Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Semi-Healthy)

My friend Amy shared this recipe with me and I made them the other day. They were delicious! I brought them to a family party and they got gobbled up within just a few minutes. I didn't have any pecans or walnuts so I used cashews and they worked too. Enjoy! I'm also including a variation that I made that is a little bit healthier (not as much butter), but still delicious. Either of these would probably work great gluten free if you substitute GF flour.

Cookie Bars Divine
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons butter melted
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts

Mix the top three ingredients separately then combine with others and don't over stir. Add nuts and chips, and still don't over stir. Put in greased 9x13 at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The center should be slightly firm to touch and a glossy top.

Cookie Bars #2
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oats (I added these for more texture)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter melted
3/8 C. pureed pumpkin or other winter squash (I accidentally put in 3/4 C. and it worked, but they were a bit cakier than they were supposed to be and took longer to cook)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (or 2 Tbsp. flax seed and 4 Tbsp. water)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts

Mix the top four ingredients separately then combine with others and don't over stir. Add nuts and chips, and still don't over stir. Put in greased 9x13 at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The center should be slightly firm to touch and a glossy top.

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Tips for Grinding Grains

I had a friend ask me today how I do my ground grains - do I grind them right before I make a recipe or store the ground flour? I decided to share this with all of you because I thought it might be helpful for anyone who is trying to cook with more whole grains.

As you probably already know, the more freshly ground the whole-grain flour is, the better it is for you. The ideal would be to grind all your whole-grain flour right before you put it in any recipe so you get the maximum amount of nutrients found in the grains. But I've found that for me that's just not practical. With our small family, most of the recipes I use every day require just a small amount of flour. If the whole-grain flour is not readily available, I'd just put in white flour because it is so much more convenient.

So when I realized this and decided that I'd really like to make the switch to including more whole-grain flour into our diet, I decided instead to keep a small amount of whole-grain flour on hand at all times. Nutrients found in whole-grain flours last longer if they are kept refrigerated or frozen. So in my refrigerator I keep two canisters. One is a three quart canister where I put whole-wheat flour. The other is a used #10 can where I keep wonder flour. I use the flour in my refrigerator for all my baking and cooking with one exception. Whenever I bake bread (which is usually about 3 times in a two week period), I grind all the wheat fresh. I do this because I always need a lot of flour for my bread so I like to fill up the hopper with wheat and then use whatever flour I have left over to fill up my canister in the refrigerator. This has worked really well for us.

Does anyone have any other helpful tips they've found about grinding grains?

Here's the grinder that I use to grind my wheat (The Wonder Mill - it used to be called Whisper Mill). We've had it for 6 years and it is wonderful. I highly recommend it. An electric grinder is a well-worth it investment if you are going to start trying to include more whole-grain flour into your diet. A hand grinder is great for emergencies, but just not practical for everyday use.

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Healthy No-Sugar Breakfast Oatmeal

Brandon discovered an amazing secret for delicious oatmeal. And now we make it all the time. It is wonderful and there is no sugar needed!

Put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup quick oats in a microwave safe bowl and cover them with milk. Microwave on high for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until just barely cooked. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with cut up peaches (we like fresh or home canned). Serve immediately and enjoy.

Variations: Instead of peaches try walnuts, coconut, dried cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any combination of the above that suits your fancy. Instead of cinnamon, you can also use vanilla powder, pumpkin pie spice or another flavoring of your choice.

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Bean Lasagna (Vegetarian)

We adapted this recipe from a recipe we found on the back of a pinto bean bag. It has become one of our favorite lasagna recipes and we make it all the time. The beans add a wonderful texture and flavor to the lasagna. It definitely doesn't need meat with the beans in there.

This is a great recipe that you can make with ingredients from your pantry. Used dehydrated onions and dehydrated herbs. It works well. We've made this recipe dozens of times and we like to try different variations. We've even just made the sauce and serve it over noodles (instead of lasagna style). It works well that way too, but we prefer lasagna. Enjoy!

Bean Lasagna

Printable Recipe

*Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, pressed

28 oz. cans sliced mushrooms, optional (we don't use them)

2 tsp. canola or olive oil

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

½ Cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tbsp. dried)

1 tsp. salt

2 Cup black eye peas or pinto beans (or more if desired)

½ Cup water

2 16 oz. cans diced tomatoes (or 1 quart crushed tomatoes)

16 oz pkg. lasagna noodles

3-4 cups cottage cheese (we sometimes make it without)

½ cup Mozzarella cheese, grated

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS:

Wash, rinse, soak and cook pinto beans according to package instructions. A pressure cooker works well - or use 2 cans of pre-cooked beans if pressed for time. Drain off water and rinse in cold water. In large skillet sauté onions, garlic, oregano, basil, parsley and salt in oil, stirring constantly. Add cup water to vegetables and herbs; simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in beans and canned tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until beans are tender. Continue to stir sauce while it simmers. Break up tomatoes.

Cook lasagna noodles as directed. Rinse in cold water. Drain well.

Preheat oven at 375 degrees. In 9x12 inch baking dish layer: lasagna noodles, vegetable-herb sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese. Repeat twice more. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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Invisible Onions

Just for fun...

Our 4-year-old noticed about a year ago that I put onions into a lot of meals. One day he decided that he didn't like them. So he started to remind me not to put onions in the meals that he liked. So I started calling cooked onions "invisible onions" (you know how they turn kind of invisible looking?). When he'd ask I'd say, "Oh no, those aren't real onions, those are invisible onions. You can't see them. They're invisible. You have to have super powers to see those." He loved our new little game. He's now usually content to eat "invisible onions" that he can see with his super powerful eyes.

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Planting Time - Spring Garden!

We're going to plant our Spring Garden tonight! Hurray! In our area we can plant peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, onions, celery, radishes, beets, cabbage, and other cold-weather crops. Check with your local extension service for planting times for your area. Here's what we're planting:

Walla Walla (Onion/Spanish)
Longstanding Bloomsdale (Spinach)
Buttercrunch (Lettuce)
Oakleaf (Lettuce)
Summertime Head (Lettuce)
Sugar Snax 54 (Carrot/Nantes x Imperator)
Oregon Giant (Snow pea)

Our crocuses have bloomed and some of the daffodils. I love this time of year where things start turning green again and it warms up outside. Happy spring and happy planting!!

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Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies! Something about them brings me back to childhood...it was one of our favorite things to make for every holiday or even when there was no holiday. This is a great recipe - a favorite of ours! It not only makes A LOT, but the cookies come out thick and soft rather than hard and crunchy.

Sugar Cookies

Printable recipe

*Makes 10-12 dozen cookies

*Note: This recipe makes a lot so I like to freeze half of the dough and then unthaw for a few hours before I roll them out.

2 Cups sugar
2 Cups shortening or lard
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Cups cream (or 1/2 Cup powdered milk and 2 Cups water)
2/3 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
8-9 Cups unbleached white flour - enough to form a soft ball

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add cream (or powdered milk and water), salt, baking soda, baking powder and 1/2 the flour. Mix and add more flour until dough forms a soft ball. Adding too much will make your cookies dry. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8"-1/4" thick and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350º for 8-9 minutes or until cookies are just barely done (still white). Cool and frost if desired.

Icing:
4 Cups powdered sugar
1 can condensed milk
1 tsp. shortening
1 tsp. butter
food coloring, if desired

Whip above ingredients until mixed well. Add food coloring if desired. Frost on cooled cookies. 

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Spaghetti Squash Explosion!

Believe it or not, we still have squash from last summer's garden - in fact we ate one for dinner just yesterday. We noticed they are starting to get soft down in our basement so we need to hurry up and use them all before they go bad. One of our favorite meals is spaghetti squash with this recipe! It is delicious! Brandon made it yesterday and put in chunks of cooked acorn squash into the sauce - in Mediterranean style. It was so good! The best part about the dinner was the before-meal entertainment. He concocted a little explosion in the microwave to our 4-year-old's delight (it actually exploded because he didn't poke enough holes in the squash before cooking). It was a good one - the pressure built up so much it flung the door open! We had to get a picture of this to show you what happens when you don't poke enough holes! :)

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Brownie Fiasco

We had a fiasco in our house yesterday. Not that we don't have some kind of fiasco every day, after all we do have two kids around. But this was a cooking fiasco and I love writing about my cooking fiascos. I was making brownies. Not just any kind of brownies, mind you. I was making... these brownies. And for those of you who have never made those brownies, they are wonderful (I've never made the mint frosting - in fact as far as I'm concerned they don't need frosting!).

Well, being the kind of person I am, I decided to make a few changes to the recipe. I've never been completely satisfied with how they have turned out when I make them. So this time I thought I'd change the pan. Instead of a 9x13 pan, I decided to put them in a half sheet pan. I thought for sure the recipe would be too small to fit in an entire half-sheet cookie pan so I multiplied all the ingredients by 1.5 - which works out rather nicely with this recipe, if you notice.

I whipped them up (feeling rather guilty about the 3 cubes of butter that I used - yes I used butter not margarine). I did substitute wonder flour for 1/3 of the flour, which made me feel a little better. These were for guests, otherwise I would have made them whole wonder flour. I usually try not to make them totally whole grain if my guests aren't used to eating that way already. So anyway, I popped them in the oven and went to finish cleaning my guest room.

Well, a little while later I smelled smoke. I ran to the kitchen and open the oven door. My brownies grew! In fact they grew so much they were spilling over the sides of the pan onto my freshly cleaned oven! I really didn't know what to do. The brownies were really runny inside so I knew if I took them out they would be ruined. So I quickly put some pans underneath to catch the rest of the drips and went to finish my cleaning.

Brandon came in a little while later wondering what was going on. Smoke was really billowing from the oven. He went and hid the smoke alarm so it wouldn't wake up the kids. We were really worried that the brownies would be ruined and taste like burnt, smokey brownies (because that's what they smelled like). Luckily I had lined the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil (which is a great idea for times like this) so he was able to pull out the aluminum foil which had most of the burnt brownie parts on it. We turned on all the fans to suck out all the smoke and opened the door. We left the brownies alone to finish cooking.

I really had little hope that they would even be edible, let alone taste very good. But when we tried them, we were both very surprised and actually quite impressed. These were the best brownies that I've ever made from scratch. So...I guess my story has a good ending. I like fiascos that turn out that way. I'll have to post my new modified brownie recipe after I try it with the regular-sized recipe. If you want to make them before then, beware! I don't gaurantee that it won't spill over the pan even then....

Here's the recipe:

Whole-Grain Brownies

MAKES ONE 9-BY-13 PAN OF BROWNIES.

1 c. butter
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. wonder flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool. Frost with icing, if desired.

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Vegetarian Fajitas

Success! I've been having kind of a slow go at creative cooking lately. You probably know the slump I'm talking about. Maybe I'm getting a little too brave, I don't know. Anyway, here's one for the books. I made these tonight because we had the ingredients in our fridge that I wanted to use up. They were amazing and I'm definitely going to make them again. Hope you enjoy!

Vegetarian Fajitas
Printable Recipe

*Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium bell peppers, sliced (different colors are fun!)
1 med. onion, sliced
1-1/2 - 2 Cups pinto or other beans, cooked (or use a can if you're lazy :)
1/2 C. water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dehydrated minced onion
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. red pepper (optional)

flour tortillas

Toppings: Chopped tomatoes, grated cheese, sliced olives, diced avocados or prepared guacamole, sour cream, chopped lettuce, etc.

DIRECTIONS:
Sauté bell peppers and onion in oil until just barely tender. Then add beans, water, sugar, chili powder, salt, minced onion, paprika, cumin and red pepper. Stir together and heat just until warmed through. Served on warmed flour tortillas (here's my favorite homemade whole-wheat ones) with chopped tomatoes, grated cheese, sliced olives, diced avocados or prepared guacamole, sour cream, chopped lettuce or whatever else suits your fancy.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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2009 Goals: Hurray!

I wanted to share my great news with all of you - my blogging friends. Especially those of you who are working on helping your kids to eat healthier foods. I posted earlier this year about my healthy eating goals for 2009. One of the goals was to decrease the amount of processed cold cereal our family eats and start making more hot cereals for breakfasts. It started out a little rough with my 4-year-old especially, but since then we've had a complete turn around!

I now feed my family oatmeal (or other homemade cereal) 3 days a week, I cook another kind of breakfast 3 days a week (waffles, pancakes, eggs, etc.) and we have cereal every Sunday morning before we go to church. Today was a non-oatmeal day and I asked my four-year-old what he wanted for breakfast. He said, "Oatmeal with peaches! My favorite!" I had to smile. It's only been 3 months and he's gone from not wanting to touch the stuff to wanting it even on the off days! So there you go! This is possible! Children and adults (even the pickiest) can be taught to enjoy healthy food!

By the way, since we've stopped eating as much cold cereal we've noticed a significant decrease in the amount of money we spend on food every month. It's crazy how much money cold cereal eats out of your food budget! I plan on doing a more detailed post about this in the future.

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Healthy Desert Recipe: Poppy Seed Trifle

I made a yummy desert tonight that was actually fairly healthy. Here's the recipe, hope you enjoy!

Poppy Seed Trifle
Poppy Seed muffins (see recipe below)
Vanilla Pudding
Fruit Cocktail, drained or cut up fruit (strawberries, peaches, grapes, etc)
Whipped Cream

Line glass serving bowl with cooled muffins (sliced in half), pour fruit cocktail and vanilla pudding over it. Top with whipped cream. Since I didn't want to make a whole bunch today I actually just sliced the muffins right on the serving plates and scooped the toppings on each plate. It was yummy!

Poppy Seed Muffins
3 C. Wonder Flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 C. Sugar
1 C. + 2 Tbsp. oil
1-1/2 tsp. almond extract
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1-1/2 C. milk
1/2 Tbsp. Poppy Seeds
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients with liquid and beat 2 minutes. Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake 350 F for 20-30 min. Remove from oven and cool.

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More about Bread

I could talk about bread all day...and sometimes it seems like I do on this blog. I guess it's because it's probably the thing I make most often on a regular basis and I like to share what I've learned about it. So today I read this Deseret News Article where the author posted a friend's bread recipe. It's whole-wheat which immediately sparked my interest. It's actually a very similar recipe to the one I use all the time. It had milled flax seed as one of the ingredients so I decided to add it when I made bread today. I used 2 Tbsp of flax seed that I had ground in a blender (you're not supposed to grind flax seed in your regular grain mill because it has too much oil and could damage your mill). The bread turned out delicious with the same taste, but the texture was enhanced by the addition of the milled flax seed. Flax seed is also very healthy for you so I think I'll be including this into my recipe more often.

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