A Sneaky Triumph: Yummy Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

Hey, these cookies turned out great! My husband has even been "mmmm"ing about, gobbling happily, not even suspecting he is eating something good for him.That's always a positive sign! 

I'm really happy with the texture of these--crispy outside, lovely and chewy to bite into. My tinkering reduced the sugar, added lots of extra nutrients and fiber, and yet these are very moist and sweet.

So before I can forget exactly what I did, I'm going to record the recipe and share it with you. Don't worry--I'm including a link to the original recipe, too, in case your motto is "Give me tradition--not blasted nutrition!"

Yummy Healthy Oatmeal Cookies - Great for Breakfast!

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
   1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
   1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend
1 1/2 tsps. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
   1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tbsps. molasses (I used blackstrap but any type will do.)
2 tsps. vanilla
half a jar (about 1/4 cup) jar of baby food strained prunes (optional)
2 eggs

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup raisins or dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare your cookie sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease them.

Blend the dry ingredients (the first section of the ingredient list) in a medium-sized bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the moist ingredients (the second part of the ingredient list) until smooth. Gradually add the blended dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then add the nuts and dried fruit, and stir until mixed well. (Feel free to toss in chocolate chips, too, if desired!) 

Using a standard cookie scoop, drop batter onto prepared pans. (If you have no cookie scoop, you can use spoons. Make the balls of dough about the size of a large walnut.) Bake for about 14-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through so that the cookies bake evenly. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly on the pans, and then transfer them to racks. 

Oven temperatures vary, as do individual tastes, so keep an eye on the first sheet or so to alter baking time for optimum results if necessary .

Makes about 4 1/2 - 5 dozen cookies.

Now for the link to the original (unaltered) recipe:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chewy-oatmeal-cookies 

If you're not familiar with NuNatural More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend, you can learn more about it and order it here:
https://nunaturals.com/product/94

No, I don't have stock in the company (I wish I did!) but I do use this product a lot and recommend it to anyone trying to reduce the amount of sugar in their diet. 

Happy munchies, everyone!




 

A Goodwill "Find" and a Quick Summer Project

On Monday my husband had errands in a nearby town, so I went along and took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Goodwill store there. I walked in the door, and right there, front and center in the glass case, I saw...

 ...two vintage "Made in Japan" tea sets, complete with their original boxes! 

I couldn't believe my luck! Fabulous--especially when I asked the price. $5 apiece! I will have to do some pricing research, but I have no doubt these will be snapped up. Of the two sets, one is perfect (well, as perfect as a cheap little set of dishes for a child was made in the first place) and the other set has a small chip in each plate. 

If, for some bizarre reason, these don't sell, I'm jolly well happy to keep them! Little granddaughters will enjoy playing with them someday. Of course, I'll have to test the glaze for lead. A friend of mine was stunned to find the vintage "Made in Japan"honey pot she'd been using for her family for months tested positive. I wouldn't have even thought about it if she hadn't told me about her experience.

Anyway, I was happy! I also found a gorgeous quilted nylon (acetate?) twin bedspread with a beautiful rose print. I'll get some photos of that soon and share it with you. It cost $9.99 (whatever is going on with Goodwill's prices these days, considering they get all the stuff for free?) but as I love it dearly I felt it was worth the price.

On a non-junking note, I've been puttering around again, trying to solve a sock problem. If there's anything that drives me wild, it's little short socks (we used to call them "footies") sliding down my heel and bunching up inside my shoe. When I was growing up in Florida during the 1970s, this was never a problem. The footies had a little pompom on the back of the heel to keep them from sneaking down inside the shoe. I haven't seen this style in decades, so I decided to experiment with making my own.

A quick rummage through my stash of vintage trim yielded a variety of pompoms to try. I clipped a few off and tacked one to the back of each sock heel.

It was a pleasant way to wile away a sunny afternoon outside. You can see I did mine by hand, but I don't see why you couldn't attach them using your sewing machine if you'd rather. I attached mine to the inside of each sock, but next time I make these I'm going to see if it works better to sew them onto the outside.

 

Here's the result of my labor--three pairs of cute, colorful shortie socks (footies, darn it!) with cute, colorful little bouncing pompoms on the back, looking fetching while doing a very useful job.

Success!

Other fun stuff...

I made a sensational coffee cake the other morning--heavenly good! You can find the recipe here http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/barbaras-watch-hill-sour-cream-coffeecake-recipe

 

As usual, I made a few alterations in an attempt to salve my conscience by making it slightly healthy--using a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and hi-maize (high fiber) flour for the unbleached all-purpose flour, and I replaced a wee bit (1/4 cup) of the sugar with NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend. Oh, and instead of sour cream, I used plain yogurt. Then to complete my desecration, I slathered on a bit of vanilla frosting I had saved in my freezer from a previous baking session--right on top of the warm cake, so it melted and spread around in tasty fashion.Even with my experimenting, this came out so well, it's definitely going to be a recipe "keeper". Really moist, tender, rich, and flavorful!