Thursday, May 31, 2012

Aubrey's Healthy Cookie Dough


So, this might sound weird, but you make these to intentionally have raw cookie dough on hand.  Crazy, right?  But they are soooo good and actually healthy!  No eggs.  No flour.  No sugar.

A friend on Facebook posted this recipe a while back and at first it intrigued me but seemed odd so I didn't make them.  My kids always ask for dessert if they've eaten a good dinner and I really don't like them eating so much crap every night.  I started looking for desserts that they would like eating AND that I knew were healthy and wouldn't mind giving them.  Hello, healthy cookie dough!!

At first both of my kids turned their noses up at these.  But the second day they were gobbling them down.  They do look a little weird and the texture is different.  If your kids balk at these at first, try again another day.  My whole family loves being able to just pop one or two of these babies out of the fridge for a treat!

Ingredients:
1 cup almond butter (got mine at Trader Joe's)
1 cup peanut butter (all natural from Trader Joes')
1 cup honey
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flax seed (may help fight everything from heart disease and diabetes to breast cancer. Eat flax seed!)
1/2 bag mini chips
 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill. Roll into balls and keep refrigerated until you are ready to eat them.  I just pop a few out at time to give to my girls or to eat myself.  Don't think these are just for kids, they are great with coffee in the morning!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Cucumber & Tomato Salad


We had a lot of cucumbers from our CSA box (sounds like my previous post with onions, yes?  :) and I wanted to make sure we used them up before they went bad.  We were invited to a friends house for a cook out and needed to bring something.  I found this cucumber and tomato salad recipe on this blog and decided to give it a try.  It turned out super yummy!  It's really refreshing and goes nicely with BBQ. I made a few changes and they are listed below.


Ingredients:
10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
2 medium sized cucumbers
1 tablespoon dill
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of Water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar 
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Sliced onion (about half of one)

Cut the cucumber, onions and tomatoes. I sliced the cucumbers and then cut them into quarters.  The cherry tomatoes I just cut in half.  The onion I sliced and then cut in half.

Add in the oil, vinegar, water, dill salt, and sugar. Stir and put into the fridge to chill.  I chilled for about an hour and then stirred and tasted.  I added a tad bit more olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt.  Just go by taste.  This salad definitely gets better the more it sits.  I thought it was best the next day.  Gotta let those flavors meld!  Enjoy! 



Sunday, May 20, 2012

French Onion Soup



  • (Please excuse the photo, under the broiler it bubbled and made a bit of a mess of the white dish.  
  • I promise it's delish!)

  • When we were in Amsterdam I had this wonderful French Onion soup for lunch.  It was probably the best French Onion soup I've ever had.  When we got home we had a ton of onions from our CSA boxes so I thought, when you have a ton of onions, you make onion soup!  ;)

  • This was a very nice soup and easy to throw together.  I had everything on hand except for the baguette and the Gruyere cheese.  Served with a salad and you have a great week night meal.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com but made a few small changes.  My changes are shown below.  

  • Ingredients:
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large red onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 (48 fluid ounce) can chicken broth
  • 1 (16 ounce) can beef broth
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp dried parsley
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 4 thick slices French or Italian bread
  • 8 slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese slices, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, room temperature
  • 4 pinches paprika

Directions:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce into pot.  Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 2 slice Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!