Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's a recipe to keep for a gloomy day. Or a sunny day, because they'll still taste just as good :)
I got the original recipe from fellow Utah blogger Two Peas & Their Pod and just made a few modifications. Hope you like them!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 c wheat flour
1 c oats
1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey 
1/2 c coconut oil (butter substitute is okay)
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 T. milk
1 c. chocolate chips

In one bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl beat the coconut oil, brown sugar and honey together. Then add the egg, vanilla and milk to the egg mix. Finally combine the liquid and dry ingredients, and then mix in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. Let cool and eat up!

Crack-a-lackin

This week in our neighborhood co-op my mom came home with a coconut. Yup. Full on coconut. So of course I started googling to figure out how to crack it open. After some research, I decided to share with you how it went for me. It was much easier than anticipated, but also fun. I felt like I was in Hawaii. For about 2 seconds.

To make the whole process go a bit smoother, the first step is to bake the coconut for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. This starts the process of separating the flesh from the outside shell.

After it is done baking, put it on a sturdy cutting board and get out a hammer and a screw driver. Find the 3 circles. Of the three circles, 2 have a ridge which is called the eyebrow (circled in red) and one doesn’t, called the nose (blue). You want to drill a hole completely through the nose of the coconut and then drill a hole through one of the other circles.

From there, grab a cup and empty the coconut water. This is not milk…you have to make milk from the water.

After that, hold the coconut in your hand with the 3 holes on one side and the other end on the other side. Then with your hammer, hammer down the center as you turn the coconut in your hand. It will start to separate the shell from the inside.

At this point I just went hammer crazy and the whole thing started cracking to open up to the coconut meat.

From here you can find other ways to use your coconut, such as shredding it, blending it, making milk or oil, or pretty much anything. I have a recipe for you on Wednesday!

~Have you ever cracked and used a coconut?

Gift Idea: Christmas Granola

The holiday season is pretty much known for plates of cookies, hot cocoa drinking, candy cane red lips from licking those babies and mounds of chocolate. But instead of adding to that when giving gifts to some of your close neighbors and friends, why not try a bit healthier, but still delicious treat?

Christmas Granola! As my sister said after she tried it, “that looks festive and tastes festive!” That’s what I was going for :)

I loosely based it off this recipe from my neighbors blog. Then added a few things to make it my own!

Christmas Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup plain sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds 
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 T. brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons coconut oil 
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In one bowl, mix together the oats, pistachios (I chopped mine up into smaller pieces), sunflower seeds, chia seeds, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar.

Then add in the maple syrup, coconut oil (liquid) and honey to combine it all together.

Spread out onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, stir, then another 25 minutes. Once it comes out, add the cranberries and let it sit for a few minutes to get super crunchy.

Enjoy! It would taste great as a snack topped on some greek yogurt, over some oatmeal, or just by the spoonful!

By the way…the “Christmas” part of the granola is the green pistachios and red cranberries. In case you were confused…

~What are some of your “healthy" gift ideas?

My Confession: Failed Attempts

I will just come out and say it: a lot of things I try to make come out gross and end up in the trash. Not always the whole batch of whatever it is, since my family is kind enough to try. But when 8 of the 12 muffins I made a week ago still sit in the bag on the counter, I know it is time to dump them.

As sad as that story is, it doesn’t really bother me. You see, I can’t eat pretty much anything I make because of my absurd amount of food allergies. So I see something online, adjust it a bit if I’d like, and then get my groove on in the kitchen.

My family will always humor me and try it, but the majority of the time it is a fail. However, this recipe I share with you today actually did get eaten. All of them (there were only 5…) Some liked them more than others. Like my brother-in-law who actually asked for the recipe (thanks, Tim). But now it is your turn to judge.

They are meant to be a dessert (aka, not eaten like a snack every day) and are not as sweet as the real thing. However, as Tim said, it is a great way to get your chocolate fix without all the sugar and sweetness. And you know my thing: homemade is better than processed.

So, here is my take on the infamous

Dark Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup

Yield: 5 PB Cups

3 Tbsp. coconut oil or butter
6 Tbsp. natural cocoa
1 Tbsp. honey (or maple syrup or other sweetener)
1/4 t. vanilla
5 tsp. natural peanut butter

On the stove heat and melt the coconut oil or butter and the honey until a liquid. Take off the heat and add the natural cocoa and vanilla. If it is too thick, add a splash of almond milk until you reach a smoother consistency.

Then, in muffin liners cover the base with a smear of chocolate. Add 1 tsp. of peanut butter in the middle, then cover the top until you cannot see any peanut butter. I was able to make 5 of them. Pop them in the freezer to just get firm, maybe 10 minutes, then you can pull them out and store in the fridge until ready to be eaten.

Just so you know, I only took pictures of the pretty ones. The others looked not as smooth and nice. But I’m sure they taste just the same, so don’t worry about it!

Nutrition Facts:

	Regular Reese’s	My Reese’s
Calories	110	130
Total Fat	14 g	10 g
Sugar	19 g	4 g
Protein	4 g	3 g
Carb	23 g	8 g
Fiber	2 g	2 g
Sodium	130 mg	80 mg

 

Regular Reese’s ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Milk Chocolate contains Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, and Soya Lecithin and PGPR (as Emulsifiers), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, and TBHQ and Citric Acid

My ingredients: cocoa, coconut oil, honey, vanilla and natural peanut butter

Try em out? Don’t tell me if they end up in the trash…

Have a great weekend!