Cookie Balls

While Justin was on a business trip in Pennsylvania, he called with a lovely tale of visiting a small Amish store, purchasing aprons for the girls, homemade jam for me and something he called "fiber balls" for himself. He described them as oats, honey, peanut butter and raisins rolled together into balls. He said they were delicious. I've tried stuff like that before, and it got me thinking about why I've never tried to make them myself. I spent some time searching recipes online and found one I love. They are just delicious. Healthy enough to be called a snack, and delicious enough to feel like a treat. They are easily adaptable to your personal tastes and the ingredients you have on hand. Once rolled into balls, they store perfectly in the fridge where little and big fingers alike can find and delight in them.

These are the original proportions, which is a good size for trying them the first time. But once you know how you like them, I'd recommend quadrupling it :). They also freeze well once balled. Some of the steps may seem finicky, but please don't cheat them. Toast those coconut flakes. You won't regret it. You can do it by stirring them over medium heat in a saucepan on the stove until browned. Use good peanut butter - the kind with separated oil that you have to stir in. You won't regret this one bit. It tastes so much better than hydrogenated, sugar-added peanut butter. (Costco sells good, affordable real peanut butter in Kirkland and Adam's brand. Both are great.)

Cookie Balls

• 1 cup oats (like rolled, quick, or blended to a flour)
• 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed (or wheat germ)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• (1/2 cup optional mixins like chocolate chips, cacao nibs, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc.)

Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly mixed (my favorite method for a big batch is to use my mixer - put dry ingredients in first, mix, add wet ingredients, mix, done). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. Store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week.

Sirloin Steak and Pasta Salad

I don't usually make meals that James loves, but this was one, so I have to record it.  We have a tradition of having red meat the night before fast Sunday.  The boys were struggling to fast, so I asked around for tips from other very slender people (since this is not a problem for me and my healthy size), and red meat was the suggestion.  Ever since we started doing this the problems have gone away.  I don't know what to do with steak, so I looked up a recipe that involved steak and with a few alterations here it is.  I will warn you that this was more than enough food for my very healthy eaters, so adjust as necessary.

16 oz Penne
1/2 pound green beans (I used frozen)
1 1/2 lbs of sirloin (I used some amazing steaks our neighbors gave us, so you can use any steak)
1/2 Red onion sliced (I diced it and used a whole one which was WAY TOO MUCH!)
2 Red Bell Peppers thinly sliced
1/2 C chopped fresh basil (I am so excited to have fresh basil growing at home again!)
4 Cloves of Garlic diced
1/2 C crumbled blue cheese (I may have added extra)

Sauce:
6 T Dijon mustard
3 T Balsamic vinegar
2 T Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper to taste

Prep
Steak - salt and pepper steak and then cook how you like.  I grilled it and it was amazing!  Do be sure not to overcook.  I found that 5 minutes on one side was almost too much and could only cook it for 1 minute on the other side.

Pasta - cook as usual but when halfway done add beans (if not frozen).  Or you can just cook the beans separate.

Mix everything else together.  I made the sauce separate and then stirred in and sprinkled the cheese on the top at the end.

It is really easy (which is the only thing I do) and AMAZING!!!!  I hope you get a chance to try this sometime because I know I'm excited to enjoy our leftovers this week!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Hi all. I feel like I've been keeping terrible secrets from you. I have all these recipes that I love that aren't here on this blog. Well...a lot of them are in my cookbook. I highly recommend my cookbook, by the way, seeing as I wrote it. Except for the tremendous amount of typos...which will be fixed eventually. Sorry. You can call me if what I wrote doesn't make sense.

Anyway, we just LOVE these muffins. We've been slowly weening ourselves off of ANY added sugar in them. I found the original recipe here, but I'm going to show you the way we like them. I'm proud to announce that these "don't have that branny taste, like other healthy muffins," according to Justin. They are soft, moist, and taste good, not "healthy." But they are...hehe.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (more if you love cinnamon)

1 egg

1/3 cup applesauce

2 TB coconut oil, melted

1 tsp vanilla

3 bananas, mashed

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine dry ingredients (flour, wheat germ, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon) in a small bowl. In medium-sized bowl, combine wet ingredients (egg, applesauce, oil, vanilla, bananas). Fold in dry ingredients, oats and blueberries gently until wet and dry are barely combined and blueberries are evenly distributed.

Spray mini muffin pan and scoop batter into each hole (my favorite way to do this is to use a cookie scoop - perfect amount every time), making sure to get at least one blueberry in each muffin. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, or just until toothpick comes out clean (clean from batter - the blueberries will be wet no matter what). Do not over bake. They stay soft, moist and delicious if only baked until barely set. Serve warm.

Ice cream sandwich snack

So... treats once a week can make me kind of crazy.  I like to come up with snack alternatives to fool me. Take out the chocolate chips and I say this is not a treat.  What say you?  This is from Fork and Beans, a blog I enjoy.

Healthy Ice Cream Sandwiches Cookies

makes 5 sandwiches

Ingredients

1. 1/2 c. peanut butter, smooth or chunky (almond or sun butter works too)
2. 1/2 c. white beans, rinsed and drained
3. 1/2 c. gluten-free old-fashioned oats
4. 2 Tbsp. applesauce
5. 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
6. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
7. 1/2 tsp. baking soda
8. 1/4 tsp. salt
9. 1/3 c.  chocolate chips (plus more for rolling) - optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In food processor blend everything (except the chocolate chips) together smooth, yet thick enough to form into a dough. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Roll about 1 Tbsp. of dough into a ball between hands and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Shape with your hands by gently flattening dough down into 2" diameter circles. These will not spread while baking so it's important to shape them prior to.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly brown along the edges and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Transfer to the freezer until ready to assemble.
5. Take a 2" circle biscuit cutter and make cut-outs in the dish holding the banana ice cream. Place in between 2 frozen cookies (optional: coat with non-dairy chocolate chips) and freeze again until fully set.

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients

1. 3 ripe bananas
2. 1 Tbsp. milk
3. 2 tsp. maple syrup (optional, the bananas provide a lot of sweetness as is)
4. 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Line a small rectangular dish (I used a 6x4 sized dish) with parchment paper. Feel free to use whatever size or dish you have (you can even use a round pan). Just know that the bigger you use, the thinner the ice cream filling is vs. the small the pan, the thicker the slices.
2. Blend everything up in a high-speed blender until smooth. Place into the dish and freeze until set (approximately 2+ hours).

Squash Pasta Sauce

Seems I haven't been posting any of my new recipe loves.  I apologize.  Here is one we tried for the first time last night and loved.
Yesterday was fast Sunday.  In my currently 8-month pregnant state, I didn't fast.  Justin did and I let him pick what was for dinner.  "Pasta," he said.  Dang, I thought.  I really needed to use up that behemoth banana squash in the cupboard.  Wait, didn't I get an email from Blendtec about some squash pasta sauce or something?  We researched on their site and found what I was thinking of - a pumpkin pasta sauce that looked easy enough to substitute for banana squash (click HERE for the original recipe).  I got to work, and got creative using generous quantities of my fresh herbs (why are these still alive outside in the freezing cold? I don't know, I'm glad they are and I keep using them).  It was so good.

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
(tripled from the original recipe to generously cover 1lb bowtie pasta)

• 1 TB coconut oil
• 3/4 large onion, chopped
• 6 roma tomatoes [I only had 3, so I did 3 + 1 can tomato sauce]
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh sage [I substituted 1TB fresh chopped marjoram + 1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary]
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh basil [I substituted 3/4 tsp dried basil, because I have no live basil]
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano [I substituted 2 TB fresh chopped oregano]

• 1 1/2 cups milk [I substituted for 3/4 cup heavy cream]
• 3 cups pumpkin puree [I substituted for 3 cups fresh banana squash puree]

[Prepare squash puree, if needed] Heat oil and sauté onion, tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, salt, sage, basil and oregano in large sauce pan until onion becomes tender.  Add milk and pumpkin and continue cooking until mixture is heated through [since I was using cream I added the squash and tomato sauce at this step and didn't add the cream until after pureeing].

Transfer all ingredients to blender jar and blend until chunky-smooth.  Serve with your favorite pasta.

Green Tomato Relish

Our beautiful summer has come to an end.  The leaves have turned and are "falling all around".  The gardens are waning and it just feels like life is slowing down.  Today I canned green tomato relish (a recipe Dad found) from Sister Sweeney's last tomatoes.  I just thought I'd post a few pictures and if any of you have green tomatoes you want to use up, let me know and I'll add the recipe.

Tonight, for dinner, Dad and I cooked up some hot dogs just so we could try out the relish.  It was pretty good.  Seemed so "old fashioned" to me!  Wonderful!

Pasta Salad

I made this for a church potluck that some friends invited us to today. The picnic was fun and the salad was amazing. Really amazing. I would add more tomatoes next time, but that's because I'm a tomato fiend. :) Add grilled chicken and it's a great meal. I loved it so much that I think it will enter the repertoire of "things I can make in a moment without a recipe." You know, if I have smoked gouda on hand . . .

Smoky Pasta Salad

12 oz. Penne

1 cup mayonnaise

2-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 chipotle chile pepper, finely diced or 1 1/2 tsp. adobo sauce from the peppers

10 oz. grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise (double would be better!)

1/2 lb. smoked gouda, cut into small pieces

24 basil leaves, in chiffonade

Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, milk, salt and chipotle and whisk well to make the dressing. When the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse until cool, then make sure most of the water is off—we don't want soggy salad! Combine pasta, tomatoes and cheese, then pour the dressing over the top. Mix well, then add the basil. Give it a final stir, test for salt and pepper, then let it chill a while to get all mixed and wonderful.

You won't regret it. :)