Muesli Cookies

My weekend breakfast is typically the Hodgson Mill Apples and More Muesli.  It's delicious with some Manuka honey, cinnamon, and blueberries mixed in.  While I was waiting for my breakfast to cook, I realized there was also a cookie recipe on the box.  This helped to make the day into a "cooking making" kind of day for me.

What's great about these cookies, is you don't feel as guilty eating them, because they are "healthy."  Healthy cookies are kind of an oxymoron, but these feel that way.  Plus they were super delicious.  I followed the recipe on the box, except for a few additions that I think were key ingredients.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy soynut butter)
1 cup white flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup Hodgson Mill Muesli

My add-ins:
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
handful golden raisins


Steps:
1)  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2)  Mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy.  I tried to use this new pastry cutter I have, because I have yet to use it... but that didn't work so well.  A fork really just worked best.

My new, never been used, pastry cutter!

 

Well that didn't work very well...

3)  Mix in the egg and vanilla.

4)  Add in the soynut butter, and stir thoroughly.

5)  In a different bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and muesli mix

6)  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.  Add in the chocolate chips and the raisins.

7)  Place tablespoon size clumps onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 15 minutes.

8)  Remove the cookies when they are slightly golden brown.  I let them cool just a little bit, then place the cookies in an airtight container. I also place a piece of bread with them.  For some reason, this really helps keep the cookies soft!

~Eat Well and Be Happy~

A "What's Left In The Fridge Veggie Soup"

Just as the title suggests, this veggie soup was self-created with whatever I could find in the fridge.  It was one of those days where we REALLY needed to go to the store, but it was so cold and nasty out.  Dinner was a necessity, and there was minimal food in the fridge. Hence, A "What's Left In The Fridge Veggie Soup" was created.  This soup produced leftovers for a few days too.  "C," The Official Taste-Tester, gave it a 9!

A few days before making this soup, I did a bean "experiment" that produced WAY more beans that I had expected.  I typically just use canned beans, but I decided bulk beans would be fun to try.  (Note to self, pay attention to that little label that says dried beans will increase by 2 to 3 times when cooked). Also this process took much much longer than expected.  It felt like I had beans soaking and simmering for days.  While I like the concept of using bulk beans, it's just not for me.  I'm more of an instant gratification person when it comes to bean consumption.

Yep, that's a LOT of beans

Even more beans...

Ingredients: (Makes enough soup for lunch/dinner for a few days!)


2 tbsp. olive oil
3-4 chopped scallions
2 cups mixed beans (you can used canned too)
1/4 small package baby carrots
4 cups water (might want more though)
1 small box broth
1 can chopped tomatoes
5 bay leaves
1/2 package shredded carrots
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tbsp thyme
1 bouillon package
2 tbsp garlic salt
Quinoa
Shaved pecorino romano cheese

Steps:
1)  In a very large pot, heat oil on medium low.  Add in scallions and let cook for about 3-5 minutes.

2)  Add in beans.  I used the mixture of beans from what I had made before (kidney beans, navy beans, chick peas, adzuki beans, black beans, and black eyed peas). You an also easily just use a few cans of beans.  Let cook for about 5 minutes.  

PS: Whole Foods is a GREAT place to get different types of beans! I had never heard of adzuki beans before, but found them at Whole Foods.

3)  Add in baby carrots and water.  I only used 4 cups, but it could probably use up to 6 cups of water, depending on how many beans you use.  As the soup sits, the beans and the quinoa really soak in the water.

4)  Add in broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, shredded carrots, thyme, rosemary, and bouillon package.  Let cook on medium-low until the carrots are soft, about 30-40 minutes.

5)  While the soup is cooking, make the quinoa in a different pot, following the directions on the package.  When the quinoa is finished add it to the soup mixture.

6)  Just before serving, shave some pecorino cheese on top.  I also served the soup with some mini cornbread muffins.

~Eat Well and Be Happy~  

Citrusy Sweet Potatoes

Ok so work is really starting to get in the way of my blogging... Good thing today is Columbus day, and I can finally get caught up.

I made this side dish a few weeks ago as part of a bigger meal.  Timing with my cooking is something I really have to work on.  I thought this meal was going to be quick and easy... easy yes, but quick, not so much!  The sweet potatoes ended up taking much longer than I thought, which threw off my timing for everything else.  (Check back soon for the beef skewers that were also part of the meal!)

The Citrusy Sweet Potatoes are the perfect dish if you have the feeling where you love fall, but are still slightly holding on to summer.  Weird way to describe a dish right??  However, the sweet potatoes make it a great fall side dish, while the pomegranate and lime make it feel more like a summer dish.  Hence the summer leading to fall dish! I originally got the idea for this dish from the Whole Living Blog.  (Seriously, if you don't subscribe to it, it is a MUST!)

Ingredients: (for 2 people)

2 sweet potatoes

1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes 

2 tablespoons cilantro

1 pomegranate

1 lime

Sidenote:  The originally recipe called for toasted unsweetened coconut flakes.  I didn't find the unsweetened coconut flakes until after I made these (Whole Foods bulk section), so I went with just what's in the baking section of my regular grocery store.  I also didn't toast them because of my timing issue.  I will be trying that with dinner tonight though!  The original recipe also used coconut milk, but I am not a fan of it!



Steps:
1)  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork so steam can escape.

2)  Bake on a cookie sheet for about 45 minutes.  (I ended up having to put mine in the microwave for an additional 10 minutes).


3)  While the sweet potatoes are cooking, cut open the pomegranate.  I read somewhere the best way to do this is under water.  I cut the pomegranate in half horizontally, then soaked each half upside-down in water.  After about 5 minutes, it's much easier to break apart the pomegranate (in the water!).  The seeds start to separate from the rind.

4) When the sweet potatoes are done, and have cooled enough so you can touch them, cut them in half.   Slightly mash each side.  If you can't easily do this, then they probably need to cook longer.


5)  Sprinkle the top of each potato with the pomegranate seeds, coconut flakes, cilantro (chopped).  It's really tasters choice with how much you add of each.  Then squeeze the lime juice on top of each potato, about half a lime per potato!

~Eat Well and Be Happy~

Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches... a real mouth full!

Think... carrot cake meets ice cream sandwich meets healthy treat and you have a Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwich.  I found this recipe through the WebMD recipe blog.  If you don't already subscribe to it, you must ASAP. The blog shows the best healthy recipes (well besides Yellow Apron Experiment ones of course).  I'm not usually much of a baker, but I thought these deserved a try.  I never bake because then the sugary high calorie treats are in the house, and well we just end up eating them in no time at all!


I re-wrote the recipe as I found it, with my added in additions...

Ingredients:
1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour (very different from regular whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup wheat bran (I couldn't find this, so I used oat bran)
1 cup oatmeal (such as Quaker Old Fashioned Oats)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (yes, hand shredded not store bought)
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp butter, room temperature (if not softer!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins

Filling:

17.6 oz container 2% plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp. cinnamon

(I also added some coconut flakes)

Steps:
1)  Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2)  In a small bowl, soak the raisins in 1/2 cup hot water.  (I really have no idea why you have to do this...)

3)  Grate the carrots by hand.  At first I thought why in the world would I do this, when I can just buy shredded carrots.  But then I realized, store bought ones are rather long and stringy.  For this you really do need the carrots hand grated, so they are much smaller pieces and much softer.

4) In a bowl combine the eggs, applesauce, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.

5)  Drain the raisins, and add to the wet mixture.  Mix in the carrots.

6) In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, oat bran, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

7)  Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix throughout.  The dough will be stickier than your normal cookie, but thick enough to form on a cookie sheet.

8)  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (wax paper).

9)  Drop a small amount of dough onto the sheet.  I used a tablespoon, but you could even go smaller.

10)  Bake for about 12-16 minutes.

11)  In the meantime, mix the ingredients for the filling.  Let sit in the fridge until all the cookies are done and have cooled.

12)  Assemble the cookies:  I tried it first with two cookies, and filling in the middle.  This was almost too much.  I liked it better with just one cookie and a dollop of filling on top.

Warm cookies with the filling on top

Eek!!

13)  If you aren't going to eat the "sandwiches" immediately, plan on laying the cookies on a platter and freezing them.  The downfall to this, is the cookies do take up a lot of space.  I had to completely re-arrange our nicely organized and categorized freezer (yes, I am a bit anal with organization... but you have to be when working with middle school kids!).   If you do freeze the cookies, zap them in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds before eating them.

Frozen cookies...

(I read that one sandwich (2 cookies, and filling) is only about 146 calories... but I don't know how accurate that really is!!


Ever try this recipe or any of the other Yellow Apron Experiment recipes??? I'd love to hear all about it in the comments below!

~Eat Well and Be Happy~  

 

Apples, Onions, and Pork

On a beautiful fall afternoon, C. (the boyfriend) and I thought it was very appropriate to go apple-picking.  I mean what could be better on a fall day than being outside, walking through orchards, picking apples, and having apple cider donuts!  We did our research and found one in Natick, called Belkin Family Lookout Farm.  Perfect I thought, what a great spot to spend the day.  Over $50 later... we felt like our apple picking experience was the biggest scam ever!!



While it was still a beautiful place, and we had a great day, it was $14 PER PERSON just to enter, and then $2.50 a pound for your fruit.  We got about 25-30 pieces of fruit, and paid $25 for just the fruit! I think what made me so upset was there wasn't even any apple cider donuts!! Those are like my once a year treat that I always look so forward too.




So with the apples we did pick, I made a delicious dinner.  Plus, as a fun evening activity we made an apple pie together! Yes, I actually shared the kitchen and we made it together.

Ingredients:

Glaze:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1-2 apples, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

pork (fat trimmed)

sea salt

minced garlic

olive oil

Steps:

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Make the glaze... add the syrup and balsamic to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Continue to stir for about 3-4 minutes.  Remove the pan from heat and set to the side.

3)  Drizzle a small amount of oil on the bottom of a baking dish.  Add in chopped apples and onion.

4)  Rub the pork with some sea salt and minced garlic (chef's choice on amount).

5)  Place the pork on top of the apples/onions and drizzle the glaze on top.  Be sure to flip the pork so the glaze gets on both sides.

6)  Bake until the meat thermometer reads about 150 degrees (about 10 minutes).

7)  Remove the dish and let sit for about 5 minutes.

What's your favorite apple picking place??? Have a better experience that we did???

~Eat Well and Be Happy~