chocolate chip cookies

I cannot take credit for this recipe. Although I have been baking Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies for years, it was Chef Kendra who inspired me to venture to oat flour to give those cookies that 'je ne sais quoi'. 

The cookies turned out marvelous and my new stand mixer had the pleasure of being the first to test run this amazing recipe. I thought I would share. 

1 c Oat flour (ground this flour from organic hard rolled oats)
1 c flour
1 c + 2 T milk chocolate chips (I used Toll House)
½ c butter (or margarine)
1/3  c brown sugar
1/3  c sugar
1 egg
2 t vanilla extract
½ t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl using a hand held electric mixer, or a stand mixer with paddle attachment.

When it’s creamy add the vanilla and egg and blend that in.

In other bowl mix the oatmeal flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Slowly mix the dry into the wet ingredients.

Stir in chocolate chips by hand. 3 T for each cookie, measure out cookies and place on prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Flatten a little bit with your palm. Put baking sheet with cookies in refrigerator for 20 minutes before baking.

Bake for 17-22 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to cook. Enjoy.

3 and 4 years...and going strong

This month marks a few anniversaries for me in my health and fitness challenge. This lifestyle change came with many adjustments in my life. Once I gave up prescription medications, meat, and adopted a regular fitness routine with progressive loading, much changed. Did my colitis and C.O.P.D. magically go away? No. As auto-immune disorders go, they have a resting/dormant or remission. Just when you think "I've got it" the bell is rung and you're symptomatic all over again.

I am grateful however, that although I still have flair-ups, acceptance was the biggest obstacle. Once I declared this battle I would fight for life, the moment came when any think non-traditional was open for inspection. A large part of this change was adopting a physical exercise program that help maintain healthy fat/muscle percentages. I am stronger, more flexible, and run with greater endurance than ever. Considering that we age in time, I think that is a good place to be.

Regular exercise is only about 30% of the battle. The other 70% of maintaining a healthy body composition is eating a nutritious diet. I started with a transition to Pescatarianism then to a full vegetarian. I increased my vegetable, fruits, and legumes. Whole grain breads, rices, and pastas ensure an optimum fiber content.

Many skeptics believed that I would fall. There was no way I could survive on this plan, because after all one needs meat to live. Really? Ask the gorilla. In short, it's 3 years as a non-meat eater and 4 years of physical exercise planning. Life could not be better. It certainly is better now than ever before.

I still see re-starters. I still get asked the same questions by the same people who have watched my physical transformation. I hate to say it but I hide from now...literally. It is not rocket science. I am living proof that change works. My diet is not so strict that it does not allow for cookies, cakes, and pies.

I follow the 80/20 rule. At least 80% of the time I am flying at regulation altitude. My diet and exercise is on point. The other 20% of the time, I am coasting, maintaining, and simply enjoying the foods that I have grown to love over this lifetime. Once I gave up dieting, everything else fell into place.

I encounter many arrogant first-timers who read a few magazine articles, leap on the bandwagon of the latest diet craze, and puff their chests out like they are pros. Until you have practiced it for a few years, then you cannot know what a veteran knows. There is nothing wrong with embracing a lifestyle change, but you cannot live your life on a diet, punishing and berating your entire plan because you ate four cookies, polished off a pizza, or ate cheesecake for lunch.

A lifestyle change means that you have found a way to make allowances for the comforts and rewards in the work and grind. For anyone who has trekked through a year and has come out on the other side, I salute you!

Here's to you as well...

broccoli vegetarian pasta salad

Hot days drive your desire for cooler foods. Here's a salad that you make your very own way. As a vegetarian I of course took the vegetarian route. But you can use chicken breast if you choose. You can substitute other vegetables, such as rainbow peppers, tomatoes, and cucumber.

2 cups tri-color rotini uncooked (cook al dente)

1 cup vegetarian (meatless chicken) strips (about 4-5 pieces)

1-2 cups broccoli cut in pieces steamed (1-2 minutes)

1 T minced garlic

2 T diced red onion

2 T diced celery

1 T minced carrot

¼ c sharp cheddar cheese

Salt, dill weed, black pepper, bacos, and parsley to taste

Preparation. Sautee strips in garlic, cool, then slightly pulse in food chopper.  Mix ingredients. Season to your taste. Chill. Serve with Vegetable Crackers.

You can use coleslaw dressing to your desired taste or make your own.

Dressing:

3 T mayo/salad dressing

1 T sour cream

1 T Caesar Dressing

1 T acv

1 T sugar

1 t honey

dill weed, black pepper

buttermilk cornbread...memories

It was long time since I had the taste of some awesome buttermilk cornbread on my taste buds. A recent fellowship for Memorial Day simply awakened the memories of childhood. It did not take long before I was circling the market for a collection of ingredients that could impress. Finally, I put something together. It was a 'cheat' by my evaluation, because I used a self-rising buttermilk corn meal. I can say for sure, Jiffy corn muffins as my quick-will-do-in-a-rush answer is officially on waivers.

Eventually, I will get to making them with yellow corn meal (...from scratch), but for now I will enjoy my corn muffins with some scrumptious pinto beans, fried cabbage, and Lundberg blend wild rice. The latter has become a huge grain staple in the cupboard. It will not replace my brown rice, which by the way makes some incredibly delicious grain meatballs.