? Because I made breakfast last night!  There had been a recipe circulating Facebook that I tried to resist  (don't even get me started on Facebook recipes!) but finally my curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on it. Initially the recipe looked really good, but after reading the comments & reviews it was clear that it was a miss.  But the idea behind a slow cooker breakfast intrigued me, so I decided to tweak the recipe and try out a combination of my own. The result? A yummy apple cinnamon porridge that we all gobbled up (even the hubby). My boys even asked for seconds, which they almost never do at breakfast. So I'd call this one a success!

Slow Cooker Apple Pie Oatmeal

3 Apples, sliced
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, divided
1 heaping tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 cups Steel Cut Oats
2 cups Water
2 cups Milk
Pinch of salt

Grease slow cooker (I used Pam). Slice apples and toss in  3-4 TBSP of brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Layer apples on the bottom of the slow cooker until evenly covered.  Pour steel cut oats on top of apples (DO NOT use quick oats or regular oats - they will turn to mush).  Sprinkle remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice evenly over the oats.  Gently pour in the water and milk. Turn slow cooker on LOW for 6-7 hours (no need to preheat). Go to sleep, and wake up to the most tantalizing smell and a delicious breakfast. Serve with milk and a tiny dusting of white sugar to bring out the flavors.
Serves 6.

And it really is that easy! I have a timer on my slow cooker so I was able to set if for a certain time, but if you don't, you can turn it off after the desired cooking time and it will stay warm for a couple of hours. Also, I have a large slow cooker so I made a large enough recipe so that it would not cook to quickly or burn on. If you have a smaller slow cooker, adjust the recipe. The apples should not be more than a layer or two in the bottom of the pot, so let the amount of apples that you need be your guide.

K's Summer Craft Idea

Inspired by the morning sunshine, my kiddies ventured out on their bikes with some friends to explore the river bank.  They came home breathless and excited to show me the treasures they had found and collected. K (my oldest) came up with a fun way to display them in her room and the boys happily followed suit.  So proud of their creative minds at work. They came up with something unique and beautiful - and it was easy to make, even for my 2 (almost 3!) year old.  So I just had to snap a few pictures out on the deck.

Just a bit of sand, some pretty shells and stones, and a few mason jars tied with ribbon and raffia.  Makes this Momma happy because now their "treasures" won't be littered across the floor, plus they have some pretty new decorations for their bookshelves. Ahh, summer.

Ice Cream Pop Extravaganza

It's wedding season and part of the fun that comes with it is bridal showers!! Our family hosted a shower for my cousin and his soon-to-be bride this week and I signed up to bring the ice cream dessert. But as soon as I started looking for recipe ideas, I knew that one kind would not do.  Seeing as its summer and there were going to be kids at the shower, I wanted to come up with something fun and easy to eat outdoors. My kids were beside themselves when they wandered into the kitchen and asked what I was making: Ice Cream Pops!  We chose 5 different kinds and they were delicious.

And here is a picture of the whole spread, including a yummy peanut butter brownie cheesecake pizza.

And, because it was one the favorite, I decided to post the recipe for the Mint Chocolate Pops.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pops

1/2 cup crushed chocolate mint cookies (I used chocolate mint Oreos)

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

1 1/4 cups mint chocolate ice cream

6 tablespoons quick-hardening chocolate shell ice cream topping

6 dixie cups

6 pop sticks

 Step 1: Crush Cookies
I took 5 cookies and broke them up into large chunks.  Then, I ran them through my food processor until the consistency was a nice fine crumb. You shouldn't be able to see any large chunks or bits of icing.

Step 2: Make "Crust"

Add 1 tablespoon milk to the crumbs and mash them together with a fork until evenly distributed. Then, divide the cookie crumbs evenly between your 6 dixie cups (about a tablespoon per cup), and using either a spoon or your fingers, press them firmly onto the bottom of the cup.

 Step 3: Ice Cream Layer

In a blender, combine Ice Cream and remaining 1/3 cup milk until smooth and frothy. Pour into cups over cookie base.
Freeze for 1 hour.

Step 4: Insert Sticks

Remove pops from freezer, and cover each cup with tinfoil. Then, lightly press a popsicle stick into each cup, taking care not to press through the bottom cookie crumb layer. Freeze for 1 more hour.

Step 5: Topping

Take tinfoil off of cups, and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the quick-hardening chocolate onto each pop, ensuring that the entire surface is evenly covered.  Place back into the freezer, uncovered, for 4-6 hours until firm.

Step 6: Remove and Enjoy!
To serve, gently twist frozen pops out of paper cups without pulling on sticks. If you need to loosen them a little, run them under hot water for just a second or two, but not longer or you will melt your ice cream. Now you are ready to enjoy your delicious treat!