Cookies!

This weekend I have gone into the kitchen and had lots of fun. I created a lot of snacks and meals for the week. Saturday morning I made some double chocolate chip cookies, but instead of just using spelt, I used a mix of spelt flour and buckwheat flour to switch it up a bit, and they still turned out just as good. The sugar of choice is coconut sugar with some maple syrup, making them healthier cookies. Today I got really busy into the kitchen and started the morning with getting chili into the slow cooker.

From what you can see from the picture, I diced up some celery (4 stalks), onion, and a yellow pepper, and I also added 3 cloves of garlic (minced). Usually I put 1 lb of ground bison and 3 cans of beans, but my hubby wanted more meat and a little less bean so decided to give it a try, and it turned out really good. So I put in 2 lbs of ground bison, and put 2 cans of beans instead of 3. I also put in some diced tomatoes, tomato paste (about 3 tbsp) and some spices/herbs, including a touch of salt and lots of pepper. It was a really good supper.

I also prepared two salads for my lunch this week, and prepared a potato salad. I took a break for lunch and watched one of my shows which is Rachael Ray talk show and she had a lady on her show talking about how great quinoa is, and I do have to agree. It's a great source of protein and has a lot of great nutrients. For a snack she prepared cookies, and I made some minor changes to her recipe, but they turned out delicious! Here's the recipe:

Dry ingredients:
1 cup of quinoa flakes (she used flour and oats)
A big handful of unsweetened coconut
A big handful of almonds, and another of pecans (can use any nuts/seeds you want)
A big handful of chocolate chips (you can put in dried fruit instead if you want, or just omit)

Wet ingredients:
1 mashed up banana
Apple sauce (I didn't have any, so all I did was use a fine grater and grated a small apple over the bowl, that way you get the juices as well)
2-3 tbsp of peanut butter (I used all natural peanut butter, and you can even use other nut butters)
Vanilla extract (I used one vanilla bean)

Mix dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Once they are well combined, add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix. I didn't really measure, other then the quinoa flakes. If there's to much liquid, add more dry and vice versa, and surprisingly I didn't need other, it was the perfect consistency to form cookies.

Then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and form cookies (about a heaping tbsp per cookie), and bake in the oven at 350 for about 8 minutes. I tried one and they are absolutely delicious!

It was fun being in the kitchen, and now we have healthy snacks and meals on hand. Yesterday we went to a friend's place for supper, and she got two new cookbooks for Christmas, from the Pioneer Women. I checked out the cookbooks and they are really nice! Lots of wonderful pictures and so colorful, and of course great recipes. From the cookbook, my friend made the ranch chicken (not ranch sauce, just what she called it), we had twice baked potatoes and some green beans. It was really good! For desert she made a trifle with chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, cream cheese layer, and whip cream topped with a strawberry sauce that she made. It was so good! She gave us some to bring home and we enjoyed it as our desert tonight.

Although I had chicken yesterday and some bison tonight, the rest of my week was meat free and I haven't experienced any endometriosis pain which is great! Tomorrow I am back to meat free for most of the week again. I did make a potato salad with some bacon, and I know I will want some. Why I put bacon, because it's my favorite potato salad recipe, and I couldn't resist. I am looking forward to another great week, with healthy snacks on hand, and to lots more vegetarian meals.