Hoity Toity Health Food Cookies (AKA The Breakfast of Champions)

"Make my grandsons these cookies."
That was my first introduction to this recipe a few years ago, as given to me on a neat little 3×5 index card by my mother. I scanned the artful and slightly loopy writing I knew so well.
"No way. These look expensive to make. Walnut flour? Really? Almond butter? I never buy that! It's hoity toity. It's expensive. Can't I jus--"
"They'd be really good for breakfast on-the-go!"

That was a few years ago.  Today, I made these surprisingly simple and deceptively delicious little cookies on a whim. I'm glad I did because they're very good! They're packed with fiber, protein, and nutrients that our bodies need. The extra positive spin is that I can eat them on-the-go, just like my Mom recommended. Really, you should listen to your mother.  She's usually right on things like this.

***The dry ingredients for a single recipe fit perfectly into a quart-sized freezer bag.  Perfect for a more make-ahead approach!  The dough is also supposed to keep well in an airtight container in the freezer, for fresh cookies each morning.

Hoity Toity Health Food Cookies
makes 23 3-inch cookies using a medium (#40, 1 1/2T) scoop

1 c walnuts
1 1/2 c old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c ground flax meal
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1T chia seeds
1t baking soda
1t ground cinnamon
1/2t salt
1 1/2 c mix ins, I like 1/2 c chocolate chips with 1 c dried fruit, but the possibilities are virtually endless.

1/2 c nut butter, I used peanut and the flavor isn't dominant
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1/4 c canola oil or applesauce
1t vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until they resemble a crumbly flour. Transfer to a bowl containing the other dry ingredients, excluding mix-ins. Stir until thoroughly combined.

In the food processor, combine the wet ingredients and process until well blended. Transfer to large bowl. Fold in mix ins, and, little by little, incorporate dry ingredient mixture into wet ingredients until well combined. Dough will be thick.

Scoop up heaping teaspoons of dough and form into balls. Place them onto prepared sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake til browned, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and flatten with spatula. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before removing to a rack.

And that's it! What do you think? Would you eat these cookies for breakfast?

Starving Soup aka 15 Minutes 'til Dinner

Yesterday was a flurry of activity as I processed my grapes into juice for jelly making. When I was finished, I was faced with a large amount of splatter that took quite a while to clean up. I didn't particularly feel like dealing with dinner at that point, so I procrastinated, and well, you know, things got away from me a little bit.
Lo and behold, Hubs was starving and this was approximately the dialog:

J:  Babe, I'm starving. What's for dinner? Can I go make something?
Me: No no, I'm going to go start on dinner right now. The boys got me a little off track earlier.
J: How long is this gonna be? I'm STARVING.

LO AND BEHOLD, about 20 minutes later, dinner was in front of him. I had given him the option of dumplings (+ 15 minutes) or wild rice (+1 minute) and he chose to have it right then and there. This soup came together so quickly because I had every component ready and waiting in my fridge or pantry.

I had roasted a chicken two days ago and I'd made some wild rice to go with it. I still hadn't picked the excess meat off of the carcass (we don't say that word here) bird, and that's the only reason why it took me a little longer. I like to keep some baked chicken breasts on hand in the fridge for quick meals such as this.

Anyway, I took the chicken out of the pot, took the cooled fat off and discarded it, removed the extra consomme jelly from the chicken and put it back in the pot and put it on the stove. I turned the heat to medium and BAM, beautifully flavored broth was waiting for me.

Here's where your pantry stock comes in. You can add just about anything that you have, and it works well! I added a 15 oz can of cream-style corn and a 15 oz can of carrots in their water. The key to fast and flavorful is to make every little bit count!

I tasted the broth after mixing it up and felt it needed a little more body, as well as some creaminess. I added a can of evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed milk) and SHAZAM! All the flavor and creaminess of using heavy cream, but a fraction of the calories. I use evaporated milk when I make any sort of creamy soup and it's wonderful (and inexpensive). Optional: I also added a can of condensed cream of chicken soup. Hey, it was raining and I needed a little somethin' somethin' else. I would have preferred to have used cream of celery, but I didn't have any on hand.

                                                        Next was the wild rice. *Dump!*

I also added salt and pepper, to my own tastes. The flavoring from the rice and condensed soup did all of the work for me and this was my result: a creamy, flavorful, easy soup in the blink of an eye!

I could have put dumplings in this soup, as I mentioned above. I use the Jiffy baking mix for this when I'm pressed for time and it's very delicious and easy on the cook! The directions on the box are as follows:

Dumplings for Soup
2/3 c baking mix

2.5 c chicken breast
4 c chicken broth
1 can cream-style corn
1 can carrots, undrained
1 can evaporated milk (or 1 c milk + 3 Tbsp butter)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 box prepared wild rice rice a roni mix (2 cups when prepared) OR equicalent amount of already cooked    
       barley, white rice, pasta, whatever floats your boat.
salt and pepper to taste

serve with a green salad and some crusty bread and a tall glass of milk!

Returning to Blogging

After an unintentionally long hiatus, I am returning to blogging! I truly enjoyed it and I'm eager to dive back in. I hope to take baby steps and post biweekly at first, and gather up some more steam as I go along. Thank you in advance for your readership. I have so much to tell you all!

Kara