Heart Shaped Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with a Chocolate Surprise

We hope you have a wonderful day full of love! In our house, we’re appreciating friends, family, and good food today!

Yes, I anticipate there will be chocolate involved.

Dark chocolate chips in a blue Anthropologie Mini Latte Bowl

To make these gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookies, we dressed up this fabulous healthy cookie recipe (pin) (containing no gluten, processed sugar, butter or egg) with dark chocolate chips and baked it in a heart shaped silicone pan.

Heart shaped cookies

We doubled the amount of almond flour (by grinding whole almonds in 15 second increments in our Vitamix blender) to add a bit more protein to offset the added sugar in the chocolate chips.

Heart Shaped Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with a Chocolate Suprise

Indulgent, but not too indulgent…

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup of almond meal
1 cup dried fruit (we used 3/4 cup raisins and 1/4 cup dried cranberries)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice

3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper; otherwise, grab your silicone baking mold and place it within an easy reach.

In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, and almond meal. Add salt, cinnamon, and allspice and stir until evenly mixed. Add dried fruit and stir until well combined, checking to ensure that the dried fruit does not stick together in big clumps.

In another bowl, mash bananas with the back of a fork, then add canola oil and vanilla extract; thoroughly mix. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chips and thoroughly combine.

Press the batter into the silicone mold or place spoonfuls of batter on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool and then enjoy!

Have any left over? Save them for the next morning. We really like eating these cookies for breakfast! They taste better and are more healthy than grabbing a granola bar on your way out the door.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Easy Sore Throat Tea Recipe

Have a sore throat? Then this remedy (from my good friend Alissa) is for you:

Easy sore throat tea recipe

Add the juice of one lemon, a sprinkle of Cayenne (not so much that you can’t drink it!), and one tablespoon of honey to two cups of hot water.

That’s it! Drink and enjoy.

I know it sounds crazy: how can a simple drink make such a difference?!
Well, let me tell you, it works for me!

Quite frankly, I’m relieved. I have a birthday to celebrate this weekend and I want to enjoy myself. Sore throat, be gone!

Breakfast Banana Split Recipe

I’m always on the lookout for fast, healthy breakfast recipes. This Breakfast Banana Split takes less than five minutes to make and leaves me feeling full all morning. Plus it sounds like a treat even though it contains only healthy ingredients: cottage cheese, banana, nuts, and jam.

Breakfast Banana Split Recipe

Breakfast Banana Split
Adapted from Clean Eating – since it’s not available on their website, I thought I would post it here for us all to share and enjoy.
Serves 1.

Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 tbsp all-fruit jam
1/4 cup roasted, sliced almonds or nut of your choice

Peel and cut banana in half lengthwise. Place banana halves in a shallow dish or bowl. Place cottage cheese over the center of the banana and top with jam, nuts and (optional!) a pinch of salt. Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Recipes For the New Year

After the gluttony of the holidays, here are some healthy recipes to get back on track. Since our family doesn’t eat wheat, all of these recipes are also gluten-free.

Favorites in our house:
Edamame Salad – a fast, healthy side dish and one of my favorite things to bring to a potluck:

Swiss Chard With Chickpeas and Pine Nuts served over your grain of choice — quick and unbelievably delicious:

Simple Walnut and Grapefruit Salad — a winter favorite that also tastes great with our favorite go-to dressing, a Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette:

Kale Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing that I keep raving about:
Making Kale Salad

Here are some more tasty recipes that I’m excited to try from Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. Quinoa with corn, kale, tofu, and pesto (pin)
2. Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas and Feta (pin)
3. Delicata Squash Salad with Feta and Cranberries (pin)
4. Quinoa Taco Salad (pin)
5. Cucumber Salad with Creamy Mint Dressing (pin)

And in case you’re craving something that seems indulgent but isn’t really, check out these breakfast cookies (pin) containing no sugar, no butter, no eggs, no flour (just rolled oats, coconut, spices, almond meal, mixed nuts, dried fruit, mashed bananas, oil and vanilla):

I can’t wait to try them!

Don’t forget about our post from last month featuring Almost Healthy Decadent Desserts for more no-guilt treat ideas!

View these and many more delicious, healthy recipes on my Recipes To Try Pinterest board.
(images obtained via Pinterest)

Best of 2011: Gluten-Free Living

After years of occasionally eating gluten, this year marked a turning point for me. I realized that I can’t eat any — ANY! — gluten. The moment of truth happened while making playdough with our daughter; I breathed in the flour while we were mixing and got very, very sick… So, goodbye to gluten and hello to many months of feeling better!

Here are some of the yummy gluten-free recipes we shared via the blog this year. These particular recipes are the ones we make over (and over!) again, most on a weekly basis. Enjoy!

Our Go-To Dressing (original post)

Brazilian Cheese Bread and Chickpea Pancakes (original post)

Tasty Gluten-Free Granola Recipe (original post)
Gluten-free granola recipe

Coconut Date Rolls (original post)
Recipe For Making Coconut Date Rolls

Easy Kale Chips Recipe (original post)
Making kale chips together from scratch

Kale Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing Redux (original post)
Making Kale Salad

We’ve eaten so well this year! Plus, our daughter now voluntarily eats kale! Try those kale chips; I swear they are a (surprise!) hit with everyone. If our daughter loves them, I’m pretty sure you’ll like them too.