Pumpkin Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love baking with pumpkin.  This is the new pumpkin recipe that I tried out this year.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups packed light-brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 30 seconds, set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy (occasionally stop and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl throughout entire mixing process). 
4. Blend in egg then blend in vanilla extract and pumpkin puree. 
5. Mix in chocolate chips (if you want some chocolate to show through set some aside to press into tops before baking). 
6. Let batter rest 5 - 10 minutes (this just gives the oats some time to absorb the liquids so batter isn't so sticky and cookies don't spread so much).
7. Scoop dough out 2 Tbsp at a time and drop onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart. 
8. Bake in preheated oven 12 - 14 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Yield:
4 dozen cookies

Step 2

Step 4

Step 5

Step 7

The muffins turned out great too!

Happy Holidays!

Banana Bread 4 Ways

Whenever I have overripe bananas on my counter I feel the need to bake banana bread.  I found so many banana bread ideas that I loved that I couldn't pick just one.  So I made all four.  Win win.

I also found a healthier banana bread recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction.  I loved that I had all the ingredients on hand - no trip to the grocery store required!

Ingredients:
2.5 cups white whole wheat flour (all-purpose will work too)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed (or dark brown sugar)
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 large very ripe bananas)
1/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt (or any yogurt)
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk (almond milk, soymilk, cow's milk, rice milk)

Mix-Ins:
Fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries
Chocolate Chips
Chopped nuts
Raisins

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees. Spray mini loaf tin with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, gently toss the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the honey and brown sugar together - it will be thick and lumpy. Try to get out as many lumps as you can - a fork works well to break it up. 
4. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, and beaten egg. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently begin to fold it all together. It will be very thick. 
5. Add the milk slowly and continue to gently mix the ingredients together. The milk will thin everything out, but the batter will still remain thick. Don't over-mix the batter, which will lend to tough, dry bread.
6. At this point, I divided out the batter into 4 bowls using a 1 cup measuring cup.  Each bowl had about 1 1/3 cups of batter.

7. Gently fold in your mix-ins, being careful not to over-mix the batter.

8. Pour the batter into the mini loaf tin. I topped the batter with the mix-ins so that I could tell each loaf apart (and to make it look pretty!).

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes OR until very lightly browned on the edges. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Allow to cool completely.

You can't go wrong with chocolate chips and you don't need a lot to notice the taste. Ava calls it her "treat breakfast"!

I was surprised at how much I liked the blueberry banana bread, considering I don't like blueberries.  I think I may have liked it more than the chocolate chip bread, which totally goes against my policy of not mixing fruit with treats!

I gave the other two loaves away so I don't have pictures of their insides, but I got good feedback so I think they were a hit too!

Notes:
Tastes best the next day, like most banana bread recipes.  
Bread will remain fresh when wrapped in foil or plastic wrap  and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.  
Bread will freeze well, up to 3 months.

Perfect Summer Salad

I haven't posted any dinner recipes in months because I haven't been cooking lately.  Our garden has been producing a tasty variety of lettuce so we have mostly been eating salads for dinner.  We never seem to get tired of mixed fruit and nut salads.  

Here are the ingredients for our favorite summer salad:
1.  Variety of lettuce (We grow spinach, arugula, butterhead, romaine, looseleaf, oak leaf, kale and swiss chard and use a little of each in our salad)

2.  Fruits (We pick 2 fruits from strawberries, blueberries, peaches, pears and mangoes)
3.  1/2 avocado
4.  Pistachios (costly but totally worth it)
5.  Blue cheese (I know it sticks but you don't notice it when it's mixed up in a salad and it really does taste great)

5.  Sweet Italian dressing (If you're from St. Louis, you can't go wrong with Zia's!)

TIP: The key to making a great salad is dicing up all the ingredients, including the lettuce, so that you get a little bit of each ingredient on a bite :)

As a side, I also like to make a tomato salad using California Olive Ranch olive oil (it's the BEST!), fresh ground pepper and chopped basil.

Homegrown tomatoes are honestly better than store-bought.  I don't know why but they are. We had a little bit of success with our tomatoes this year.

We also have a fierce addiction to Whole Foods Olive Bread - sliced, warmed and dipped in California Olive Ranch olive oil.  Mmmmmmm.....

Dairy & Egg Free Banana Muffins

I have been trying to find some healthier treats that I can put in Sidney's lunches when she starts Kindergarten in the fall.  In addition to having dairy, egg and nut allergies, she also has texture issues with foods.  Unfortunately, she did not like these muffins...so Ava and I ate them all.  They were DELICIOUS!  I really can't believe she didn't like them.  I can only figure that it was the texture - she's kind of a hard, crunchy kind of girl.  Anyway, if your kids don't have any aversions to soft, delicious muffins, they will love these!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all-purpose flour too)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce (or you can use 1 egg)
1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium...although I've often used just 2 large bananas)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.  Make well in center. 
3. In another bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Stir just til moistened. 
5. Spoon into muffin tin. 
6. Bake 15 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. 

Step 2:

Step 5:

Cool and Eat!

Skinny (Vegan and Gluten-Free too!) Banana Oatmeal Cookies

My grandma, who was my last living grandparent, passed away 25 days shy of her 95th birthday in June.  For as long as I can remember, my grandma always had a cookie jar filled with cookies.  As a kid (and an adult!), I was excited to see what I'd find in the jar when we went to Grandma's house.

I feel very fortunate that I got to keep her cookie jar.  It reminds me of her every time I look at it.  And I've had many experiences since her passing that lets me know that she's still looking out for us.  So in honor of my wonderful, weight-conscious, cookie-loving grandma, I baked some skinny cookies for my "new" cookie jar!

Ingredients:
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup of gluten-free uncooked quick oats
1/3 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (or add-in of your choice)
Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Combine the mashed bananas and oats in a small bowl.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips (or other add-in)
5. Add cinnamon (optional)

6. Scoop with a spoon and drop a small ball of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

7. Bake 13-15 minutes until slightly golden on top.

Makes ~12 cookies

Love and miss you GG!

 GG with Clara on her 1st birthday

 GG with Ava

GG with Sidney

Skinny Chocolate Banana Smoothie

I have been searching for a quick and yummy skinny smoothie and I finally found it!  This smoothie is more like a chocolate shake than a smoothie.  And there are only 4 ingredients. It's the perfect healthy snack!  I've been eating one every day at lunchtime - it's very filling and addicting.  You will not be disappointed.

Plus, did you know all the great health benefits of eating bananas?

Click here to read all about how great bananas are for you!

Ingredients:
8 oz soy milk, milk or coconut milk (I use soy milk)
1 Tbsp unsweetened 100% cocoa powder *
2 bananas (frozen)
1 Tbsp honey **

* Did you know that one tablespoon of Hershey's Cocoa has only 0.5g of fat, 10 calories and NO sugar!  I  had no idea!  I used Ghiradelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I think it tastes better).

** I don't think this shake needs much sweetening so I don't use the honey.  At first I'd just squeeze a teaspoon or two of honey in the blender, but now I don't use it at all and don't notice the difference.  It also reduces the calories :)

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.

Hope you all have a fun Spring Break and please bring back more warm weather!

1st Grade Valentine's Day Party

The last party of 1st Grade!  Part of me is relieved to not have to plan another party and part of me can't believe that Ava is almost done with 1st grade.  *tear*  The party was a big hit with the kids.  Here are the details.

BOOK

This book was pretty funny.  The kids really enjoyed it.  We always start off the parties with a book so that the parent volunteers have time to set up the room.  Normally the kids are so excited for the party they can hardly pay attention to the book, but this one totally held their attention.

CRAFT

The Tree of Love - this is what we were going for.  This is how Ava's turned out:

Cute, but not quite what we were going for.  If I had it to do over again, I'd probably find pre-cut hearts.  The kids had a hard time cutting out the hearts and the party was only an hour.  We had planned to have them write the names of people they loved on the hearts, but we ran out of time.  So...if you try to re-create this art project, I'd suggest that the kids first write the names of people they love on pre-cut hearts, then trace and cut out their arm and hand to make the tree trunk and branches, then glue everything onto the white card stock.  If there's time, they can decorate their picture with markers.

SNACK

The Valentine Floats were the highlight of the party for Ava.  We filled red cups with vanilla ice cream, then topped with Cherry 7Up.  We found the red spoons and heart straws at Dollar Tree.

GAMES

We played 3 Minute to Win It game using Smarties (because Brach's Candy Hearts have possible nut cross-contamination).  First, the kids tried to stack as many Smarties as they could in 1 minute, then they tried to use chopsticks to transfer the Smarties to a Dixie cup in 1 minute, then they used a straw to suck the Smarties into the Dixie cup in 1 minute.  The competition and concentration was intense.  By far the quietest moment of the party!

We also filled a jar with Sweetart Candy Hearts (no nut cross-contamination!  Thank you Wonka!!) and had the kids guess the number of candy hearts in the jar.  The kid who guessed closest got to keep the jar of hearts.  

I printed the file above on red paper.  Click here for a PDF version.

If you need more ideas for your party, check out my Pinterest board!

Happy Valentine's Day!