It seems that I am always making some version of chocolate chip cookies. A couple of weeks ago, I made almond chocolate chip cookies again. Every time that I make them, I usually tweak a few things. Sometimes this is on purpose. Other times it’s because I am out of something, and desperate for something sweet.
When we are lacking something, we can focus on the lack, or we can come out of our scarcity mindset, let our creative juices start flowing, and see what God gives us as an alternative. God is the God of abundance.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
1/2 bag of Enjoy Life mega chunk chocolate chips
2 capfuls of almond extract
1/3 cup of slivered almonds
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of almond milk
almond oil -1/2 cup
1/4 cup of flaxseed meal
1 1/2 cups of almond flour
1 cup of oatmeal for binding and thickness
Photo by Katina Horton
Directions
Dump all the above ingredients into a huge mixing bowl.
Mix everything with a wooden spoon.
Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Using a cooking scoop or tablespoon, scoop purposely uneven portions of the cookie mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. The more cookies on the sheet, the longer it will take.
Recently, me and my son, niece, and mother did a social distanced visit with my sister. Because we both have busy lives, it had been a while since we had seen each other. We had plenty of food, sweets, and drinks. I had brought pumpkin spice bread, blueberry banana chocolate chip nut bread, juice, and a chicken sausage with stir-fried vegetable mix. My sister and one of her friends made avocado tacos. And boy, were they good. Make you wanna slap your momma kind of good.
Photo by Katina Horton
Within a couple of weeks, that avocado taco inspired me to come up with my own avocado breakfast wrap. I took one bite and was immediately feeling some kind of way. Before I get to the recipe, I would like to share with you about a book that I read lately. The name of the book was entitled Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi.
I enjoyed it from start to finish. Although the book was an easy read as far as the wording was concerned, the characters were anything but easy. But, isn’t that how life is? Our lives look like a simple formula on the outside, but they are anything but. One area of brokenness leads to another area, and before you know it, we have historical trauma, generational trauma, and everything else in between.
Here is the recipe for the Avocado Breakfast Wrap:
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Ingredients for 8 servings:
1 can of diced tomatoes
6 eggs
1 cup of rice
small can of mushrooms -1
1 can of low sodium black beans
5 avocados
1 pack of cheese
4 tablespoons of ginger, turmeric, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, and chili powder
2 packs of Super Soft Mission Tacos
Directions:
Boil one cup of rice.
While the rice is boiling, saute the mushrooms, diced tomatoes, and beans in avocado oil.
Scramble the eggs, adding milk to it to make it stretch. ( I used yellow liquid eggs in order to avoid the cholesterol)
Add all the seasonings to the mixture, and then plenty of cheese on top.
Heat up the tortillas in avocado oil for a few seconds on each side, making sure that the edges are a little crispy. Stuff the tortillas with the breakfast crumble. And don’t forget to add the avocado to the inside.
I’m not sure if you are a meat lover or not. I wouldn’t consider myself a meat lover, but, I love chicken wings. And not just chicken wings. Fried chicken wings!!! It gets very tricky when it comes to buying fried chicken wings because some restaurants make them too greasy, or you end up with hardly any meat attached to the bones.
Shopify Photo
That defeats the purpose to me. Up until about 20 years ago, when I ate chicken wings, I had to have them with hot sauce. Now, I eat them with honey mustard sauce because I can no longer tolerate the hot sauce.
Shopify Photo
A couple of weeks ago, I had a taste for some chicken. This time it was for honey garlic chicken. This is a super quick recipe. It satisfied my taste for chicken, gave me a boost of protein, and I had something sweet to eat at the same time. That’s what I call a win-win situation.
Photo by Katina Horton
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
3 tablespoons of
onion and garlic powder
black pepper
3 tablespoons of honey
1/3 cup of olive oil
Directions:
Cut the two chicken breasts into chunks and season them.
Mix all of the above ingredients, except the honey, into a skillet of heated olive oil.
When the breasts are browned, add the honey, mixing it well with a wooden spoon.
Optional: Add parsley flakes to the mixture after it’s done for garnishing.
The following is a post that I wrote a year and a half ago on another website. Enjoy! God bless!
Book Adventures
I am in the process of reading a book by Peter Mayle entitled, “French Lessons”. It is one that is filled with a lot of humor, surprises, and vivid introductions to French cuisine. The one thing that made me stop and think is a scene where Peter is in a restaurant with two friends, and they are discussing how to make an omelette. The conversation intensifies because one person is insisting on saying that you can only make omelettes with a fork. Another person insists on the fact that they have been making omelettes all their life with a spatula.
This conversation ends, and then the conversation begins on what cookware should be used for the omelette. There was a toss up between cast iron and copper pots. The person with the copper pots said that everyone else was at a loss for the best omelette without using one. Peter leaves the scene feeling like he needs to get one fast.
Isn’t this how it is in life? Instead of us learning about all the different ways that we can say or do something, we have to impose our ways on everyone else, instead of celebrating the differences. This leaves the people who are different feeling as if they are missing out on something. It helps when we get into conversations like this, if we could take a moment and think about how it would make us feel if we were the “oddball out”.
On to the recipe:
Background on the Whole Wheat Pancakes
Last week, I had to wait for an hour for my daughter to pick me up. To kill time, I decided to look around in two sections of the grocery store. The first section was the magazines and books. Featured on the front of one of the magazines was a picture of blueberry whole wheat pancakes. The picture left me with a taste in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of. I decided that since I had some pancake mix and blueberries at home, that I would go home, and have fun making them.
They turned out really good! And I praised God for that! It is just the little things in life. Instead of using an egg like the recipe calls for, I used 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal. Then, I added 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, 3/4 cup of cashew milk, and blueberries. For the oil for the pancake mixture, I used grape seed oil. I used coconut spread to cook and top the pancakes with. Lastly, since I didn’t have syrup, I substituted with honey. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Red Mill Organic HIgh Fiber Pancake & Waffle Whole Grain Mix
Their recipes:
Blend 1 cup mix
1 egg
1 tsp oil
3/4 cup of cold milk
Mix until blended.
Cook on preheated griddle on medium heat.
My recipe:
1 1/2 cup of mix
2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon of grape seed oil
3/4 cup of Cashewmilk
1 cup of Blueberries
1/3 cup of sunflowers
Mix until blended.
Cook on preheated griddle on medium heat with 2 tablespoons of Earth balance Coconut Spread.
Top with Earth balance Coconut Spread, blueberries, and honey.
Have you ever made simple vegan chili? I know. Simple sounds very attractive. The two words simple and chili together sounds even better. That’s why I decided to make it.
Photo by Katina Horton
Ingredients
1 small bag of corn
3 cans of low-sodium black beans
3 cans of low-sodium Dark Red Kidney Beans
1 1/2 cans of Diced tomatoes with onions, celery, and green peppers
3/4 cup of quinoa
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
3 tablespoons of onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, turmeric, ginger powder, curry, and cumin
5 tablespoons of chili powder
1/2 cup of avocado oil
Directions
Dump all of the above ingredients into your slow cooker and let it cook for 4 hours on high. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can put it into a big pot, and it should all be ready within 1 hour.
Enjoy!!
******Â I don’t use salt, so if you taste it, and it seems like something is missing, more onion powder always does the trick.
Hope you guys are doing well on this beautiful Sunday afternoon in the Midwest. Be blessed! Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
Ingredients
2 cups of oatmeal
2 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup of chocolate chip chunks
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of coconut flakes
2 tablespoons of flax seed meal
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
1/3 cup of sliced almonds
1/3 cup of walnuts
3/4 cup of almond milk
Directions
Grab a large bowl, mixing all of the above ingredients.
Place parchment paper onto two cookie sheets.
Scoop the mixture with a small ice-cream scooper, making sure that you press the sides of the scooper against the bowl in order to drain off excess liquid before placing the scoop on the parchment paper.
Three weeks ago, I made lentil and eggplant soup. I promise you, it did not disappoint. So, if you are up for something new, why not try it out? Enjoy and have a blessed rest of your week!
Lentil, Pasta, and Eggplant Soup
Ingredients
1 box of Rotini pasta
1 lb of French lentils
1 lb of ground turkey meat
2 eggplants
1/2 jar of garlic pasta sauce
1/2 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons of cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, ginger,curry, and parsley
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 cup of avocado oil
1 cup of broth
2 bunches of asparagus
Directions
Boil the french lentils for about one hour, simultaneously, boiling the rotini and quinoa together in water and 1/2 cup of oil for about 25 minutes.
While they are boiling, brown the ground turkey meat in 1/4 cup of oil.
Saute the eggplant, asparagus, and diced tomatoes together.
After the rotini and quinoa finishes boiling, add them, the vegetable mix, the ground turkey, and all the other ingredients into a bigger pot and boil for about 45 minutes longer.
About a year ago, I decided to come up with a quick meal based upon the few ingredients that I had at home. And guess what? It turned out pretty good. My son stated that it tasted Mediterranean, so I decided to go with that.  I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Saturday. Â
Here is the recipe:
Mediterranean Dish
3 chicken breasts
1/2 cups of rice
1 1/2 cans of cut-leaf spinach
3 tablespoons of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and curry
1/3 cup of oil
Cut the chicken into chunks.
Place the oil and breasts in a skillet, frying them for about 20 minutes.
While the breasts are frying, boil the rice.
Saute the cut-leaf spinach in oil.
Place all of the above ingredients into a crock pot for an hour, along with a half cup of water to give a mashed effect and enjoy!
I have been thinking about making some version of lemon cookies for a while.Â
Finally, I was feeling courageous, and I gave them a try. When my mom came over, I gave her a few to try. I hadn’t revealed the ingredients yet. Then, simultaneously, she asked, “Did you put lemon in these cookies?” right as I was asking, “Did you taste my secret ingredient?” They came out pretty good. Hope you enjoy! God bless!
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of oatmeal
1 1/2 cups of almond flour
1 lemon or 3/4 cup of lemon juice or lemonade
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of coconut flakes
2 tablespoons of flax seed meal
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
1/3 cup of sliced almonds
3/4 cup of almond milk
Directions
Grab a large bowl, mixing all of the above ingredients, making sure that you cut the lemon into four wedges, squeezing all of the juice into the mixture.
Place parchment paper onto two cookie sheets.
Scoop the mixture with a small ice-cream scooper, making sure that you press the sides of the scooper against the bowl in order to drain off excess liquid before placing the scoop on the parchment paper.
