Trail Mix Cookies

Cookies are one of my biggest weaknesses.  I'm bound to sniff out the one cookie in the entire house and devour it within seconds.  I absolutely love cookies because they are filled with carbs and come in an endless array of possibilities.  I haven't had a cookie in a couple of days so I decided to whip myself up a batch.  These cookies were inspired by a Trader Joe's trail mix that I have been obsessed with all of last year - wow, it feels weird to think of 2010 as last year.  The trail mix is made of peanuts, dried berries, chocolate chips, and almonds.  It's one of those mixes where you open up a bag and the next thing you know the entire contents of that bag is in your tummy.  What better thing to do than to make a cookie out of it?  It'll be in my tummy in milliseconds!

I just made up the recipe today so it's definitely not perfect yet.  I think it ended up being a little too sweet so I'm going to cut the sugar from 1 cup to 2/3 cup.  Feel free to try it out with less sugar and let me know what you think.  :o)

Berry Trail Cookies

1 cup chunky peanut butter 

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tb unsalted butter, softened

5 tb canola oil

1 large egg

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 ts baking soda

1/2 ts salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup dried berries of any kind (blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, and etc)

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Beat peanut butter, sugars, butter, oil, and egg until thoroughly blended.

- Stir flour, baking soda and salt in until thoroughly incorporated.

- Stir in chocolate chips, almonds and dried berries.

- Scoop balls of dough onto baking sheet about 2-3" apart.

- Bake about 12-15 minutes.

Yum!

Almost Vegan Bolognese

I take my dog out a few times a day to allow her to eliminate and for us both to exercise but boy, it's been hard getting the time when it's just extremely cold out.  The photo above was taken during one of our daily walks.  When it's cold this cold, something hearty is always good for my tummy.  I've also been missing veggies over the holidays so I decided to try the "Bomb-Diggity 'Bolognese'" recipe I saw in the January/February 2011 issue of Women's Health magazine.  It looked like it had a large variety of veggies and they are all veggies that I absolutely love!  The recipe is actually vegan but I decided to forego tempeh and used egg noodles instead.  Yum for egg noodles!  This recipe is extremely easy to make and it tasted D-E-LICIOUS!  I just might have to put this recipe into my go-to recipe box. 

Vegan Bomb-Diggity "Bolognese" - Jan/Feb 2011 Women's Health Magazine

Makes about 4 servings.

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/2 package tempeh, crumbled (I decided to forego this)

1/4 cup red wine

1/2 zucchini, diced

1 eggplant, peeled and diced

1 carrot, chopped

1 tb chopped fresh basil

1 tb chopped Italian parsley

12 oz tomato sauce

1 ts dried oregano

1 ts dried rosemary, chopped

1/4 ts red pepper flakes

- In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high and saute onion and garlic for approximately 5 minutes.

- Add mushrooms and tempeh to the skillet.

- Add the red wine and add salt and pepper to taste.

- Add zucchini, eggplant, carrot, basil, and parsley; stir well to combine and cook about 10 minutes until veggies soften up.

- Add tomato sauce and stir.  Sprinkle in the remaining ingredients (oregano, rosemary and red pepper flakes).  Cook another 5 minutes or so.
- Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It not only looked delightful, it tasted that way as well.  Thank you Olivia Wilde for sharing this recipe with Women's Health. 

New Years Breakfast - Fluffiest Pancakes!

I have been thinking about starting a cooking blog for a while now so I thought it would be fitting to start it on New Years day - the day everyone begins their resolutions.  You've heard of the phrase, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," right?  Well, I figured I should start off the day with apples but I'm not a huge fan of eating apples on their own.  Since pancakes have been on my mind lately I decided to make fluffy pancakes with an apple topping for breakfast.  These pancakes are so fluffy that you could use them as pillows!  What makes pancakes fluffy you ask?  Well, it's the little addition of vinegar which reacts to the baking soda.  The combination of the two causes carbon dioxide to form - just think of the volcano experiments that are conducted in classrooms across the nation. 

Doesn't it just look scrumptious? 

The recipes serve 2-3 hungry mouths.

Apple Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tb unsalted butter

1/4 ts ground cinnamon

1/2 ts cornstarch

3 tb cold water

2 sweet and tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced (any apples like Gravensteins, Jonathans, Rhode Island Greenings, Winesaps, and etc)

- In a small bowl combine water and cornstarch and mix until cornstarch is dissolved.

- Toss sugar, butter, cinnamon, and cornstarch water into a pan over medium heat.  Stir until butter is melted, about 2-4 minutes.

- Toss apples in, stir until apples are evenly coated and cook until apples are tender, about 10 minutes.

Fluffy Pancakes

3/4 cup milk

2 tb vinegar

1 egg

2 tb butter, melted

1 cup flour

2 & 1/2 tb white sugar

1 ts baking powder

3/4 ts baking soda

1/4 stick butter, frozen (keep this in the freezer until you are ready to cook the pancakes)

- Combine milk and vinegar in a bowl and let it curdle for about 5 minutes.

- Stir in melted butter.

- Stir in egg.

- Stir all the dry ingredients in until majority of the lumps have disintegrated.

- Bring a skillet or pan up to medium heat.

- For each pancake, add a sliver of frozen butter and pour 2-3 spoonfuls of batter over the butter.  Cook until the pancakes are bubbling then flip and cook until lightly browned.

Enjoy!!