A Healthy - er cookie

Cutting out sweets for me is not an option. Sure I would like to loose the rest of this baby weight, yes I will work out, but under no circumstances can I give up my sweets.  What I will be doing is trying to put a healthy - er spin on some of the things I do eat. Now don't get me wrong, there is no healthy option for Nanaimo bars, but I did modify a great oatmeal cookie recipe to be pretty guilt free. 

So here is what you'll need:

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup room temperature butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp almond extract ( I prefer to use almond, but by all means use vanilla)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I like to use the mini ones so the same amount seems to spread further)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

OK so being the lazy baker I am this is how I roll:

Start my combining the butter, sugars, eggs, and extract in a large bowl. 

Add the flours, flax seed, baking soda, salt, cinnamon on top. Mix it all together well. 

Then add the oats, chocolate chips and cranberries and mix it all together. 

Drop a tbsp of batter on a parchment lined baking sheet (easy clean up) leaving enough space for them to spread. 

And bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. 

Let them Cool on a wire wrack. 

The smaller you make them the more you can eat without feeling guilty!

An early V-day treat

I had a pretty rough day yesterday with my little monkeys. I went shopping for me, and ended up spending 70 bucks on the kids. Came home cleaned up the messy house, bathrooms, floors etc... started supper. Fed the cranky baby, who then vomited all over me... cleaned the couch, cleaned me, gave him a bath, just for him to do it all over again. 


Get my eldest off the bus, get the middle 2 from day care. Let the insanity begin. Running, yelling, groaning, fighting, supper, running, yelling, baths, bed, me and my hubby sit down to eat. 


I think Ahhhh this is great... Then:  My littlest wakes up more then normal ends up in bed nursing all night, my second eldest comes in our room with a nightmare, my eldest came in because she was not feeling well. The alarm goes off and it's time to start all over again. Only today I will make a yummy treat. 


So the first time I made these I did so for Christmas, with cute little festive Christmas sprinkles. All you have to do is change up the sprinkles and they are good for any occasion. 


If you haven't realized by now I am a fan of super simple things. 

Here's what you need.

Here's what you do. 

Beat 2 cups of icing sugar, 2 tbsp corn syrup, 1 1/2 tbps soft butter, 2 tsp milk, and 1 tsp peppermint (or any other flavour you like, I'm thinking cherry) extract until smooth. 

Scrape it into a little bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes. 

Play with cute baby.

Meanwhile: Melt about 8 oz. of chopped chocolate ( I used dark, it's healthy right?) with 2 tsp of shortening (this will make the coating nice and smooth).

Pull the chilled filling out and roll into little balls, then roll in the chocolate. 

Place on parchment lined baking sheet. 

Sprinkle with desired sprinkles. 

(I let my daughter do this part, oh didn't I tell you I had to go pick her up from school today... grumble, this meant I couldn't try and find the sweater I un-successfully went out for yesterday)

Chill. 

Eat your crappy day away :)

Oh or enjoy with your loved one for Valentines day. 

Enjoy!

Meatless mercredi

I know I know it's supposed to be meatless Monday, but Monday quickly turned into Tuesday, which is now Wednesday... I digress. 


So for the new year I have decided to make a serious effort to organize my life. This is some work with 4 young kids, but I'm trying. I have 8 more months before I return to work, which gives me 8 months to get stuff in order. This being said I am trying to cut back on expenses, cut out the clutter, and cut out some crappy food choices. 


Here is my super easy Dal recipe. For those of you who aren't familiar, Dal is like a curried lentils. Don't shrug it off because you don't like curry, or lentils. The benefits of this recipe are worth trying it alone. It's simple to make, yummy, healthy and ouber cheap. A true testament to this recipe is that my mother-in-law (100% Pakistani) says she likes my dal better then her own. 'Nuff said. 


Start with some orange lentils. 1 cup

Soak them for about 30 minutes to an hour. 


Drain them well. 

To that 1 cup of lentils add about 5 1/2 cups of water, 1 tsp each turmeric, cumin, salt. Throw in a couple of coarsely chopped green chillies (depending on how hot you like it)


Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. 

At the 45 minute mark chop up a potato and thinly slice an onion. In a separate pan lightly sauté these in 1 tbsp of olive oil just until the onion is soft. Throw this into the pot with the lentils and continue cooking until the potatoes are cooked and the lentils have absorbed almost all the liquid, leaving it looking like a thick soup (about another 45 minutes)

Done. Super simple right? Want to jazz it up a bit?

Chop 2 tomatoes, 1/2 small onion (finely chopped), toss together with a splash of vinegar and some cayenne pepper. Let this sit for a while, then use it as a topping on your Dal. If you have some coriander on hand, throw that in too. :)

Serve it with Rice or some Naan and you are good to go. 


Super cheap, super yummy!