Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Another, "Hmmm, I can't decide what I want, ooh!  Coconut!!" recipe.

I really wanted Oatmeal cookies, and went scrounging for ingredients.  I found everything, but I was short on oats...and found some coconut and molasses while I was digging and thought that sounded pretty awesome mixed in!  And stumbled onto craisens and white chocolate...so, here is the final list:

1/2 cup (1 stick of butter) softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 granulated suger (just the regular stuff or you can use raw)
2 eggs
1 teasp of vanilla (generous)
1 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flower (I used whole wheat)
1 teasp of baking soda
1 teasp of cinnamon (heaping)
1/2 teasp of salt
I like molasses, so I added some...probably 2-3 tablespoons
2 cups dry quick oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup Ghiradelli white chocolate chips
1 cup craisens


Throw everything in a bowl, in stages

Mix well

Spoon out onto a cookie sheet

Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes

Taco Egg Casserole

This was a discovery born of boredom and leftovers:
I wanted to make a protein-heavy, store-able, warm breakfast.  Elise likes carbs for breakfast.  I am trying to maintain her weight but keep her from being hungry...and so I abruptly decided to make "Church Eggs" as she calls egg/breakfast casserole...because the only time I make it or she eats it, is at Sunday School breakfast socials.

I decided to use deer meat instead of sausage, because of its significantly lower fat content.  (You can of course, use lean beef!)  I thought I had some in the fridge already browned up for quick meal use, and stumbled onto some meat leftover from taco night...and realized that would be REALLY good!!  And so:

Burger 1-2lbs
taco seasoning
6-10 eggs
sharp cheddar cheese
salt
bread 3-6 slices


Brown a pound or so of deer burger (or lean hamburger or turkey burger)

Mix in a liberal amount of taco seasoning.  I use McCormick's, although you can use any or make your own!

Tear up last week's dry bread (or whatever!) and put it at the bottom of a casserole dish.

Put taco burger heavily on top of the bread

Sprinkle with sharp cheddar cheese

Mix eggs with personal preference of salt

Pour eggs over everything

Bake in oven at 350* until eggs are firm.

Serve

Devour

Excellent for breakfast and supper.

Mmmm

Greek Yogurt Ice Cream

Greek yogurt of your choice  (1 large tub or 4 single serve cups {6oz})
Whipping cream (organic has no stablizers)
Honey to taste
1 or 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Whip the whipping cream, add vanilla, add honey to taste, mix in greek yogurt, freeze.  You don't even need to put it in an ice cream maker, and it scoops out, remarkably well...

So far, I've used strawberry and vanilla and both are fantastic!!

If you are in a hurry you can use Tru Whip...but I have to say, the real cream is YUM.

Scratch Red Pepper Hummus

My mama made this and shared it with me...and it has been a HUGE hit!!

 

HUMMUS

1 15 oz. can chick peas (rinsed & drained)

1 head of garlic

1 red bell pepper

Sea Salt

Fresh ground pepper

2 Tbs. Olive oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Slice a clean cut off the top of the entire head of garlic (to expose the very tip of the cloves). Loosely wrap garlic in foil with a Tbs or so of water. Place wrapped garlic and bell pepper in baking dish. Roast for 45 minutes. The bell pepper should get pretty dark, maybe even black in places. That’s good!

After pepper has cooled, remove skin & seeds. Slice pepper into strips. Use a blender or food processor for remaining steps. Pour chick peas into processor. Add pepper strips. Squeeze all of that delicious, roasted garlic goodness into blender. Gently pulse until it starts to come together. At this point you can drizzle in olive oil or leave it out. Continue to pulse until smooth dip consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate to let the flavors really mesh.

My favorite cookies of all time. Honest.

(Katie's) Molasses Sugar Cookies

3/4 cup shortening (melted)
1 cup sugar + 3 TBSP
1/4 molasses
1 egg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

There were all sorts of complex directions about sifting and chilling and stuff...but I don't do that...

Then ball up on your cookie sheet and bake at 325* for about 10-12 minutes.

SPEC.TAC.ULAR

Ice Cream

*sigh*
This has been nasty tricky.  Thankfully, I have found one that doesn't tear up Charlotte too badly.

I got a recipe from a friend that involved Cool Whip.  WOW.  I cannot even begin to tell how how many brands of crazy that brought out in Charlotte.  I mean INSANE.

But another friend volunteered that she thought she saw a cool whip natural alternative in the organic section at Kroger.  Frankly, with all of Charlotte's issues, my BEST option would be actually whipping whipping cream, but that's for another day...

Tru Whip
Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Almond Milk (or coconut...pick your option)
Throw it in the ice cream maker of your choice.

I used Chocolate Almond milk once it it was pretty yum, too. 

Both Tru Whip and The Eagle brand have milk products in them, but there is less than other options, so it's an improvement...and most importantly, it doesn't make Charlotte nuts.


I'm still trying to work out the freezing kinks to Greek yogurt and just make ice cream that way...as for some reason the milk does not play havoc on her belly in that form...

But these were AWESOME...and I just put ginger snaps in the bottom of the cupcake papers instead of making the crusts...shaved some serious time off the preparation...And I jacked the lime juice way up because I like the "bite"...
http://www.littlebittybakes.com/2012/07/key-lime-yogurt-pie-bites/

I've been thinking about making ice cream with Tru Whip and Greek yogurt...that's the plan for tonight...I'll let you know it it turns out!  :)

Summer is moving in fast!!

Fantastic link to homemade popcicles!!!  Which will be VERY important in a few short weeks!  :)

http://tipnut.com/homemade-popsicles/

Scratch Stroganoff

I love stroganoff.  It was a staple, thanks to Hamburger Helper when we first got married.  But in our diet overhaul and Charlotte's allergies, Hamburger Helper is no longer our friend.  And so I decided to experiment on a whim this last week...and here is what I came up with...relying on how it smelled and tasted on the spoon.

Brown lean beef or deer meat
Cook some whole wheat egg noodles

In a seperate pot mix up 2 cups beef broth, sea salt to taste, minced onions (I like dried, but whatever floats your boat), about 1/2 a bottled Guiness, and 1-2 tablespoons potato starch...and let it cool a smidge and add about a cup of precooked dry or canned navy (or northern) beans...

Right before you serve it throw a little plain Greek yogurt on it and mix it up right before you serve it and you seriously can't tell the difference from anything I've had before.  According to my 13 year old son, if you leave out the Greek yogurt, it tastes like Krystals...if that kind of thing appeals to you!!  :)

Granola with extras

Okay...today NEEDED some granola...badly.  And so I succumbed.  And had to fight myself not to eat it hot off the cookie sheet.

(This is a half-batch...)

Um, I feel the need to 'fess up where I got it, ethics and all that...but it is still delicious for EVERYONE!  I found this recipe on diaperswappers.com, as a recipe for up-ing your milk production while nursing...BUT it doesn't have anything in it that isn't great for everyone's health, so please don't let that stop you!!

One of the things I loved about this recipe, is that it is easy to make in small amounts.  I had to change the sunflower kernals to bashed up/crushed cocktail peanuts, with Charlotte's new allergy...and sometimes I have been known to use agave syrup mixed with honey, half-and-half proportions when I was running low on honey...which seems to happen more and more...I need to get a scarey big jug of local raw honey...And as with many of my recipes, you can add what you like and leave out whatever you don't or are allergic to...and it's still delish!!  :)

4 cups regular or steel cut oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
2 tbsp brewer's yeast
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, peanuts, almonds, or a mix)
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, dates, apricots, or a mix)

Combine everything except nuts and fruit in a large bowl. Spread onto a lightly greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Pull out of oven and stir in nuts and fruit. Cool and store in an airtight container.


Eat with milk, almond milk, on ice cream, on yogurt...throw it in a baggie and eat it as you drive, dry like a trail mix...  Top it on the Cinnamon Banana Apple Stew and pretend it's streusel!!  Your mouth would never know the difference!!!

Cinnamon Banana Apple Stew - trial run

I am always on the lookout for desserts...that split the difference between sweet and complete indulgence...HERE is a yummy-looking one that is on the trial block for tonight!!  :)

Update?  OH!!!!   SO GOOD!!!!  You NEED to try this!!!!

This recipe was adapted from All You Magazine, by Super Healthy Kids blog. The original recipe included butter, and ice cream, and omitted the bananas, and corn starch.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon corn starch (potato starch totally works, too)
• 2 apples, chopped
• 1 banana

Instructions

1. Mix water and corn starch together until corn starch is dissolved.
2. In skillet, pour water/corn starch, lemon juice, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon. Turn skillet on medium until sauce begins to warm and blend.
3. Add chopped apples and bananas and stir to coat with the sauce.
4. Continue to cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes.
5. Scoop apple/ bananas into a bowl or hollowed out apples.

Aussie Meat Pie Rip-off

Remember my Pie-less Pots?  Mix it all up the same:

Chicken:
Dice chicken breasts and "brown" in a skillet(I use about 4 or 5 large ones for my family of 6)
take a can of chicken broth/stock, mix with whatever you can pour off your chicken, 1-2 tsp of sea salt, and whisk in 2 or 3 TBSP of corn or potato starch, pour over your chicken, throw in mushrooms or whatever, wait til your "gravy" bubbles and thickens...*

Hamburger:
I use deer burger, but whatever lean burger you prefer is fine...1-2 pounds
saute 2 cups of sliced mushrooms in 1-2 TBSP of olive oil
pour in beef stock , salt, and corn or potato starch, pour over your meat and mushrooms, wait until your "gravy" bubbles and thickens....*

*Then throw the chicken or hamburger in pitas for a homemade version of the Australian Bakery Cafe...Charlotte fell in love with and has requested it for her birthday!! 

You can season with curry or jerk or add a smidgeon of Guiness or whatever sounds good to you...I love pie and stew recipes because they always have a little play in them for your tastes!

(Oh, and I have since the original recipe tried the potato starch, Bob's Red Mill has a great one for those avoiding corn...it's pretty cheap, and it works great!)

Light and Guiltless Buffalo Chicken

I threw some chicken in the crockpot yesterday.  I had planned to put barbecue sauce on it and serve it in bread for sandwiches.  I usually put in 3-5 chicken breasts in with enough water to cover it and cook it for however long it takes, 3-4 hours on high in mine...  When it's ready, I drain off the water and shred it.  Yesterday, we abruptly decided to mix it with buffalo sauce (ours is dye-free, you'll have to check if yours is safe).  We topped it with a small amount of shredded mozzarella (when that ran out we used some provolone, we are at the end of the month and that happens a lot around now!)  and put some plain Greek yogurt instead of blue cheese or ranch or cream cheese to offset the "burn".  When we figured out how many calories, we realized it has almost no guilt and is delicious!!!!  You can eat it plain with a fork or jam it in a pita for a really excellent sandwich!!!! 

We served it with frozen corn and black beans mixed together...and even put some in the pita, and it was surprisingly good together...

Yet another random trial with awesome results...hope you enjoy it sometime soon!! 

*hint* the Superbowl is coming, and this would be great for dipping and would taste like a treat and keep you from overstepping your diet a bit!  :)

Skillet Stir-Fry

Make some rice.  Whatever you like.  I found some long grain brown JASMINE rice today!!!  Score!!  I threw mine into my pressure cooker, but whatever your thing is...cook some rice...

Okay, take some lean sliced beef or some jerky cut deer meat, about 1-2 pounds, cook it in your largest skillet. (I had to make two skillet-fulls for my 2 pounds today)  You can spray some olive oil in the skillet or just cook it in a non-stick...  Get it cooked until there is the tiniest bit of pink showing in the centers...

Mix up:
1 cup of organic tamari or soy sauce
1/2 can of beef stock, maybe 3/4 of a cup?
about 1/4-1/2 teasp of fresh ground pepper
about 1/4-3/4 teasp of garlic salt
1 TBSP sorghum molasses
1-2 heaping teasp of corn or potato starch
2 TBSP apricot preserves (or not at you like your sweet and salty)

pour the above mixture over your meat that is sizzling, add you veggies of choice:
mushrooms
broccoli
sugar snap peas
bamboo
water chestnuts
bean sprouts
(really whatever makes you happy)
for my kids I used our staple frozen peas and carrots


Cook until you like how the veggies look...

Pour the meat, veggie, and sauce mixture over the rice that you already made...Serve and Enjoy!

Homemade Jerky

We LOVE jerky.  It is SOO good, but have had a harder and harder time eating it with all the preservatives in it.  I have a lot of allergies to preservatives and my son and husband have both gotten headaches from MSG, which is in a LOT of jerky...and now, pushed by the Little Miss, we are reassessing our options. 

My brother and his wife got me a small dehydrator from Ace Hardware for my birthday.  I cannot tell you how excited I am about it...and so here is my favorite and most successful jerky recipe:

1.5lbs of meat (deer!!!) lean beef sliced thinly, a little thicker is moister and tasty, but different than you may be used to...

Take:
1/4 teasp garlic salt
1/4 ground black pepper
1/2 teasp sorgum molassas
mixed into 1/4 cup of soy sauce....pour over into meat...it's supposed to soak into the meat for 2-4 hours.

Then put in oven at 150* for 4 hours or cook in skillet until not pink, then put into dehydrator for 1-2 days. I recommend deer cube steak, deer tenderloin, or deer hams jerky cut.

Store in an airtight container until it's gone...a couple of days, here!!  :)

Chicken Salad that I LOVE!

Chicken Salad
I am always hunting good chicken salads.  Mostly because I don't like chicken salad.  I know that sounds seriously wierd, but hear me out.  I like the IDEA of chicken salad.  I like chicken.  I like chicken and fruit together.  So you wouldn't think this would be so tricky.

Here are two that I really like.  One could be very fatty with tons of ingredients, and is nice for a treat.  One is very light and could be eaten often...that I totally tweaked from a Biggest Loser Cookbook.

Debbie's Chicken Salad:

3 lb chicken (dice and cook or cook and shred)

8oz sour cream

8 oz miracle whip

8oz mayo

Salt pepper

1/4 cup sugar

1tbsp curry

1Lb red grapes

1 lb chopped pecans

8 oz sliced almonds

The juice of one lemon

 

Biggest Loser Chicken Salad Tiffany Tweaked*:

Diced chicken, cooked (I used about 3 or 4 large chicken breasts)

Halved red grapes, maybe a cup?

Dice 1 medium apple

1/4-/12 Cup plain greek yogurt

2-4 dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

opt: celery, I don't tend to use it...saute chicken in olive oil

 

*I left out the celery and olive oil, way upped the apples and grapes, and my proportions were different....I like there to be a lot of "sauce" and I like it to be less mustard-y.  But that's the beauty of recipes, change them until you like it!!  Recipes are not laws.

 

 

Jerk Bowl Hodge Podge

I love mixed bowls... I mean, love them!!

This was an impulse mix-up, hodge podge.  I WAS making this all separate, but decided to mix it, and then added some stuff...and it turned out spectacularly!!

I cooked up my diced chicken with Jerk Seasoning.  While thawing my staple frozen peas.  And speedily pressure cooking my brown rice.  That's what I fed my kids.   And they begged for soy sauce.  Weird combo, I know.  For myself I proceeded to mix it all up, and then decided something sweet would set it off nicely, and added a handful of craisins. And then added a dollop of apricot preserves (Polner has served to be a safe jam/preserves for us).  And then I added a tiny bit of soy sauce to amp up the apricot flavor.  And wow.  A new favorite was born.  Seriously!!

Faster, Less Ingredients Pancakes

CHARLES' PANCAKES FROM SCRATCH
1 egg
1 c. low fat milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Beat egg, milk and vanilla together. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into the batter, just until somewhat smooth, but slightly lumpy. Don't over mix.
To make pancakes; pour a little batter onto a hot griddle. Leave at least 2" of space between pancakes. Allow them to cook until the tops of pancakes are bubbled, then turn with spatula. Cook just until the underside is lightly browned.

Makes 10 (4") pancakes. Recipe may be doubled. Unused batter may be stored in the refrigerator. Thin with a little cold water if batter becomes too thick.
Found this while Googling...I really just didn't have the energy to make the flax oatmeal pancakes, and these were very quick...I found them HERE.  I really love that they don't have any sugar, because, let's face it, most toppings we use, certainly have enough in their own right!  Plus, their flavor, I think, enhances the flavor of the toppings!

* If you decide that you NEED your pancakes sweeter, add a TBSP of brown sugar and/or a couple of good shakes of cinnamon!

Homemade Larabars

Okay, so snacks have become the biggest problem in Charlotte's eating overhaul.  I have spent the most amount of money in this area.  You can make scratch meals more easily, I think, than making snacks that look like everyone else's...

The costs are what's making me more desperate to find my options.  In my joy about Larabars, I posted about them on Facebook...and a friend posted this link up for me:  Oh, She Glows offers homemade options...and they turned out brilliantly.

I even packaged them individually for snack travels...I am going to have to find a short-cut for that one...it took longer to wrap them than to make them.

I then realized that it was more a proportional thing than a real recipe per se so I experimented with it am came out with this:

Almond Honey Bars*
1 cup of dates (no pits!)
1/2 cup of quick oats
2/3 cup of raw almonds
2 TBSP almond butter
2 TBSP honey

Throw everything in a cuisinart chop/mix it.  To me, it tastes very Baklava-y...delicious!!

*These are "-ish" measurements, I am not a scientific cooker...you will know it came out right, if  you can take a pinch out and mold it into a ball...

Pie-less Pots

I have always loved Pot-Pies for their buttery pie crusts...unfortunately, 1) they tend to be fatty and unredemptive and 2) they tend to have things that will tear Charlotte completely up...so here are my tweaks:

Chicken Pie-less Pot
dice chicken breasts and "brown" in a skillet(I use about 4 or 5 large ones for my family of 6)
thaw a bag of frozen peas and carrots
take a can of chicken broth/stock, mix with whatever you can pour off your chicken, 1-2 tsp of sea salt, and whisk in 2 or 3 TBSP of corn starch, pour over your chicken, throw in your peas and carrots, wait til your "gravy" bubbles and thickens...serve and gobble it up!

Hunter's Pie-less Pot
I use deer burger, but whatever lean burger you prefer is fine...1-2 pounds
thaw a bag of frozen peas and carrots
saute 2 cups of sliced mushrooms in 1-2 TBSP of olive oil
take a can of beef stock/broth, add either drippings (deer has virtually none) or half a Guiness (or both), 1-2 tsp of sea salt, and whisk in 3 TBSP of corn starch, pour over your deer burger, mushrooms, and peas and carrots, cook until your "gravy" bubbles and thickens...serve and gobble...

Of course you can put either of these in your pie crust of choice or serve with bread, or whatever makes it the perfect comfort meal for you!  :)

Bonus:
If cornstarch is safe at your house, it can be used to thicken any broth as a safe alternative to pre-packaged gravys!  I've heard you can do the same with potato flakes or flour and some others, here is a LIST...but I haven't tried those yet.  Salt and pepper to taste!

Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Smashed Sweet Potatoes With Coconut Milk
discovered thanks to  jillianmichaels.com
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds potato(es), sweet, scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1/2 cup(s) coconut milk, light
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch nutmeg, ground
Preparation
Place the sweet potatoes in a glass microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high until very tender, 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer the hot, cooked potatoes to a mixing bowl. Add the coconut milk, salt, and nutmeg. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and combine with the other ingredients. Serve.

I've also used regular milk and almond milk, and it's just as good either way...