Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Oatmeal Cookies

Can cookies really be healthy?  My answer is NO.  But can it be full of more nutrition, have less sugar, and butter than an average cookie and still taste good?  My answer is yes!  This recipe turned out really good.  I was super skeptical, but I loved the flavor and texture of this cookie.  I ate two, and I was super full for the rest of the day!  Probably because of the oats, peanut butter and banana.  This was delicious!  I found this recipe here.

Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/4 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

4 tbs butter, softened

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c sugar

1/3 c peanut butter

1 tbs honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 banana, mashed completely

2 c quick oats

Peanut Butter/Honey Glaze

3 tbs peanut butter

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tbs honey

2 tbs milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.   In another bowl combine butter, and sugars.  Add peanut butter, and honey, mix till combined.  Add mashed banana, egg and vanilla until combined.  Add dry ingredients to wet, combine, and then add oats.  Scoop batter by the tablespoon onto baking sheet.  Flatten dough slightly.  Bake for 7-9 minutes or until tops are just set.  Remove from baking sheet and cool completely.  Mix together glaze ingredients until spreadable consistency.  Spread a little bit of glaze on each cookie.

Picture courtesy of http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/

Cream of Chicken Soup from Scratch

I have had it with Campbell's cream of chicken soup in the can! I can't stand the flavor, texture or smell of it. I made creamy white enchiladas a couple of months ago using cream of chicken soup, and I couldn't stand it. Each to his own though. It may not be worth it for you to make your own,but it certainly tastes better to make your own. I saw on pinterest, someone calling it "Cream of Crap" soup, I'm a believer. Instead of 15 ingredients in the can, when you make your own, there is only 4-5 at most. I made this for Hawaiian Haystacks, and it was delicious! This made 4 cups of soup. So you could scale this way down to fit the recipe you wanted.

 Cream of Chicken Soup from Scratch (4 cups) 

8 tbs butter
8 tbs flour
4 c chicken stock
3 c milk
1/2 c minced onion
juice of half a lemon

In a pot melt butter, add onions and let cook until onions are translucent. Add flour, and whisk for a minute, letting the flour cook. While whisking, slowly add the chicken stock, and milk, whisking the entire time so that you don't have any lumps. Cook, stirring constantly over medium low heat until thickened to desired consistency. Add lemon juice and pepper at the end.

Reeses Pieces Nutty Buddies

There was a sale recently here in Hawaii on Chex cereals.  I loaded up on corn and rice Chex not only because they are good for breakfast, but also good for a quick sweet treat.  This recipe doesn't actually have the candy Reeses Pieces in it, but the mixture you put onto the Chex cereal tastes just like Reeses Pieces, which I'm a huge fan of.  Of course, you could throw in some Reeses Pieces candy into the bowl, but trust me there is no need.  I also feel like the corn Chex works best for this, as it adds better flavor.  The key to a good nutty buddy mix is the amount of powdered sugar you use.  You want the Chex mix to not be white like the powdered sugar, but just be coated enough to wear the Chex mix is not wet anymore from the chocolate mixture (like a fudge coating) I have made this in small batches when I have needed a sweet fix at night after the kids go to bed. DELISH!

Reeses Pieces Nutty Buddies

8 cups Corn Chex
1 c white chocolate chips
3/4 c creamy peanut butter
3 tbs butter, softened
1-1 1/2 c powdered sugar

Place corn Chex in a large bowl.  In another medium sized bowl melt white chocolate in the microwave, stirring 15 seconds at a time.  Add peanut butter and softened butter, and microwave for another 15 sec, or until chocolate/peanut butter mixture is smooth.  Pour over corn Chex, and coat the cereal.  Place 1 cup of powdered sugar into a large freezer ziplock bag.  Place Chex mixture into bag, and shake around to coat the Chex with powdered sugar.  Add more powdered sugar if necessary. 

Chewy, Nutty, Coconut, Oatmeal cookies

These cookies are super yummy.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for a cookie without chocolate chips in it.  The texture of this cookie gets its chewiness from coconut and oatmeal.  The nuts and brown sugar are what make this cookie taste rich.  You can use whatever nuts you have on hand.  I had bought a huge bag of pecans from Costco, so that's what I put into my cookies.  You could also leave the nuts out of it, and it still would taste wonderful.

Chewy, Nutty, Coconut, Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 c sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c shredded coconut
1/2 c quick oats
1/2 c finely chopped nuts (i used my food processor)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine sugars and butter.  Add egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Mix until combined.  Add oats, coconut, and nuts until combined. Bake for 7-10minutes.  Do not over cook, should just barely start to turn golden on the edges.

Southwest Baked Egg Rolls

I made this recipe a couple of Sundays ago, and they turned out super yummy. I didn't even realize I was eating a vegetarian dish.  (Not that I'm opposed to eating vegetarian).  Make sure that you don't fill these too full, divide the mixture evenly amongst the 24 egg rolls.  These turned out super crispy baked in the oven, and were awesome with guacamole, sour cream and salsa on the side.

Southwest Baked Egg Rolls

2 cups frozen corn, thawed 1 

(15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed 

2 cups shredded cheese  

1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry  

4 scallions (green onions), chopped  

1 (4 oz) can of green chiles, drained  

1/2 t ground cumin  

1/4 t chili powder  

1 t salt  

½ t black pepper  

¼ t cayenne pepper 

 24 egg roll wrappers (1 package)

Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly mist two baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the egg roll wrappers and stir to thoroughly combine.
Pour some water into a small dish and set aside. On a flat surface, place an egg roll wrapper, corner facing toward you (like a diamond) and put ¼ cup of the mixture from the bowl on the center of the wrapper. Spread the mixture in a horizontal line from the left corner to the right corner of the wonton wrapper, leaving ½ inch or so of space on each side. Fold the bottom corner closest to you up over the ingredients. Fold the side corners in and tuck them. Dip your finger in the dish or reserved water and lightly wet the edges of the remaining top corner of the wrapper. Finish rolling the filled egg roll over the wet corner so that it adheres. Place wrapped egg roll onto the prepared baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
When all of the egg rolls are wrapped and on the baking sheets, lightly mist the tops with cooking spray. Bake for 14-15 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until the wrappers are golden brown. 
Recipe comes from here.