Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Breakfast Cookies!

Since my kids are back in school, I need filling, nutritious and QUICK breakfast ideas! Today, I gave these cookies a try! The cookies are breakfast-sweet but not candy-sweet. My son and I really liked them. My daughter, not so much - but she didn't like the craisins. Maybe next time I'll leave it out?
I stuck with her original recipe, except for my own edits, LOL. For one thing, I didn't have walnuts on hand, but I did have a big bag of almonds! Rather than attempting to chop them, I stuck them in my blender, along with the craisins, to make them both smaller and less noticeable, for picky eaters, haha.
Also, I used 1/3 cup craisins because I had that, and no raisins.
And a tip I learned? Flatten the cookie when you put it on the pan to bake! The first pan, I didn't know if they would spread so I gave them plenty of space. I don't think they spread even a millimeter! So the second pan I fit more on, and flattened them so they might bake a little faster. Between the flatter cookie, and my elevation (she's east of CO and I'm pretty sure 4,700 feet is higher than anything east of CO) it only took me about 18 mins to bake, rather than her 30-35mins.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Guacamole!

This is one of my favorite things for my husband to make. It is SO yummy and I swear its nutritious becuase its made out of nothing but produce!
5-6 ripe Avacados
3 Roma Tomatoes
5 jalapeno peppers
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1/8 cup dehydrated onion
1 Coconut
garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sea salt, hot sauce to taste
Here's what he does:
Peel avacados, chopped and pureed with a stick blender til smooth (unless you like chunks, then a fork is fine) Add 2 Tbsp lime juice, or more if you want more citrus flavor. Chop tomatos and sort of smash them (if you use other tomatoes, squeese the seeds out). Rehydrate your dehydrated onion in about 1/2 cup water. Drain off the water, squeeze out in paper towels. (he thinks it would probably taste better to mince fresh onion but we always have dehydrated on hand). Roast the jalapeno peppers on an open burner or in a steamer basket on the stove, until the peppers are charred all the way around. Run them under cold, running water and rub the charred, waxy skin off. Cut off the ends, butterfly the peppers open and cut out the seeds and middle spine, mince up finely. They'll be very soft to work with. Now you want to add about 3 tbsp fresh coconut water (as in, crack open a coconut, pour the liquid thru a strainer and use the liqued) *You can leave this out but it adds a yummy, rich flavor. Do not use a canned coconut milk product, you need the fresh stuff. and, if you don't like to eat a coconut, give it to us, thanks! haha!
Add about 2 tsp salt, some garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper to taste.
Use a dash of hot sauce if you want more bite, but the peppers may be hot enough for you.

Eat with chips all day long, LOL!
Actually, we often freeze about half of it, becuase if you keep it in the fridge too long it turns brown and doesn't look so great. It will freeze and thaw extremely well.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Peach Season!

Around here, its peach season! We took a trip to a local farm and bought half a bushel of peaches to enjoy! We'll be making jam out of most of them, but we're eating them fresh and look at this- we grilled them!!
The grocery ad showed them grilled and I thought that sounded fabulous. I'd never had grilled peaches, but I have had grilled pineapple. Peaches are sweet and juicy like pineapple so I thought it would be just as great...I was RIGHT!
My awesome husband cut these in half, removed the pits and placed them on the grill cut side down. About five minutes later he turned them over and let them cook another three minutes. He sprinkled just a touch of sugar over them and they were AH-mazing!!!!
Summer side dish? Oh yes. Dessert? Sure, that works too!
*the peel was left on and that was just fine with me too.