I made these cookies for my 17-year-old one morning this week as an alternative to packaged granola bars for breakfast. They go together quickly (5 minutes to mix up, 10 minutes to bake), are packed with protein, fiber, and fat to keep him full for the morning, and are easy to grab and go before a busy day. I'm calling them breakfast cookies because I cut down on sugar from a typical cookie recipe, and added in some oats. A bit of a stretch, but in terms of nutrient density, it's better than a donut or a bowl of cereal! Compared to a packaged breakfast bar, this recipe has only 7 ingredients as opposed to 20 in the commercial version, the same number of calories, more fiber, the same amount of protein, and less sugar (see nutrition facts label for this recipe below). It contains no soy (common in packaged bars) and none of the mysterious "natural flavors" so common in ingredient lists. It also doesn't require plastic packaging, and contains no preservatives. The fats are all good for you (nuts and eggs) , and you can control whether or not the ingredients are organic. It's also more economical. Ingredients: 1 cup peanut butter (other nut butters would work as well) 1 egg 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup raw oatmeal 1/2 cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 1. Combine all ingredients and mix well. 2. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. This should make 12 good-sized cookies. 3. Bake for 10 minutes. 4. Remove onto a cooling rack. Let cook for 5-10 minutes before eating. Note that these will be soft and crumbly when warm, and will set up once they cool a bit. Handle them gently when placing on the cooking rack.
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This is a simple recipe that goes together quickly, nice on a lazy weekend morning. I wanted to make a maple glaze to top these, but discovered ants in the confectioner's sugar. Gross. Instead, I mixed a few tablespoons of maple syrup into half a stick of softened butter. It makes a perfectly sweet topping for these slightly savory scones.
This is a gluten-free adaptation of a conventional recipe - it will come out great made with regular flour in place of the gluten-free blend, if you aren't avoiding gluten. Enjoy! Combine the following in a large mixing bowl: 1-1/2 cups gluten-free flour, plus 1.5 tsp xantham gum if not included in blend 1/4 cup sugar 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats (certified gluten-free variety) 1 tsp cinnamon Once well combined, add the following: 1 large egg 10 tbsp butter, melted 1/3 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla Stir until a sticky batter forms. Dump batter onto a cookie sheet and using your hands, press out into a circle, about 1 inch thick. Use a knife or spatula to cut into 8 wedges, but leave them connected in the original circle shape. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, or until wedges can be pulled apart and look baked through the center. Serve warm with maple butter. Several years ago when I transitioned my career from full-time teaching - which kept me very much on my feet and moving - to instructional design, I was worried about the transition to a more sedentary desk job and what impact that might have on my weight and fitness. I decided that I would be very intentional about keeping my baseline activity level as high as possible. Over the past two years, I've found different ways to stay active despite the 40-hours a week of screens that my position requires. A standing work station helps, as do frequent "laps" around the office (or my house on work-from-home days), walks or other forms of fitness done in the mornings or evenings in place of TV watching or lounging, and my fitness tracker, which keeps me aware of how little I actually get to move some days. My commute is about 75 minutes each way, and though I only make the commute 2 or 3 times a week, I find that I really feel it on those days. It means that I lose nearly 3 hours of my day to driving, which cuts back significantly on my opportunities to work out. Lately, as the weather has gotten warmer, I've been breaking up the drive home with a hike up a small mountain, Mt.Kearsarge, about once a week. The trailhead is almost exactly halfway home from the office, so it's a perfect stopping place. The drive to the trailhead, which starts in a charming park, affords beautiful views in and of itself. So even the drive helps me to decompress after a long day. I change at the office before I leave, drive to the trailhead, take a lovely hike, and head home refreshed and well-worked-out. Because I prefer loops to backtracking in most of my activity, and because I have to baby my knees more as I'm gettng older, I typically go up the steeper trail and return down the more gradual trail. Thus I go UP the Winslow Trail (1.1 miles) and back down the Barlow Trail (1.8 miles). All in all, it's under 3 miles, but just the right amount of fresh air, views, and sustained, heart-pounding climbs to get me through the end of a long work day. One of the benefits of hiking the same trail multiple times is setting personal goals. I've been increasing my time from the first day I tentatively climbed it in partial snow, slush, and mud, until now, when I can basically run up it in running shoes. It's a small thing, but an effective way to maintain my fitness level and leverage the beautiful location that I commute through several times a week. I hope to do more exploring of this area, including the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway, in the months to come.
I've been wanting to join a CSA for a long time. If you haven't heard of a CSA, it's an organized effort to provide locally grown food to a small group of subscribers. Typically, you pay a flat fee to join, and every week, you get a portion of whatever is being harvested that week. At our last property, I had room for a sizable veggie and flower garden, so didn't bother - we were able to grow a lot of our own food through the summer. At our new location, there isn't a lot of gardening space. Also, a career transition has taken me away from teaching, which lent itself to being a much more attentive gardener, with lots of summer hours to keep things weeded and flowering. This year it finally felt like the right time to get set up with a subscription to our local CSA at Charmingfare Farm. This particular CSA offers 20 weeks of whatever is growing and available each week, starting at the end of May. After a long New Hampshire winter, I anticipated the first day like a little kid waiting for Christmas. Every week feels like that - though I imagine the fun will wear off after a few more weeks. May in New Hampshire doesn't typically present with bumper crops of anything, except rain, so my expectations were low. I was pleasantly surprised to leave with a plethora of green things, freshly harvested. Fiddleheads, asparagus, a variety of fresh herbs, and chives were all available this first week. I used every bit of it. Read below for recipes. Sauteed Fiddleheads with Chives
To prepare fiddleheads, soak briefly in a bowl of cold water to remove dirt. Drop into boiling water for 3 minutes. Strain. Now they are ready to cook. I heated up a few tablespoons of olive oil and butter in a skillet, along with fresh garlic and chives. I added the fiddleheads and sauteed for about 5 minutes. Ready to serve! Oven-Roasted Asparagus Preheat over to 450 degrees. Cut the ends (about 1/2 inch) off of the stalks. For thin spears, leave whole. For thicker spears, slice in half the long way. Lay on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and add a sprinkle of salt. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until fork tender. Balsamic and Fresh Herb Marinade Mix 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, fresh ground pepper, and several tablespoons of fresh chopped herbs. I had oregano, marjoram, and basil on hand this week. This marinade works great with chicken or beef. Allow meat to sit in marinade for at least one hour, preferably overnight. For a Thanksgiving dessert this year, I decided to bring a fruit salad, inspired mainly by the pomegranate that is becoming available in the grocery stores right now. Coupled with some Florida citrus and kiwi, the colors and flavors combine to make a tart yet sweet, jewel-y treat. Additionally, I've been craving gingerbread so I made a batch of gingerbread-inspired pecans to top the fruit salad.
A few words about pomegranate: I tried this fruit for the first time while living in Turkey, where it is quite ubiquitous. It is available in markets, juiced for drinking, added to desserts, and used to make a type of sour sauce that is sometimes used in the way that one might use vinegar. My neighbor showed me how to open one and pull out the seeds, and I grew to love this delicious tart fruit. The seeds are beautiful - they look like rubies - and delicious - they pop with juice when you bite into them. I eat them by the spoonful, or mixed with plain yogurt. I still make a holy mess when I cut into one and pull the seeds out, but it's well worth it. Toasted Gingerbread Pecans 2 cups pecans 1 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp powdered ginger 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 Tbsp maple syrup Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Once well combined, dump onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 400 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes twice for the first 20 minutes, and then every 5 minutes after. For the fruit salad, I combined several cups of peeled and sliced oranges, red and white grapefruit, kiwi, and the seeds from two pomegranates. Top the fruit salad with the nuts right before serving. I'm often elected - or elect myself - to bring salad to gatherings. Green salad is great, but can get monotonous - and tricky to eat with plastic utensils from paper plates. I wanted to bring salad to a cookout today, but wanted something different. Something that will still star vegetables (not pasta), and that will be tasty and easy to eat. This recipe is grain-free, heavy on the veggies, and easy to put together. I don't have a spiralizer or any other fancy gadgets for creating veggie noodles. Instead, I used an attachment for my OXO grater that juliennes things. I did that to one yellow squash and one zucchini, and it created several cups of squash noodles. In another iteration, I also did this to carrots to add extra crunch. I tossed them with the remaining ingredients, and the salad is ready to eat. It is chilling in the fridge now. You could really use any fresh veggies you have hanging around. This was what I happened to have, but I can imagine many variations of this recipe. Leave the feta out to make it vegan and dairy-free. Ingredients: 2-3 medium zucchini, summer squash, or any combination of both 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 1 cup frozen corn 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled 1/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp sugar Salt and pepper to taste 1. Julienne the zucchini and/or squash and place in large bowl. 2. Add onion, tomatoes, pepper, corn, and feta cheese. Toss until well combined. 3. Add oil, vinegar, sugar, and seasonings. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. This was an on-the-fly concoction, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, thrown together on a busy Saturday morning following a busy week of work. It's adapted from Mom's Minestrone, but it is legume-free. This could easily be done on the stove top and would be ready to eat in 30-45 minutes. I opted for the crock pot, as I was having friends over in the evening but had a number of things that were going to keep me out and busy during the day. I prefer with most of my crock pot recipes to throw everything in uncooked, as I figure that's kind of the whole point of using the crock pot. This time, though, I decided to saute the onions and garlic before adding them. I'm sure it would have been okay had I thrown them in raw, but this came out really nicely, so I would recommend cooking them ahead as I did. As with so many things in cooking, chopping the veggies into smaller, bite-sized pieces makes this soup even more delicious. 2 large onions Olive oil - lots (1/4 cup or so) 4-6 tsp minced garlic 1 large can diced tomatoes, or equivalent of chopped fresh tomatoes 4 Tbsp tomato paste 1 package frozen chopped spinach 2 cups cut green beans 2 cups diced butternut squash 2 medium potatoes, diced 4 large carrots, chopped 2 cups fresh green beans, cut into bite-sized lengths 2 tsp salt black pepper 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning (oregano/basil/thyme blend) Water or broth 1. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Chop the onions into small pieces and add to the skillet. Add garlic, as well. Allow to saute over for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid over-browning. 2. Add onions/garlic to crock pot. Then add everything else. Stir. Add water or broth to bring the level to 3/4 up the side of the crock pot, or until soup is the desired consistency. If you don't use broth, I would recommend adding some extra salt. 3. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. Serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
These two peaks are located on the rim of a cirque, a geological formation that resulted from the flow of multiple glaciers which converged in the center and hollowed out the land. This forms a bowl-like area at the base, which can be compared to an amphitheater in shape. In the course of this loop hike, you summit a peak on one side of the cirque, then walk around the rim of the cirque down to a peak on the other side. From the rim are gorgeous, sweeping views of the entire bowl area, and also to the peaks beyond. You are not above treeline while on the rim, but there are spots with nice outlooks along the way. This is a lengthier hike, at nearly 12 miles. Here's a map of the hike we did. I'll be honest and say that hiking out felt really, really long. At one point, we hit a river crossing, and I was pretty sure we were half a mile from the parking area, but it turned out we were more like ONE and a half miles. We did the loop to the "left" (that's how I think about things), starting on Blueberry Ledge Cutoff and summiting Whiteface first. I recommend this, as the summit of Whiteface is more open and offers better views than Passaconaway, which is just a small cairn in the trees. From the summit of Whiteface, there is a 2.3 mile "walk" along the ridge of the bowl without a ton of elevation gain or loss. It's then a 1-mile climb from the end of that stretch to the summit of Passaconaway, then about 4 miles down and back to the parking area. Passaconaway is an optional climb, adding about 2 miles to this hike, but since we are peak bagging, we decided to go for it. Today we got numbers 14 and 15 marked off our 4000 footer list. We took about 7 hours to do the whole loop. It was a very hot, humid day to do this hike, so a swim afterwards was definitely needed. We headed back over to route 16, went through Tamworth, and pulled off at the parking area next to Chocorua Lake where we all jumped in. This was a perfect end to long hike. Chocorua Lake is quiet and pristine. There's no true beach, but plenty of places to get into the water. It's The water here is very clear, there's a nice sandy bottom, and the views of Mt.Chocorua in the distance are fantastic. The temperature on this day was perfect - cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to be pleasant. After our swim, we headed to Hobb's Tavern. This restaurant is located on route 16 just south of Tamworth. It's very charming inside, and I would recommend it for a nice night out, but we found it to be a little bit pricey for what we got - a very simple dinner for four came to nearly $70. Everything tasted fine, but not that fine. You'll get charged $2 to add fries to a burger that costs $11, for instance, or $6 to add grilled chicken to a $9 salad. So the food was good, but not impressive for the cost. We don't eat out often and when we do, we like to choose well. This was a disappointment, though they were grubby-hiker-friendly. I think in retrospect we would have just hit the Subway across the road.
This is a paleo-friendly makeover of a summer potluck classic. I first had this over a decade ago when my good friend made this for a cookout, but in its classic form. Old school style involves broccoli, bacon, shredded cheddar, raisins, sunflower seeds, and a slightly sweet and tangy coleslaw-type dressing. I overhauled the recipe just a bit for a gathering we hosted on the fourth of July, taking the cheese out to keep it dairy-free, cutting down on the sugar in the dressing, and adding grated carrots for extra crunch and color. I made a huge bowl and it was gone by the end of the night. It was such a hit with my own family that I actually made another big batch this morning. This is the type of salad that can keep for a few days, and actually tastes better after the flavors have had an opportunity to meld as it chills. One important piece: chop things very, very small. It tastes better. I don't know why - something about surface area and being able to get more little bits of different things into one bite. Ideally the dressing would be made with paleo-friendly mayo - either homemade or purchased. I used conventional because I have never mastered the art of mayo making. I would love to get good at it, but I have wasted many high quality products trying a few times and, sadly, have given up that fight. But I would imagine any number of alternatives would work fine in the recipe, even skipping mayo altogether, though it lends a creaminess I really like. Ingredients 4 cups of well-chopped broccoli 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1 cup grated carrots 1/3 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup sunflower seeds For the dressing, combine the following in a separate bowl: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup white vinegar 2 Tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt Mix veggies and dressing in a large bowl. Toss well to combine. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Will remain delicious for about 1 week in the fridge. |
AuthorI'm Emily. I currently work in online education management, but I also have a Masters degree in Nutritional Sciences (my true passion). In addition, I am a mom, cook, avid reader, novice gardener, and enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities. On my blog, you will find articles on food, fitness, weight management, and eating issues. ALL recipes on my blog are gluten-free. Many are low-carbohydrate. Most are grain free. Enjoy! Categories
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