Chocolate Chip/Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

My sister gave me this cookie recipe a year ago when I was struggling to find sweets that were gluten free, dairy free, soy free. They are so delicious and easy that now I make them about once a month. The recipe makes 35-40 cookies with my cookie scooper, and the cookies freeze really well. I freeze them separately on a cookie sheet and then put them into a freezer bag.

The recipe is flexible. Sometimes I make them with just raisins, sometimes just chocolate chips. I also use whatever nut butters I have around.

The texture is wonderful and chewy and I really don't miss the wheat flour at all!

Original source: King Arthur Whole Grain Baking
Nutty for Oats Cookies

Ingredients:
2/3 cup smooth nut butter (I use 1/3c sunflower butter and 1/3c unsalted almond butter- but you could also use peanut butter)
4 Tbl Butter (I use Earth Balance buttery spread)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Gluten-free vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats ground to flour in food processor
1 1/2 cup quick oats
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use gluten-free, dairy-free mini chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Use food processor to grind 1 cup of whole oats (gluten-free) into flour
3. In a large bowl, cream together first six ingredients (through baking soda)
4. Beat in the eggs
5. Add ground oats and mix
6. Add quick oats and mix
7. Add chocolate chips and/or raisins
8. Scoop onto a greased cookie sheet-- lightly press them down with a spoon or fork after scooping if you want them to be less fluffy
9. Bake the cookies, reversing pans midway through (top to bottom, bottom to top), until they're barely set and just beginning to brown around the edges, 11 to 13 minutes.
10. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely on the pans.

Enjoy!

Simple gluten free maple syrup granola

Last winter I made this amazing granola. I've made it a few times a month ever since. My husband's favorite off-the-shelf cereals all cost $4.99 for about 3 bowls full (a box). So making our own cereal has been a great way to know exactly what is in our food and save some grocery money at the same time. I love that it has iron (raisins/sunflower seeds) and omega-3 (pumpkin seeds and flax). We also make it sodium-free, dairy-free, but you could use real butter or add salt to taste.

The recipe has morphed over the past year as follows:

Maple syrup granola

Ingredients:
5 Cups whole GF oats
1 Cup raw pepitas (unsalted pumpkin seeds)
1 Cup walnuts or sliced almonds
1 Cup raw sunflower seeds (unsalted)
1/3 Cup ground flax
2 Tbl cinnamon

4 Tbl Earth Balance buttery spread
1/2 Cup Maple syrup
(2 Tbl brown sugar) - I sometimes skip
1 1/2 tsp GF vanilla extract

Toppings for after baking:
4 Tbl flaked coconut
1 Cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a small bowl.
3. Add Maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla to melted butter.
4. Whisk until no sugar lumps remain.
5. Combine dry ingredients (oats, seeds, nuts, flax and cinnamon) in a large bowl.
6. Pour maple syrup/butter liquid contents into dry ingredients and stir until evenly coated.
7. Spread out onto two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake for 35 minutes total, stir at least once and switch the lower- to the upper-baking sheet about half-way through cooking.
9. Once the baking sheets are removed from oven, sprinkle with raisins and coconut flakes (if desired). [Do not bake with the raisins-- they just swell up and then become little pebbles -- learned that the hard way!]
10. Once cool, store in air-tight container. It lasts us around 2 weeks.

I eat it as a topping for hot quick oatmeal; my husband enjoys it with milk.

Tonight it is predicted to snow 4-6 inches, so it is a good raw day to make the house smell delicious! Enjoy.

Gluten-free Turkey Pot-pie

Made two delicious turkey pot-pies last night adapted from this
recipe at one of my favorite GF recipe sites. I didn't do a top crust, used GF Wholefoods crust, used turkey instead of chicken, and used Beth's All-purpose flour from Gluten-free pantry. It was so easy and so satisfying. I can't wait to have the second pie as a quick work-week meal.

Thanks Mom for the left-over turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving.