Cinnamon Walnut Granola

Here we are again, it's the weekend.  The work week was pretty standard, busy as always and I felt like I was coming down with something all week but nothing became of it so I'm happy about that.  I still have some money left on my benefits so I thought I would schedule myself for a massage unfortunately my regular massage therapist was unavailable so I tried a new one. I wasn't really a fan, but I'm quite picky when it comes to massage therapists. I also tried a new Acupuncturist, she was quite good and her office is close to home so I'll be going back.

Now on to the yummy granola.  I'll warn you now this stuff is addictive!!  It is also Tom approved.  He tried it last night and his comment was "this is good but there's one problem.....you didn't make enough.". Looks like I'll be making some more today.

I saw a recipe like this on line but have no idea where I saw it so I tried to go by memory.  If this looks like your recipe please leave a comment so I can link back to it.

Cinnamon Walnut Granola (with rum soaked dried fruit)
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup buckwheat groats
3/4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
raisins, goji berries, currants (Approximate measurements- handful of raisins, 2 tbsp goji berries, 1 tbsp currants)
1/2 cup rough chopped pitted medjool dates
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup, warmed
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp warm water
2 tbsp coconut oil melted (you could use light EVOO too)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Soaking liquid for dried fruit - I'm not a fan of raisins so whenever I use them in a recipe I soak them.  My liquid of choice is a little hot water and spiced rum or dark rum.  Add liquid to just cover fruit, and soak till soft.  Drain well.  Depending on your recipe or you taste you can use just plain water, apple juice, orange juice, some amaretto the possibilities are endless.

Preheat oven to 300
In a large bowl combine oats, buckwheat groats, walnuts and cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add dates, maple syrup, vanilla, water, oil and salt to blender.  Blend till smooth.
Add to dry ingredients and mix till well combined.
Spread evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake about 30 mins or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.  In the last 10 mins of cooking add the soaked and drained dried fruit.

Enjoy... don't say I didn't warn you it's addictive.

~Jackie

My Favorite Gingersnap Cookie Recipe

I did it, I survived my return to work from vacation.  As I suspected it wasn’t  a smooth return but the work got done and nobody got hurt in the process.
One of my guilty pleasures is cookies and I don’t discriminate I love cookies of all kinds.  Sadly your average cookie recipe is far from healthy.  You know what I’m talking about, white flour, white sugar, brown sugar, butter or shortening nothing there even remotely resembles nutrition. 
This recipe originally came from my grandmother and I think mom told me she used bacon fat in it.  I know sounds odd but mom swears that’s what it was back in the day (I’m still skeptical). When the recipe came to me it was lard or shortening and I changed it to butter flavoured Crisco…. doesn’t that sound yummy.
I’m now on a quest to healthify some of my favorite cookie recipes.  I’ve already done my chocolate chip cookie recipe so this one was the next on the list.  I’m very please with the result.
Gingersnap Cookies (Gluten Free)

• 2 cups Gluten Free Flour mix
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup black strap molasses
• organic sugar for dipping

Sift dry ingredients. Set aside.  Cream coconut oil and sugar together.  Add egg and molasses.  Beat well.  Gradually add dry to wet until well combined.  Roll into balls dip in sugar and flatten with a fork.
Bake at 350 for 12 mins.  Let cool completely
These do have a little different taste than the original recipe which I think is from the blackstrap molasses instead of the regular molasses.  If you’ve never had blackstrap it has a deeper toasted caramel flavour.  I also think I will add a little more ginger next time only because the flavour of the molasses is stronger so the ginger takes a little bit of a back seat.

                                 
                  

I think this was a pretty good job of healthifying them and still keeping the cookie integrity. 
~~ Jackie

Are Chocolate and Avocado Really BFF's?

Chocolate and avocado are not a new combination in the blog world.  I'm sure you've all seen the pudding, cake, and cupcakes, but to be honest the thought of adding avocado to my yummy baked goods kind of freaked me out.  I was skeptical to say the least.  That was until I tried this recipe Marie posted on her blog over at Marie Tower Nutrition.  Marie hasn't steered me wrong yet so I had to give them a try.

I made three slight modifications to the recipe.  One I wanted to see how they would work using a gluten free flour mix, two I was running out of maple syrup so I didn't use as much and three I read if you add a little apple sauce, pumpkin or something with pectin in place of some of the fat it would help bind things together with the GF flours.

Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

1 1/2  cups gluten free flour mix (or AP flour. Spelt would probably work good too)
3/4 cup coco or cacao powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 large avocado pitted and peeled
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup olive oil (I subbed approx 1/8 cup unsweetened apple sauce for some of the oil)
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven 350

Line 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.  Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Combine wet ingredients, including avocado in your blender and blend until creamy.  Add avocado mixture to dry ingredients and mix till well combined.  This batter is very thick a large ice cream scoop would be perfect to use to put the batter in the muffin cups.

Bake for 25 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached.  Let cool (if you can wait that long) and enjoy!

They were velvety smooth, yummy and held together really well. The next time I make them I'll be adding in some dark chocolate for a little extra chocolaty goodness.

If you would like to try the GF flour mix here it is. I've used it in muffins, and brownies too all with great results.

2 cups sorghum flour
2 cups potato starch (not flour)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tbsp xantham gum (or guar gum)

Mix together and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer for longer shelf life.

Enjoy your Labour day holiday!!

~~ Jackie

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Well, hello bloggies, it's been awhile. I don't know how many times over the past few months I've thought about blogging, tried a new recipe and thought I should post about it, or taken pics with the intention of posting them.  Obviously those thoughts were just that.

It's been so long I wasn't sure what to start with so I thought I would do a recipe post.

My goal today was to attempt to make over  "healthify" my tried and true favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  Now when I say healthify I don't mean no fat, no sugar, no taste diet cookie.  I wanted to keep the basic integrity of the recipe and just make some better choices with my ingredients.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of Golden Crisco shortening, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar and 2 cups AP flour. So I switched out the shortening , bye bye killer trans fat, with Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.  Replaced the brown sugar and white sugar with Coconut Sugar and ground Turbinado sugar. I wasn't sure  what to do with the flour. I was thinking Quinoa flour and Spelt flour but thought that might be too much of an odd texture and change the taste a little too much.  I use Spelt flour quite often and have had great success substituting 1:1 with AP flour.  I knew I wanted to use my Quinoa flour so I just subbed half the flour with that and left the rest as unbleached AP flour.

Here's the finished recipe

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup Coconut Oil

1 Cup Cocount sugar

2/3 Cup Turbinado sugar (ground)

2 large eggs

2 tsp  pure Vanilla

1 Cup Quinoa flour

1 Cup AP flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Chocolate chips - I never measure these

Preheat oven to 350

1.  Cream coconut oil, sugars, vanilla and eggs together

2.  Add in dry ingredients and mix well

3.  Fold in chocolate chips

Using small scoop place on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or to desired doneness.

** I haven't tried to make them gluten free but to do so sub in the gluten free flour mix  or try a commercially prepared mix for the AP flour.**

I was pleased with how they turned out.  Not quite the same texture as the original cookie but it actually tasted like a chocolate chip cookie and that's what I was hoping for.

Here's hoping my posts aren't as sporadic and infrequent as they have been.  My intentions are always good, but time isn't always on my side to get a post done.

~~ Jackie