I’m trying to feed the fam more healthily in addition to lose a few more pounds, and any bread or cookie with fruit or veggies has always qualified as healthy in my book.;) Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that I can inhale the entire loaf of bread just because it contains a zucchini or carrot. Additionally, not all baked goods containing fruits and or veggies are all that healthy for you. Add some butter, sugar, eggs, oil, all that good stuff to the mix and the healthy aspect goes right out the window. I stumbled upon this recipe yesterday when looking for something to do with a few bananas that were past their prime and voila, Healthy Banana Almond Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The cookie itself is a bit different from your regular cookie, no egg, no flour, no sugar, but still VERY tasty and it satisfies that need for a baked good without being terribly bad for you. And for my weight watchers buddies, 2 cookies have 3 points. Not bad! Here is the link from the 101 Cookbooks blog, enjoy! And below is the recipe as written in the blog, I substituted olive oil and sweetened coconut, that will be our little secret, k?;)

Nikki’s Healthy Cookie Recipe

You can use unsweetened carob, or grain sweetened chocolate chips, or do what I did and chop up 2/3 of a bar of Scharffen berger 70%. I sort-of shaved half the bar with a knife and then cut the rest into bigger chip-sized chunks. You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don’t go too far or you’ll end up with almond butter. And lastly, the coconut oil works beautifully here, just be sure to warm it a bit - enough that it is no longer solid, which makes it easier to incorporate into the bananas. If you have gluten allergies, seek out GF oats.

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn’t solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.

Made this last night for dinner, it was AMAZING!  I served it with a bit of rice and a napa cabbage salad.  I left out the jalapeños just in case the kids might eat any, but then we ate after they went to bed.  Less flying food that way.;)  Oh and I didn’t have limes, but I had meyer lemons off the neighbor’s tree, gotta love California.:D

Pan-Seared Tuna with Avocado, Soy, Ginger, and Lime Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

2 big handfuls fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped 1/2 jalapeno, sliced 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 1 garlic clove, grated 2 limes, juiced 2 tablespoons soy sauce Pinch sugar Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 (6-ounce) block sushi-quality tuna 1 ripe avocado, halved, peeled, pitted, and slicedIn a mixing bowl, combine the cilantro, jalapeno, ginger, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir the ingredients together until well incorporated.Place a skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the tuna generously with salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot oil and sear for 1 minute on each side to form a slight crust. Pour 1/2 of the cilantro mixture into the pan to coat the fish. Serve the seared tuna with the sliced avocado and the remaining cilantro sauce drizzled over the whole plate.

The recipe is courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com, love them.

When I thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, short order cook was not on the list. Ballerina, Fireman, Princess, Astronaut, Doctor, Supermodel, these were all interesting choices to me, but short order cook, notsomuch. And even though I strive to be the best Princess I can be EVERY SINGLE DAY, I doubt I will ever get a title, although I do have a tiara, somewhere.;) What I have become ‘when I grow up’ boils down to a Short Order Cook and the Laundry Lady.

Dinner around here goes either one of two ways. I slave over some recipe that sounds interesting, serve it up to my family, they proclaim they LOVE it. Ethan goes on and on how this is a fancy dinner, he turns down the lights, says we need a candle and some music, says this is the best dinner EVER! Scarlett gnaws at bits of it just proud as punch that she gets to eat the same food as the rest of the family. Hubby says ‘this is great!’ Life is good, right?

Or we have the scenario where we have enough leftovers in the fridge to feed an army and we do leftover night. Ethan looks at his plate with disdain. Of note, this is the SAME dinner he proclaimed was THE BEST DINNER EVER just a mere 24 hours ago. Gone is the need for mood lighting and music. Just a look of ‘is this it, ma?’ remains. Even Scarlett looks pissy as she waves her tomato sauce covered penne in her tightfisted grip as if to say ‘I HAD THIS LAST NIGHT!’ And hubby knows better (most of the time!) than to open his mouth about leftover night, that just leads to trouble.

These are the nights I am reduced to short order cook. ‘Mom, I need ketchup.’ ‘Mom, can I have chicken nuggets.’ Aside, When did chicken nuggets become a food group anyway? ‘Mom, what is on this sandwich?’ hummus ‘ew, gross, I want mustard’ I whip up another sandwich. ‘Mom, what kind of mustard is this’ dijon ‘ew, I like regular’ Short Order Cook makes swift work of yet ANOTHER STINKIN SANDWICH. And I don’t even get tips for this.

So every day begins another quest for some interesting dinner option. Last night I decided I would roast some red peppers thinking that I could easily find a sauce recipe I liked and after scouring my favorite sources www.epicurious.com and www.foodnetwork.com I have only come up with ONE recipe that looks even halfway decent. So then I give it over to google’s hands and I stumble upon this recipe that sounds quite promising and simple.

Roasted Red Pepper-Basil Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 red bell peppers, roasted and peeled *
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Warm the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat; add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Transfer the garlicky oil to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and pulse to form a chunky sauce. Taste for seasoning. Serve at room temperature over pasta or as an accompaniment to grilled seafood, meat or poultry.

Thank you Karen for the recipe, let’s see if it soothes the savage beasts this evening and I can move on from my job as Short Order Cook and progress to Laundry Lady as Mount St. Laundry is slowly taking over the house and threatening to erupt.

Check out Karen’s lovely blog titled Family Style Food here: http://familystylefood.com/2007/07/garden-fresh-roasted-red-pepper-and.html

This is the BEST three dollar cupcake I have ever tasted:

If you are ever in Emeryville, CA you have to go to Teacake Bakeshop. You can also order some of their goodies from their website www.teacakebakeshop.com. Yummy! Best part is that Ethan eats the icing off his and I get the leftover cupcake.;) Although the icing is by far the best part.

CDM