I'm alive!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had/have the worst cold/flu/bronchitis/yuckiness in decades last week and am finally feeling more like myself (still a bit sick though).  Away from the drug induced haze I was living in, I tossed all blogging, working, socializing, living, out the window for sleep and a tissue.  By the weekend I was actually talking like a normal human without hacking up a lung or two and dragged the family out to Santa Barbara for some zoo action and bonding time.  It was oodles of fun but when we got home, I crashed once again.  On Sunday, I woke feeling like I needed something filling (since I was barely eating, throat hurt to much to even think about swallowing).  I made Banana Flax seed Waffles, Strawberry Blueberry syrup and a few sausage links.  Oh boy was it yummy.  It poured cats and dogs and we proceeded to be holed up all day chasing the precocious little girl around and trying to eat the house by baking and cooking.  I made a few different types of cookies (Kitchen Sink and Double Chocolate Cranberry), a batch of Ham and Corn Chowder, and even some veggies for the rugrat.  It was good.  By the end of the night we finished cleaning the house (something that didn't get done all week), did laundry, and even dinner planned.  Let's see what we'll be chowing down on:

• Monday:  Mushroom and Asparagus Quiche
• Tuesday:  Sausage Pizza with salad
• Wednesday:  Chicken Satay with swiss chard quinoa
• Thursday: Ham and Swiss Paninis
• Friday:  Fish
• Saturday:  Burritos
• Sunday:  Soup --undecided what kind

  Nice and easy dinners, nothing fancy over here.  This week I'll be recovering as fast as I can so I can do the race this weekend.  At the moment, running isn't an option since I'm on two different types of inhalers.  I just hope I can finish.

As for what do I have to do this week?

• Photos of the garden (seriously... i'm sure you sick of me talking about this and not showing you)
• redesign blog  (yup, it's finally time for this)
• rest

Yup, I'm busy!  I'll be back to blogging on schedule.  I hate getting sick and I think what was worse than before is being sick with my daughter.  Poor girl was one big snot ball.  This morning I'm happy to report she was able to breathe without me suctioning her nose ever 15 minutes!

  Have you gotten hit by this year's cold? 

Kitchen Sink Cookies Recipe

You know sometimes you just need that sweet fix and don't know what to make?  What about kitchen sink cookies!  I made a few nights ago because I needed something like I needed a million bucks.  I had to have something yummy but didn't know what to make.  I started pulling out a bunch of things from the pantry and fridge and ended up with these!

Kitchen Sink Cookies

makes 1.5 dozen small cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour (I used rice/whole wheat flour mix)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 2 dates chopped up
• 2 tbsp coconut 
• 1 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1/6 cup chocolate (I have a bar of baking chocolate so I just cut off some)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven for 375°
• Toss everything together
• Bake for 10 minutes

  The nice thing about these cookies is that 2-3 of them does the trick and the rest can go in the cookie jar!

mmmm.... peanut butter!

If you know me, I have a fascination for all things peanut buttery.  It's the cat's pajamas and to say I love love love it is a vast understatement.  When I heard it was National Peanut Butter Month (YEA!!!) I decided I will celebrate weekly by making forms of peanuty goodness at least once a week. This week I made Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal cookies.  OMG it was delish!  I had about a trillion of them (okay, I had two but would have had more but they fill you up).  I knew once I tasted them I had to share the recipe.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup of regular flour
• 1/2 cup of brown rice flour
• 2 cups of oatmeal
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (or one small container) of apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of splenda
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (I used Trader Joe's Organic non salted peanut butter)
• 2 teaspoons of natural honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients together in small bowl until fluffy, then add into big bowl and mix together.
4. Spray pan with Pam and spoon out cookie mix.  Push down each cookie so it's flat and not rounded.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. While cookies are baking, mix and mash all the topping ingredients together.
7. After Baking, take out and let cool on rack.
8. After they are cool, spoon the topping mix on top.
9. Eat!

They are just too good to be true.  I made about 36 of them.  You can always use regular flour instead of the mix of flours I used.  I've been toying with healthifying recipes I find hence the apple sauce instead of oil and Splenda instead of regular sugar.  If you use regular sugar, use 1 cup.