Yes! You can have cookies and watch your weight!

Between my daughter and mother-in-law, their food allergies can make cooking a bit difficult. The combined allergy list for them is as follows: milk, corn, apples, peanuts, red food dye and eggs. The corn and apples are really tough to get around since everything is sweetened with either corn syrup or apple juice.

The milk allergy actually comes from the corn. I see you scratching your heads on that last sentence. In the states, dairy cows are fed a diet mostly of corn, whereas overseas cows are fed more grasses. Did you know up until seven years ago when the food packaging laws changed there were over 30 ingredient names just for milk? Now if you look at the ingredient list on packaged foods, it clearly states in bold print if there is milk, eggs, soy or wheat in the product.

There are several substitutes out there milk, but eggs are a bit harder. When it comes to baking, most everything has eggs in the ingrdient list.

I came across this oatmeal cookie recipe without any eggs. It is called a skinny oatmeal cookie. Some of us might actually think we hit the jackpot with these little gems. You can eat healthy and feed your sweet tooth all at the same time!

Want The Recipe? Click Here!

Peanut Butter Granola From Fit-it and Forget-it...

I found this recipe in 2011 from Fit-it and Forget-it website. Since then we have made this recipe many times and even given it as gifts. The recipe takes a little bit of time and you have to stir a few times. The plus side is you get use your slow cooker, which means you can get the help from little hands.

The kids and I always have fun making this granola, and it makes a great rain or snow day activity.  The instructions states when the granola is cool break into chunks. We have never really gotten chunks, more like crumbles, so we like to use this as the base for trail mix.

The granola has a good peanut taste without being overwhelming, which is good since we you all know I don’t like peanut butter. I like to pour milk over the granola or stir into my yogurt for breakfast.

We have omitted the coconut and raisins, and added in our own favorites. One time we tried to add in chocolate chips after we poured the mix out to cool. Well that did not go so well, since the mix was still too hot for chocolate.  

You can personalize the add-ins to your own tastes, we have made with nothing but a variety of nuts. Most of the time, we just throwing in whatever I have in the pantry, it is great way to use up the leftovers from holiday baking.

I have meaning to omit the brown sugar and try using honey… maybe next time I make this.

Make sure you store the granola in an airtight container!

Ingredients:
6 cups dry oatmeal
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup toasted coconut
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup raisins

Click here for the entire recipe!

More Cookies...

Ever had one of those mornings when you think the universe is working against you? I see you nodding your heads… Friday was my morning to feel this way.

It should have been a good day since it is the last payday, before Christmas. This means paying the bills, shipping out Christmas presents, grocery shopping and then finding the toys for the Christmas stockings.

I woke up thinking one of the cats was sleeping on my chest. I quickly discovered I lost the fight with my kids flu virus.

The four cats and one of the dogs were on my bed, because they were hungry. There was a commercial on the television several years ago, with an elderly woman and her house full of hungry cats. The woman discovers she is out of cat food, the cats all hiss and the screen goes blank. Yep, that is what happened this morning, and then I remembered I had a can of salmon in the pantry… life saved!

Since the cats are now fed and not threatening to eat me, I grab my keys and coupons and head for the grocery. It is 27 degrees outside, I jump in the Pathfinder only to find for some reason it won’t start. I turn the key; get an rrrrrr tick tick tick sound. The battery is less than two years old, thinking it is just cold I try it again…nope not happening.

 I truly hate to admit defeat, so I call my husband and ask what he thinks. He confirmed it sounded like the battery and I was stuck at home for the day… dang it.

So after a stern warning to my husband, that there had better not be any grief coming from him, because there will not being any food in the house when he gets home at two in morning. I stomp up the basement stairs, to get the evil eye from the cats.

Winston, the youngest cat and the biggest brat runs to his food bowl and starts crying as if he has not eaten in four days. I cock my head to the side to look at him; I wonder if his mom dropped on his head as a kitten and walk away.

The good thing about the day, I got to play with my new stand mixer. I used up all the remaining eggs, butter and sugar but did make a few batches of cookies. I know I gave you seven recipes the other day but I thought I would share a few more.

I ran out of eggs when making this batch of cocoa cookies. Did you know you could substitute 2 Tablespoons of water and 1 Tablespoon of oil per egg? I would not make habit out it, but it does work well in a pinch.

Ingredients:

1 Egg

1 cup white sugar

½ cup butter

2 ¼ cups flour

¼ cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 Tablespoon cocoa powder

Directions:

Preheat oven 350°F

Cream butter, sugar and beaten egg.

Add flour, baking powder, milk and cocoa

Drop spoonfuls on to greased cookie sheet and bake for 15min. You can sprinkle sifted powdered sugar on these to make a version of Chocolate Crinkles.

Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookies…

If you like the Little Debbie brand of oatmeal cream cookies, you will adore these. These make a very close knock-off. Be careful these can be addicting to your waistline.

Ingredients

2 Sticks margarine

3/4 Cup White sugar

3/4 Cup Light brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Cup plain Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Soda

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Cups instant oatmeal

Filling:

1 can Marshmallow Fluff.

Directions: 

Cream together margarine, sugars, and eggs

In a different bowl mix flour,salt, soda and cinnamon

add four mix to sugar mixture and stir to well combined.

Add vanilla and oatmeal

Drop spoonfuls on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees, turn oven to high broil and cook for 3-5 minutes more

Transfer cookies on parchment paper to wire rack to cool.

Using the marshmallow fluff, ice a cookie and place another on top.

For My Dad…

As a child it was easy to please my dad; polish his work shoes, or make him oatmeal cookies. When I was sixteen and worked for Baskin Robbins, I got him hooked on mixing two parts fudge royal to one part peppermint ice cream. To this day, I can't mix chocolate and peppermint ice cream without thinking about him.

While most do not consider the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera, Christmas carols, in my house it is. Every year, it is in the playlist with “I’ll be home for Christmas.” Daddy, gave my husband and I tickets to see Phantom for Christmas. It was a bittersweet time; we were married a few weeks before and it was to be my last Christmas in California. The naval base in Alameda was closing, and we were being transferred to Corpus Christi, Texas in two short months.

One of our favorite songs is “The Cat’s in Cradle” by Harry Chapin. Funny as a child how the lyrics were just words. As an adult, I truly understood why my dad never had enough time to spread between his three kids. At times, he had to work so much, it felt we were strangers living in the same house. The times with scouts, camping, or at the shooting range were precious bits of his time I will always cherish.

Today is my dad turns 71 years old. Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you!

From Quaker Oats webpage…

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

·          

·         1/2  cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

·         3/4  cup firmly packed brown sugar

·         1/2  cup granulated sugar

·         2  eggs

·         1  teaspoon vanilla

·         1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour

·         1  teaspoon baking soda

·         1  teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1/2  teaspoon salt (optional)

·         3  cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

·         1  cup raisins

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

·         Prep Time: 20 min

·         Cook Time Time: 08 min

Oatmeal Packets - Waste or Savings?

  A few years back, our family income was cut in half. This was a problem, because my children entered the “I am so hungry” phase of life.  My youngest was the worst; I could not keep that child from feeling hungry.

 I decided the best way to approach the constant eating was to educate them on which foods keep you feeling full and which foods were fluff. We picked their favorites and increased our diet with, white potatoes, eggs, hot oatmeal, beans, apples, popcorn, and soup. These foods are high in protein or fiber, and keeps your mouth moving fooling your brain, you are eating a lot of food.

I grew up eating Quaker oatmeal single serving packets as did my kids. When we started consuming two boxes of oatmeal week, something had to change.

 A 15.1-ounce box of Quaker oatmeal (10) packets at Wal-Mart today costs $2.88 or $.19 per ounce. A 42-ounce container of unflavored Quaker oatmeal is $3.84 or $.09 per ounce. Per ounce, you will pay $.10 more for the packets. If you purchase the Great Value Brand by Wal-Mart a 42-ounce container is 2.24 or $.05 per ounce. Buying the generic oatmeal will save you $.14 per ounce over the brand name packet.  

I have actually taste tested this generic oatmeal with Quaker and there is no difference. I bought the generic and poured it into the empty Quaker container. I know, bad mommy pulling a fast one over on the kids. There was no complaint from them because there was no difference. I was able to keep this ruse up for half the school year!

Yes, I know I am comparing doctored up oatmeal to plain, bland oatmeal. Do you have brown sugar and cinnamon sitting in your pantry? When was the last time you used them? Making it from scratch is still going to cost less than a packet, especially if you use generic oatmeal.

 We like our oatmeal thick so we use a 1 to 1 ration (½ cup oatmeal to ½ cup of water), instead of a 2 to 1 (1 cup water to ½ cup oatmeal.) The kids also like it sweet.

1 cup of oatmeal

1cup of boiling water

1 heaping serving tablespoon of brown sugar

¼ measuring teaspoon of cinnamon      

You can still add other items such as butter, or fruit. The best part about making it from scratch is if you are diabetic, you can use sugar substitute. I would suggest Splenda’s brown sugar.

I bought the packets a couple of months ago and my kids told me not to buy them anymore. They prefer to make from scratch and it takes the same amount of time.   

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