Healthy Tasty Chowcleaner recipes, reviews, toddler mom stuff and food chatter

This year, I’ve been really into lemon anything.  Unfortunately, the majority of the lemon cookie recipes I’ve found aren’t too healthy or they’re full of oats and I didn’t want that.  So, I decided to make up my own healthy version with yogurt!  It worked out well because Stonyfield Farm is hosting this GIVEAWAY for their Greek yogurt line Oikos- 1 free 16oz coupon and 3 free 5.3oz coupons!    More details below.  I made this cookie two ways, with and without coconut.  The coconut flavor is already present and mild from the coconut oil (if you don’t like coconut, use all butter instead or use some organic shortening which doesn’t have the negative qualities of the non-organic kinds).  The coconut made these cookies slightly more moist and thicker.  I think these cookies taste best cooled, and they’re delicious either way.  I decided to use spelt flour for the added fiber and rich color, but if you need gluten-free, I think they’d probably work well with gluten-free oat flour.  They should also work if all you have is white or wheat flour.  The consistency if this cookie is a little crunchy on the outside and softer on the inside with a tiny bit of a crumble (due to the coconut oil).  An easy and fairly fast lemon poppy seed cookie that’s healthy.  Yes!!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 lemons (juice of two lemons and zest of two lemons)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (if you don’t have this, use honey)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 5.3oz container vanilla Greek yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm Oikos)  …or you can use a scant 1/2 cup of your preferred Greek yogurt
• 1 3/4 cups spelt flour (or whatever flour you prefer)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tb poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Over a low boil, heat the lemon juice, zest and agave nectar stirring constantly with a whisk until half the liquid remains (a little less than half a cup) liquid will thicken to the consistency of the agave.  Let cool, mixture thickens to more of a thick honey consistency
• In a large mixing bowl blend the butter, sugar and coconut oil.  Add the yogurt and lemon juice mixture
• In a smaller bowl, blend the flour with the salt and poppy seeds with a fork
• Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet.  Add shredded coconut and blend well.
• Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet and bake about 8-9 minutes, the bottom of the cookie will brown

To win the Oikos giveaway, all you have to do is comment below.  I don’t care what you say, just make your presence known!  I’ll pick the winner at random via random.com by assigning each post a number.  Easy.  No pressure!  I’ll pick the winner June 21st, Father’s Day!  If you don’t win, you can still get a discount with these coupons.  If you’re looking for something else to make with your Greek yogurt, you can try out my most recent Sonoma Chicken Salad recipe, where I discuss in detail on some of the health benefits.  Also, you parents stay tuned, because soon we’ll be doing a YoBaby giveaway!

Oh, and I feel that I should mention, if you’re looking for a good lemon cookie recipe that is not healthy in the least bit, I highly recommend this.  They’re very time consuming and tricky, but when done right, delicious.

Ever watched Real Housewives of New York City?  Or…I guess just watched or looked at any entertainment anything and you’ve probably seen her.  Bethenny Frankel is the single skinny Housewife that is a natural chef.  Guilty pleasure, I watch the show sometimes and think her sarcasm is hilarious.  When I saw she was coming out with a book, Naturally Thin, I was hoping there’d be recipes!  I already eat pretty much like she suggests, just more than she does.  I’ve made these quite a few times and let me tell you, do not use the Silpat!  It makes for flatter softer cakey cookies.  She suggests using wax paper and really, it’s the only way to go.  With wax paper, the cookies didn’t spread and they have a nice crunch on the top.  They’re still more cakey cookies, but hey, they’re a healthied-up version and it’s something I feel good about giving to my toddler, who loves them.  He’s getting taller now so he tends to get on his tippy toes when I’m not looking and steal them.  I have to remember to push them further away from the edge now.  This recipe only makes 10 big cookies which will probably be gone in no time if you’ve got someone to share them with.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used heaping 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips)
• 1 tsp canola oil (I used grapeseed oil)
• 1/3 cup soymilk (I used whole milk)
• 1/2 cup banana puree (1 medium-sized banana)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:  

• Preheat oven to 375, combine all dry ingredients, combine all wet ingredients.  Mix together
• Use medium-sized ice cream scoop (I used large but didn’t fill it all the way, Bed Bath & Beyond is always out of the medium sized when I try to buy them!) to scoop onto cookie sheet covered with WAX PAPER!  Bake 12 minutes rotating the pan 1/2 way through cooking (I don’t do that part) or until the edges of the cookies are light brown.

So many people stumble upon my blog looking for hazelnut meal/flour recipes and since I’m equally curious about making something with hazelnut flour, I decided to go ahead and try something new…again!  I’m so glad I did.  These are truly amazing.  The toasted hazelnut is the star flavor in this cookie with some sweet to enhance and of course some chocolate to enhance even more.  I found this recipe from a girl from Spain, which includes almond flour and white sugar which I omitted both in place of all hazelnut flour and agave nectar and less sugar and chocolate.  I love the flavor of almonds, but I didn’t want anything getting in the way of the delicious toatsed hazelnut taste!  The recipe originally comes from a gluten-free cookbook entitled, “Cookies For Breakfast” by Michael Perlman.  Unfortunately, these cookies are so delicious that I had a few for breakfast, as the book title states.  Oops.  Well, they are much healthier than sugary cereal I guess.  They are so darn good I couldn’t think of eating anything else this morning!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c agave nectar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c oat flour (if you’re going gluten-free, just make sure your oat flour is certified gf)
• 1 heaping cup toated hazelnuts
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350
• Toast hazelnuts until lightly browned, about 8 minutes
• Remove from oven and with paper towel, remove as many skins as you can, the ones that stay on are just fine.
• Put hazelnuts in food processor or blender, grind until a fine powder or a little chunky, I kept some tiny chunks so the cookies would have a nice crunch.  Allow to cool before adding to cookies or the hot hazelnuts will melt the butter and flatten the cookies
• Cream agave, brown sugar, and softened butter, add egg and vanilla and blend
• Mix oat and hazelnut flour with baking powder and salt, add to wet mixture and stir, add chocolate chips and stir
• Bake for 7-10 minutes, I made smaller cookies so they were done in 7-8 minutes (my hot oven is finally fixed so it’s normal!)

These cookies are sensitive to the type of cookie sheet you put them on.  The picture above is the prettiest cookie, baked and pictured with the Paula Deen pan with the silicone (Silpat like) sheet on top.  I also made these with a dark sheet and they were nice and fluffy but the bottoms browned faster, and I also made them with a lighter cookie sheet with a Silpat.  Those turned out flat.  However, they are ALL equally delicious no matter what type of cookie sheet you bake them on and how browned the bottoms may get.  The flat ones are chewy and a little more candy-reminiscent, so my husband likes them better.  Maybe I do too?  None are burnt, just the hazelnut is even more toasted.  Wonderful!  I think the next time I make these, and I definitely will soon, I’ll either buy a bigger Paula Deen cookie sheet, or I will use my nice dark sheet but turn the temperature of the oven down to about 335.   Pretty cookies are nice to share.  Speaking of…here’s a really cool blog post  about how cookies should be refrigerated before baking and shows pictures of various refrigerator times and how the cookies turn out showing the optimal pretty cookies.  I love that post.

My mother-in-law makes the best caramel brownies with the caramel sandwiched between two layers of brownie.  Everyone requests them for any type of special occasion and she graciously makes them every single time.  I’ve made them before but they are time-consuming and not at all healthy, so I usually just chow on hers when she makes them!  This past weekend, she made them for my brother-in-law before he goes away for the summer.  As I ravenously munched on one…I realized, I can make this healthy and organic!  Well…healthier anyway.  The original ingredients are: a German chocolate cake mix, a stick of butter, 50 caramels (or a pound), 2/3rds cup evaporated milk, and 1 cup of chocolate chips. 

As I said, the original recipe is delicious but full of processed foods with hydrogenated fats and who knows what else.  For starters, I decided to add some Salba(or chia seeds) to mine to kick up the nutrition.  I borrowed the caramel recipe, consisting of organic honey and organic cream, from 101cookbooks.  I think it tastes better than any store-bought caramels anyway!  This version is dark-chocolatey but sweetened up with the caramel layer, it’s ooey, gooey, and delicious!  If you could see me right now, I’m dancing all over the place.  This is a little time-consuming and messy, but well worth it if you’re able to come up with the time.  I think I’m in caramel brownie heaven.

Ingredients:

• 15-16 oz bag of bitter-sweet chocolate chips.  I used Ghiradelli 60%
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 tsp stevia
• 5 Tb ground Salba or Chia seeds, I grind mine in the coffee grinder, but buying them pre-ground would’ve been less messy
• 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 Tb vanilla
• 1/2 cup almond flour, packed
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour (or, instead of almond and brown rice, use 3/4 cup of whatever flour/flour mix you like…using coconut flour you’ll have to add lots more eggs.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup heavy cream (for caramel)
• 1 cup honey (for caramel)
• 1/2 tsp salt (for caramel)

Method:

• Click here for instructions on how to make the caramel.   …make caramel.  The caramel cools while you’re putting together the brownie ingredients so you may not need to put it over ice.  I did not.  I let mine get to 230 degrees and took it off the heat -I didn’t want the caramel to harden quite as much as if it were to be on an apple.  If you want less caramel, you can just use whatever ratio you prefer (3/4 cup cream to 3/4 cup honey, 1/2 cup to 1/2 cup)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9×13″ pan
• In a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate chips over medium, remove from heat when melted.  Add Salba, brown sugar, stevia, salt, vanilla and applesauce.
• mix together brown rice flour, almond flour and baking soda 
• Make sure the chocolate mixture is not too warm, then add eggs, easiest to use a fork or a whisk to get them incorporated
• Add flour mixture, stir well
• Pour half of the brownie mixture into pan.  To be on the cautious side, pour a little less than half.  Put in the oven and bake 6-7 minutes
• Remove from oven and allow to cool a couple of minutes
• Pour caramel mixture into the pan, spread it around to cover bottom brownie layer completely
• Slowly piece together pieces of the brownie batter and flatten it and put on top of the caramel.  It’s more like a spoonful at a time, slowly making sure that all of the caramel is as covered as you can get it.  I was able to cover up all of the caramel 
• Put in oven and cook another 18-20 minutes
• Allow to cool completely, if you’re impatient like me, I put mine in the fridge to cool off.  These are too good to wait for!

If you don’t have Chia seeds or Salba, I think you can probably just omit it.  Here are a few resources if you’d like to read more about the health benefits.  Just hover over the word:  Salba brand, some chia info,  this one quotes Oprah’s Dr. Oz…of course, they’re touting their product, and here’s a not-so-biased information set.

…A note on the chocolate.  As we all know by now, dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate.  I find the darkest chocolate too bitter, I can comfortably go up to 63% where I think it tastes the best, but much more darkness and my enjoyment factor is gone.  If you can go darker, do it in this recipe!  If you don’t like it at all, just use milk  chocolate chips or semi-sweet, which are sweeter than 63% or bittersweet.  I had a good time one day about 8 years ago buying all kinds of percentages of fancy chocolate and having my own little taste test.  If you’re not sure what you like best, try that out!

Just for kids!  I would not make these for myself, but of course, since they’re around, I eat them.  These bars are full of banana flavor with the additional nutritional bonus of sweet potatoes!  These are based off of Missy Chase Lapine’s book, The Sneaky Chef.  I love her book but my problem with it is, I don’t want to make a puree of something and keep it in the fridge, and then have leftovers if I don’t use it all and toss it out.  It’s all too much possible waste for me to handle so I never really attempted making her recipes.  Then I decided, that’s dumb.  Like usual, why not just throw in what I feel like putting in if it’s close and it’ll probably work.  It usually does!  I’m actually really excited to try her PB&J muffins my way. 

Ingredients:

• 5TB butter (I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 coconut oil)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 jar stage 2 organic sweet potatoes (I used Earth’s Best)…Stage 2 is closer to the amount you want, 1 is too small, if you have stage 1, just use 1 1/2 or 2 jars
• 2 large mashed bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/3-1/2 cup oat flour or oats…I used oat flour this time because I ran out of oats
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 and spray 8″ square pan or 11×7 pan
• Melt butter & coconut oil if you are using it over medium heat along with agave nectar and stir with whisk.  Remove from heat and let cool while doing the next step
• In a large bowl, mash bananas, add the beaten eggs, baby food, and vanilla.  Add the slightly cooled butter and agave nectar mixture
• Add oats/oat flour and spelt flour and salt.  For less moist bars, add more oats.
• Bake for 25-35 minutes until they don’t jiggle in the middle anymore and turn slightly brown around the edges
• Allow to cool and then melt chocolate chips and spread on top.  You may also drizzle but to be honest, I think spreading is much easier.  I always make my drizzle chunk or somehow lose control of my hand and make a gorgeous splot on top of whatever it is that I’m making.  I prefer not drizzling but wish I had the skill.  Drizzles are pretty.

My toddler loves them!

These crispy peanut butter rice bars are so easy to make and they taste delicious!  They’re slightly more substantial than your typical rice bars with the addition of flax.  The flax is not overwhelming, however, you can slightly taste that it’s there.  Instead of tasting flaxy, it just tastes heartier.  Rice Krispie bars were one of my favorite snacks growing up.  There’s really not much to them, and they’re generally void of nutrients.  But, they’re so fun to eat and such a simple snack!  Obviously, I love peanut butter, and the peanut butter crispy treats are delicious as well.  I modified this recipe that my friend Jenn made.  Her recipe involved corn syrup which I swapped out for brown rice syrup.  The benefit to brown rice syrup is mostly that it has a lower glycemic index than corn syrup (probably the best substitution would be agave nectar, which I may try in the future) and  it’s more natural than corn syrup.  It’s still a sugar and high in calories so try limit these bars.  Easier said than done.  I could easily eat half the pan in a day they’re so good!  Toddler approved.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice syrup (corn syrup if you don’t have brown rice syrup)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup flax-seed meal
• 6 cups crispy rice cereal

Directions:

• Slowly melt brown rice syrup and brown sugar on stove top on about medium, add peanut butter and flax-seed meal.
• Put the cereal in a bowl and add the warm peanut butter mixture.  Stir and transfer to 9×13 greased pan.  Flatten with the back of the spatula or use whatever method you like best.  Lots of people spray their hands with spray oil or rub their hands in butter and flatten that way.

Enjoy!  I’d like to mention, to make these foods healthier, I use mostly or all organic ingredients.  I don’t write it down in the recipes because it seems redundant.  But, with less processing and less hormones and pesticides, organic will make things better for you.

If you’re interested in a similar scotcharoos type recipe made healthier, click here.  I haven’t tried them yet, but I’m sure I’ll be making them in the future!

Mmmmmm.  They melt in your mouth.  I didn’t have any crispy rice cereal today so I decided to throw what I had together and I must say…  this time, it worked!  Usually peanut butter balls are made with either powdered sugar or graham cracker crust.  As usual, I wanted to make something a little healthier that I can give to my son without feeling overly guilty.  These are not as sweet as the traditional peanut butter balls and have a slightly different texture…plus, I wanted an excuse to work with coconut flour.  Basically, they’re not grandmas!  If you feel like healthier grandma’s pb balls…well, I may just work on a sweeter healthied up version in the future.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter of your choice
• 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter of your choice
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 cup oat flour, you can grind your own oats or you can even grind half and use half oats or all oats
• 1/3 cup coconut flour - you can also use shredded low-moisture un-sweetened coconut and grind it
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Directions:

• Mix peanut butters, agave nectar, oat flour and coconut flour until it forms a dough-like consistency.  Add more peanut butter or flour to get the right consistency.  Roll into balls - size of your choice and put on foil.  Melt the chocolate chips with coconut oil - if you want to have the Peanut Butter Balls completely covered with chocolate, double the chocolate and coconut oil.  To not completely cover the balls, use a table spoon and drizzle chocolate on each ball  until you get the amount of coverage you’d like.  To completely cover them, throw the balls in the chocolate and remove with spoon- cool on foil.  Refrigerate if your house is hot but let warm up a bit before eating.

I made smaller to medium sized balls and some with little chocolate, for me, the peanut butter is really the star.  However, most people probably would want to cover them with chocolate if they’re serving them to friends.  These, I made the way that I wanted to eat them, less chocolate… more peanut butter!  Hmmm, I should make puppy chow next:)

• A note on the ingredient choices…
• oat flour is gluten-free although many celiacs still react mainly due to how they’re processed…   They are high in soluble fiber which can lower LDL cholesterol.  Anyone seen those Cheerios commercials?  It is digested slowly, thus, no blood-sugar spike (but when you add sugar, it’s a different story, I’m just talking about oats here.)
• coconut flour is gluten-free, high in fiber, high in protein, low in digestible carbs.  Coconut is thought now to be insanely healthy, check it out if you’re so inclined.
• agave nectar is made from the same plant as tequila.  Fiesta en tu boca!  It has a lower glycemic index than sugar- so it’s digested slower and that blood-sugar spike isn’t so bad. 
• peanuts are high in protein, fairly high in fiber, and lots more.  That is, if you aren’t allergic… but if you are you probably decided not to read this anyway. 
• I could devote pages of health benefits of most of these ingredients but the sugar in the chocolate.  I won’t.  But maybe someday.

I got my inspiration to make these from ElanasPantry blog.  If you have have an aversion to gluten or just want some more healthy recipe ideas, I think her blog is amazing.  She makes some wonderful, dark chocolate flourless brownies.  At first I made her version, which I found delicious but a little too dark-chocolatey for me.  I love dark chocolate (I do prefer 60 some percent to higher), but not everyone likes dark chocolate and so I wanted to make something that everyone would walk by and have a bite, rather than just myself walking by and taking a bite and then finishing the whole pan.  Oops!  Sound familiar? 

Recipe:

• 16oz salted almond butter, smooth roasted.  (the cheapest almond butter I found was MaraNatha at Costco, it’s also a good brand regardless for spreading on sandwiches, etc…)
• 2 eggs or 3 egg whites or 1 egg/2whites - they all work out, depends on what you want for nutrition vs. calories that day
• 1 1/4 cups agave nectar light or amber (the cheapest I found this was the larger Madhava brand at Whole Foods…not at our local Costco yet!)
• 1 Tb vanilla extract
• 1/3 heaping cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda (not heaping, can go a little under a teaspoon as well here for a little more fudginess)
• 1 cup 62% semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I used a whole package of Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks cut into smaller pieces
• 1/2 heaping cup hazelnuts, roasted, then chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 and grease 9×13 glass baking dish.
2. Roast hazelnuts 10-15 minutes - my oven seems to cook everything fast so check at about 7 minutes - if you can smell it, the huskss are coming off, and they look golden brown, they’re done.  Remove from sheet and set on towel to cool.  Either use the towel to remove husks or go with it, chop up the hazelnuts and remove random husks as you see fit. 
3. In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender.
4. Add eggs then blend, add agave and vanilla, then blend, add cocoa, salt and baking soda, then blend.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
6. Pour batter into 9×13 baking dish.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes.  My oven is exactly 28 minutes. 

The baking time on this recipe is pretty crucial for fudgy brownies, so watch carefully as it nears 30 minutes.  The first time I made Elana’s version, I checked it at 26 minutes, not close to done, so I let it go for five more minutes and then it was slightly over-done.  Not really fudgy and slightly more dry and cake-ish.  If you think it’s not close to done but the edges are looking pretty done, check in another 2 minutes and it may surprise you and be cooked perfectly!

I think these brownies are amazing - and with agave nectar rather than sugar, and almond butter rather than flour- you have a much lower glycemic index brownie that tastes even better than your original fudge brownie.  My favorite part about them is that usually after eating brownies, I crave more and more and never seem to get full.  With these, you eat a little bit and then actually feel satisfied rather than craving more.  But, go ahead and eat more because they’re pretty good for you!  Obviously they’re not mixed vegetables, but you get the picture I hope.

I made this cookie recipe because I really wanted to use coconut oil in cookies for the heavier consistency factor - like back when our moms used to throw butter flavored Crisco in cookies and they always tasted the best with the chewy heartier texture?  With what I know now, I would never buy shortening to use in my foods and feed to my family.  We are coconut lovers and the added coconut flavor from the coconut oil is a welcome change.  If you don’t like coconut or if you have coconut allergies - you can just buy some organic shortening which is made of palm oil and is trans-fat free.  These cookies are flourless!  By using coconut oil, spelt flour, ground flaxseed, and oats, you’re getting a much healthier version and a  tasty treat.  If you really wanted a cleaner eating version of the cookie, you can always substitute agave nectar for the sugar.  If you wanted a lighter version, you could also substitute applesauce for the butter.  However, I like using at least a few traditional ingredients in baking because it usually lends to a better flavor!

• 1/4 cup organic butter, softened
• 1/8 cup extra virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter and coconut oil together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, combine spelt flour, flaxseed, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture, then stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Drop a heaping teaspoon of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

This makes a small batch of around 35 little cookies.  I prefer these cookies cooled because the coconut flavor comes out!  Also, these are toddler and husband approved!  My husband is fairly picky on healthy versions of cookies but lately I’ve gotten much better at it that he doesn’t know he’s eating a healthy version… except he knows I made them so he does know deep down:)