WHEATLESS PEANUT BUTTER COCONUT COOKES

There is a bit of peanut butter in the house; more than what the DH, the dog and I can eat in a reasonable time frame.  The DH eats more peanut butter than I do.  He decided he wanted to eat peanut butter that is less processed, just peanuts, so the large tub of Skippy peanut butter needs to disappear.   This recipe is made with almond and coconut flours.  You could use peanut flour or oat flour instead of the coconut flour if you wanted.  I added coconut flakes but you could add chocolate chips instead.  I also used 1/3 cup of Splenda so the cookies are not as sweet.   The cookies don't look pretty but they are good.  Eating two of these cookies does hit the mark.  You could duck them in milk or almond milk and that would be a perfect combination.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups almond meal flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup Splenda
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk or almond milk or soy milk
1 cup smooth peanut butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup medium flake unsweetened coconut

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, salt and Splenda.   In a separate medium size bowl, whisk with a fork, the egg, milk, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.

Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients until combined.  Add the coconut and combine.

Using non stick cookie sheets, drop by a tablespoon onto the sheet.  Allow some separation between cookies.  The cookies do not spread out like some other cookies.  Using a fork, flatten each cookie.   Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are browned.   Makes about 38 cookies.

Based on my fitness pal and using skippy peanut butter, each cookie has the following breakdown:
82 calories, 4 gm carbs, 6 gms fat, 2 gms protein and 1 gm sugar.

Recipe modified from the Wheat Belly Cookbook.

QUINOA, BEET AND CHICK PEA SALAD

A friend posted a link on Facebook to a list of recipes using beets.  Since I had cooked beets in the fridge I decided to investigate the recipes.  There were a number that looked interesting and this one caught my attention as I like quinoa.  Of course I made a number of modifications.  Costco sells cooked vacuum sealed beets in small packages and I have been buying them as it saves on cooking time and it is convenient.

The recipe calls for orange juice.  I didn't have any in the house so I used apple juice.  If I hadn't had apple juice I would have used lemon juice but not likely the whole 1/4 cup.  I also used a combination of white and red quinoa.  Besides adding some chopped almonds, I also included roasted chopped hazelnuts.  I added more chick peas than what the recipe calls for.  I added about a cup and a half of cooked chick peas.  If I would have had fresh cilantro or parsley, I would have added a handful of chopped herbs to the salad.  The salad is very good and I will be making this one as one of my 'go to' salads.

Quinoa, Beet and Chick Pea Salad

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups cooked quinoa 

2 beets, trimmed and quartered

Olive oil

Sea salt

1/4 cup fruity olive oil

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

2 tsp tamari sauce

1 tsp balsamic vinegar or rice vinegar

1 tbsp agave nectar, maple syrup or honey

1 cup cooked, drained chick peas

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

1 fresh orange, peeled, trimmed, cut into bite sized pieces

handful of roasted almonds, chopped or slivered

DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.  While the quinoa is cooking, roast the beets in a medium size roasting pan, by combining the beets with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt.  Place the pan in the center of the oven and roast until the beets are tender (roughly 45 minutes).  Remove the beets from the hot pan and set aside to cool.  When cool enough to handle, rub off the skin. Cut the beets into bite sized pieces. 

Dressing: combine the olive oil, orange juice, tamari, vinegar, and agave in a cup and whisk.  Set aside. 

Combine the warm, cooked quinoa in a mixing bowl with the chick peas and orange pieces.  Pour in the salad dressing and toss lightly.  Season with sea salt and pepper.  Gently add in the cut up roasted beets and chopped almonds.  Do not over mix or your entire salad will turn beet red.

Serve with a sprinkle of fresh goat cheese, if desired. Serves 4.

Modified from  glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I had been thinking about making cookies since my sister-in-law told me earlier this week that she had made three kinds of cookies.  I decided to make these cookies that use a coconut flour base instead of wheat flour.  They have a bit of a different consistency than flour based cookies and you need to let them cool slightly on the baking sheet before you transfer them to cooling racks.  This recipe is also a basic cookie recipe and you can add other things besides chocolate chips.  I didn't have regular chocolate chips but had chocolate chip chunks so I used a small food processor to chop them up into tiny pieces.  For the one cup of oil, I used liquid coconut oil.  If you are wondering what is sugar free syrup, it is the same thing used to make flavoured lattes.  Since I make my own lattes most of the time, I have both caramel and vanilla sugar free syrup in the pantry.  I also found that making smaller cookies worked better and they crumbled less.  They are very filling and I felt very satisfied after eating two cookies.  Both the DH and I enjoyed these cookies.  Since I made a large number of cookies, I froze half of them to be enjoyed at a later time.

To determine the nutrient breakdown of each cookie, I entered the ingredients into 'my fitness pal'.  Each cookie, based on the total number of cookies I made (58), has the following breakdown: calories: 91; carbs 5 grams; fat 8 grams; protein 1 gram; sodium 17 grams; and, sugar 2 grams.

Just out of the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups coconut flour
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
3 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 cup Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sour cream or coconut milk
1 cup olive oil, melted coconut oil or melted butter
1/2 cup sugar free vanilla syrup (e.g. DaVinci or Torani brands)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.   Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it.  In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, nuts, coconut, Splenda, cinnamon, baking soda and chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream or coconut milk, oil or butter, vanilla syrup, eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the wet mixture to the coconut flour mixture and stir until it is combined.  If the mixture is too thick, add some almond or soy milk one tablespoon at a time until it seems that the batter sticks together.

Using your fingers, gather the dough into one inch mounds and drop them onto the baking sheet and flatten with a fork.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Cool on racks.  Makes about 58 cookies.

Adapted from the 'Wheat Belly' book.