Monday, August 22, 2016

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

Breakfast cookies with soaked oats and raisins, sweetened with peanut butter before baking, then topped with a maple spread frosting. Start the day off right with these gems. A whole grain cookie that is naturally gluten free, free of refined sugar and a tasty breakfast, too!



a plate with a close up of healthy gluten and refined sugar free breakfast cookies



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Each school year starts with such promise--we will have LESS clutter, lose LESS papers, be MORE organized, waste LESS food and LESS time, be MORE productive, etc etc. You know the drill. The inspiration of those blank planner pages soon fades into the daily grind of getting up and out the door with everything you need for the day Oh-and-by-the-way-mom-did-I-tell-you-I-needed-a-solid-blue-shirt, shorts, and-socks-and-this-specific-brand-of-index-tabs-by-3rd-period?


image of 'as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal' breakfast cookies



Sigh. I can't help you with that brand of index tabs [it's a thing you stick onto a piece of paper to make it into a divider. I had to look it up]. We went to 4 drugstores and office supply stores to amass sufficient quantities for the classroom stash. [Should have ordered online.] But I can help you put something nourishing into your folks' bellies to get the day off to the good start:

These breakfast cookies.


close up of a healthy breakfast cookie on a cooling rack


My working title over the summer months while I was making test batches was As Healthy As A Bowl Of Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies, because that was my goal:  a breakfast cookie that had all of the nutrition of a bowl of oatmeal but in handheld form.


My search started when I wanted to encourage my son to keep up his oatmeal habit during summer. Some people [my spouse] can start their day with a hot bowl of oatmeal year round. Not me. I like to mix things up. I figured I'd grab a Breakfast Cookie recipe and whip up a bunch one day for breakfasts throughout the week. If you've followed the blog and seen how I make muffins with LESS sugar, LESS fat, MORE fiber and MORE flavor--you can guess what happened next.

a plate of healthy breakfast cookies frosted with maple spread


I kept finding recipes for breakfast cookies that were Cookies with some oatmeal and orange juice tossed into the dough. Cookies--starting with creaming butter and sugar. Not the building blocks for breakfast in my house! Please do not misunderstand. I love cookies, and a good cookie recipe starts with creaming butter and sugar. But that's for dessert. Not for breakfast. Each has it's time and place.


an image of a plate of healthy gluten and refined sugar free breakfast cookies



I went back to the drawing board and thought about how, when I soak oats in buttermilk overnight for my muffins, the resulting mixture is pretty darn thick. I experimented with turning that into a baked handheld breakfast item. Each batch became better, but missing the essential sweetness until I hit upon frosting them. I used maple spread from my farmer's market and whoo boy did that do the trick! If you cannot find maple spread I'd suggest making your own (see Note below) or using peanut butter, apple butter, or Nutella.


a bowl of batter that will become healthy breakfast cookies
All my optional add ins (nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut) stirred in. Ready to scoop and bake.



Note: this recipe starts the night before when you combine oats and buttermilk (or kefir). You can soak them in a bowl on the counter or in a container in the refrigerator. If it's hot out I use my fridge.
Note about maple spread: I get this from my maple syrup dealer at the farmer's market. It's a refrigerated item that is pure maple syrup cooked down even more into a thick spread. Update: Here's how to make your own Maple Cream (video).


Healthy Breakfast Cookies (makes 12, we eat 2 at a time)


Ingredients



  • 2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned kind)
  • 1+¾ cups buttermilk (my friend used kefir with excellent results)
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 Tablespoons ground flax meal
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup peanut butter (if you need to add sugar, I'd suggest ¼ cup here)
  • ½ cup raisins or chopped dates
  • ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
  • ¼ cup roasted salted sunflower seeds (optional)
  • ¼ to ½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
  • ¼ to ½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
  • maple spread (in my opinion NOT OPTIONAL, but substitute peanut butter, apple butter, or Nutella if you cannot locate maple spread--see Note above)


Instructions


  1. The night before you want to bake these cookies, combine oats and buttermilk in a bowl. You can leave them out on the counter or refrigerate them. Your choice. 
  2. In the morning, add the salt, baking soda, flax meal, egg, peanut butter and raisins. Stir well, and let it sit on the counter for an hour.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and use sheets of parchment paper to line 2 cookie sheets for best results (I found that the cookies will fall apart if you merely grease a cookie sheet, but they stick together until cool when using parchment paper).
  4. Stir in the optional add ins (nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut and/or chocolate chips).
  5. Scoop large cookies, about ½ cup size, onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Flatten with the bottom of a drinking glass, a spatula, or the back of your cookie scoop. These cookies don't spread out.
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish.
  7. Frost with a dab of maple spread. It will dry so that the cookies can be stacked. Store these cookies on the counter for a day, in the fridge for a few days, or wrap up and freeze for a few weeks.


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Monday, August 8, 2016

What's growing on Farm Fresh Feasts?

A peek into the back yard garden to see what's been happening so far this summer.


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You might think, with a website entitled Farm Fresh Feasts, that I live in a home that looks like this.


looking down a lane to a farm surrounded by corn fields and woods


Not at all close!  That spread, in northwest Wisconsin, belonged to my Grandpa. My daddy grew up on a dairy farm. I'm a generation removed from daily farm life, however I sure like to grow my own food. The dirt (ahem, the amended soil like my Daddy taught me to nourish) is metaphorically under my fingernails. (The nurse in me couldn't handle actual dirt remaining under my fingernails for long).


Instead, I grow crops in raised beds in my small back yard. The yard is big enough for the dogs to get up a good speed while chasing bunnies and squirrels, but small enough that my son can mow it in 10 minutes.  [Fifteen if he's actually paying attention, twenty if he does a decent job]. Kids are a work in progress.


These raised beds were made by my spouse. He upcycled the unwanted old cedar fence boards from a tilting privacy fence we replaced before we brought home our first dog. I've now got 5 beds that are about 2 feet by 4 feet, with space between so I can reach into the beds from 3 sides. All of this fits behind our house on our small city plot.


a small cucumber on a vine


I figured I'd show you around how the garden is growing thus far this summer. As with every year and every garden, I've got some crops that are doing well and some that aren't. I've got surprise volunteers from my compost and from the local wildlife.


cucumbers growing in a raised garden bed


Let's start with what's doing well. If you follow me on FB or Instagram you'll know that I've been putting up piles of pickles. So far I've got a gallon of refrigerator dills--both slices and small whole pickles--in two half gallon canning jars (with these handy dandy plastic storage caps--Amazon affiliate link) in the back of the fridge. I've got 8 quarts of one kind of spicy dill pickle, and 6 quarts of another kind of dill pickle, downstairs in the basement. I will keep on pickling until the cukes give up!


dill seed heads ready for harvest


Along with the cucumbers I've got dill going to seed. I put the dill seed into the pickling jars, but I've just learned a terrific way to store my dill heads while I wait for more pickles. Simply put them in a paper bag and pop into the freezer. How cool is that? Thanks, Aunt Jan!


tomatillos growing in a raised garden bed


The tomatillos are also growing like crazy, though I haven't harvested any yet. It's OK, I can wait until the Hatch chiles appear before I put up my salsa verde. In the meantime, I just keep checking on those beautiful balloons and waiting for them to burst.  [Silently, so as not to give anyone a little fright.]


raspberry canes in a backyard garden


The raspberries had a terrific season. I used black raspberries in a wide variety of recipes and put up a bunch to enjoy now that their season is over. Check out my Raspberry Recipes Collection for ideas for your raspberries.


raspberries and strawberry plants in a patch


In fact, the raspberries decided to take over the strawberry bed! I'm not so sure how I feel about this, but I let them grow this year. If I am happy with the harvest next year I won't pull them out. But if the strawberries want their space back, they'll need to step up production . . .


sunflowers and tomatoes in a raised garden bed



Volunteer sunflowers have been both a blessing and a curse. After 3 years of deliberately planting sunflowers where I wanted them to grow only to have nothing sprout, I opted to let the birds do the planting by filling my winter feeders with only sunflower seeds. It worked--we now have sunflowers in many places in the yard, and goldfinches are regularly spotted eating the seeds. However, the presence of the sunflowers is hampering the tomatoes in the bed above--leading me to a pretty dismal tomato harvest compared to this time last year. I'm not too worried yet--it's only August after all--but I may need to buy some tomatoes from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers to put up this year.


tomatoes growing in a raised bed in square red cages


While the tomato plants are not as vigorous as I've had in previous years, the fruits they bear do look pretty terrific so far. I'm sure they will taste amazing. For more recipes using red tomatoes, please see my Tomato (Red & Yellow) Recipe Collection for ideas.


a close up of a red hibiscus flower


I've got plenty of flowers planted around the yard to attract pollinators and make me smile. I tend to grab whatever's marked down without thought to coordinating colors, but things tend to work out every year.


herbs growing in a landscaped area of a garden


My herb area, above, has also been hit or miss. The parsley and chives are doing well, coming back after several cuttings. The cilantro pooped out well before salsa season, as it tends to do. More dills volunteered in this area after last year's deliberate planting, leading me to high hopes for next year.


a garden bed with a mystery squash vine, celery, sunflower and tomatillo plants



I've got 2 mystery squash vines this year. The one above is none too happy and will probably get yanked before the next yard waste curbside pickup so that whatever is bothering it won't spread in my compost bin. The one below, nicknamed tree squash, is probably a pumpkin and is doing fine.


a panoramic photo of squash vine climbing a tree, a peach tree, raised beds and a compost bin


Thanks for taking a tour around the garden with me!

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Friday, July 29, 2016

Banana, Peanut Butter, and Date Smoothie with Curly Kale

This power smoothie is made from real ingredients--bananas, dates, and kale--and protein packed with peanut butter, milk and yogurt. It's a great way to get some veggies into your first meal of the day and gives you energy for your morning.


This power smoothie recipe is made from real ingredients--bananas, dates, and kale--and protein packed with peanut butter, milk and yogurt.


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What gets you going each day? Besides the caffeinated or decaf beverage of your choice, I mean. What powers you through a busy morning? Gives you energy to tackle a big To Do list without stopping to sit down and have a meal?


For me, it's a smoothie. As I'm getting ready for work I dump a bunch of real, actual, recognizable foods into a blender, add some ice, and hit the power button. After a few moments I'm pouring a tasty and nutritious drink into my cup and I'm ready to hit the road. Yes, I'm also armed with a couple of jars of my DIY Iced Chai Tea that I'll turn into Iced Chai Tea Lattes at work. Gotta keep the fluids going!


a top down view of a banana, peanut butter, and date smoothie made with curly kale


My smoothies aren't just for breakfast. This recipe makes about 5 cups, which equates to one giant cup for me to take to work plus a pint jar leftover in the fridge. I use these plastic storage caps (Amazon affiliate link) which fit on my canning jars and are much handier than a metal lid & ring for repeated access to the jar.


Who drinks the leftover smoothie? It depends. This smoothie is the perfect pick me up for my spouse after he bikes home from work. It's cold, refreshing, and hydrating as well as providing him a burst of sugar and protein to recoup what his muscles used on his commute.