healthier peanut butter cookies

Peanut butter cookies were one treat I could pass up as a child. I wish I was still that way now.

This was actually my first time making peanut butter cookies because of the peanut allergy in our house, but I really, really wanted some cookies.

I found this much lower-fat version with some whole wheat flour in there in my Eating Well Dessert Cookbook.

I thought they were very yummy.

They are best right out of the oven when they are still soft, but they were still good when they cooled down and went mostly crisp.

It did make a lot of cookies though, (4 dozen) so I will probably half the recipe next time.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (from Eating Well Dessert Cookbook)

2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose white flour

2/3 cup whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chopped peanuts (i left this out)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease cookie sheets.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, oil, eggs and vanilla; add 5 teaspoons water and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. In a small bowl, stir together white and whole-wheat flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients in to the brown-sugar mixture just until combined.

3. Roll the dough between your palms into 1-inch-balls. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the cookies with a fork, (I think peanut butter cookies without the identifying criss-cross should be illegal as Cali has been given them at school before with bad results) Sprinkle with peanuts, pressing them lightly into the dough with your fingers

4. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 8-10 minutes, or until just golden. Transfer to wire rack to cool. (Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days)

95 calories per cookie; 2 grams protein, 3 grams fat (0 grams saturated), 15 grams carbohydrates; 65 mg sodium; 9 mg cholesterol

soft whole-wheat breadsticks

I got a cookbook from the library called Cooking with Food Storage Made Easy. It is filled with lots of good tips and recipes and I decided to try this recipe out.

The breadsticks were good. The thing I liked best about them is that they were faster to make than other breadstick recipes that I have made. The only changes I made was that I used 1/4 cup pf melted butter instead of a 1/2 cup, and I left off the cheese. The butter seemed like enough, but if you don’t care about the extra calories I am sure the extra butter would make them even better.

Soft Whole-Wheat Breadsticks

1 Tbsp. yeast

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups hot water

1/2 cup butter

Garlic Salt

Italian Seasonings

Parmesan Cheese

Sift first 3 ingredients together with 2 C. flour. Add hot water and beat until well blended. Mix in remaining flour. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise 15 minutes. Knead on lightly floured surface. Spread dough evenly on sheet-cake pan. (I used a 10x15 and it was perfect) Using a pizza cutter, cut lengthwise down center and then crosswise every 2 inches to make breadsticks. Spread melted butter over tops. Sprinkle with garlic salt, Italian seasonings, and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Healthy Banana Drop Cookies

These cookies are not going to win any awards for beauty, or taste for that matter. But, if you are on a diet, or want to give your kids something healthy these are good cookies. I enjoyed them, and the kids would eat them if they were hungry, but Scott was done with them after his first cookie.

I made them to take on vacation so I would have something to eat while everyone else ate the more fattening (fun) food. I might experiment with the recipe to see if adding some baking soda or something would make them bake up a bit bigger. They pretty much just stayed exactly the same glob of dough on the pan, only baked.

Healthy Banana Drop Cookies

(recipe from food.com formerly known as recipezaar.com)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

5 tbls. softened margarine

1 cup mashed bananas

1/4 cup orange juice

(I also added 1/2 cup of raisins)

---Process oats in food processor or blender until finely ground.

--- Combine first six ingredients

---Use a pastry cutter to cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles crumbs

---Add banana and orange juice and mix well

--- Chill 20 minutes in the freezer

--- Drop teaspoon sized cookies on well greased baking sheets and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes

buttermilk biscuits

I am not going to say that these biscuits will melt in your mouth or are like eating a cloud or any of the other things I have read about biscuits, but I will say they are pretty easy, pretty healthy, and pretty tasty. They are a lot better for you than those other biscuits that have shortening as a main ingredient so you can enjoy them more. At least I do.

It gives us a yummy bread addition to dinner, and gives me something to make with my cookie cutters besides cookies.

I tweaked a regular buttermilk biscuit recipe until I came up with this.

One more thing, when I use 100% whole wheat in a recipe it is whole wheat from hard white winter wheat as opposed to red. It is much lighter and better tasting than the red wheat.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup applesauce (instead of oil)

1 cup buttermilk (I always make sour milk made with lemon juice and skim milk)

Mix dry ingredients. Mix applesauce and buttermilk together in a separate bowl. Add liquid to dry ingredients. barely moistening. Carefully roll out 1/2 inch thick; cut and bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes. The less you handle the dough the lighter and fluffier the biscuits will be.

dinner rolls and chicken salad

These are two of my favorite recipes.

These are my go-to rolls that I make about once a week. I started using this recipe because it didn't call for shortening or butter. This makes a great all-around dough that I have used for rolls, cinnamon rolls, bread sticks, etc.

I make the chicken salad less often, but when I do make it I think, "I should make this more often." Its pretty basic salad recipe, but the dressing makes it delicious.

I got both of these recipes from a cookbook from our college ward.

Dinner Rolls

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. rapid rise yeast

1 cup warm milk

5 Tblsp. vegetable oil

6 Tblsp. sugar

1 Tblsp. salt

1 egg

6 cups flour ( I use 4 cups wheat and 2 cups of white)

Mix water, sugar and yeast. Set aside

Mix milk, vegetable oil, sugar, salt and egg. Add yeast mixture. Add flour.

Mix it all together until it forms a nice dough.

Let it rise until double. (one hour)

Punch it down and divide into rolls. (I get exactly 2 dozen in 2, 9X13 pans if I plan it well)

Let it rise another hour.

Bake for 10-20 minutes (depends on size) in a 350 degree oven.

Chicken Salad

10 boneless chicken breasts or 3-4 cans of chicken

1 can water chestnuts

1 lb. green or red grapes

1 cup celery slices

1 20 oz can pineapple tidbits

Dressing:

1 1/2 cup mayo (I always use light mayo)

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Cook chicken and shred it.

Mix together mayo, soy sauce and lemon juice.

Mix dressing with all other ingredients.

Refrigerate overnight. (It really is better when you do this)

Serve on rolls or croissants.

good and hearty pancakes

These are my new favorite pancakes. These take a little more time than my regular whole-wheat pancakes but they are worth it. They are dense, moist, and hearty, and I love that they have whole wheat flour, oatmeal, and wheat germ in them.

One thing about wheat germ that I just discovered: buy it bulk. I bought my first jar at Walmart for almost $4. I just refilled it from Winco bulk section for about 25 cents. Quite a difference.

Oatmeal Pancakes

(taken from recipezaar #13372)

Serves 4

2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I fill up my liquid measuring cup with almost 1/4 cup of applesauce and then top it off with about a tablespoon of oil and it works great)

My two additions for flavor:

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In bowl, pour milk over rolled oats; let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In another bowl, stir together flours, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3. Beat eggs and oil (applesauce) together; add o dry ingredients along with the milk/oats mixture, stirring just until mixed. (If it is too thick at a little more milk)

4. Cook on large skillet or griddle.

5. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake and cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbles on top break but do not fill in, and bottoms are golden and set.

6. Turn over and cook for about 30-60 seconds longer, or until set.

The recipe recommended serving with peeled apple slices that have been sautéed in butter and brown sugar and kept warm. (sounds good to me)

I like it topped with applesauce or fruit.

Or there's always maple syrup.

eat your beans cookies

Yes, these cookies have a can of garbonzo beans (aka chickpeas) in them.

And yes, they are pretty darn tasty.

Kimi who will turn her nose up at cakes, candybars, and other desserts with or without chocolate ate a lot of these and even wanted them for breakfast. I almost said yes.

Only 87 calories per cookie.

I took this from Trainer Mama's blog because she rocks.

I also added 1 tsp. cinnamon.

It makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies

adapted from Deceptively Delicious

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar free applesauce
2 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients and bake between 11-13 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

After a day refrigerate to store. That is, if there are any left after a day.

87 calories per cookie

Wonderful Whole Wheat Waffles

I an unashamed to admit I love waffles. I could eat them for every meal. And dessert.

This is a really fast and simple recipe that works every time.

Favorite Waffles

Adapted from "Favorites" the Ivory family cookbook

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (you can use white if you must)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil (I have substituted applesauce with great results!)

2 tsp cinnamon (more or less, I just dump some in)

1 tsp vanilla (more or less)

Mix ingredients well and bake in a hot waffle iron. Top with something yummy. (My favorite is half a banana sliced up, sugar-free syrup, and some light redi-whip)

Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

I made this for the first time this St. Patrick's day after a search for a great recipe. I don't know how this compares to other recipes, but it was DELICIOUS so I don't think I'm going to go searching for any others.

It has a thick crispy/chewy crust and a dense moist middle. It was very sweet and good. This would be a perfect bread for a brunch and I will be using for much more than St. Patrick's day.

The recipe came from allrecipes.com submitted by penguin lady.

Irish Soda Bread

1/2 cup white sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour (I believe I substituted whole wheat flour for half)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

3 cups raisins (that is A LOT of raisins. I put in 2 cups and that made it packed with raisins still.)

1 tablespoon caraway seeds (left that out)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch round cast iron skillet or a 9 inch round cake or springform pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour (reserving 1 tablespoon), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins, and caraway seeds.

3. In a small bowl, blend eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Stir the liquid mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened.

4. Knead dough in bowl about 10 t o 20 strokes. Dough will be sticky.

5. Place the dough in the prepared skillet or pan and pat down. Cut a 4x3/4 inch deep slit in the top of the bread. Dust with reserved flour.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 65-75 minutes. Let cool and turn bread onto a wire rack.

Here's a phot of our St. Patrick's day spread:

Brown Soda Bread

I made this loaf to go with some homemade chicken soup. The loaf was down to these last two pieces before I found my camera to get a photo.

The recipe came from Cooking Light. It is a dense a hearty bread that was easy to throw together so it is a perfect pairing for a soup.

Brown Soda Bread

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup steel-cut oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

1 large egg-beaten

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2 Coat a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray

3. Combine flours through salt.

4. Combine buttermilk with egg and add to the flour mixture.

5. Stir until just combined.

6. Spoon mixture into pan.

7. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

8. Invert on wire rack.

whole wheat oatmeal cake

Whole wheat and oatmeal for dessert? Definitely.

I have seen oatmeal cakes in nearly every ward and/or favorites cookbook I've ever looked at so I've been wanting to try it. I found an old "cooking with wheat" cookbook at a thrift store and it is a treasure. I picked this recipe out of there. While I wouldn't exactly call it healthy, (look at the butter and sugars) it is better for you than a lot of other desserts.

It was a dense, moist, spicy cake. Sometime I will try the broiled icing on top, (its supposed to be like the pecan frosting on a german chocolate cake) but this time we just had a cream cheese frosting on it or whipped topping.

My only changes were that I couldn't find my nutmeg at first so I added a tsp of pumpkin pie spice. I then found the nutmeg and and added a tsp of that for good measure. I LOVE nutmeg.

I also added raisins which I thought were a good too.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cake

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup oatmeal (old fashioned)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Pour boiling water over oatmeal and let stand 20 minutes.

Combine butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs.

Add oatmeal mixture and blend again.

Sift together dry ingredients and blend into oatmeal mixture.

Pour into a greased 9x9 cake pan.

Bake 50 minutes at 350.

Icing for Oatmeal Cake

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 Tbl cream (or undiluted canned milk)

1/2 cup nuts

1 cup coconut

Combine all these ingredients and spread on cake.

Broil in the oven until bubbly.