Lemony Snickerdoodle Cookies - HOLIDAY COOKIE TREAT (Healthier Alternative)

Makes 4 dozen

2 1/2 cups King Arthurs All wheat flour*
1/4 cup white flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp baking powder
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 Large Organic eggs
2 1/2 tbs Organic coconut oil
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. In a large bowl mix together the flours, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer (or hand mixer) and beat on medium for 2 minutes until well mixed.

3. Add the organic eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. 

4. Add the coconut oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well. Then add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing after each addition until all incorporated and smooth.

5. Cover the dough or roll into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate two hours or overnight, if you can wait that long.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls and place about 2 inches apart on the parchment paper lined sheets. Use your hand or the bottom of a glass to flatten the dough just a wee bit.

8. In a bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over each cookie. Bake the cookies for 8 – 10 minutes until they are light golden brown and firm around the edges. I prefer my cookies to be a bit chewy in the center. YUM. Place on cool counter with parchment or cooling rack until cool. If you can wait that long ;)

*I always use King Arthur Flours.

The base of this recipe follows most snickerdoodle recipes. In the spirit of healthy alternatives, we go organic, free range, sub organic coconut oil for vegetable or canola oil, and whole wheat flour over bleached white flour. While I wouldn't call these healthy exactly....they ARE a healthier alternative to your average Christmas cookie.

Collard Green Chips

Totally healthy snack coming your way! I can't believe how easy these are, and how nutritious they are, too!  Its so good for you. I just recently discovered collard greens within the last year, and I can't believe I've been missing out this whole time.

1 bunch of collard greens - cleaned and dried.
2 teaspoons olive oil
Seasoned salt

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear greens apart from its stem, creating a bunch of bite sized chunks (as shown)

Add two teaspoons olive oil and stir until greens are coated.

Place greens flat on baking sheet. Sprinkle with seasoned salt, sea salt, or garlic salt.
Bake for 10 minutes or until leaves are crisp and light brown on the edges. Remove from oven and place in serving bowl. Enjoy my friends!

Healthy Soft Pretzels (Healthy, I promise!)

After being pregnant and posting mostly 'treats' that weren't so healthy..I've got to go back to my original style of cooking and baking. This pretzel recipe is healthy in the way of sneaking nutrition for your family in a tasty snack.  

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon flaxseed meal
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces margarine, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. 

Add the flour, flaxseed meal and margarine and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. (Health hint:  Use half whole wheat flour for added benefits!)  Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. 

Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

My two boys, ages 11 and 9 loved these with a bit of mustard on the side. Totally heart healthy and great for the digestive system. Thats my kind of treat!

Homemade Baby Foodie

Hi again! It feels like its been sooo long since I last blogged a recipe. Being a new mommy is a full-time job (no kidding, right?) and I've had my hands full. I have a few recipes stowed away that I will post when I get more time, but I thought that in the spirit of mommydom, I would post how I steam and make my baby's puree food. Its a super easy 'recipe', and every mom can do it. So, lets get to it!!

Firstly, I'd like to share that I get my produce delivered to my door from local farmers www.farmfreshtoyou.com so I can be assured that my food is locally grown, is organic and is pesticide free.

Step 1:  Cut up fruits and/or vegetable. Here I didn't remove the skin first. You can remove skin before or after you steam your food. Place food in accu-steamer or any steamer. You can also steam in a pot if you don't have a steamer handy.

Step 2:  Add water. My steamer calls for 1/2 cup.

Step 3: Cover steamer basket with lid and steam. My accu-steamer automatically shuts off when food is properly steamed (how? I don't know) but check your food after 10 minutes and go from there.

Step 4:  Puree. You can use any food processor for this step. I have a Kitchenaid obsession, so thats what you see here. But I have other mommy friends who swear by the Baby Bullet and the Baby Brezza.  The step you didn't see here is that I added formula to the food before blending. I do this to ease the transistion from formula to 'solids', and to ensure that my baby gets enough nutrition. You can also do this with stored breastmilk ;)

Step 5: Move puree to sealable, freezer safe container.

Step 6:  Hug your baby for letting you do all of this without interruption! (shout out to the Baby Einstein Jumper!)

Step 7:  Done! Mark your food/date on the container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days, or the freezer for up to 2 months!!!!

  

My baby has a happy, heathy belly!!! Hope you enjoy the 'recipe', time to picnic with my boy!

Glazed Doughnuts

**Warning** These treats are not exactly healthy, but they do make bellies happy. I blame my pregnancy for all the junk food that ends up on here. I normally cook healthy foods for my family.

Glazed Doughnuts

• 1 1/8 cup milk
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoon active yeast
• Two whole eggs
• 1 1/2 cup butter
• Four cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Cooking oil

Measure out 1 1/8 cup milk in measuring cup. Warm shortly in microwave to make milk warm, but not hot. Add brown sugar and stir briefly. Next, add yeast and stir briefly again. Yeast does not need to be dissolved. Let sit for a few minutes.

In a separate microwavable bowl, melt butter for 30 seconds. Butter will not be completely melted-which is good-since we'll be mixing in egg yolks and we don't want those yolks to cook...stir heated butter in  its bowl until mostly consistent.

Crack two whole eggs into another bowl, and whisk the heck out of them. Combine eggs with butter (make sure again that its not hot!) Add the milk, sugar and yeast to the mixture.

Measure out 4 cups of flour into large bowl. Mix in salt.  Using 1/2 cup at a time, incorporate flour into liquid mixture mixing or kneading as you go. Once all mixed, knead on floured surface for additional minute. Ta-da! The creating of the dough is complete! Lightly grease another bowl, and put dough in. Cover with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for at least two hours.

After 2 hours should look like this:

Plop out dough on floured surface. Flour rolling pin and roll dough to 1/2" thickness. With no more than a 3" round cookie cutter (or a doughnut cutter), cut out numerous circles in the dough. Using a smaller cutter, cut out smaller circles from the big circles. Cut out as many circles as you can an place on floured cookie sheet. Cover with towel and let rise in warm area for an hour.

Pour cooking oil into large pot, allowing oil to heat to around 300 degrees. Oil should NOT be smoking, nor should it be bubbling. You can test this temp by dropping one of the doughnut holes in and watching it cook for about 10 seconds on each side. Color should be light brown and dough should expand to a round shape. Once this is achieved (and the hour is up) layer a bunch of paper towels on counter to reduce oil from cooked doughnuts.  Place your first doughnut in the oil. (CAREFULLY. On the very first doughnut, the oil splashed up and burned the heck out of my thumb. Very unfun.) Let doughnut cook for 10 seconds, flip with a slotted spoon, and let cook another 10 seconds. Remove and set on layer of paper towels to absorb oil. Flip doughnut over a few times to get as much oil removed as possible. Repeat with all doughnuts and holes.

Glaze

• Four cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir all ingredients together to form a glaze. Dip each doughnut and hole in glaze, flipping to coat each side. Set on wire rack to dry/cool.  Once all are glazed, repeat to create a thicker coat. *Special thanks to my son, Sebastian for helping glaze the doughnuts (and sneaking one!)

Yum. All done. Just let sit a few minutes and enjoy. =)

BBQ Chicken

This chicken is sure to please! I created a bbq sauce that is so yummy, even my grill-loving husband loves it. He even asked me to make it to use on his bbq ribs! (For those who don't know..this is a big compliment!)

Chicken Rub

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• Three tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

BBQ Chicken Sauce

• One red onion, chopped
• Three cloves garlic, minced
• Three tablespoons butter
• One can tomato paste with 1/2 cup sugar OR 2 cups catsup
• One cup strong coffee
• Three teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• One teaspoon vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• Two tablespoons chili powder
• Three tablespoons hot sauce (I use sirachi)
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Thaw chicken breasts. Rinse thoroughly and trim any excess fat. Rub chicken with home made rub. Place chicken breasts in oven safe dish and refrigerate for 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (oven temps may vary). Once heated, put chicken in oven for 20-25 minutes.

In medium sized pot, saute chopped onions for three minutes over medium heat in melted butter. Add minced garlic, and saute additional 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and sugar OR catsup, coffee, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, honey, chili powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Partially cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Once timer for chicken sounds, remove chicken from oven and remove sauce from heat. Pour sauce over chicken and rub evenly over chicken with basting brush. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Yay! **This recipe is spicy! Reduce hot sauce if sweeter sauce is desired**

Biscotti

I don't know about you, but I'm a coffee lover. And I love the little treats that go along with coffee. Here, I tried my hand at homemade biscotti, and they turned out really good! This is a basic recipe, next time I will try adding more to them.

Biscotti

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• One cup white sugar
• Three cups flour
• Three eggs
• One tablespoon baking powder
• Two tablespoons vanilla extracty
• One tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (oven temps may vary). Lightly grease baking sheet.
In a medium sized bowl, mix oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Combine two bowls and mix, forming a dough. (At this point, if using almonds, mix in 1 cup chopped almonds into dough)

Roll dough into a ball, and cut in half.  Form two logs (the length of your baking sheet) and lay on baking sheet side by side.

Using your fingertips, press logs into flat pieces, aiming to get each log about 1/2 inch thick.

Place in the oven and bake 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to touchable temperature. Slice each log every 1/2 inch to create two rows of several biscotti. Turn biscotti on their sides and bake 6-10 minutes on each side.

Remove from oven, and cool. At this point, you can melt chocolate with a touch of vegetable oil and dip biscotti end in mixture, and leave on parchment paper to harden. These biscotti are great plain, too. For a variation, you may also replace the vanilla extract with almond extract.