I wanted to share a few good recipes I have found (or rediscovered) lately.
First, a recipe for Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. If cookies can be healthy, this one would probably be in that category. It uses whole wheat, oats, and oil instead of butter or shortening. It does use white sugar, but I am sure there is a way around that if you really wanted to go the extra mile in making them healthy. They are super moist and full of flavor. Even Clint, who usually turns up his nose at anything I make and call “healthy”, loves these cookies. I want to eventually experiment with white chocolate chips added in or maybe even some coconut! YUM!
CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
INGREDIENTS:
2 c whole-wheat flour 1 c nuts, chopped (I like walnuts.)
1 1/4 c sugar 2/3 c raisins or Craisins
1 t baking powder 1 c oil
1/2 t baking soda 2 lg eggs
1 t salt 1/2 c milk
2 t cinnamon 1 t vanilla
3 c rolled oats
DIRECTIONS:
Sift dry ingredients. Add rolled oats, nuts, and raisins/Craisins. Mix. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir thoroughly. Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes.
Another good recipe I just stumbled across was on Stephanie Nielsen’s recipe site, CuisineNie. It is a recipe for Whole Wheat Pasta with Fresh Artichokes. If you think that artichokes are weird, you would be right. However, they are weird and DELICIOUS! The dish is fresh and full of flavor for having so few ingredients. (Love it!) If you are wanting something a little more substantial, you might add some chopped chicken to the final dish. I personally found the dish perfect as is, and plenty filling even without any meat. (NieNie is a vegetarian you see. While we are not vegetarians ourselves, we do eat meat-less dishes probably more than the average American.) These are Nie’s instructions from her website. I have also linked to it so you can find it there. For a more detailed explanation of how to remove an artichoke heart, visit this site. (Seriously took me a while and one ruined artichoke to figure it out!)
Once you know how its super easy and will go quickly.
1 box good whole-wheat spaghetti*
2 – a gazillion cloves garlic, crushed and chunked
4-5 medium or 2-3 large fresh artichokes, prepared (instructions below)
Handful fresh parsley
2 fresh lemons
½-1 cup vegetable stock or pasta cooking water
Olive oil, butter
Parmesan cheese
1) Prepare the artichokes.(FOR BETTER INSTRUCTIONS, GO HERE.) This is the hardest part of this recipe, and the only real work. Set up a bowl of ice water and squeeze the juice of half a lemon into it. Cut the stem off the artichoke (if you are willing to take the extra time, take a good peeler and peel the stem of the dark green until only the light green remains, toss the light green stick into the bowl.) Remove the leaves from the artichoke by working around it in concentric circles. Once you get toward the inside, cut off the top, cut in half, and then scrape out the choke and remove remaining leaves. Put the heart in the bowl, and continue with remaining artichokes. Set aside.
2) Chop garlic and parsley, and start the pasta to boil.
3) Put a large pan over medium heat, add oil. Drain the artichokes, dry carefully (water in oil spits) and then chop into bite-sized chunks. Sauté until there is a nice dark glaze on them.
4) Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and a dash of butter and cook until you can smell the garlic and everything is good and hot. Add broth or water, scrape to deglaze the pan, and cover to let steam, 7-10 minutes.
5) Check the artichokes for doneness. They should be fork-tender, but not mushy. I like them with a bit of crunch. When they seem done to you, add the juice of one, to one-and-a-half lemons, add parsley and a thumb-sized chunk of butter. Toss.
6) Drain pasta, reserving a bit of cooking liquid, put back in the cooking pan, put artichoke mixture over, toss to mix. Serve with fresh parmesan cheese.
*Whole wheat pasta can be gummy and is not always the best flavor for a particular sauce. This recipe is actually best with whole-wheat, it compliments the artichoke beautifully.
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