Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies

My aunt gave me this chocolate chip cookie peanut butter oat recipe a while ago and it's by far my favorite cookie.  They taste the best on a road trip.  Don't know why that is, but now I have to make them for every road trip we take.  Guess what? We have a road trip coming up!  Over the years, I have tried making these cookies to suit those with certain diet restrictions.  I originally made them gluten free and they were just as delicious! And for some reason, you feel like you can eat more because they are gluten free.  This time, I made them gluten and refined sugar free.  Guess what? They turned out great! They are a little less sweet than the original recipe (you're taking out a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown sugar and replacing it with 1/2 cup honey), but they are soooo good! Great for road trips because they aren't completely terrible for you and they are pretty filling.  I'm so excited for our road trip just so I can eat more of these cookies! 

P.S. I totally wasn't planning on using this photo, but it's the only one I had... as you can tell, my silicon baking mat is loved. 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies
Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter   
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1/2 cup raw honey

1 cup organic creamy peanut butter (make sure there is no added sugar)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups oat flour (I just grind up gluten free oats in a blender until powdery)

1 cup gluten free oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups homemade refined sugar free chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 

In another large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until everything comes together. 

Blob by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet and flatten.  Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet.  Move to a cooling rack to harden. (may take longer to harden because of the honey) Enjoy!

Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chip cookies need to be a staple in every child's diet regardless of food allergies or sensitivities.  My mission... to create a chocolate chip cookie using only natural/healthy sweeteners, no refined sugars.  In the past, I'd just take a cookie recipe and search the grocery store for chocolate chips with no refined sugars.  Being that I normally do my grocery shopping with a 5 month old... reading every label in the store was not an option.  Plus, I had no luck with the research that I did do... so I decided to make my own using limited natural ingredients with no preservatives.  

These chocolate chips are absolutely delicious.  I swear I chowed down on at least a half cup while making them.  Super addicting, but make sure to save some for the cookies!

Chocolate Chips

Makes: 2 cups (depending on how much chocolate you eat while cooling)

Ingredients:

4 oz organic unsweetened baking chocolate (if you don't have organic in your store, the regular is fine)

1/4 cup raw honey (this will make similar to a semi-sweet chocolate... add more to make sweeter)

3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions:

Break the chocolate into smaller 1/2 oz pieces.  In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  Add honey, coconut oil, sea salt and vanilla and stir until smooth.  

Let sit out in a cool place for a few hours until hardened, somewhat like the consistency of peanut butter.  To speed the process, move to fridge, but don't forget it or it'll get hard and you'll have to start over melting it.  

Meanwhile, cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  Stick in freezer for 15 minutes. (or hours if you forget it)

When the chocolate is the right consistency, spoon into a piping bag with a larger round tip or a zip lock bag.  If using a zip lock bag, snip the corner of the bag to make a nice tip to pipe the chocolate out of.  Pipe small chocolate chips onto the frozen baking sheet.  When finished, place baking sheet in freezer for another hour to completely harden the chocolate chips.  

Scrape the chocolate chips off the pan with a spatula into a storage container and store in the freezer until ready to use.  

These are very soft chocolate chips so if using in a cookie recipe, make sure you add them right at the end with minimal stirring so they don't melt in the dough or just add them to the top of a cookie at the end of baking.  When I made my cookies, I added them right at the end and stirred only to combine and they were fine.  Store in freezer.

French Bread

I have been making my own bread now for about 3+ years, but have been so intimidated to venture outside of the loaf... until today.  This French Bread is so delicious and quite easy!  I made it with a non-napping four month old around to help.  When it came out of the oven, I admit, I had three slices.   It was so good and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  This will be so good to make sub sandwiches out of and garlic toast and I can think of a million more things.  I'm so excited I found this recipe!  Enjoy

French Bread

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water

Directions:

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 1.5 cups flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in additional flour until a sticky dough forms.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  

Place in an oiled bowl, covered with a wet dish cloth, in a warm spot fro 45 minutes to an hour until it doubles in size. 

Punch down dough and roll out into a rectangle.  Roll up the short ways and place seam side down on a cookie sheet.  Let rise in a warm spot again for 45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use a sharp knife to make 4 diagonal slices on the top of the loaf.  Place loaf in oven for 15-20 minutes, until nice and browned on the top.  Cool on wire rack. 

Delicious and Easy Graham Crackers

I was in the baking mood today, but wanted to make something with the limited ingredients I had on hand ... rewind ... I was craving something sweet today and didn't have chocolate chips on hand... so I decided to make these graham crackers since I've been in a graham crakery mood lately, since there is no chocolate around. 

Anyway, these were so delicious and made from normal pantry ingredients. No eggs, no butter, no refined sugar! I just happened to have a stash of coconut sugar in my pantry, but you could totally use brown or white sugar in these and it would taste just as good.  I like the coconut sugar because it has a nice, kind of, molassey flavor. (I keep ending everything in Y and spell check is getting mad at me).  You could absolutely sub butter for the coconut oil, but coconut oil is healthier... so if you're going for the health factor than coconut oil it is.  Also, to make gluten free, you could easily sub a gluten free all purpose flour.  Enjoy! These were so delicious!

Graham Crackers
Makes: 8 large crackers (depending on the thickness you make them)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose organic flour (may sub whole wheat or gluten free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 Tablespoons warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until the mixture begins to clump together. Fold the dough with hands until all is evenly combined and forms a ball. Sprinkle some flour on a flat table surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough down to the thickness of a typical graham cracker. Cut into rectangles and place on a baking sheet. You can use a skewer, chopstick or fork to poke holes so it resembles a store bought graham cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until crispy.  This may vary depending on the thickness of the cracker.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown too much. 

adapted from organic authority

Natural Baby Teething Remedy

Nobody ever warned me about teething baby syndrome... It's pretty much a nightmare.  The array of symptoms are endless.  You know how you go on WebMD and immediately have cancer... well there is a baby teething version of that too... Baby pulls on ears, baby has mucusy diarrhea, baby has a mild fever, rosy cheeks, fussiness, pretty much anything under the sun and you constantly wonder if you need to take your baby in or if they are just teething.  I was lucky... my baby started teething at 8 weeks.  Yep, we were just getting used to no sleep figuring out ways to calm him when I look in his mouth and see two little white nubs.  And guess what... He's 4 months now and no actual teeth! That's because teeth can move up and down before they actually break through and stop hurting.  Isn't the human body wonderful?

We have tried several teething remedies including wash cloths, teething rings, stuffed animals, gels, the works... but when your baby is so small, you have limited options.  This recipe was sent to me by my sister in law when I needed something to ease the pain, but didn't want to immediately grab the Tylenol.  While waiting for my oils to arrive in the mail, I bought a homeopathic gel at a health food store just to get us by... for $16.  I put it on my little ones red inflamed gums and... wait for it... nothing. I put it on my gums just to see what it would feel like.  Nothing. I didn't feel anything.  Since it's made for babies, maybe I'm not supposed to? Anyway... after about 2 uses and not much improvement, the dog finally got to it and enjoyed it to pieces... left me the cap for proof.  Good use of money there.

Our oils arrived and I mixed them with the coconut oil we had on hand.  I first put it on my gums and there was immediately a cooling sensation.  I put it on the babe's sore gums and he actually smiled!  He loves it! Whenever he is fussy and I can tell his teeth are bothering him, I just dip my (somewhat clean) finger in and gob it on his gums... he likes to chew on my finger a bit and then he's soothed for a while.  The best part is that all of the ingredients are natural so I don't mind putting this on his gums 16 times a day.  It's really a great thing, and really all you need.  Teething pain is more of a constant mild soreness and really no need for medicine, this just soothes it long enough for the baby to take their mind off the pain.  Now there are more desperate times where you may need more than this, but for the regular daily tooth pain, this works great!  I even use it as chapstick when mine is missing (probably eaten by the dog).  Enjoy!

Natural Teething Remedy

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. organic coconut oil (Nutiva is the best!)

8 drops of clove oil

4 drops of peppermint oil (I used way more than 4 drops... probably 8 of each)

Directions:

In a small saucepot or double boiler, melt the coconut oil over low heat.  Add drops of peppermint and clove oil and give it a quick stir.  Transfer to glass jar or container.  I store mine in the fridge to keep cool.  Rub a dab on baby's gums when fussy.  

Chicken with Fall Veggies

Every Tuesday is like Christmas in this house.  That's the day we pick up our CSA box from the farm and see what delicious veggies we have to cook with for the week. The fall season has arrived and we literally have mountains of greens and squash.  We also have an abundance of sweet potatoes (which I have been steaming for the little guy), beets, radishes and potatoes.  This meal uses up much of those ingredients and was very delicious.  I felt healthy eating it, which made it easier to chow down a giant piece of cake afterwards!

There are three parts to this dish, there is roasted chicken with a goat cheese cream sauce, which is served over a bed of sauteed chard with roasted beets and sweet potatoes, and along side that is some roasted radishes.  P.S. when you roast a radish, it takes out that bitter spicy flavor and you're left with something between a potato and a summer squash. Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken with Goat Cheese Cream Sauce
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 thin chicken breasts (I usually use 2 and cut them in half... but we aren't big meat eaters)
salt
pepper
1/4 cup white wine or vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
1 cup whole milk
1 oz goat cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400, season the chicken and place in an oven safe dish.  I usually cook mine for 20 minutes (thin) in some white wine.  

For the sauce:
Melt butter in small saucepot over medium low, add garlic and let cook for a minute or two. Whisk in flour until it forms a pasty substance.  Slowly add milk and bring to a bubble.  Turn down to low and let simmer, whisking to avoid anything from sticking to the bottom.  Do this for 10-15 minutes until thickened (you are really supposed to do this for 45 minutes to get the true flavor, but I never have that much time).  Towards the end, melt in the goat cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sauteed Chard with Beets and Sweets
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 bundle rainbow chard (or whatever you have on hand, spinach or kale will work too), chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs. olive oil
2 medium beets, peeled and chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  On a baking sheet, spread out chopped beets and sweet potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss.  Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium low heat, add the garlic to the olive oil and saute for about a minute.  Add the chopped chard and saute until wilted, 5-10 minutes.  Add the roasted beets and sweet potatoes and give it a toss. Serve chicken over this... Goat cheese compliments chard and beets very well.  

Roasted Radishes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 lb radishes, (I really have no idea how many I had, but it filled a large baking sheet)
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F, quarter the radishes and toss with olive oil and spices.  Place on large baking sheet and roast in oven for 30 minutes, until soft.

Turkey Chili with Buttermilk Cornbread

The cold weather has arrived for us lucky ones and what's better than a nice crockpot full of warm chili on a cold day?  I made this chili last year for our housewarming party.  It was delicious, but 2 days later, I found out I was pregnant and the morning sickness hit hard... I didn't have chili for a year... until now! This was so good it's hard to believe I spent all winter last year chililess... We will definitely make this again soon! So easy to freeze and stick in the crockpot in the morning too.  This recipe is adapted from one of the best chili's on allrecipes.com (click here for original recipe).  I made it with turkey instead of beef for all you non-red meat eaters.  It just makes you feel better when you have two bowls.  I served it with Buttermilk Cornbread... delicious! I had never made cornbread before, it turned out spectacular the first shot! woo hoo! Enjoy!

Turkey Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1.25 lb ground turkey

1 lb spicy turkey sausages (in the meat section by the uncooked brats)

5 strips of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 cans chili beans, drained

1 can spicy chili beans

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice (I used about 10-15 tomatoes from the garden, peelings removed)

1 can tomato paste

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bottle of beer (I used Octoberfest)

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 cup brown sugar

salt and pepper as desired (about a tsp)

Shredded Cheese for topping

Other desired toppings like onions, corn chips, sour cream, cilantro etc...

Directions:

In a large soup pot, cook the ground turkey & spicy turkey sausage (remove meat from casing) until done and add onions, celery, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent and add tomatoes.  If using fresh or frozen, Cook until they are combined.  Otherwise add the rest of ingredients except for the toppings and simmer on the stove for at least 2 hours.  I like to make this the night before and put it in the crockpot the next day for all the flavors to combine.

Buttermilk Cornbread

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly butter a cast iron skillet.

In a large mixing bowl, combine melted butter and sugar until blended.  Quickly add the eggs. Combine the buttermilk and baking soda and add those to butter/sugar mixture.  Add the cornmeal, flour and salt and mix to combine, but still lumpy.  Transfer to cast iron skillet and put in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until firm in the center. 

Easy Gluten Free Frozen Cake!

I remember being a little girl and everyone wanted a little mermaid cake.  My mom, being the cake decorator that she is, made a ton of little mermaid cakes.  All unique and beautiful.

Frozen is the "in thing" now (even though Ariel can kick Elsa's frozen behind anytime) and as much as I can't stand all of the Frozen hype, I understand what it's like being a little girl and wanting your favorite princess on your birthday cake.  I do have to say that if you are to make this cake, plan ahead because you'll find that these little Frozen characters are impossible to find.  Not exaggerating, I went to 15 different stores to find these perfect little characters.  They were at Walmart... the 6th Walmart to be exact.  

I love love love decorating cakes, and they usually take me a few days to complete to perfection.  I didn't have a few days though, since I was traveling and have an infant (a giant infant) and was pressed for time so I needed something easy.  I have confidence that any mom out there can make this cake... You don't even need the fancy cake stand (though it's awesome and we use it for every party... Michael's and don't forget to use your coupon!)  You can Pinterest how to make a cake stand or just lay table cloth over raised shoe boxes to make it elevated.  Be creative!  The sugar candies are from Party City and are super easy to stick in as the castle.  I actually ran out of frosting so I piled on some marshmallows last minute to act as snow.  

On to the cake now... All Gluten Free!  I prefer the gluten free cake mixes, they always get rave reviews and taste more like you're using real ingredients and not a mix.  I use Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix.  I have tried other gluten free cake mixes and this one is the tastiest.  It's about $5 a package and makes 15 cupcakes or 1 double layer round cake.  I always add ingredients to these cake mixes because I can never leave anything alone.  Here is what I did for this cake.

Vanilla Cake with Cookie Dough Filling

(The top tier, I left as vanilla and made a gluten free cookie dough filling)

Cake:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 tsp. pure vanilla (for added vanilla flavor)

Cookie Dough Filling:

1 tub marshmallow cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the cake, mix ingredients and cook according to package instructions.  For the filling, beat all ingredients, except for chocolate chips, together until smooth.  Add the chips and stir to combine.  When cakes are cooled (I like to freeze them the night before), layer them and spread the filling in the middle.  Now they are ready to be frosted!

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting:

1 tub marshmallow cream

2 sticks butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together until a nice thick frosting forms, adding powdered sugar as needed.  I used a Wilton's Teal coloring for the blue, spread it on the whole cake and piped out white snow "icecles" on the top.  I did run out, but I was being very generous.  Top cake with sugar rock candy sticks in the form of a castle and add your characters!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 package of gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies

Crush up one row of the cookies (about 5) into larger crumbles.  Mix cake ingredients together and add crushed up cookies.  Line a cupcake pan with liners and add one whole cookie to the bottom.  Pour batter 2/3 the way up and bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1 stick butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together, adding powdered sugar until you get desired sweetness and consistency. 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup caramel apple sauce (I made my own by peeling 1 apple, cooking it with a couple tablespoons of water until soft, mash with potato masher and add a spoonful of brown sugar)

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 apple, peeled and chopped

Mix all ingredients until they come together to form a batter.  Line cupcake pan with liners and pour in batter 2/3 the way full.  Bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting, recipe above.  

You can pretty much add anything to these cake mixes to make them extra delicious.  Hope you enjoy!

Ratatouille Egg Bake

I absolutely love our CSA.  We got fresh eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash this week.  There is only one thing that comes to mind when hearing those ingredients... Ratatouille!! I love ratatouille!  It reminds me so much of Paris, even though we never had it while we were there.  Maybe it's from the movie.  I made ratatouille for the first time after watching the movie with the cute little mouse and it was so delicious! Nick didn't really care that much for it because he was still hungry afterwards.  So this time, I added an egg and served with homemade focaccia bread.  It was very filling and healthy and delicious.  I love the addition of the egg.  It really adds a lot.  Enjoy!

Ratatouille Egg Bake
Serves: 3

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, cubed
1 zuchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs

Directions:
Chop eggplant and toss with a tablespoon of salt.  Let drain for 30 minutes. Rinse well, squeezing out excess water.  Pat dry and set aside
Meanwhile, add oil to a large skillet and place over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally.  Add eggplant, zucchini, squash, oregano and salt and pepper.  Cover skillet and cook to soften vegetables, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1/4 cup of basil.  Cover and simmer until tomatoes are softened and flavors are concentrated.  
Make nests in the ratatouille and crack an egg into each nest.  Cover pot and cook eggs to desired doneness, 2-5 minutes.  Enjoy!

Chicken Stuffed Avocado Salad

This a perfect meal on a hot summers day.  It's filling, fast, and healthy and you don't have to heat the house! It's a super easy meal and looks really fancy too. 

Chicken Stuffed Avocado Salad

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 avocado, pealed, cored, and sliced in half

1 chicken breast, seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

2 tablespoons salsa (make your own fresh salsa here)

1 tsp. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Salad fixings such as lettuce, red pepper, corn, tomato and red onions. 

Directions:

Shred the grilled chicken and mix with yogurt and salsa and add cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until well blended.  Top each avocado half with the chicken and serve over the salad fixings of your choice.  Enjoy!! 

Fresh Salsa

Our garden literally has millions of tomatoes.  That is not even an exaggeration... maybe a little.  I love having great organic fresh tomatoes always on hand though.  And there is nothing better than fresh salsa to make with all those tomatoes.  This is the second big vat of salsa we've made in 2 weeks.  You can eat it on anything! Chicken, tortilla chips, salads... even ice cream... if you're daring.  When I'm making this, I really don't measure or pay attention, but here are estimates of what I put into the salsa.  Just taste and adjust according to your liking.  Enjoy!

Salsa
Makes: 2 cups? (I really don't know... it goes too fast.)

Ingredients:
5 medium sized tomatoes, diced small
1 small red onion, diced small
1 small jalapeno pepper, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt

Directions:
Once you finely chop all of your ingredients, add them to a large mixing bowl and stir.  You can seed some of the tomatoes for a less juicy salsa, but I like the seeds and extra liquid.  Serve with chips... or however you like your salsa! :)

Gluten Free Monster Cookies

This is by far my favorite cookie recipe.  My aunt makes these for our road trips back home and we have them devoured by hour 4.  We pretend they are healthy and eat them at breakfast because they have oats in them.  Beware, once you make these, you won't be able to stop eating them!  Since they are my favorite cookie, I decided to try and make them gluten free by subbing regular flour (original recipe calls for 2 cups of regular flour) for oat flour.  I just took a bunch of gluten free oats and blended them up in our awesome Ninja blender for 20 seconds.  Then measured out 2 1/2 cups.  They were really sticky with only 2 cups, so I added another half.  They turned out really delicious! You didn't even miss the flour.  By far the best gluten free cookie I've ever had.  They were still moist and delicious by day 2 as well.  They didn't turn into hard bricks like most gluten free cookies.  Not sure if they will make it to day 3 though... meaning they will be gone.  Highly recommend this recipe.  It's awesome and I'll make them this way from now on! :)

Gluten Free Monster Cookies
Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter    

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups oat flour (I just grind up gluten free oats in a blender until powdery)

1 cup oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 

In another large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until everything comes together. 

Blob by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet and flatten.  Add M&M's to the top of the cookie and bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and place on cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Lucky Charms Treats

I contemplated what to make for work for St. Patrick's Day all weekend.  Was thinking about brownies with green frosting, then green cookies, then green m&m cookies... then I got lazy I just wanted something easy and fast... and then I turned to these.  Of course, they aren't healthy by any means, but they are also going to work so I won't sit and eat the whole pan.  They actually taste less sweet than regular rice krispy bars. But they are still delicious and an easy treat to make!  Enjoy!

Lucky Charms Treats

Makes: 60 small bars

Ingredients:

10 cups Lucky Charms

50 large marshmallows

5 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Melt the butter over low heat in a large saucepan.  Add the marshmallows and melt over low as well, stirring often.  Remove from heat and toss in Lucky Charms.  Gently stir to cover the cereal with the melted marshmallow.  Pour into 2 sprayed 9x9 cake pans and spread evenly.  I like to butter the bottom of a glass and use that to spread over the pan.  I also used a sheet cake pan instead of 2 square pans.  :)

Homemade Nutella Stuffed French Toast

When Nick and I went on our honeymoon, we fell in love with Nutella.  Not that we've never had it before, but there is something about European Nutella that doesn't even compare with American Nutella.  Sorry guys... perhaps it's the artificial flavoring?

Anyway, I had a pack of hazelnuts on hand and thought I'd take a stab at my own Nutella. And what better way to serve it than stuffed between two pieces of french toast!! (I didn't have all the ingredients for pound cake... that's the best way to eat Nutella)

These french toasts turned out delicious!  You don't even need syrup... but you are certainly allowed to have syrup on these.  We had breakfast for dinner when I made these and skipped dessert because the whole dinner is one big dessert!  Enjoy!

Nutella Stuffed French Toast:

Serves: 4 (with Nutella left over)

Ingredients:

For the Nutella:

1 cup of hazelnuts

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2-3 tablespoons milk of your choice (I used almond/coconut milk)

2-3 tablespoons of sweetener of your choice... give or take (I used unrefined powdered sugar)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Place hazelnuts on baking sheet and place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.  Check often to avoid those suckers from burning... cause they burn fast!

Remove from oven and let cool just enough to handle.  When able to handle, remove skins from the nut and place the nuts in a blender or food processor.  Blend until the nuts form a nice paste, add the cocoa powder, milk and sweetener and blend until combined.  Taste and add sweetener to your liking.

Ingredients: 

For the French Toast:

3/4 cup of homemade Nutella

8 slices of bread (here is a good homemade bread recipe)

4 eggs

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

splash of milk (I used almond/coconut milk)

coconut oil for pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to it's lowest setting.

In a pie plate or dish, mix together the eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk.

Spread Nutella over both slices of bread and sandwich them, to make a Nutella sandwich.  Dip into the egg mixture and flip, covering both sides.

In an oiled skillet over medium low heat, add the french toast sandwich.  Cook for about 3 minutes, until golden brown and flip.  Repeat with remaining sandwiches.  Store finished sandwiches in a preheated oven to keep warm. 

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Honey Nut Clusters

I'm always looking for healthy and filling snacks and being pregnant, I look for high protein snacks too.  We had these nut clusters at Christmas from Costco and they were delicious and kept us full for hours.  Since we always have nuts and honey on hand, I thought I'd make these myself.  They actually turned out really delicious and I made pretty generous servings.  Each serving has only 150 calories, tons of good fats, and 5 grams of protein!

I absolutely love finding new gluten free snacks that aren't vegetables (Now I do love my vegetables, but it's all about variety).  You can make these with basically any nut you have in the house, just make sure your nut to honey ratio is 2 cups to 4 tablespoons. Also, if you plan on making these ofter, Trader Joe's has a great organic nut section.  Also, the bulk section of Whole Foods or any health food store is usually pretty cheap too. Enjoy!

Honey Nut Clusters
Servings: 12 (very generous portions)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons raw honey
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

In a small ramekin or mixing bowl, add honey and maple syrup (may need to heat if your honey is raw and thick), stir to combine.  In a large mixing bowl, add your nuts and pour the honey mixture over them.  Stir to combine and lay out on a parchment lined baking sheet.  I used a cookie sheet and it worked fine, but to make it more uniform, use an 8x8 baking dish.  Do not forget the parchment paper, it's your best friend for this project.

Place in 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until nuts start to brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Cover and let sit for a few hours to over night to harden.  If you can't wait, it'll be just fine if you grab a bite.

Cut into bite sized pieces and enjoy! Note: My pieces were fairly large because they crumbled as small pieces.  I think this is because I used the baking sheet and they weren't as thick.  But really, who are we kidding... we are going to eat the same amount regardless.  This just allows less trips back to the bowl!

Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Let me tell you, if you want to impress everyone at a party, at the office or at home... make these brownies.  They are especially great for pregnant ladies who are cookie dough deprived and would be great at a baby shower. (drool) They are pretty amazing and take the regular boring brownie to a whole new level.  

I know I normally bake on the healthier side... well... these are by no means healthy.  This is why you need to take these somewhere to impress others and not leave them at home where you will sit and eat the entire batch while watching re-runs of Gilmore Girls sobbing into your blanket because the show clearly ended too early. 

I would love to sit and chat about how awesome these are, but there is only one left in the fridge and I need to tackle my husband for the last bite!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Makes: 24 bars

Ingredients:
for the brownies:
3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 container of vanilla yogurt or 1/2 cup apple sauce or 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (optional, but I found these a little on the dry side so adding any of these ingredients will take care of that)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

for the cookie dough layer:
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk (I used whole, but any kind will work)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

for the topping:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside.

In a large bowl or in a mixer,whisk together the cocoa powder and baking soda. Whisk in about half (1/3 cup approximately) of the melted butter until smooth. Whisk in the boiling water until smooth.

Whisk in the sugar and then the eggs and vanilla until smooth, whisk in the yogurt or applesauce or pumpkin. Whisk in the remaining butter and salt.

Stir in the flour until combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, until just set and the edges are starting to pull away from the pan. Let cool completely in the pan.

While the brownies are cooling, make the cookie dough layer. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the melted butter and sugars until smooth and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in the salt, vanilla & milk until combined.

Mix in the flour and chocolate chips until just combined. Spread the cookie dough evenly over the cool brownies in the pan. Place the pan into the fridge to chill while you make the glaze.

In a smallish, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the oil, stirring well every 30 seconds until just smooth. Spread evenly over the cookie dough layer and return to the fridge to continue chilling.