No-bake cookies and childhood memories

I have always enjoyed being in the kitchen since as long as I remember. My grandmother would come over to take care of me while my parents were at work and I would hang out with her in the kitchen. Sitting on the floor watching her cook soup, one of her specialties. When I was a little older I would stand on a step tool and watch standing on my tippy toes because I could barely see over the counter. I learned a lot about cooking at a very young age watching pros like my grandmother and my grandfather (who was a chef for many years in Manhattan). They both enjoyed cooking and I picked that up from them, the love of cooking because it is definitely something you need to love in order to do it well. 

 

As I got a little older, I was allowed to bake things; cookies, cakes, my mother had a cook book that I loved looking at especially the cake and candy section. But before I started being allowed to use the oven, we made no-bake cookies. There was this recipe we had circling around I'm not sure who found it, my mom, cousin or aunt or a mother from school but it was for no-bake cookies. I believe the recipe had, oats, peanut butter, honey and dry milk. When my cousins would come over, I didn't have sisters only brothers so when we had sleepovers it was fun, we would make these cookies. The cookies were so good and I made these until I was so tired of them.... until now. The new and improved no-bake cookies. These really need an original name. Hmmmm 

 



 This is a different version. Instead of oats I used almond flour, and I added ground flax and cocoa powder. Then mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is important to mix al the dry ingredients first and then the wet and then mix together so the all the ingredients are well incorporated. Some recipes just tell you to throw all the ingredients in at once. No. Mix them separately then combine them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the honey and natural peanut butter (only ingredients should be peanuts and nothing less FYI hydrogenated oils are VERY bad and some brands have this so stay away. Read here about hydrogenated oils. Oh look I didn't pre-mix the honey and pb before adding to the wet ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like after it's all mixed. Now, just roll into balls and place on a wax paper lined pan and place in the frig or freezer if can't wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can make truffles out of them by rolling them in toasted coconut, fresh ground coffee beans, cocoa powder anything that is clean. These were absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to make more!

Midnight madness

Who likes late night food shopping? I do! There's no lines and no one getting in my way. You have the place almost to yourself. So, we found a lot of great deals on veggies at Shop Rite. Fresh greens from a farm in NJ for .99/lb You can eat healthy and not break the bank by shopping smart. I should have taken a picture of my findings last night but I came home with 3 bags full of produce for only $35! Aldi's also has a lot of cheap healthy items. If you must buy almond milk from the store they always have it for 2.50, they also have non fat Greek yogurt. I get my proteins in bulk so that I can portion it out and freeze. I buy almonds in bulk because that can get pricy if you are buying little bags of almonds from the store on a weekly basis. Same goes for my maple, honey and agave, all bought in bulk. It's cheaper and it's annoying to have to go to the store all the time. You should be buying produce weekly. Last week, we stocked up on grains and things from my new favorite store, Nature's Pantry. If you haven't shopped there you should check it out. It's your typical whole foods store and they have reasonable prices and everything you need. The staff is friendly but the customers are not. I love that you can buy stuff in bulk there. I tried some of their healthy treats but honestly mine tasted better.

And speaking of treats, I made some delicious no-bake cookies using a recipe that my cousins and I used to make when we were kids but I just cleaned it up a bit. They were DELCIOUS and did not last. These were definitely a treat AND it was clean and healthy. Of course, I will post pics here for you guys to see.

Waffles for breakfast? Sure.

After many tries at making protein pancakes and waffles, these turned out really good. They tasted like cake and then I poured some maple syrup on them... WOW it was hard to believe these were good for me. I found this recipe online but I changed a few things around. One was using almond flour (that I made the other day) instead of oat flour just because it's fun to experiment and see how things turn out. I also used one whole egg instead of using a bunch of egg whites which is fine but today I was experimenting. Also in these waffles are almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla protein powder and vanilla extract. They take a little longer in the waffle maker because they break apart easily so it's better to leave it in there longer. At one point, I thought I was burning them but no they actually needed more time.

Last night's tacos mmmmmmmm

 

Well, I managed to take some pictures of the tacos before they were all eaten and these were good. And, I was getting better at flattening these tortillas out! I have to practice more on the shape but there were some circles in the pile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's really easy to make your own salsa, not to mention it's tastier. And honestly, once you tried it, you will never go back to store bought again no matter where you find it; health food store, organic, or anything, nothing will beat the taste of fresh made salsa. Nothing.

Steak Tacos

My husband and I used to have these crazy taco nights, it was more like an event. Prepping dinner with some drinks and guests and then finally cooking dinner. Anyone who has had the pleasure of coming to one of our dinners knows you are in for a treat. So anyways, I haven't had tacos in a while. Tacos are a pretty clean food if you don't pile on sour cream and cheddar cheese (I was guilty of this) or use store bought taco seasoning. However, the shells are not clean so look for organic ones but read the ingredients. This is the reason I haven't had tacos in a while and I was starting to miss them. I was determined to make my own from scratch. I found a bag of masa harina and followed the directions on the bag for making tortillas.

 

Rolling out tortillas does take some skill though. This took me some time but they were sooooo delicious. I made my own taco seasoning (cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, black and cayenne pepper, sea salt and some other top secret ingredients sorry I can't tell). I sprinkled some on my steak (today is steak I usually do chicken but I haven't had steak in a long time and I trimmed the fat off) and placed it in my slow cooker (my rice cooker that I just covered the hole on top with a piece of paper towel works great), added more seasoning and some water, then plugged it in to cook for a few hours. Since, I am using a rice  cooker instead of a slow cooker, I have to keep an eye on it and switch the setting occasionally from thigh to low or the bottom will burn.

 

 

So, there it is. Now, while I wait, I'll make the salsa and mix the masa harina. Tortilla dough needs to sit for an hour before it's rolled into balls and flattened. I am not using cheese today but if you do it's better to get a fresh cheddar cheese block not pre shredded because that has A LOT of extra nasty ingredients. I also replaced sour cream for non fat Greek yogurt. And hot sauce is always a good thing and a must! I will post pics when done if they don't go fast. lol 

Making Almond Milk and Flour

Ok so, I first started out buying almond milk from the store but that started to get $$$ AND not to mention all the added ingredients that the store bought milk has in it. So I searched youtube.com for almond milk making demos. Found many and it looked easy enough and I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, so I gave it a try. But I had a back-up store bought milk in my frig just in case. It was so easy to do and tasted soooooooooooooo delicious and fresh! I never went back to store bought almond milk again. So, if you have the chance you should definitely try to make your own. 

 

 These almonds have been soaking over night in filtered water. Then were rinsed of the old water and put in the blender with fresh filtered water and a whole vanilla bean.

 

 

Blend, blend, blend!

 

 

 

 

Look how creamy it is and it smells so vanilla-y! Once all blended, it's time to strain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the almond pulp and place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at the lowest setting to dry out and make almond flour. Take dry pulp and grind in food processor. See how easy? 

 

 



My first clean post here

 

Clean granola and non fat Greek yogurt is my favorite go to snack. I have my almonds soaking that are about to become unsweetened vanilla almond milk. And my small cup of organic coffee.

 

I rarely buy pre-package foods but when you do always check the ingredients no the nutritional value. The other day at the supermarket I picked up a package of multi grain tortilla shells and I was like ooh multi grain I would like to try these and then I flip over the package to read the ingredients and I immediately put it down. There were like 20 different ingredients listed that were chemicals. I just grabbed a bag of masa harina and decided to make my own tortillas. And, GMO free may I add!!! Yeah!!

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I will making clean corn bread using the new whole wheat pastry flour I found the other day at Job Lot. I have been looking for it to make some nice muffins and breads. So I will be experimenting with that and some recipes I found for corn bread and subbing ingredients. I am excited about how it will come out.

 

I tried making some pretzels with whole wheat flour and it was too stiff and became a mess that I had to throw away. They all cannot be winners. This WW pastry flour will work better because it's a more fluffier flour.