Trying A Come Back

My blogging has been foiled once again by life 🙂  I’ll try to do better and post more.  I’ve taken many pictures of some recipes and often think to myself, “that’s be a great blog post!”  Now, just to follow through on it!  Some friends and I have formed a group of health and allergy conscious moms and have been meeting regularly to plan and share.  I am very excited to keep up with this group and share more about our discussions.  Until next time, go give this fast and easy cookie a try.  It works great as cookie dough and as a baked cookie!  It truly is a fast one…I just whipped it up about 15 minutes ago amidst the post school starving crazies!  All 4 of my kids and I loved every bite we took both as dough and baked.

Quick Chocolate Treat

I admit, I have a HUGE sweet tooth…probably sweet teeth!  However, I also know that eating sugar is not healthy.  There’s been plenty of information lately about sugar and its ties to obesity–too many calories in and not enough out leads to excess energy in storage which equals fat.  But, sometimes a little treat is worth some extra exercise. (Here’s an article about different types of sugar cravings.  Which one or more do you get?)

Customizable Chocolate Treat

Melted coconut oil

Cocoa (unsweetened highest quality you can get)

Grade B Maple syrup or raw honey

Mix-Ins such as dried fruit, chopped soaked and dried nuts and/or seeds, nut/seed butters, ginger, cinnamon, get creative

Stir the melted coconut oil, cocoa, and maple syrup together. (I know there are no measurements here.  You can start small by doing a couple tablespoons of coconut oil, cocoa to taste, and a couple of teaspoons of sweetener.  You want a liquidy and pourable consistency.)

Give it a quick taste and adjust if necessary.

If you want just chocolate, skip the mix ins and go to the next step.  Stir in your desired mix ins.  (Today, Penelope and I used dried cranberries and some walnuts.)

Pour the mixture (or enjoy now)  on to some wax paper laid on a plate or small cookie sheet.

Place the chocolate in to the freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden.

Remove from freezer and break in to pieces.

Enjoy!

Other combinations that taste great are apricots and almonds, cinnamon and cherries, cherries and pistachios, walnuts and finely diced ginger.

Roasted Cauliflower Bites

When you get a craving for hot and salty, give roasted cauliflower a try.  My almost 7 year old was determined to NOT try these, but once he did he was surprised at how much he liked them.  I, for one, NEVER liked cauliflower, but now find myself easily eating just about an entire head all by myself!

Start with a fresh head of cauliflower.  Cauliflower looks similar to broccoli, but usually is white.  Sometimes you can find purple and golden colored varieties of cauliflower.  The only difference is in the color.  The flavor is the same.

Peel off the green leaves and use a sharp knife to cut off the stem that the leaves are connected to.  Then, use your sharp knife to cut the white portions of the cauliflower in to bite sized pieces.

Place all of the pieces in to a large bowl and toss with some extra virgin olive oil or melted coconut oil and some salt and pepper.

Heat your oven to 400.  Spread the cauliflower pieces on to a rimmed cooking sheet.

Bake the cauliflower for 50-60 minutes.  Every 20 minutes stir the cauliflower around some.  Roasted cauliflower tastes best when it is browned some–it also gets a bit crunchy the longer it cooks…Delicious!

Let me know what you think of this easy side dish or snack.