Food!

Have I mentioned that I love food? Well, just incase I didn’t mention it before, I Love Food, I Love cooking and I Love new recipes! Here are three recipes (two are new to me) that I made between last night and today.

Breakfast Bars

I found this recipe while flipping thru the internet. (Ipad users, have you discovered the Flipboard app yet? It’s a way cool app that allows you to literally flip thru the internet. You pick the categories you like and you can flip thru all the postings in that category. I can spend hours flipping thru the craft and blog sections.) Anyways, thru my flipping I came across this blog and her recipe for Chocolate chip cookie balls. I’m always looking for a good ‘breakfast cookie’ for my mom. We both really like a little something sweet first thing in the morning with our coffee but we wanted something semi-healthy. Other versions I’ve tried taste more like cardboard than a treat. This one however looked good and I thought I could easily modify it to a breakfast bar. I made my version suit our tastes and what I had in the pantry so be sure to check out the original version if you’re interested.


Oatmeal Cranberry Breakfast Bars

2 cups Walnuts
2 cups Oatmeal
1/4 cup Agave Nectar (Learn about Agave Nectar here)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries
¼ cup white chocolate chips

Add the walnuts and oats to your food processor.

Pulse until they are a fine powder.

Add in the agave and vanilla. Pulse a minute or two until you get a fine, thick mixture that sticks together. Dump out into a bowl and add the cranberries, stir to incorporate.

Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and press the mixture out evenly. Add a sprinkling of cranberries on top and press in.

Refrigerate for 1 hr to set the mixture. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate chips with a small drizzle of oil. Cook 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until melted. Flip the bars out onto a cutting board and cut into squares.

Spread a thin layer of the white chocolate on the back and set, chocolate side down, on parchment.

 Refrigerate to set.

They are fabulous! The original recipe which called for chocolate chips inside the cookie balls as well as the melted chocolate on the outside were estimated at about 60 calories per ball. I figure, one of the bars with the cranberries and small bit of white chocolate are about the same. These with a 100 calorie yoghurt, tall latte and piece of fruit? My idea of a heavenly breakfast!



Cabbage Salad

This is another noshtalgic food for me. My mom has made this for years. Considering its oil and sugar content she doesn't make it often so its a treat whenever she does. Usually she has to make a double or triple batch so that my brothers and I can all take some home and still leave enough for her to eat. Using her exact recipe, I made this for us for the 4th of July and maybe a bowl or two in between.

Mom’s Cabbage Salad

2 large chicken breasts
½ cup cashew pieces
1 head cabbage
2 packages chicken Ramen noodles
2 green onions

Dressing:

1 cup oil
6 tbsp white vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 flavor packet from the chicken Ramen noodles

Boil the chicken until cooked thru. Cool and dice. In a bowl with a lid, mix the dressing ingredients, shake to combine and set aside.

Dice the cabbage and green onions, add to a large bowl with the chicken.

Add the cashew pieces and smashed up packages of dry Ramen noodles. Pour the dressing over the top, mix to combine.

Resist the temptation to eat right away and let it sit for at least a few hours. If you’re strong willed, let it sit overnight, I promise it’s best after the dry noodles get a chance to soak up the yummy dressing.

On side note: How cute is my mom? When ever she gives us kids a family recipe to add to our own collection she puts them on one of these:

It’s a 3x5 recipe card with her picture on it, just incase we ever wonder where the recipe came from.



Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday nights are dessert night in our house. I try really hard to not make or have a dessert available for any other night unless it’s a special occasion. I am not the greatest at enforcing this rule since I have the biggest sweet tooth in the house, but none the less, I try. Thru my flipping I came across this blog and her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bean Balls. Strangest name for a cookie ever, but it caught my attention. I modified the recipe a bit to fit what I had in the pantry. Yes, these are made with beans. Trust me. Also, the original recipe called for rice flour so that it is a gluten free recipe. Bonus for anyone who's gluten intolerant!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bean Balls

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed, drained (*and de-skinned)

1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tbsp ground oatmeal
2 tbsp Agave Nectar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp Splenda
Drizzle of fat free ½ and ½
1/2 bag chocolate chips

(*I thought I read on her blog that you should first skin the chickpeas, so I spent 30 min’s shucking the little peas out of their skins.

Wherever I read this, the author called it a relaxing almost Zen activity. Maybe it could be if I wasn’t doing it at 8:30 at night with kids past their bedtime waiting on chocolate chip cookies. It was only after I was almost done did Anthony point out that her recipe did not in fact require skinning. Oh well.)

Combine all ingredients except for the milk and the chocolate chips in a food processor until well combined. Drizzle about 1 tbsp of milk in while the food processor is running, keep adding just enough to reach a doughy, smooth consistency. Scoop the dough into a bowl and fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop, place a dough ball onto a lined cookie sheet (I use a silpat instead of parchment when I can) a few inches a part. These do not spread at all so flatten them down a bit.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min’s until just golden.

The verdict: Yum! Everyone liked them. Seriously, try these! Despite my efforts to hide that I was going to make the cookies with chickpeas, Anthony caught on pretty quick and even volunteered to help. He loved them even knowing they were made with beans! Brad had no idea they were different than any other chocolate chip cookie but did comment that the dough was not very sweet. I think next time I make them, and at this point I will make them again, I will add more agave nectar to the mix and make them into cookie bars instead of balls. Anthony (a 10 year old boy) also reminded me that we should wait to see how our tummy’s handle them since the cookies are made with beans.

“You know, Mom: Beans, Beans, the magical fruit….”

Ahh, boys!