Featured cookie: Cranberry Nut Sugar Balls

As I was researching easy recipes for my earlier Tuesday's post, I came across several I wanted to try. However I don't have the time, money, or calorie allowance to try them all. So only 2 or 3 will get chosen and featured in December. This one came up repeatedly with variations, and I had most of the ingredients already so I decided to give it a try with my own version. 

Ingredients:
1 cup powder sugar (+ extra)
2 sticks of butter, melted
2 egg yolks
1 cup nuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Step 1: In a large bowl, beat the powder sugar, butter, and cocoa powder until smooth and creamy.

Step 2: Use a spatula to scrape down the sides. Add the egg yolks and 1 tbsp vanilla and mix again. I saved the whites for the next day's breakfast.

Step 3: In a blender, combine the nuts and cranberry and pulse until you get a paste-like mixture. You can use whatever kinds of nut you like, I had cashews and almonds.

Step 4: Mix the nut/berry and flour into the chocolate/sugar/butter mixture. The dough will be sticky and very thick. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Step 5: Drop by teaspoons onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until solid.  

Step 6: Let cool completely, then roll in powdered sugar.

These light little sugar balls are mostly solid but a little crumbly. The cranberry's tartness is enhanced by the nuttiness, subtle cocoa flavor, and sweet, smooth powdered sugar. They are the perfect size to pop in your mouth, try to keep track of how many handfuls you've had!

Do you have any favorite cookie recipes to share?

Homemade granola bars + Make your own vanilla extract

As a simple on-the-go breakfast, post-workout snack, or get-you-through-the-afternoon munchie, I love granola bars! Endlessly varied in terms of type of nuts, berries, chocolate, flavors in them, they are always in my pantry in multitudes. Usually I buy whatever is on sale, say $1-2 for a box. I have a rotation and favorites, but am not brand loyal by any means. But even at $1 for a box of 6, it can get expensive. So I figured, I already have lots of diferent types of nuts and dried fruits, and oats. It can't be hard to make my own.

After googling a bit, I found this recipe for home made granola bars, which is close to what I had on hand. But I didn't want the chocolate part (shocking, I know!) because I'd be storing them in my book bag and gym bag and don't want to deal with melty chocolate all over my workout shoes or laptop. So as usual, I took the framework of the recipe and made it my own with what was on hand and the pan size I was working with. The results were splendid!

Ingredients:
3 cups oats
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/4 cup smashed pistachios (I shelled them, put them in a ziplock baggie and smashed them up with a spoon. For reals.)
1/2 cup smashed up candied peanut halves (also ziplock pulverized)
1/4 cup chia seeds (bought a few months ago and had no idea what to do with them... perfect.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Step 1: Mash up the nuts, then mix together oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds and olive oil. Stir to coat well, then bake in a flat oven safe pan at 350 for about 10 minutes, to make everything brown and toasty.

Step 2: In a pan over medium heat, stir together butter, brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Pour over the granola mixture, and stir well to coat everything. Bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes, until warm and brown. Remove from the oven and let cool or stick in the refrigerator for a little while. Cut into bars the size you like.

I used a 9x13 pan, and as such I got 16 bars. They are very soft, so I put them in the fridge for about an hour before I cut them up.

I individually wrapped each bar in a plastic baggie, and am storing them in my pantry. They are delicious! The honey makes it so sweet, I don't think you'd need chocolate anyway. Probably could even have done without the extra brown sugar.

I love these because I can use whatever dried fruits or nuts/seeds I have available. The next batch will include dried apricots and plums. You better believe sometime into the fall I will be making some bars with pumpkin seeds in them! I think I'm going to try experimenting with peanut butter in the honey instead of just butter too.These are vegetarian, and could easily be made vegan as well. If you go easy on the oil/honey they are quite healthy and filling. And very inexpensive! Buy whatever fruits/nuts/seeds you like on sale, oats are cheap in bulk. This batch probably cost me $1 total?


Speaking of  inexpensive baking, did you know you can make your own vanilla extract from just vanilla beans and vodka? Seriously, that's it.

A bottle of vodka on sale was about $7, the beans were a bit pricey at $4 for 2. But that's $11 for about a gallon of vanilla that I can use pretty much forever. If I invested a bit more I could even jar it myself and give it as gifts or sell some. When you get low you just add more vodka and maybe after a year another bean or something. Jackpot.

Thai chicken peanut curry

I had been dying to try out my new Thai cookbook since moving to Colorado, and had a craving for it all week. I looked through it yesterday, and found a recipe for Peanut Chicken Curry for which I had all the ingredients but a few. So I went to the store on the way home from class to pick up those things and whipped up a surprisingly easy and oh-so-tasty dinner!

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp diced garlic

2 tbsp curry paste

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup crushed peanuts

1/2 small cucumber, peeled and seeded

3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp brown sugar

RICE

2 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup green onion

1 cup rice

1 cup chicken stock

Cilantro, if you can find it. King Soopers didn't have any. :(

 

Step 1: Dice the onion small, cook in a frying pan with 1 tbsp oil for 1-2 minutes. Add coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer 2 minutes.

 Step 2: Dice up the chicken.

 Add diced chicken, garlic and curry paste. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes.

 Step 3: Cut up pineapple, cucumber and crush peanuts. Meanwhile, boil or microwave the cup of rice in chicken stock.

 Step 4: Once chicken is cooked through, add pineapple, cucumber, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar and peanuts. Simmer 1-2 minutes and serve immediately.

 Step 5: To cooked rice, add lime juice and onions (or cilantro) and fluff.

Cilantro would definitely kick the rice up a notch, but no complaints here! Sure cucumber, chicken and pineapple seems like a weird combo, but it really is delicious! Sweet but complex, the flavor is fantastic! The original recipe calls for fish sauce, lemongrass and lime leaves too, but I don't think the taste suffers at all by omitting them. Prep took about 15 minutes, cooking took less than 30. Totally worth it!

Hearty fruit n nut toast

Breakfast is reportedly the most important meal of the day. I know I function best with a full stomach right off the bat. But we rarely have time to cook a well-rounded, 30 minute breakfast, enjoy it and clean up, and still get to work on time, right? So I came up with some better alternatives. You only need a few minutes to throw these together, and they are even portable (as long as you bring a napkin as well and maybe don't mind peanut butter on your car seat...)
 #1: Strawberry almond delight
Toast a piece of wheat/whole grain bread to your liking. Spread with 1 tbsp strawberry jam. Sprinkle a handful of slivered almonds on top.
#2: Elvis toast
Toast 1 piece of bread. Spread with 1 tbsp peanut butter. Top with sliced banana. (This one's my favorite!)

#3: Mediterranean breakfast on-the-go
Toast 1 piece bread. Spread with 1 tbsp Greek yogurt. Top with thin slices of pear or grapes. Drizzle a little honey on top.
#4: Sweet treat
Toast a slice of bread. Spread with 1 tbsp Nutella. Top with sliced pear or other fruit.

These are just the ones I've tried, of course the possibilities are endless. Try blueberries and crushed walnuts with almond butter, or applesauce and raisins with some flax sprinkled on top. The point is to try to use spreads which are low in fat and pair with at least 1 fruit and 1 type of nut if you can. Start every day this way and I'll bet your mood and productivity increase, and your weight will likely decrease because you will be less hungry later on in the day!