The BLAST – Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Sprouts,Tomato

The new and improved BLT is now the BLAST.

This is just a quick post again, because I didn’t even take the time to photograph this process to its real potential. But then again, a delicious sandwich really only needs one photo to make your mouth water, and to get to you say, “Damn! Gimme dat!”. At least, this does it for me.

Brief background: Last Saturday we went to Fort Collins, a fun town that is home to Colorado State University and New Belgium Brewery (in addition to many more breweries). Without our knowledge we arrived on the day of a motorcycle rally and were treated to a few talented and fearless souls doing moves like this.

Oh hey bro!

It was so intense, and grisly, and manly, that I just needed something with bacon on it. But I’m not a big pork eater, actually I don’t really touch the stuff. Luckily I discovered (when in Safeway on the ride home) an exciting new turkey bacon option.

It was SOO good. Believe me-even the carnivorous boyfriend was a fan. And a lot better for you too. One piece has only 40 calories and it’s 94% fat free. Yes please! I loaded up a sandwich with the BLAST ingredients, added a handful of pretzels to the plate (I love something crunchy with a sandwich) and enjoyed a meal as satisfying as surviving a day of wheelies on a motorcycle could ever be. 

As a side-I sort of feel silly even explaining how to make this sandwich, since we all know what goes in a BLT and I explained the difference, but hey, it’s a food blog, so I will anyway.

Enjoy! And happy Memorial Day!!

Annnd…cue drool.

BLAST (Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Sprouts, Tomato)

Ingredients

(makes 2 sandwiches)

• 4 slices whole wheat toast
• 2 slices cheese of choice
• 4 slices turkey bacon
• 1 avocado pitted and sliced
• handful of sprouts
• ½-1 whole tomato, sliced
• A few pieces of lettuce, arugula or spinach
• Mayo or mustard if desired

Directions

• Heat skillet to medium-high.
• Toast bread; place cheese on two slices immediately after toasting to allow to melt slightly.
• Cook turkey bacon thoroughly on skillet. It was about 3-4 minutes on each side once the skillet is good and hot.
• Spread mayo or mustard on bread slices. 
• Evenly divide remaining ingredients on bread, form sandwiches.
• Pair with a Fat Tire beer, and live it up!

Light and Refreshing

It’s officially summer. OK, not officially in the solstice sort of way, but in the “I’m going to lay out in the backyard with a Coors Light in my hand and probably sweat a lot” sort of way. In three days we celebrate Memorial Day and honor our vets and military, and run in the annual BolderBoulder 10K. It was 85 degrees out today. I can’t really comprehend it; It’s been winter for eight months here and I’d nearly forgotten what warm weather even felt like!

This morning we went on a beautiful hike through Green Mountain, just west of Boulder. It was a strenuous and satisfying two hour hike, and after we had salad and pizza at a local joint called Beau jo’s. After lunch I was craving something sweet. Not just anything, but a summery sweet something. Being a long time resident of the south, the first thing to come to my mind was Key Lime Pie. I had never made it myself, so I decided to look into a few recipes and attempt to create something straddling the southern goodness / healthy light line. Which is difficult. If you need to eat pie, this is probably one of the lighter options. Unfortunately so many of the recipes I came across had sugar as an ingredient, or heavy cream…I wanted to cut back a bit!

The result was the recipe you’ll find below. It was the perfect compliment to our dinner of grilled brats and beans. And so refreshing!! Needless to say, by the end, we had consumed ⅓ of the pie between the two of us after dinner. Hey-it’s worth it. Happy summer!!

 

Key Lime Pie (“Light”)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tbs melted butter
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbs water
• 1 14 oz can fat free condensed milk
• ¾ cup egg whites
• zest of two regular limes, or 3-4 key limes
• ½ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
• whipped cream to garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In medium bowl, whip single egg white with whisk until frothy. 
• Mix in graham cracker crumbs until evenly coated.
• Add tablespoon water and mix.
• Add melted butter and combine. 
• Press mixture into greased pie pan, coating bottom and up sides (wetting fingertips for this step will help form crust).
• Bake for 8 minutes, remove to cool while preparing filling (leave oven set to 350).
• In blender, combine condensed milk, lime zest, juice, and egg whites. Blend until smooth (about a minute).
• Pour into prepared crust.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.. The pie will still be jiggly in the center, but will set as it cools.
• Let cool on counter for 45 minutes, chill in fridge for 1 hour. Serve cold, topped with whipped cream!

Pizza night and Mother’s Day

Tim’s mother and granny are visiting us from Virginia. They have graced us since Wednesday, and unfortunately have to fly back tomorrow. Luckily we are spending Mother’s Day with them currently, which is a treat! Since they have gotten to spend a few night with us, we have had some fun cooking for 4 rather than 2. Last night we were talking about ordering pizza, when I realized we should just make our own! I had gotten a new bread cookbook yesterday morning at one of the many garage sales we visited, and was anxious to adapt a recipe to my own.

The crusts on these pizzas are part whole wheat, part white flour. All high-altitude flour, which is a great thing for us! We decided on chicken as a meat topping, but couldn’t agree on what kind-so we made two different ones! The first is sweet italian chicken sausage, portabello and green pepper with a tomato sauce base. The second is barbecue chicken with barbecue and olive oil base. Both were amazing, though I was personally partial to the sausage. I adapted a version of an “in a rush” pizza crust, which turned out beautifully when slowed down a bit (the rushed version calls for the oven to be preheated to 250 for 5 minutes, and the dough rises in the previously warmed oven for 30 minutes-I just left it on the counter for an hour). 

I also have been off dairy now since February, so I put Daiya cheese on the slices I planned to eat!!

Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day!!

The Sweet-Italian Sausage, Portabello and Pepper Pizza

Half-Wheat Pizza Crust, “In a Hurry”

(makes 2 pizza crusts)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm (110-115 degree) water 
• 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (plus a dash more for kneading/correct consistency)
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

• You can either do this by hand or with a mixer and bread hook. If using mixer, place yeast and water in mixing bowl off the start. If using hands, just use a large bowl.
• Put the warm water in bowl, sprinkle yeast over top and let sit for 5 minutes.
• Add flour and salt, either mix with hands or turn to moderate speed on mixer.
• Once the mix becomes roughly incorporated, either mix by hand or on low setting for 5 minutes until smooth. 
• At this point I added a bit of water because my dough was dry, but that might not be necessary for you!
• Form into two balls, let rise about 1-1 ½ hours until doubled.
• Use as directed below!

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, Portobello and Pepper Pizza

Two Variations of Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

• Full recipe of Half-Wheat Pizza Crust.
• Corn Meal for dusting pan
• One small can tomato sauce
• .5 lb Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, out of casing and cooked to brown
• Sautéed portobello and green pepper (we used two small portobello caps and ½ a green pepper)
• .5 lb chicken breast or cutlets, cubed and cooked through
• Mozzarella cheese (mozzarella style daiya cheese for me!

OR

• Any toppings you like!

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Sprinkle two baking sheets with corn meal.
• Take your risen dough and use a rolling pin to spread just under the length and width of the pan. Mine was an inch from the sides of an average cookie sheet.
• Spread tomato sauce on one dough, all the way around but leave ¼ inch on rim to act as crust.
• Mix a ratio of 1:3 olive oil:barbecue sauce for the second dough. Spread in same was as before.
• On the tomato based pizza, spread the chicken sausage evenly, then the portobello, then the green pepper. Top generously with cheese.
• On the barbecue based pizza, first mix the cooked chicken with enough barbecue sauce to coat generously then spread the chicken on the pizza. Top with cheese.
• Place pizzas in oven for 7-11 minutes, or until bubbly and beginning to brown!

OR

• Follow first few steps and top with whatever you want, and bake at same temp for same time!

YAY!

My daiya cheese slices!

 

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Monday Funday

First of all, apologies for this being a short post (and a huge gap since the last one) but I’m exhausted! Of course, we had a delicious dinner, so I need to share. Better yet it was a delicious and incredibly easy dinner (like, less than 30 minutes of actual work and 45 minutes of wine/crafting while the oven did it’s thing). So I have to post, right?!

Yesterday we found a nice 50% off package of organic lean turkey meat when shopping for a pre-planned dinner of barbecue and black bean topped sweet potatoes. Naturally, we couldn’t leave it there for someone else. We agreed that Monday night would be ground turkey night. What to do with it though? We’ve gotten some good practice with turkey meatballs, but I wasn’t really feeling pasta. After this weekend I needed a bit of healthy in my life (not that pasta can’t be healthy, in moderation, but I don’t have time for moderation right now-just give me good for me, and give me a lot of it). I sent this link for ideas, but could’t find one I liked. But what I could do was take some inspiration.

Have you been tempted by the healthy spaghetti alternative, spaghetti squash, yet?? I have, but hadn’t committed. 

Until tonight.

I biked home from work, and made a pit stop at the grocery store. Lucky me, squash was on sale. So was the pasta sauce I love, the organic store brand option! With those items in hand – and ONLY those items (believe me, I was proud of my willpower in a store that sells FOOD) – I headed home to create. The results were tremendous. I didn’t need to use  any oil in this recipe, the turkey cooked up great in my nonstick skillet. The spaghetti squash cooked perfectly in the oven, no real attention needed. It is incredibly easy to make this squash super tasty, and it’s healthy!! One cup of it contains 10% of your daily vitamin C, 9% of your fiber, other minerals and vitamins, and is only 42 calories/10 carbs!! Yes please!

Browning the turkey and adding the mushrooms-already drooling.

Wine and tomato basil sauce? Sure.

Stuffed.

Baked.

Destroyed.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Serves 3-4

Ingredients: 

• 1 (2 or 3lb) spaghetti squash
• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 4 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1 jar pasta sauce
• Red wine (to drink, and to splash in the sauce)
• Handful of cheese (or daiya cheese, in my case!)

Directions:

• Turn oven to 375 degrees.
• Cut squash long ways, clean out seeds, place cut side down in roasting pan (I lined mine with foil).
• Drink wine.
• Bake for 45 minutes. Kill 30 minutes drinking more wine and playing with your dog (or making crafts!)
• Heat skillet to medium. 
• Cook ground turkey until almost all brown. Add in mushrooms. Season if needed.
• Add pasta sauce and splash of red wineand heat through.
• Remove squash from oven, flip over halves so they are squash bowls.
• Scoop turkey mixture into squash halves. You will likely only need half the mixture. We reserved the remaining turkey sauce to put on the spaghetti squash we couldn’t eat, for leftover lunch. You could also cut the squash in half after baking and add more sauce if you are serving 4 people.
• Top with cheese if you like, and bake for an additional 7-9 minutes.
• Cut in half again to share, or simply eat out of a half all by yourself! We started on a half each, and had leftovers of course!
• Drink more wine.
• 

The end of Lent, the beginning of cheese

H A P P Y   E A S T E R !!

This morning began for me in a condo at a ski resort. Not half bad, right?  Tim and I spent yesterday skiing with by best friend and her brand new fiancé (as of last week-congrats to them!) and soaking up some rays. By soaking up rays, I mean getting light sunburns on our noses and cheeks. Oh well! 🙂

Back to the point at hand-today is Easter Sunday, which besides being an important day to any Christian is also the day in which those of us who practice Lent get to finally eat whatever we’ve given up. And I gave up dairy! Which was pretty difficult, but I discovered very valuable on my digestive system. But you know, what’s good for you isn’t always what you end up doing…and even though I promised myself I would continue to cut dairy out, I have a feeling that will be a hard promise to keep!! So this afternoon when I asked Tim what we should make for Easter Supper, he jokingly suggested Macaroni and Cheese. And I certainly surprised him with my enthusiastic, “SURE!” I hadn’t had cheese in 40 days…why not get my just reward? And I did, indeed. This delicious recipe was adapted from the February 27th recipe in the cookbook, A Year Full of Recipes by LOVEFOOD. It’s baked after being assembled, which gives you that wonderful bubbly, crispy cheese topping that is irresistible. Oh, and we accompanied it with grilled asparagus and filet mignon, which certainly helped set the supper off.

It’s important to be patient when cooking the sauce over the stove. You want it to get to the right consistency or you will have mac n soup.

If I add the cheese before the sauce sticks more to the whisk, it won’t thicken up enough while baking to hold it all together for me.

That’s what I want!

Cheese within, cheese withon. 

Delicious, baked and broiled, cheesy good-ness.

Oh, stop.

I chose my favorite: shell noodles. But use whatever you like!

Totally Baked Mac N’ Cheese

Ingredients:

• 8 oz uncooked pasta noodles 
• 5 TBS butter
• 2 ½ cups almond milk (I used plain unsweetened-you can use regular milk of course, but I like the nuttiness of almond milk for this!)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 6 oz bag baby spinach, chopped or torn

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cook pasta according to package. Drain and stir in 1 TBS butter to keep noodles from sticking to each other. Cover and keep warm.
• In saucepan, warm milk and nutmeg over low heat (be sure not to boil).
• Meanwhile, melt remaining 4 TBS butter in another saucepan over low heat. Mix in flour (will form a paste) and continue to stir for 2 minutes (this brings out a nutty flavor). 
• Slowly add in milk mixture, whisking thoroughly to avoid clumps. 
• Continue to cook over low heat, whisking regularly, for 10-15 minutes until sauce consistency is reached (see images above). 
• Mix in 1 ½ cups of the cheddar, and ½ cup of the parmesan, melting completely into sauce. 
• Mix in spinach and continue to stir until wilted.
• Place cooked noodles in bottom of baking dish. Cover with sauce. Top with remaining cheese.
• Bake for 30 minutes, turn to broil for last 5 or so (just to get that good golden brown top!).
• Enjoy!

Peanut Butter + Banana = Bliss

As I’m sure many of you do, I often find myself having a banana with a bit of peanut butter as an afternoon snack. Or as a breakfast option. Or between some whole wheat bread with honey and toasted. Or for dessert. 

You probably get it, I love the combination of peanut butter and bananas. 

Tonight I was craving this combination, but not in the normal direct-peanut butter to banana-banana to mouth sort of way. I wanted cookies. I wanted peanut butter and banana cookies. I wanted, healthy peanut butter and banana cookies.

I scoured pinterest for the perfect recipe but only got inspiration. So many recipes included refined sugars, or too much brown sugar/honey as a replacement for white sugar (somehow we have gotten to a place where anything brown trumps and becomes healthy compared to anything white-how did that happen?). I didn’t want a whole lot of sugar, or honey, or butter, or dulce de leche added to my cookies. We’re talking peanut butter and bananas after all, they’re perfect as is and could anyone argue that they’re sweet enough? 

So I made up my own recipe, and I’m quite content with the results. And guess what? I can share them with almost all of my friends because they are: gluten and dairy free! Sweet. Literally. 

These cookies have home ground oat flour (super easy with a blender or food processor), bananas, peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and corn starch. Cornstarch may take you by surprise-but it really softens the dough and allows for a super fluffy, melt in your mouth delicious cookie. I also added a few blue berries to half of the batch, which was a wonderful idea. 

Coconut oil: it’s rich, it’s lucious, it’s satisfying. And if you only use a little bit-it’s really not all that bad. Moderation, people. I wouldn’t recommend taking a tablespoon of it to the face, but I LOVE what it adds to these cookies. Because it’s only 2 tablespoons, it adds a nice aroma without interfering with the taste of the PB, banana and oats. But don’t take my word for it-whip up a batch of these babies yourself. It only takes 20 minutes (prep, bake and cleanup!!). 

Blending the oat flour.

Ready to bake!

Out of the oven and oh so tempting.

Yum. I’ll take them all, thanks.

Peanut Butter and Banana Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 3 TBS peanut butter 
• 2 TBS coconut oil (make sure it is the consistency of butter-you don’t want it too hard or runny)
• 1 TBS honey
• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
  
• 2 tsp corn starch
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• Optional blueberries (or chocolate chips)

Directions:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Mash ripe bananas with a fork. Add PB, coconut oil and honey and blend with fork.
• Using food processor, turn oats into fine flour consistency (takes just a minute).
• Add in remaining dry ingredients and blend until combined (do not add blueberries or other topping yet).
• Add oat mixture to banana mixture and mix to combine.
• Spoon by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. 
• Press in blueberries or chocolate chips.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Say, “YUM!”

Black Bean Chocolate Cookies

Seriously.

I should probably rename this blog My Mile High Chocolate Pie because… I. Love. Chocolate.

Today, I decided to be exceptionally weird with my cookie baking experiments. I found a recipe that incorporates black beans into the batter! Yes, black beans, as an alternative to the flour you typically see in cookie recipes. Best part about this recipe is the strange main ingredient. Second best part: they can be made vegan (use carob chips in place of chocolate chips) and healthy! At only 120 calories a cookie (or so), I had two. But let’s be honest, I had to hold myself back. After all, I baked them for a healthy work potluck and it wouldn’t look too good if I showed up with just 4 cookies for everyone, now would it?

A couple of days ago I got a new hand blender from Bed Bath and Beyond. Clearly from the Beyond section. It’s made by Calphalon and has two options: “blending wand” and a mini food processor! (They call it a chopper… but it works just as well as a processor for small batches). Anyway this is worth mentioning because I have never owned a food processor, and this was my first baby step towards the real thing. And let me tell you, I can do SO MUCH MORE with this puppy! This recipe requires you to whip the ingredients into a mousse like consistency, which can really only be done with a food processor. You need to be patient as it take a couple minutes of blending the beans, oil, milk and nut butter to get them smooth.

I had to pry the bowl out of my boyfriend’s hands, or he would have eaten all the batter before it met the oven. Great success all around-can’t wait to share at the potluck tomorrow!

I use Hungarian Whole Wheat Flour, designed for high altitude. The coconut oil I picked up at Target, surprisingly, for just $6. For you Target fans-I was only surprised because the grocery selection is typically limited, so finding organic coconut oil felt like a score.

Pre-processor joy.

Post.

One of the finalists. These little guys are so soft, it’s almost a crime.

Ingredients:

• 1 can no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 TBS peanut or other nut butter
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• 2 TBS coconut milk
• 3 TBS whole wheat flour
• ⅓ cup + 1 TBS packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• dash cinnamon
• dash salt
• ½ cup chocolate or carob chips/chunks

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375, line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put beans, nut butter, oil and milk in food processor. Blend on high setting until smooth.
• Add all remaining ingredients but chocolate chunks. Blend until mousse-like in texture.
• Fold in chocolate chunks.
• Spoon by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet (will make 16 cookies).
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Marvel in what beans can do.

Raw – Chocolate – Yum

I wanted to make this a separate post from my earlier soup recipe, because these brownies deserve a page to themselves. This recipe is entirely raw, vegan, and gluten free. And AMAZING. There is no butter, white or brown sugar, eggs or flour in them. The ganache is made with avocado. Seriously…can it get better than healthy that tastes guilty as can be? I submit that it cannot. I dare you to make these and give them to a bunch of guys watching NASCAR, and see if any of them think they’re healthy for a minute. I doubt they will!

Raw Dark Chocolate Brownies with Ganache

For the brownies:

• 2 1/2 cups medjool dates, pitted
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups walnut pieces
• 1 TBSP honey or agave
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch kosher salt

For the ganache:

• 2 ripe avocados, cut into pieces
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• Slightly more than 1/2 cup honey or agave
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder

Directions

• Begin with the brownie base.
• Using food processor, pulse walnuts to fine crumbs.
• Add cocoa powder and honey and blend.
• Add dates, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down sides as you go.
• Mix in remaining ingredients until smooth.
• Spread evenly in 8X8 pan.
• Clean out food processor to use for ganache.
• Place all ganache ingredients in food processor, blend on high setting until smooth. Check for avocado lumps and reblend if necessary.
• Spread over top of brownie base.
• Chill in refrigerator for an hour, and cut into pieces and serve!

Last call for winter soup

Today is daylight savings-and I couldn’t be more excited to have that extra hour of light after work. It’s no fun trying to motivate yourself to work out after 5pm when it’s already getting dark. I find myself going to the gym and aimlessly wandering around the machines; using this one for a minute…then that one for a minute…then determining I deserve frozen yogurt for working out. Go me!

But with the sun being out a little longer each day now, I’m sure to get out with the puppy and go for more evening runs. We’re also approaching race season in my neck of the woods-and training for a 10k will begin in a week. You will likely hear occasional groans from that coming up.

But through all this exercise, or attempts at, a girl’s still gotta eat! And I still love my vegetarian recipes now and again. The way I see it, you know you’ve hit the jackpot on a vegetarian soup recipe when your self proclaimed carnivore boyfriend asks for it regularly, and you still use veggie sausage long after you’ve reincorporated meat into your diet. With daylight savings comes the end of soup season as well-so I need to get my fix in while I can. I love kale or spinach wilted into soup, and this sweet potato kale soup recipe is just what I need (every other week or so).

Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 lbs sweet potatoes, washed and cubed into 1/4 inch pieces (I keep the skin on-can be peeled if you don’t like the skin)
• 1 lb white potatoes, washed and cubed into 1/4 inch pieces (same with skin)
• 1 (14 oz) package vegetarian sausage, sliced (I like Tofurkey Italian Style)
• 6 cups veggie broth
• 1 can white beans, rinsed (navy or white kidney-not garbanzo)
• 1 small head kale, chard or spinach, rinsed and chopped

Directions:

• Heat 1 TBSP EVOO over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook about 5 minutes until softening. Add potatoes and heat for 15 minutes, until beginning to soften.
• Add broth, bring to boil and continue to cook over medium-low temp, covered, until potatoes are done (about 20 minutes).
• Add remaining TBSP oil, veggie sausage and white beans, cook additional 5 minutes until heated through.
• Stir in greens until wilted, serve and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

The cure all cookie

One of my favorite things, no matter the time of year, is an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Gooey, warm, sweet, and with oatmeal it’s healthy-right? Okay maybe not.
But I had this crazy idea-what if I made “healthy” oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? Then I could feel reasonably less guilty about eating half a pan. There are a number of ingredients in this recipe, more than I normally take time to collect-but luckily they are things you can usually find around the house already. They have banana, nut butter, chocolate, yogurt, and whole wheat (and oats,obviously)-so many of my favorite things, it’s hard to believe it. And the texture is reminiscent of the wonderful moist top of a muffin (as Tim pointed out while eating a few). I give you, Chocolate, Oat and Greek Yogurt Muffin Cookies!

Chocolate, Oat and Greek Yogurt Muffin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (preferably sweet-such as honey or pineapple works great)
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 TBS peanut butter or almond butter
• 3 TBS brown sugar
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Mix first nine ingredients (oats through brown sugar) in bowl. Let sit for 5 minute to allow oats to soften.
4. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to oat mixture and stir until combined.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Place by rounded tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until beginning to brown.
8. Let cool and enjoy with a tall glass of milk-and feel GOOD about yourself – you sexy thing you.

Cooper says, “Not fair…I can’t eat chocolate, mom!”