Category Archives: Snacks/Preschool Snacks

Quick Dulse

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Dulse packageI try to eat seaweed occasionally.  I like to hear people say, “Eeeeew.  You eat that?”  Actually, it’s because I cut out the bleached, processed, iodized sodium chloride in favor of sea salt.  I’m not picky.  Himalayan pink.  Celtic gray.  Just give me color.

But I do worry about iodine.  There’s not much in sea salt; I personally don’t believe there’s enough iodine in sea salt for my family and me to be at top health (or even fair health).  I don’t care what you think, but if you haven’t looked it up, I hope you will.  I want you to benefit from any “healthy” choices you’re making and not be making yourself “unhealthy” in the long run!  Luckily, several of my family members and I like seaweed, and we all like shrimp and other salt water fish, sources of iodine.

Iodine needs surge in pregnancy and lactation so I think this is a time to be extra aware of what really does and does not contain iodine.  Especially if you shun iodized salt, seaweed, and seafood (which is easy to do in the first trimester!).

I picked up a bag of dulse months ago and it sat there until I finally read the package and figured out what to do with it.  That’s a good thing about dried seaweed; it keeps a long time!  I opted for a quick flash fry which is easy to do for breakfast.  The taste and crunch remind me of the morel mushrooms we picked and ate in my home state of Indiana each spring (we liked them crispy).  Someone asked me once, “The hallucinogenic kind?”  Um.  No.

Quick Dulse

Dulse
Olive Oil
Salt

Heat just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet over medium heat.
While oil is heating, tear off some pieces of dulse from the clump in the package and separate pieces and place in pan in a single layer, after a quick inspection for any rocks and such.
Season quickly with some salt (sea salt).
Flip the pieces of dulse over.
You’re looking for a subtle color change in the dulse.  When it starts to undergo a barely perceptible change to a lighter Crispy dulsebrown, remove it. This does not take long!!!!  Don’t burn it!!  Get it out of there!  (If you look at the photo at right, you can see some have a lighter color at the edge or end of the strip.  Don’t wait for it all to turn lighter.  As soon as I shot this photo, I scrambled to get the dulse out!)
I seasoned with a touch more sea salt.

Eat it alongside your scrambled eggs.  Not bad!

Each bite counts.  Make them full of nutrition, not just calories.

~~Terri

Paleo Wraps Just Got Better

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We tried Paleo Wraps.

Hot Spots of Today’s Post

1. Paleo Inc, the makers of Paleo Wraps (a.k.a. My-Wrap-Is-Healthier-Than-Your-Wrap), stand behind their products.

2.  Paleo Wraps were discovered to be $6.99 at my sister’s local supermarket, much less expensive than the quoted Amazon price in my original review.

3.  Today’s post is a follow-up from Review From An Amazon Sucker:  Paleo Wraps.

My Blog Finally Fed Me

An excerpt from an e-mail that showed up early the next morning after the Paleo Wrap review posted:

Thanks for the nice review of our Paleo Wraps! After reading it though I became concerned when you mentioned the Paleo Wraps partially cracked. That is not suppose to happen and typically they are very soft and never break…We would also love to send a free replacement pack to you for any wraps that were like that…Please e-mail me back your address so we can send the replacement pack (s)…

Heath Squier/Owner

The e-mail further requested some packaging information, my home address–my height, weight, and eye color, along with my children’s ages and gender–and offered to send a replacement package to my home.  It appeared completely legitimate–but sure–Mr. Squier.  Sure you’re Mr. Squier.  I don’t know about giving my address out.  My husband said, “That might be a ‘Phisher.’  Are you sure it’s okay?  Don’t do it.”  He painted pictures of kidnappings and body bags in my head.

However, I kindly e-mailed back the information he requested minus the address and personal information (which he never asked for in the first place).  I called the company’s phone number printed on the package (which I had extracted from the yucky trash when I got the e-mail) a week later when my pregnancy nausea and headache allowed me off the couch, and the phone was answered by a real, live person!  She verified that Heath Squier was the owner and had indeed sent me that e-mail.

Within two days of that call, I had two more packages of Paleo Wraps.  No cracks.  Smooth and supple.  Super pliable.  Super pliable.  (That wasn’t a typo.)  Heath Squier was right; they shouldn’t crack.  My other wraps were good, even with the cracks.  These new wraps, I can see, are how they’re supposed to be.  I guess my ones from Amazon just weren’t quite right.

To further elevate my opinion of Paleo Wraps, my sister found them in her local supermarket for $6.99 a package.  That keeps them at about the $1.00 per wrap I was shooting for.

Forget Nutrient-less Bread

Lastly, due to pregnancy, I succumbed to buying tapioca-based bread (after two years without bread–go figure).  My kids just want to inhale it plain, at the expense of other well-needed nutrients.  The whole package in one day.  This is quite an amazing, interesting, fascinating phenomenon to watch.  How kids deprived of bread, any kind of bread, but not deprived of good, delicious food will still preferentially steer towards bread!  I’ll bet I’m not the only mom who has embarked on a whole/real foods journey who has observed this.  (You want some soup?  No, I ate some bread.  Want some stir-fry?  No, I ate some bread.  Want an orange?  Nah, I ate some bread.  Want some bread?  Yes!)

Because of my experience with Heath Squier, his company, and his excellent product, I will happily be sourcing Paleo Wraps for our home.  My kids enjoy them, I will be supporting a quality act, and I can stuff them with tons and tons of vegetables and nutrient-dense goodies (those wraps can handle it!).  May Paleo Inc be successful and blessed in their endeavors.  Seems like they deserve it!  (Now, if you’re reading this one Mr. Squier, could you come up with plantain wraps for people who don’t tolerate coconut?  There’s a niche for that.  Those poor people are out there…)

Food is like a drug.  With side effects particular to each person.  Take only those foods which benefit you and cause no harm.  Choose to leave the rest behind.  Eat whole, real foods.  Listen to your body.  Not the diet book. ~~Terri

What Kids Who Are Being Forced To “Eat Healthy” Want

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As agreed upon and written by three little scheisters who have given up artificial colors, artificial flavors, most added preservatives, most grains, sugar, and dairy because they felt sorry for vegetables and fruits feeling so left out.

FrankenBerry Cereal

Yes. If they had wanted this and would have eaten it two years ago, it would have been in the cupboard. If we can change, so can you!

Dear Mom,

Here’s what we want.  If you’re going to make us eat and drink “healthy,” could you…

♥  Please remember that straws make everything better?

♥  Please make hot cocoa on cold and snowy days?  (We use coconut milk.)

♥  Make fun and yummy smoothies?

♥  Use fun and colorful cups?

♥  Buy yummy fruits like bananas, apples, and grapefruit?

♥  Occasionally let us have cookies, cake, cupcakes, ice cream, Lara bars, and juice?  (Almonds and almond flour to the rescue.)

♥  Let us make our own soup or let us add some stuff to it until we like it?

♥  Make a face with vegetables on our plates?

Sincerely,
Your Girls

There you have it.  That’s what three kids, ages 9, 8, and 4 said they wanted to help them eat “healthy.”  (The word “healthy” is a four-letter word in my house, a waste of breath and proper vocabulary.  Teeth on edge feeling:  Ditch the Word “Healthy.”)

“Mom, when I’m BIG, I’M going to eat WHATEVER I want.” —-Sure.  It’ll go great with your pink hair, all black clothes, and new boyfriend.  Go for it.  At this time, my job will already have been reduced to “advisor-when-asked” anyhow.  The many nights you climbed into my bed will be long forgotten until you decide to complete the circle with scheisters of your own.

Terri

G is also for "grainless granola bars".

Smoothie pops

A is for apples with nutbutter piped on top

Carmel Apples

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Halloween carmel applesWe are marching up to Halloween!  This week we’ve seen tomato soup, peanut butter ghosties, and now caramel apples!  The house is considered decorated.  I’m thawing the straight-from-the-orchard apple cider, and the party food is set for our post trick-or-treat romp (in the snow)!

These two-ingredient caramel apples use ingredients that are allowed on GAPS, SCD, and Paleo diets.  They took me less than 30 minutes to make.  The kids can get in on the action by decorating popsicle sticks (make sure they leave the insertion end clean) and spinning the dipped apples until the caramel cools and sets.  This food is fun, easy, and gets the whole family together.  (Okay, I know.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snicker’s used to do a great job of bringing the family together, too.  Until someone took it into their head to store and stash.)

FAST, EASY CARMEL APPLES
Covers about 6 small apples

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tablespoons of ghee (butter would work, too)
  • 1 cup of honey
  • 6 small apples (or 3 huge ones)
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Parchment or waxed paper

Instructions:

  1. Wash your apples ahead of time if you can.  You want your apples COMPLETELY dry.  Absolutely dry.  Set them aside until you’re ready.
  2. When you’re ready to make the recipe, decorate your popsicle sticks and insert them into the apples on the stem end (remove the stem).
  3. Place the honey and ghee into a medium-sized saucepan.  (A small saucepan would work, but the mixture may froth over the side if you’re not careful.)
  4. Turn the heat on medium to medium-high and start stirring.
  5. Stir constantly until the mixture froths all through (not just at the edges) and is in full, rolling boil.  At this frothing point, cook for two minutes.  Set your timer.  If you have a candy thermometer, you want to cook the mixture between soft-ball and hard-ball stage.  (If you cook it to hard-ball stage you will have candy apples rather than carmel apples.  If you cook it too short of a time, you will have “carmel-on-the-parchment-paper” apples.)  Another method to make sure you’ve got the right consistency is to dip a spoon in the mixture.  Remove spoon.  As the carmel cools on the spoon, it should stick to it and not just completely run off.
  6. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow it to start cooling.  After it has cooled maybe 5 minutes or so, start dipping your apples.  Just don’t let it cool until it sets before you get it on the apple!  The carmel will be runny until it cools so you need to turn and tilt the apple until the carmel cools and sets.  Then place it onto the parchment or waxed paper!
  7. Place in a cool place to store.
  8. You could get creative and sprinkle with nuts or chocolate.  You could be uncreative and just make the carmel dip to serve with cut apples.
  9. Enjoy the grins of your children!  The time with them is fleeting.

Family “gustar” report:  Complete success.

Aside:  We’ve all heard of honey, but what is ghee?  First off, it’s pronounced with the  “hard ‘G’ sound.”  Like in the word “go.”  Secondly, in the past, have you ever heated up butter in the microwave and maybe overdid it a little–or a lot?  There were layers and a bunch of floaties?  (I used to hate it when I did that.)  The layers are the different components of butter.  The ghee layer (or clarified butter layer) is the fat layer.  The other layers with the lactose and milk proteins are poured and strained off and just the butterfat of ghee is left behind.  It is supposedly less allergenic than butter.  It can also be cooked at higher temperatures without burning.  Often, you will see it used at seafood restaurants for dipping and also it is used in Indian (as in the continent) cooking.  You can make your own or buy it.

I hope you are having a wonderful week.  I hope you are getting lots of time with your kids and that your patience is abundant.  Take care.

Terri

Carmel apples being dipped Carmel apples wpid-IMAG1593.jpg

Halloween Ghosties Treat

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Whole foods Halloween snackQuote of the morning:  “You need to eat what we’ve got.  We’re here to provide you good food, not food you have to like.”

For Halloween we have decided to go trick or treating and then come back to the house for our own little party with hot Indiana apple cider, Halloween ghosties, and caramel apples.  We had a family meeting to discuss the candy dilemma.  (Let me not kid you.  I have found the absolute best place for a family meeting is in the car after church or a ballgame.  While everybody is strapped in and the car is idling, you loudly call “FAMILY MEETING.”)  Parents said “No candy.”  Kids made sad faces and whining, whimpering noises.  “Not fair.”  The compromise, which I’m still not happy with, is 5 pieces on Halloween Day, 3 pieces post-Halloween day one,  2 pieces post-Halloween day two, and 1 piece post-Halloween day three.  Last year they ate all they wanted on Halloween Day, and then the candy fairy came.  The day after was horrible behavior in school.  My husband looked at me and asked, “Did you really think that was a good idea?”

Next year, I’m hoping to convince them our own little party with fun food that we make is better than anything.  On that note, here are some cute Halloween ghostie treats.  The kids helped me make the dough, shape the dough, and sprinkle coconut on.  The icing part is a bit messy.

HALLOWEEN GHOSTIE TREATS
makes about fifteen 2 inch ghosts

Ghost dough
1 jar of smooth peanut butter, unsweetened, organic, the kind where the oil separates on top  (the kind I used to think was despicable and yucky)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of raw, set honey or whipped honey (Liquid honey should work fine except I know some brands of peanut butter can be so runny, in which case the liquid honey would make the dough too thin.)

Frosting
(This is not a sweet stand-alone frosting.  It is simply a medium to turn the ghost white and plaster coconut on.  On the finished product it tastes great.)
8 tablespoons of palm shortening (I used Spectrum)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
 2 teaspoons or raw, set honey or whipped honey (Again, the liquid honey may cause the frosting to be unworkably runny.)

Topping
Finely shredded, dry, unsweetened coconut  (won’t look as nice with the long strands you buy that are already sweetened)
Currants for eyes

Dough:

  1. Drain the oil on top of the peanut butter into a small bowl and set aside.  Reserve the oil because it may need added back later to add moisture to the dough.
  2. Place the drained peanut butter, salt, vanilla, and whichever honey style you chose into a large mixing bowl.  The stand mixer works great here if you have one.
  3. Mix the dough very well.  It needs to be stiff enough to hold a shape, but not so stiff that it crumbles.  (See photos below.)  Mine needed no modifications, but every brand of peanut butter is different and every container of local honey may differ.  Add back oil if your dough is too stiff.  If you overshoot it and you get it too runny, you can try adding some coconut or more peanut butter if you have it.
  4. On a large cookie sheet to catch any mess, shape the dough into ghost-like shapes.  They don’t need to be too smooth.  You’re putting frosting on them.

Icing and Assembling

  1. Combine palm shortening, vanilla, and honey in a medium bowl.  Whip with a hand mixer until fluffy.  The consistency will be like soft butter.
  2. Pick up and ice the top and sides of the ghosts.  The icing doesn’t need to be very thickly applied, just applied all over the front so the coconut will stick.  This is a messy job.
  3. Lay flat on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with coconut.
  4. Use currants for eyes and gently push in.  Done this way, the currants will only stay on if the ghosts lay flat.  If you think kids will want to pick up their ghosts and make them dance, you will probably want do the following step before adding the currants:   Refrigerate the ghosts to firm them up, then dot some warm left over frosting where you want the eyes, and then apply currants, pushing gently.  Place back in refrigerator to set the eyes.
  5. The ghosts do best presented and handed out flat on a plate.  We tried sticks, but the dough wasn’t stiff enough to hold the ghost on.  Bummer.
  6. The icing will be firm when refrigerated.  It will soften up at room temperature.

Family “gustar” report:  6/6 who tried them loved the way they tasted.  They ate half the batch, and I set aside the rest for Halloween Day.  I think I will use this dough recipe later on for Christmas “buckeyes.”

Peanut butter ghosts in processDough for peanut butter ghosts

More US Wellness Meats Choices

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Sausage biscuitIf you’re going to fork it out for this stuff, it’d better be good.  Here’s more of what we’ve tried and liked (or didn’t like) from US Wellness Meats, a company you can order grass-fed/pastured meat from.  I know nothing about US Wellness Meats and have no connection with them, except as a satisfied customer.  (I like to post information that I’d like to find on Google.)

I have posted before on what we order from US Wellness Meats here.  We have since tried more items.  Click here to go to US Wellness Meats’ site.

Awesome and I like to keep on hand:

Sugar free ham (This was absolutely fabulous.  It has been out of stock the last couple of times I checked.  But I will be ordering several of these for the Holidays.  This will make you look like a good cook.  That’s so nice.)

Beef tallow (This works great for me as a butter replacement in soups and sautés.)

Knuckle bones (Great for broths and stocks.)

Beef oxtail (Great for broths and stocks.)

Beef Oso Buco, shank (This is another fabulous meat, but it only serves, like, 2 people.  Pop this in the crockpot, and you will have the most tender, most savory meat ever.  The broth is spectacular.  If there is any leftover broth after the Oso Buco is eaten, I like to add some more water and a knuckle bone to stretch the broth further.)

Tripe pieces  (This is not scientific.  But I figure, if I’m trying to heal the gut–I should use the gut.  The tripe makes a nice broth and has no peculiar flavor.  This is not for those who cannot get over their squeamish stomachs.  This is for the die-hard intent on trying every avenue to fix their GI and who values the animal for what it provides and feels nothing should be wasted in the circle of life.  I make sure and use a meat cut along with it so the broth has flavor.)

From the last post and we have kept buying:  wild pink shrimp, sugar-free pork breakfast sausage

Good and I like to keep on hand:

Marrow bones, the small work well for me, since I don’t really like the taste of marrow.  (I try to mix it in things here and there.  I downsized to the small because I don’t like the taste of marrow very well, and the medium was too much marrow.)

From the last post and we have kept buying:  sugar-free beef franks, beef jerky sticks (spicy), beef snack sticks

Good and I occasionally buy:

Lamb Spare Ribs  (Actually very good, but expensive.)

Salami (Good, but my kids and husband would eat it exclusively.  To me, it should be a treat.  So I alternate when I buy it.)

Beef Breakfast Sliders  (These have moved down the list because my last batch had way too much gristle in several packages.  Not good.)

Beef Snack ends  (These are a little bland for me, but the kids like them fine.  I just prefer the whole stick if I’m going to eat them.)

Okay, but I won’t buy again:

Beef Pemmican, regular bar (I tried these several times.  I wanted to like them.  I just didn’t.  They help when you’re experimenting with how low carb you want/need to take your diet.)

Tripe, honeycomb  (I liked the smooth tripe, but I didn’t like this tripe.  It lent a “barn” smell to my broth.  I grew up on a farm.  However, strangely, the broth had a nice flavor.  I just used a knuckle bone and the honeycomb tripe.  The honeycomb tripe is very ugly.  It scared my kids.  I had to really have some creative explanations when they looked into the crockpot on this one.)

Bison Jerky (Just not a lot of flavor.  Not bad.  Not great.  My husband “nayed” them.)

Any questions, comments, gripes or complaints?  No?  I didn’t think so.

Terri

How To Take A “Healthy” Snack To Soccer Or Any Other Snack Requiring Event

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My turn to take snack for the soccer team.  I hate taking snack.  Do you actually like taking a snack?  Don’t get me wrong, I am known as “The Snack Queen.”  But I don’t like it.  (Please make sure and read the whole post.  I am full of love and affection, not just sarcasm.  But I am dripping today.)

♥  I don’t like that I have to work so dastardly hard to make a whole foods snack fun.  (How can I make this apple just as appealing as Oreo cookies?  Hmmm.  Let me think.  Let me think.  Apple fritters.  No, that won’t work.  Apple pie.  No.  And think…)
♥  I don’t like the extra trip to the grocery store.   (Oh, shoot.  It’s our turn for snack.  Just when is that going to fit into our day?)
♥  I don’t like seeing kids waste the grapes I brought.  (Hey, those things are organic!  I feed your kids nothing less than the best!)
♥  I don’t like snacks interfering with lunch and dinner.  (“I just can’t understand why Sammie won’t eat his meatloaf and peas.  He just doesn’t eat anything.”  Yeah, right.)
♥  I don’t like that kids always have food in hand.  (It’s 8 o’clock.  Breakfast.  10 o’clock.  Snack.  12 o’clock.  Lunch.  2 o’clock.  Snack.  4 o’clock.  Snack.  6 o’clock.  Supper.  8 o’clock.  Snack.  Hey, if you need medical reassurance that it’s okay to just feed your child three hearty meals a day with just one snack, I’m here to provide it.)
♥  I don’t like the covertly competitive nature of snacks.  (You know what I mean, moms.)
♥  And yes, I don’t like the snacks you bring.  (And I heard YOU whining about some mom looking at the label, worried about her kid’s food intolerances.)

But here it is.  A nice way to package any whole food and make it just as much fun as an Oreo cookie.  If I catch you Pinnin’ this and puttin’ Oreo cookies in there, I will…I will hunt you down.  I will stare you in the face.  And I will–
CRY.

How to Package Any Whole Food For Soccer or Any Other Snack-Requiring Event

  • Make baseballs, volleyballs, softballs, tennis balls.  Make spider webs, pumpkins, sunshines, bugs.
  • Fill with grapes, mandarin oranges, frozen blueberries, cut strawberries, raisins, trail mix, almonds, tiny baby carrots.  Not Goldfish.  Not fruit snacks.
  • Don’t be makin’ fun of my soccer balls down here.  I had three helping hands, and they did GREAT!

Soccer Ball Snack

Items Used:

Soccer Snack Items

Those are Solo 3 and 1/4 ounces plastic “soufflé cups with lids.”  Any smaller, and you won’t be fitting any snack in there.  I bought them at a “Cash and Carry” store that services caterers.  I looked, and you can get them on-line.  This is not what I used, but it looks the same:  Reditainer Plastic Cups.

Using lid to make circles

And that’s the end of the soccer story for this year.

PS:  I am the daughter of a woman who always made sure my teams and classes had snacks, albeit NOT nourishing ones.  I always thought my mom was so cool because she was there for me and added those loving touches.  So I am inwardly searching to keep my “snack revolution” in-line with the specialness that snacks can and do add to a child’s life.

Peace, love, and joy to you and your life.

Terri

Food is for Nutrition, Not Amusement

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Fruit kabobs

An in-the-car dialogue.

M1, 9 years old, said with urgency:  Mom–we need to go to the grocery store.

Mom, perplexed:  Why?

M1:  We don’t have anything to eat.

Mom, still a little confused:  Well, what do you want?  We have roasted chicken, left-over steak fajitas, pumpkin soup, applesauce, apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, vegetables–

M1:  —we only have one apple.  It’s bad.  We don’t have any snacks.

Mom:  We have almonds, raisins, and I can cut the bad spot out of that apple.

M1, finally a bit whiny:  But (hard pause)–we don’ have anything fun to eat during a movie.

Mom, finally a bit exasperated:  Food is for nutrition, M.C., not amusement.

Almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, raisins, dried apples, apples, applesauce, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, vegetables, chicken, steak fajitas (no tortilla), honey, maple syrup…I am no Scrooge.  Check out my snack page.  We make these all periodically still in our house.  But enough is enough.  I am a doctor.  I am a compassionate human being.  And I care.

Food is for nutrition, not amusement.  You can do this for yourself and your children.  They deserve the proper approach to food to be taught to them.  Soda pop, juice, candy, candy bars, crackers, chips, fruit snacks, and other processed foods should be TREATS.  You start watching and counting when you see kids eating these things.  Better yet, have your kids start counting with you.  These foods aren’t treats anymore.  They are staples.  And YOU are a tool for the food and marketing industry.  YOUR KIDS are tools for the food and marketing industry.  Don’t let your kids be tools.  Don’t you be a tool.

And lastly, as you deal with food in your house, please, please, please focus on nutrition.  Do not let it become about “fat.”  If we eat whole, real foods, our bodies will conform to a natural size for us.  If we use food as nutrition, rather than a boredom filler, anxiety smoother, or daily amusement, we will be “healthy.”  Please.  Somebody cares.

Terri

What To Do With All of Those Tomatoes?

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If you know the right people, they are free this time of year.  But what to do with all of them?

Use the dusty dehydrator.  Ours is on a shelf in the garage. Garage-dried tomatoes.

Instructions:

1.  Obtain give-away tomatoes.

2.  Decide whether to make tomato sauce or dehydrated tomatoes.  Both are easy.

3.  Decide on dehydrated tomatoes because you’ve never done that before.

4.  Slice the tomatoes in 1/4 inch slices (about 1/2 centimeter thick).

5. Lay slices on dehydrating trays so the air can circulate all around.

6.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, just like you were going to eat them fresh.  A little garlic powder or salt if you’d like. Sprinkle over the sink so there’s no mess.

7.  Dehydrate at 135 degrees F (57 degrees C) until crisp.  We dehydrated ours about 15 hours.

8.  Result:  A wonderfully CRISP dried tomato!

Just eat like a chip, pile with a topping like a cracker, or break into pieces and sprinkle onto a salad. They are actually very good, crisp, and sweet. I used Roma tomatoes that a friend gave to us. They dried very nicely!

image

♦♦♦♦♦♦

When my mom visited me a month or so ago, she looked at my garden and she said, “That just looks like a lot of work, Terri.” Mom and Dad always had a large garden when I was growing up. Somewhere along the line, they got tired. They resorted to boxes, bags, and metal cans for food. I see why. I know WHY it happened, and I’m not blaming her. This has been the first year I have had the real garden that I have always dreamed of. Do I have the stamina to eat real food forever? Do I have the stamina to keep growing my own food and preserving it? Do you? How are you doing? What have your own two hands “put up for winter”?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This is our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.  We made them today for a community benefit.  They are good.  The original recipe hails from God’s gift to grain-free bakers:  Elana Amsterdam, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  The woman Is a baking genius.  She has a blog site, also:  Elana’s Pantry.  Since we have changed ingredients and changed instructions, I figured I’m far enough out from the original recipe to put it here on the blog.  But, Elana’s Pantry is an absolute must-see site for helping you come up with recipes that will help your family transition or stay on a new eating lifestyle that cuts out flour.

When you display your baking prowess , don’t call them “gluten-free” cookies.  Shameful.  Don’t give flour the upper hand that way.  Call them “Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies”, and I promise they’ll get a fair shake.

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups Honeyville almond flour
1/4 teaspoonful salt
1/2 teaspoonful baking soda
2 tablespoonsful of cocoa powder (my daughter says this makes them taste more like “dairy”, by that she means “real cookies”)
1/2 cup of oil (we have used olive oil and coconut oil, both successfully)
1/2 cup of honey
1 tablespoonful vanilla
Generous amount of Enjoy Life chocolate chips, about 1/2 a bag

You may do the old-fashioned “mix the dry ingredients together, then the wet ingredients together, etc.”  However, I just dump it all together, except the chocolate chips, in a large bowl.  Mix very well using an electric mixer.  Add chocolate chips in last and quickly mix in on low.  Scoop out balls of equal amount using a teaspoon or tablespoon and place on a cookie sheet.  Use a nice cookie scoop if you have one.  The cookies do not spread out much, so flatten them out just a bit with the back of a spoon so they look more like “normal” cookies.  I can fit about 12 on  sheet or 14 if I have to.  This recipe makes us about 16-18 cookies.

Bake about 10-12 minutes on 350 degrees F.   But watch out.  Do not overbake.  The almond flour will burn.  I like the very edges to be just a smidgen brown–that is, the “tippy edges.”

I hope you enjoy them.  Elana’s Pantry is a great site, and I have used her recipes for biscuits, pot pie, cupcakes, and coffee cake with great success.  We modify most of her recipes to make them more compatible with the special diet I am experimenting with right now called GAPS.  Chocolate is not technically GAPS legal, especially when you add in a little sugar with the chocolate chips.  So you have to decide what’s best for you and your family.

Almond flour and Enjoy Life chocolate chips are expensive.  It sounds harsh, but I use this to remind myself that these almond flour recipes are really treats.  I have used them extensively over the last year, and I am now weaning my kids away from them.  Ever so subtle.  Ever so slow.

For us, finding recipes that simulated “old recipes” helped my kids’ mental attitudes, particularly in the sweets department.  I would love for you to list a favorite recipe you turned to so I can add to our repertoire and other readers can build on theirs.  I’m all about helping each other through this process!  Got any ideas to share?  Have a wonderful weekend!

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