Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is pouring down rain here. Thunder and lightening too. That means it is the perfect day to enjoy a cookie with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk if you are a milk drinker. That is my excuse anyway.

The truth is I have gone to too many graduation parties and indulged in too many desserts lately and now I have a little hankering for sweets going on. I am working on getting that back under control but in the mean time I wanted a dessert I could enjoy without the guilt.

I whipped up this small batch of cookies last night in about 6 minutes and they only took 12 minutes to bake. Sweet tooth satisfied in 19 minutes (I waited about a minute for it to cool before breaking off a little piece.) Plus it only made 12 cookies so I won't have them hanging around here tempting me all week.

Three tablespoons of Earth Balance, 1/4 cup of honey, 1 egg, 1/2 cup Sucanat, and 1 tablespoon water go into the mixer. Using the paddle attachment, blend until thoroughly mixed. I just let it run while I got the dry ingredients together.

In my pyrex measuring cup (dirty only one dish whenever possible) I placed 1 1/2 cups oats, 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus.....

1/2 cup whole wheat flour. I didn't level that if you are wondering. I just shook it down a little until it looked close enough. I know I am lazy and don't follow the baking rules that my Home Ec. teacher taught me in the 8th grade. I still have issues with how she taught us to scramble eggs. Maybe that is why I rebel against measuring.

She ruined me. It is all her fault I guess.

I took a fork and mixed these 4 ingredients around in the cup and then added them to the mixer. Mix wet and dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Decide now if you will add the dark chocolate chips or not!!! I went back and forth and then was sorry I hadn't added them to the batter.

So after I had dropped the spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet I pressed a few chocolate chips into the cookies. I was super glad I did. Raisins would be awesome too and then my kids wouldn't like them as much so Miles and I could have more. So I am a bad "measure-ur" and I am a bad sharing mom!

12 minutes later and look how big and puffy and chewy they came out!

Then I was kind of glad I had just pressed those chips in because see how they just got a little bit soft and melty. Yummo! Plus each cookie only had about 5-6 chips which helps the calorie count. Next time they will just go in the batter however because that is easier. You won't need very many chips for such a small recipe.

One little plate of delicious and healthier cookies to enjoy!

Keep in mind that these are not sugar free because I used sucanat which is a good replacement for brown sugar since it isn't as refined. The whole wheat flour also makes these better for you as does dark chocolate versus milk or semi-sweet chips. You could also use egg beater instead of one whole egg to help the calorie count which is about 125 per cookie. I am not sure how they would taste with just Stevia instead of Sucanat since they need that brown sugar taste but since it is such a small recipe it might be worth a little experimenting.

Now I must go do some form of exercise. I was planning on running this morning outside but my husband came and told me to sleep longer because of the storm. Faith is still asleep or I would take the both of us to the YMCA so maybe a pilates video will have to do for the day. Perhaps later this storm will pass and that run will happen???

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance (or other spread of choice)
• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• Optional dates, figs, raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, or chopped nuts.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the Earth Balance, Sucanat, honey, egg and water thoroughly.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir in the oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Add any additional ingredients you've chosen.
4. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack

Yields 1 dozen cookies



A Week of Salad - Friday

Well my week of VBS has come to an end but not my week of salad. I think I will probably eat it again today for lunch. I really don't mind eating it that often. It is very filling, guilt free, loaded with veggies, and has lots of nutrition. It also keeps me full for quite some time. Even the man in my life enjoyed the week. I think Friday's salad was probably his favorite but my favorite was Tuesday's kale salad. The kids had a little bit of salad on their plates along with other things like fruit and sandwiches if you were wondering.

Let's start with the dressing this time. This is all folks. I only used half the lime and squeezed a little juice on both salads. Then topped it with a little of this salsa. Divine!

The lettuce was a mix of green leaf and romaine. I added pinto beans, corn, chopped grape tomatoes, sliced avocado, chopped mango, and a little reduced fat pepper jack. Believe it or not that little pile of salsa and dollop of sour cream was plenty of dressing for this very large salad. The avocado made it nice and creamy too.

This is a very delicious salad and the dressing couldn't be more simple. This is also a great salad to eat if you are not much of a salad lover. It is almost like eating the filling of a taco or burrito. We love to eat salsa as a dressing but I forget about it most of the time. I hope this week of posts has helped you think outside the usual when it comes to salad. If you vary the combinations you really can enjoy it for an entire week dare I even say look forward to it! Just give it a try!

Now sadly, I must post my last VBS pictures of the night.........yes I said sadly!

We made the best bubble solution but it didn't work like it was supposed to because of the wind. The kids were supposed to stand on a cinder block in the center and have a hula hoop lifted over them to be in a giant bubble. The cinder block kept popping the bubble too. But these bubble wands came to the rescue!

I loved how involved our leaders got with the kids this week!

Can you say water rocket? This was probably the favorite part of the night for the kids.

See that black dot way at the top center of this picture? That is the rocket. There were a few times they almost hit a car in the street. Several adults asked me last night who made the water rocket launcher. I think there might be some launching in the future for some very happy kids and their dads!

The kids made cards last night to send along with the $850 we raised to buy mosquito nets for kids in Mali Africa. I loved this picture. She is writing in her best handwriting, Jesus loves you. So sweet.

The final sea of kids! Plus lots of parents and grandparents who came to watch.We were having so much trouble with the sound last night cutting in and out and getting extremely loud all of the sudden but the kids just kept singing and they sounded completely amazing! I wish this was a video instead of just a picture.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this one incredible week!

Can I please have a nap now?



A Week of Salad - Thursday

I am writing this post at 5:30 in the morning because I couldn't sleep which is quite odd since I am completely exhausted! One more night of VBS to go and one more salad to make this afternoon. Actually I am kind of having fun with my week of salad and it might continue for a couple more days!

Yesterday I had to work at one of my cleaning jobs so when I got home I only had about 15 minutes to get lunch fixed before Miles came home. I should have had more time, but I locked myself out of the house where I was cleaning, and I had to go to the neighbor's house to use the phone to call poor Traci. She had to have her morning interrupted to come back and let me in. She told me not to go out or I would lock myself out before she left. I told her I usually never do, which really isn't true after I think about it, because I clean the windows on her front door every week and step out to do so. It didn't even dawn on me until I had cleaned all four windows and went to turn the knob. Someone make me a dunce cap or wait patiently for my VBS brain to go away and my real brain to return!

Back to salad..... When I am in a hurry we have a favorite salad that usually consists of cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, chicken sausage, and my homemade mustard vinaigrette or a light Ceasar that we like. But yesterday I was in the mood for something a bit more summery.

The lettuce was the rest of the red leaf and a 50/50 mix of organic baby spinach and a spring mix. The spinach was the perfect choice for this salad. I added strawberries this time and left out the tomatoes. I also added walnuts for some crunch and decided that I would rather have more of a balsamic dressing then the mustard dressing. It goes better with the strawberry thing. I had already sliced up the chicken sausage and cooked it in a small pan quick in case you are wondering.

I really have a thing for fruit on my salad. It looks pretty and it also adds a unique flavor to just about any salad combination.

When I sat down to eat this Faith said, "Strawberries on a salad? Where's the cucumbers?" Ooops! I forgot the cucumbers. I am blaming that on VBS brain as well. I got up and chopped a few slices quick otherwise my salad wouldn't have had much vegetable content. I love cucumbers!

If you want to make it easy on yourself there are several balsamic dressings you can buy ready made that have very little calories. I like Newman's Own in particular but it is pretty easy to whip one up as well. I like to make a homemade Greek dressing that has the same ingredient list but uses white wine vinegar so I just subbed in this balsamic from Whole Foods which is quite good by the way! I left it out of the picture but you do need olive oil for this dressing as well. I used my handy dressing mixer again (that is what we had leftover in the container) and of course I didn't measure. I know I drive some of you crazy. Sorry.

I also used these four ingredients- onion powder, garlic powder, basil, and oregano. It is better to use fresh garlic, but I was in a hurry. If I had fresh oregano or basil I would use that too but this works fine also. I should probably just learn to measure for all of you who need me to be precise but here is my best guess on the measurements.

2-3oz. of olive oil

2 oz. aged balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder or 1-2 garlic cloves minced

Give it a stir or whisk and taste. Add what you feel is lacking. If the mustard or vinegar taste is too strong then add more olive oil. I suppose the reason I never measure much when making dressing is that I am just looking for a good flavor. You can't mess it up too much so give yourself a little freedom to just dump!

It was a very refreshing salad and I am already thinking about my salad for today!

Now for the fun part..........last night's photos!

                                                                                    

We have the MOST AWESOME crew leaders! The kids really get to know their leader and get attached to them and these leaders make the week so fun for them!

      

     Learning about what Jesus did on the cross for us.

       

   Laying our "sins" on the cross and asking Jesus to forgive us for them.

        

           This was a beautiful picture and a great visual for the kids.

         

This is my daughter and her fun personality caught on camera. She absolutely adores going to VBS every night. She will be sad when it ends tonight.

         

And some running and screaming just because that is what kids do best. I bet these children have been sleeping very well every night.

I think I might go back to sleep for a bit now. I will be up late tonight getting everything put away at the church. I am hoping I can leave there before 11pm.

Want to come help me anyone?

            





A Week of Salad - Wednesday

We are nearing the end of the week so quickly! After all the work on VBS it always surprises me how fast the week actually goes. We are having so much fun!

I am also having fun with my salads and these posts! I do love salad more than the average person but I hope you can see that by making it a little different each day it isn't such a bad thing to eat it for lunch for a whole week! Maybe I can challenge you to try a week long salad fest and give up your fast food lunch and see how much better you feel.

For yesterday's salad I decided to go with an Asian flair. This is really an old Pampered Chef recipe I believe with a few tweaks of course.

The lettuce was a mixture of leftover red leaf that needs to get used up and a mix of red and green organic baby romaine. I also added carrots, radishes, snap peas, red onion, sliced oranges, and the best part was the crunchy oat bran sesame sticks on top.

  

To slice the oranges cut your orange in half horizontally and then take your knife along these natural divisions to score it it. You can peel the orange first so it will just kind of fall into those pieces as you cut but I like to avoid as much pith as I can when putting orange on a salad so I went around the circle with my knife too then peeled it back.

I made a homemade dressing again yesterday too. There is a great recipe right on the side of this Pampered Chef dressing maker I use all the time. I didn't follow it exactly of course because that is against my nature as you know. I used about 2 or 3 ounce of rice vinegar, 1 or 2 ounces of less sodium soy sauce, 1/4 tsp. ground ginger, 1 large garlic clove, minced, one packet of Stevia, and not nearly as much olive oil as they wanted me to!!! I think I used about 1/4 cup. You can use less vinegar and more olive oil if you don't care for it as much as we do.

Miles commented on how much he liked the orange in the salad. He said he was surprised at how good that flavor was in there! I agree so don't be afraid and don't skip it if you try this salad. I liked that I got a couple different veggies in there, the radishes and snap peas, that are not my normal go to salad fixings. I do love them both but for some reason just don't put them in my salad enough! I should mention that Miles also commented when he came and sat down, "That is one good looking salad!" So men, you too can enjoy a week of salad for lunch.

Some Rainer cherries on the side! I am not much of a cherry lover but I do like the Rainer kind. I always buy a couple containers to enjoy when they start putting them out in the stores. Maybe it is the Rainer name that draws me to them.

I am from Washington state after all!

Now on to my VBS pictures of the night............

It would not be VBS without these crazy ladies! This year their names are Marley and Flash. Faith is still calling the one dressed as a pilot "Panda Patty" because that was her name last year. They make our VBS spectacular and SUPER fun for our kids,

Nothing like some Minute To Win It games for the 5th grade group.

I am not bossing Sarah around! I am telling her to look back at last year's VBS pictures of us together because she has lost a ton of weight!

Throwing huge tube a loons through the hula hoops was super fun!

Our mission project is raising money for mosquito nets for kids in Mali. We are STUNNED at how much money the kids have brought. Our goal was enough money to buy 25 nets. They cost $6.00 each. Last night we had raised enough to buy 90 nets!

Isn't this the kind of fun kids are looking for at VBS. Crazy! I love it!

Only two more nights to go and we are having a blast!



A Week of Salad -Tuesday

Hello everyone! We had another super fun, exciting, energetic, night at VBS yesterday. We apologize if your kids came home soaking wet! Why kids want to get soaking wet I will never understand????? That is the most miserable feeling to me and having to endure the rest of the night like that would make me crazy. But if you are between the ages of 5 and 11 there seems to be this incredible pull just dragging you through the sprinkler and telling you to stay right in it instead of running quickly out like you are supposed to!! They all came out smiling too!

So on to my salad for lunch Tuesday. I really decided to change it up yesterday and eat a kale salad instead of a regular lettuce salad. Kale gets a bad rap sometimes. It can be a bit of an acquired taste, but if you will follow a few preparation steps it will be a million times more enjoyable I promise!

This recipe came from a blog I follow Oh She Glows. It is called Weekend Glow Kale Salad and I absolutely loved it!!

It was filled with this huge portion of goodness! Chopped cucumber, sliced grape tomatoes, diced carrot, chopped red, yellow, and orange mini pepper, raisins, sunflower seeds, red onion, walnuts, and avocado that I did slice up. That is a lot but I loved every last thing in there and wouldn't make the salad without any of them!

It makes such a beautiful salad too. I actually went back for seconds, and thirds, and my husband commented that I must have been famished. I said, "Nope! I just love the salad that much." I even took the leftovers with me to dinner at the church last night.

As I said before there are some things you must do to make your kale taste delicious and not so bitter. First and foremost you must remove these stems. This is where most of the bitterness lies. I just pull the leaves right off. 

The second thing you MUST do is massage or squeeze the kale. Yes she is a little high maintenance. It is quick though so just indulge her.

Just stick your hands in and start squeezing the kale like this. It only takes a couple minutes and you will start to feel the kale get softer. It will even deepen in color.

Do you see the difference in how full the bowl looked above and after you have broken down some of the fibers it looks a little more wilted. It is supposed to look like this. That way it doesn't scratch your throat going down. You can also put a little olive oil or salt in the bowl before massaging it to make it even more silky.

The third thing you can do is pour your dressing over and let it sit for about 15 minutes so it can really soak in. Kale is a hearty green and even after its had a massage it can still handle a little soak which you would really never do with any other green. I used Angela's recipe for Tahini and Lemon Dressing and guess what folks, I didn't change one single thing and I even measured! I poured all of it over the kale and all my prepared ingredients and gave it a good mixing. Don't be afraid to use your hands again and really get that dressing mixed in. It is a bit messy but the results are amazing!

There are other varieties of kale that you might find more enjoyable such as dinosaur kale, baby kale, lacinato, and Tuscan, if you are lucky enough to live where you can buy them. Around here we get curly kale or organic curly kale! Kale is on the Dirty Dozen list so you might want to consider buying it organic.

Lightened Up Tahini- Lemon Dressing

From Angela at Oh She Glows

Yield: Just under 1 cup of dressing
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast or a bit more, to taste
• 2-4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• 1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 tbsp water, or as needed

Directions:
1. In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. Makes just under one cup.

Now for a couple VBS pictures from last night. I have troubles narrowing the picture selection down you know!

Getting soaked not just wet of course!

Fun experiments in the Imagination Station Room!

Lazarus coming forth from the tomb! I love the smile on his face.

A little ping pong ball dropping from the upstairs balcony of the youth center for our new class of middle schoolers coming up.

They had to retrieve all the balls as quickly as they could. They were having a blast!

Can't wait to see what tonight will hold!



A Week of Salad -Monday

Hello faithful readers! There are probably only about two of you left. This is VBS week for us. That means that I don't have to cook dinner all week long because a team of people will be doing it for me at the church every night. I love that. I am busy enough with a million other details so I am thrilled that I don't have to think about it. It also means that there will be some things for dinner that I probably wouldn't normally eat and so I will try to eat very healthy for breakfast and lunch and make sure that I get lots of veggies in to both of those meals. I will eat some celery and nut butters with breakfast and perhaps salsa on my eggs and drink V8 at breakfast. The easiest way to do that for me at lunch though is a big salad. I thought it might be fun and get me actually posting again if I did some simple quick posts of the salads I am likely to eat everyday for lunch this week.

So here is Monday...................

Red leaf lettuce, left over rotisserie chicken, sliced mini cucumbers, chopped tomato, diced red onion, and half an avocado sliced up.

For the dressing I used my home made mustard vinaigrette. You know how much I hate to measure but here is a fairly good guess for you.

3 oz. olive oil

1 oz. white wine vinegar

2 large cloves garlic, pressed

2 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

You might have to add more honey, mustard, or vinegar to your taste.

Yummo! Loved the avocado on this salad.

I thought it might also be fun to have a VBS picture of the night. So here we go for Monday...............

Now you know why I have been too busy to blog or even cook much for that matter. This is a sea of excited children! We had a record 178 kids there last night. Monday night is usually our lowest night so I am anxious to see how the week progresses.

It was a super fun night!

Now I must hit the ground running for the day!