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No Bake Cookies – ‘Healthified’

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Recently, I had an intense craving for the classic no bake cookies. Chocolate, peanut butter, oats….yum! However, I wanted to see if I could give the recipe a little makeover, to make it a tiny bit healthier. I was able to reduce the sugar, sub out the butter for healthier fats and still have the delicious flavor I remember. I love when my ‘experiments’ work out! Of course, don’t get me wrong, this is still a treat and not a health food, but with all those oats and protein from the peanut butter…I just might have justified eating them for breakfast.  Okay, I totally ate them for breakfast!

 

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No Bake Cookies – ‘Healthified’

Ingredients

  • 1 cup white sugar*
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 4 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter*
  • 3 cups old fashioned oats*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • *Notes – I used ½ cup sugar and ½ cup Stevia in the Raw – just depends on your preference. Any nut butter or peanut butter replacement, such as WowButter or SunButter could be used in the place of peanut butter. A combination of quick cooking and old fashioned oats, or all quick cooking can be used if you prefer.

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, coconut oil, and cocoa.
  • Bring to a boil, and cook for about a minute.
  • Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla.
  • Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.
  • Place in fridge to cool and set.
  • {store in refrigerator since coconut oil melts above 76 degrees F}

KimM is a contributing writer for Eat at Home. For more recipes, check out her blog Makin’ it Mo’Betta, and follow along on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

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These quick bars combine my favorite flavors in one dessert.  Pour yourself a big glass of milk (or if you’re naughty, like me make it chocolate milk).  If you like peanut butter and jelly, then you are going to love these.

I used strawberry jam to make mine.  I think they’d be awesome with grape or blackberry too.  Or cherry or…really any kind of jam would be great in these bars.

I adapted the recipe for Cherry Oat Bars.  I thought I’d be able to decrease the butter, since I was adding in peanut butter, but that didn’t work out.  The photo of the ingredients only shows part of the butter you’ll need.  I love recipes like this one that use common pantry ingredients.  If you’ve got a nearly full jar of jam to spare, then you’ve probably got everything you’ll need to make these.   [Read more…] about Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Pumpkin Biscoff Monster Cookies

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It’s no secret that I love oats. I recently confessed to having 6 boxes of quick oats in the pantry, because I’m apparently afraid of running out.

But I didn’t realize until recently that we as a country actually have a National Oatmeal Day – October 29.

These cookies are perfect for celebrating National Oatmeal Day or any day, for that matter.

These are an adaptation of the traditional monster cookie. Instead of peanut butter, which I don’t think would be good with pumpkin, I used Biscoff. The consistency is about the same as peanut butter, but it’s made with mildly spiced ginger cookies so it pairs nicely with the pumpkin.

This version of monster cookies is softer than the traditional monsters. But they are every bit as delicious. It also makes a monster-sized batch of cookies. You will be at the oven, baking for quite a while.

The good news is that the cookies freeze well. Because they are soft, I recommend freezing them in a single layer or in layers separated with wax paper.

Here’s what you’ll need to make them: [Read more…] about Pumpkin Biscoff Monster Cookies

Ingredient Spotlight: Oats 2012

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Every week I buy a box of oats at the grocery.  We don’t use a whole box in a week.  At least not usually.  But it’s one of those ingredients that I know we use a lot of.

I don’t want to run out of oats.  It makes the oat breakfast eaters upset.

But because we don’t use a whole box in a week, there’s currently a stash of 6 boxes of oats in the cupboard.  I may have a problem.

I’m an oat hoarder.

But I know as soon as I stop buying oats, we’ll run out.  There won’t be any for breakfast  or a chocolate-craving batch of no-bake cookies.

(And because I’m on a confession roll, I’ll also admit to hoarding chocolate syrup.  Please tell me I’m not alone!)

Thankfully, oats are part of a wide variety of recipes.  Here are some of my favorite ways to use them:  [Read more…] about Ingredient Spotlight: Oats 2012

Homemade Grab and Go Snack Bars

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These bars are an experiment for my family.  The first part of the experiment is a success – the bars taste good and the kids like them!  The next part is to see if we can stop buying granola bars and eat these instead.

I don’t buy many snack foods, but during the school year I do make a habit of buying granola bars.  They are expensive.  I’ve wanted to try making my own for a long time, but kept putting it off.

Then I saw some soft baked bars in the granola bar aisle and a light bulb went off.  I remembered a recipe for oatmeal cookies from Whole Foods for the Whole Family and I was pretty sure it could be baked in bar form instead of cookies.

I made two different versions – Mixed Berry and Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip.  They are both great.  Bonus: they’re healthy too!  And they can be frozen.  Now we’re talking!

I wrapped the bars in plastic wrap and put them all in freezer bags.  The kids have been grabbing them to take to soccer and classes.  They say the bars thaw quickly and aren’t crumbly to eat.  They like them better than store bought granola bars.

I did tell the kids that they can only have them if they are leaving the house and will need a snack while they’re gone.  We have other foods they can snack on at home.  I want to have the bars used for the intended purpose and not scarfed down in two days.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the mixed berry version.  The peanut butter version has similar ingredients.  [Read more…] about Homemade Grab and Go Snack Bars