Chewy Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened (but not melted)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet or roll into balls then flatten to disks. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

Yummy Granola Bars

These granola bars are as easy as mixing up a batch of homemade cookies. The amount of honey makes them both slightly indulgent and slightly expensive, but it’s worth it! 

My sister was given this recipe when her second was born, and she shared it with me. They were a lifesaver when I had my first baby and I have been making them for friends and clients for years now. 

 

A quick, delicious, nutrient dense snack, with oats to promote milk production! You can't go wrong there!

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. butter, softened (or coconut oil)
• 4 1/2 c. rolled oats (2/3 rolled and 1/3 instant is an option too)
• 1 c. honey (I love this one)
• 1 ½ c. oat flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups of add-ins (roughly equal proportions, except a bit less for the chia seeds): golden raisins, chocolate chips, Chia seeds, coconut flakes and blanched almonds (you can use whatever you like!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Line a 9”×13” glass pan with parchment paper. 
3. In a medium saucepan melt butter and add honey stirring and cooking on low for till melted and combined, then add the vanilla. (Let cool for a couple minutes while you gather your dry ingredients, so it won't melt the chocolate chips immediately)
4. In a large mixing bowl combine oats, oat flour, baking soda and your fav add-ins.
   
5. Pour honey, butter, vanilla mixture into dry ingredients and mix till all moistened.
6. Pour mixture into parchment paper/glass dish and press firmly and evenly with a spatula to flatten.
7. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-22 minutes until just golden brown on the edges.
8. When they come out of the oven they will have puffed up a bit, I like to use a spatula again and press them down, making them more dense for cooling.
9. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. Even better chill in fridge before cutting. They will keep fine at room temp, but longer in fridge.

Variations

✔ Add ¼ c. cocoa powder to the dry ingredients; no chocolate chips needed.

✔ Use ½ c. natural peanut butter, almond butter or sunbutter in place of ½ c. of the butter (stay on the short side of baking time as nut butters can dry out the bars).

✔ Use a large cookie sheet and press the bars more thinly

FAQs

✔ How about dairy free? Coconut oil works fine in place of butter, especially in the nut butter versions.

✔ How long is the shelf life? Seriously, I found a bar in our diaper bag that had been there for months, and it was perhaps a bit lower on the quality scale, but no mold or other issues that would deem them inedible. Generally they are gone so quickly you don’t have to worry about shelf life!

✔ Can I use less honey? Honey is expensive and the “unhealthy” ingredient in this recipe. When you heat the honey, you can definitely cut it down by at least 1/3 cup and everything still holds together. I also had success substituting natural applesauce for up to 1/2 cup honey, but the resulting bars weren’t very sweet. The chocolate chips were a necessity.

Easy Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs organic ground beef

1 egg

1 onion, chopped

1 cup milk

1 cup dried bread crumbs (I toast 2 slices and then chop them up)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp whole seed mustard

1/3 cup ketsup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, combine the beef, egg, onion, milk and bread OR cracker crumbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste and place in a lightly greased 5x9 inch loaf pan, OR form into a loaf and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a separate small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. 

Mix well and pour over the meatloaf.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.