Super Bowl Sunday!

Feb 042013

Hello, hello! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Mine was absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it…

#WarningItsLong

Friday

Fabio and I had a very relaxing evening on Friday, which included staying in and watching the new movie, Django.

[Source]

One of Fabio’s coworkers gets new movies for free before they get released on DVD (how awesome is that?!) and she was kind enough to lend us Django to watch over the weekend.

I was a little wary at first because I had heard some controversy surrounding this film due to its violent and racist plot. While I did find the movie to be a bit violent and over the top, I wasn’t too overwhelmed or turned off by it at all, and I actually thought it was a really great film. In a way it was light-hearted and funny at times, and in the end of the movie the main character and former slave, Django, gets back at all the evil slave owners who made his life miserable. It was a great movie and, despite the controversy, I would definitely recommend it!

The movie was quite long (more than 2.5 hours!!) so we pretty much just spent the whole evening on the couch watching it. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening and unwind from the week!

Saturday

On Saturday morning Fabio and I had a very important brunch date with my mom and stepdad! They just returned from Italy (again!) and wanted to get together to tell us about their trip.

My mom suggested going to Cava for brunch after reading my description of it on the blog last week. I happily accepted and we met my mom and stepdad for brunch around noon.

I started off with a mimosa (delicious!) before switching over to a mango mojito (seriously amazing- even better than the mimosa). We ordered a bunch of plates to try like last time, including the crazy feta cheese that gets lit on fire!

We had a great time talking with my mom and stepdad about their trip, and there was even some talk of taking another trip to Italy over Memorial Day Weekend. My mom and stepdad are hoping that Fabio and I could go with them (!!!) and are just trying to work out the logistics. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high in case things don’t work out, but there is a pretty good chance Fabio and I will be going to Italy again this summer!! It would be soo awesome and I really hope it works out!!

After brunch we said goodbye to my mom and stepdad and headed out to run some errands. We had quite a few things we had to get accomplished before our big super bowl party on Sunday, including running to two grocery stores and Ross to pick up a few things. Although that was all pretty mundane, we did manage to get a few more “fun” errands accomplished.

First up was another bike shop where Fabio continued his search for a bike. He still hasn’t found anything he loves, but has narrowed it down a bit.

Let’s hope he makes up his mind and buys a bike before our 40 mile bike ride in May

Next up on the agenda was a trip to the dog park for Jack. This is definitely one of our favorite weekend routines, and we try to take Jack up to the dog park as often as we can. How could I turn down an opportunity to see this happy face?

After the dog park, we headed back to our apartment when Fabio suddenly pulled over and parked the car. I was super confused and was wondering what we were doing when I saw this:

He had parked the car in front of a cute little bake shop and suggested that we go inside for a treat. How sweet is that??

There were so many delicious baked goods to choose from, but I ultimately went with a browned butter chocolate chip cookie.

Can’t go wrong with the basics, right?

Fabio ordered an espresso and we sat at a cute little table to split the cookie. It was definitely a fun surprise in my afternoon

The rest of the evening was pretty tame and we were mostly just preparing for the big party the next day.

Sunday

Fabio and I spent the whole day on Sunday getting ready for our super bowl party. We’ve never had a real “party” at our apartment before, even though we’ve had a few people over a bunch of times for little gatherings. This was our first time hosting something so big and we wanted it to be perfect!

We started out the day by eating a quick breakfast of avocado and egg on an English muffin, per this recipe. I topped mine with a little Cholula hot sauce, of course

Breakfast of champions!

Then we got to work dusting, vacuuming, and cooking to prepare for the day. I generally keep the apartment pretty clean (I’m a little obsessive about it) but this was a good chance to tackle the areas that I don’t always get around to, like dusting shelves that don’t ever get used and cleaning the bathroom floor (ugh).

One thing I found while cleaning the bookshelf was a memory book from when Fabio and I first started dating. I made it for him for our one year anniversary (we’ve now been together for more than four years) so it was really fun to go back and look at the old photos.

It also doesn’t hurt to be reminded of how much weight I’ve lost since then. In some of these pictures I was about 15 pounds heavier! Yikes!

While we were cleaning, we had the puppy bowl on TV. Did you guys watch this?? I loved seeing all the little puppies romp around.

So did Jack.

In between the cleaning I also did a little cooking and made some delicious cookies (with white chocolate and semi-sweet chips).

I also made some Italian meatballs stuffed with mozzarella cheese that I put into sliders during the party. Some of the mozzarella cheese oozed out during the cooking, but they were still delicious!

I can’t wait for the leftovers tonight which I plan to have with some spaghetti squash. Delish!!

People started trickling in at around 4:00 and by the time kickoff started, my apartment was crowded with 15 people!

Bianca and I decided to rep our Skins gear instead of wearing purple for the Ravens. Great choice!

Almost everyone brought something with them to eat and we wound up having buffalo chicken dip, guacamole, wings, pizza bites, popcorn chicken, pigs in a blanket, kielbasa, sausage dip, brownies, peanut butter cookies, and a few other small treats, in addition to the food that I made. Sheesh!

At the beginning of the party the table was pretty barren with just some crackers and cheese, but it soon filled up with so much food!

One of my favorites was the homemade Twix bars in the lower right hand corner of this picture. They were to die for!

Everyone also brought a ton of beer, so my fridge is now packed with beer and leftovers. That is definitely one of the perks of hosting!

The party went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to have a great time. We even brought out Catch Phrase to play during the blackout of the game to pass the time, which was really fun. We had plenty of food and drinks and almost everyone stayed until the very end of the game!

Once people left, Fabio and I quickly cleaned up (which wasn’t too bad due to some prep work that my friend Lauren helped me take care of during the third quarter) and we were all cleaned up and in bed by around 11:30. Not too bad, right?

All in all the party was a huge success and now Fabio and I definitely want to host more parties. It was a blast!

Question of the day: What did you do for the super bowl?

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes 8 Responses »

Jan 102013

Hello, hello! It’s already Thursday, can you believe it? This week is just flyyying by

Woohoo!

Before we dive into the meat of today’s post (which is another recipe! Yay!) I wanted to give you all an update on my sprained ankle. For the most part my ankle is feeling a lot better, however it’s still pretty swollen and bruised. The swelling has gone down a lot, but it’s definitely still a lot puffier than my other ankle. It doesn’t hurt too much, but if I unexpectedly move it from side to side I get a little tug of pain. Putting on boots is also not so fun, since I have to really point my toe (you would think this would keep me from wearing boots….um, not so much).

Fabio has been a great help and has been making me prop my ankle up, ice it, and soak my whole foot in epsom salts (which my stepdad and apparently many other people say is the best remedy), so it’s slowly but surely mending.

I’ve been really trying to take it easy this week so that next week I can get back to my running and do some modified workouts (with a brace, obviously). Please oh pleeeeeeeeeeease heal fast, little ankle!! I miss running more than I ever expected

Recipe

Ok so I have a really great recipe to share with you all today! I gave you all a sneak peak of the outcome in yesterday’s What I Ate Wednesday post, but today I’m here with the whole recipe! Awesomeee!

I don’t know about you guys, but I always have a list of recipes that I want to make. Usually when I see a recipe I like, I email the link to myself and then categorize it under “recipes” in my Gmail folders (does this make me a freak and over-0rganized? Probably?)

Whenever I email a recipe to myself, I make sure to include any relevant notes about special ingredients I might need to make the recipe. Then, before going grocery shopping, I browse through my recipe list to see if there’s anything I’m dying to make that week that needs a special ingredient (am I the only one who does this? Do you guys have another way of keeping track??)

Anyway, one of the recipes I have been dying to try are chocolate chip cookies with a secret ingredient. The only problem is that stupid secret ingredient was something I didn’t have at home. Granted, it’s not a crazy ingredient and it’s probably something I should keep around anyway (and will now that I’ve tried this recipe!) but I just didn’t have it on hand.

Unfortunately Fabio is a bit of a grocery Nazi (either that or he knows my love for new recipes and is trying to keep me from overspending on dumb stuff I will never use…I’m looking at you cottage cheese that’s sitting in my fridge) so he wouldn’t let me buy this ingredient until it was at least on sale.

Imagine my delight when it finally went on sale last weekend. WOOHOO! And what is this stupid secret ingredient that I keep mentioning??

CHICKPEAS!!! In cookies!! Who knew?!

By adding chickpeas to this cookie batter I got amazingly moist and delicious cookies without adding any eggs, oil, or butter. Seriously! None!

The final cookies are only 3 Weight Watchers Points + a piece. And they’re not even that small! My biggest problem is forcing myself to stop eating after just one

I got the idea from this recipe and this recipe (Edited to add: that first link appears to be broken, but here’s something similar), but the final result was a creation all my own. Yep, slap on the apron and call me Betty Crocker, because this was a little homemade experiment that I came up with myself (did I really just say that?). I was kind of nervous about how it would turn out, but the final result was de-lish.

Here’s how these delicious little cookies came together.

First I got out my heavy but helpful food processor and started getting the ingredients ready for the dough.

First was a can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained.

Then I added my ingredients into the food processor!

Into the bowl of my food processor went the chickpeas, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 3 tablespoons of oats, 2 tablespoons of fat free milk, 1/4 cup of reduced fat peanut butter (I used Better N’ Peanut Butter for fewer Weight Watchers PP), 1/3 cup of brown sugar, and 2/3 cup of whole wheat flour.

Once all these ingredients were added, I pulsed the dough in the food processor until everything was combined and resembled cookie dough.

At this point I moved the dough to a separate bowl and folded in 2/3 cups of chocolate chips (you could do this right in the food processor if you have room, but mine is kind of small and I couldn’t easily stir the chips around).

Using a large spoon, I dropped the cookies onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and popped them into a 350-degree preheated oven.

I let the cookies bake for about 10 minutes or until the tops were lightly browned and set (note: they only took maybe a minute or two longer than normal cookies). Then I let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

After I couple of minutes I had to taste one, naturally

Please ignore my chipping nail polish!

As you can see, the inside was deliciously moist and full of chocolate chips (2/3 cups was probably more than absolutely necessary, but I’m not complaining haha!).

These cookies were delicious and I will definitely be making them again. Please let me know if you try them!

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 20

These cookies have a secret ingredient that keeps them light and healthy: chickpeas! Without any eggs, butter, or oil, they are a great sweet treat for anyone watching their weight. Only 3 Weight Watchers Points+ per cookie!

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of oats
2 tablespoons of fat free milk
1/4 cup of reduced fat peanut butter (I used Better N’ Peanut Butter for fewer Weight Watchers PP)
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2/3 cup of whole wheat flour
2/3 cup chocolate chips (any kind will do)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add first nine ingredients to food processor and pulse until smooth.
Move dough to a separate bowl and fold in chocolate chips.
Use a large tablespoon to drop cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until tops are brown and cookies are set.
Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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I used the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder for this recipe and found that each cookie (if you make 20 medium-sized cookies, like I did) is only 3 Weight Watchers Points+. However, if you make smaller cookies and yield more from the dough, I bet they would only be 2 points+!

I hope you like these as much as I do!

Question of the day: What is your sweet tooth weakness?

I have always loved cookies, but brownies might just be my favorite. Gosh, I love brownies. I might have to tackle a healthy brownie next. Bring it on!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes 5 Responses »

Dec 132012

Is it just me, or is this week flying by particularly fast? I mean, one minute I was groaning because it was Monday and now it’s already Thursday?? Woah! This is girl is not complaining

Before I dive into the meat of today’s post (which will include a Weight Watchers update and recipe, FTW) can we take a minute to talk about cookies? Yes, I said cookies. You know, basically just the most important thing ever (in fact I just remembered that the aforementioned recipe is also for cookies. Seriously, I think I may have to join cookie-eaters anonymous).

Back to the cookies. So, my office just posted a sign-up sheet for an office-wide cookie swap. If last year’s swap is any indication, then I am up against some tough competition. Last year one of my coworkers brought in these salted caramel brownies (which are not technically cookies but whatever) that his wife made. O.M.G. Those things were life-changing.

I’d really like to participate in this cookie swap (especially since a few of my coworkers read the blog- hi guys!) but I’m nervous because I think they are expecting big things. Great. No pressure. So, do you guys have any recipes to recommend for me? Any special family favorites?

So far I am considering these sugar cookies from Peanut Butter Fingers…

And these butterscotch molasses pudding cookies from Crazy for Crust.

However I am open to all suggestions!

I also can’t decide if I should go healthy or not. On the one hand, I’d love to have some healthy cookies around but on the other, it is the holiday season and I wouldn’t mind breaking out the butter.

What do you guys think?

WW Update

First of all I want to thank you all for your comments on my Weight Watchers update post. You all are so supportive and it means a lot to me, so thank you!

Despite all this cookie-talk, Weight Watchers has been going pretty well this week! Of course some days are better than others, so I have been trying hard to eat healthy on the days that I know I’ll be able to control my meals so that I won’t go overboard on the days that I can’t.

For example, I knew that last night I would be going over to my dad’s house for dinner. Not knowing what would be on the menu, I made sure to eat very healthy and stay well within my points on Monday and Tuesday so that if the menu wasn’t diet-friendly on Wednesday it wouldn’t ruin my whole week.

That being said, our meal was spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, and salad. I made sure to eat the salad first and chose the healthiest dressing my dad had available. Studies show that filling up on fruits or veggies (or even drinking a glass of water) before eating will fill you up and keep you from eating too much of your main meal. Once I had some salad, I then dug in to a smaller plate of spaghetti and had way more tomato sauce than meatballs. I still had a piece of garlic bread (because come on, I couldn’t resist) but I limited myself to one. Small victories!

This process is reminding me that it’s all about moderation each day So far, so good!

Recipe

I have to be honest. I have been sitting on this recipe for a long time. Like, since October. Ugh. Don’t kill me. These cookies are so good and I’ve been meaning to share them with you guys for so long, but sometimes other delicious things come along and cookies take the back-burner. Oops. Forgive me? Good.

So let’s talk about these cookies. They are semi-healthy, made with bananas, and so darn delicious you’ll want to make them every time your bananas start to turn brown. Seriously.

It all started one weekend when I was really craving healthy-ish cookies but didn’t want them to taste healthy. Do you know what I mean? When you want a cookie that’s a little better for you but isn’t all cake-like, mushy, and flavorless? I did a little Googling and found this original recipe. I did a little tweaking and this is what I got.

Oh yeah. These definitely fit the description. Puffy, soft, and full of banana flavor, these might be my new go-to cookies. In fact, they were so good that one of Fabio’s coworkers offered to pay me to make them again. Did you ~~hear~~ read that? Pay me!! Like, at least $20 (haha we are still negotiating the price…). They are that good.

Here’s how they came together.

I started off by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Then I baked two bananas in their peel in the oven for about 10 minutes until the peel was completely brown and the bananas were soft inside. I just put them right on the rack. It sounds weird, but this is what gives it all the flavor. Yummmm.

While the bananas were baking I whisked together 2 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1 tsp of salt.

Then I creamed together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of regular sugar, and 1/2 cup of butter.

Once the bananas were cooked, I took them out of their peels and mixed them in with the sugar and butter mixture. Then I added 2 eggs and 1 tsp. of vanilla.

Then I mixed that all together and then slooooowly added in the dry ingredients. Then I folded in 2 cups of chocolate chips.

Then I spooned the dough out onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and baked them for 12 – 15 minutes.

Once the cookies were brown on top and still somewhat soft, they were done! I let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then transferred them to a wire rack.

Yummmm.

Then they were ready to eat!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 22 mins

Serves: 35

These banana chocolate chip cookies have a subtle banana flavor that you won’t quite be able to put your finger on. They are puffy and soft and don’t taste healthy at all!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
2 bananas
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake bananas in their peel for 10-12 minutes until the skin darkens and they are soft inside.
Whisk all dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, and salt).
In a separate bowl combine butter and sugars with an electric beater until well incorporated then add eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Bananas will be hot so you may want to wear an oven mit while adding them to the bowl.
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients then add chocolate chips.
Using a tablespoon, drop cookie dough onto cookie sheet bake for 12-15 minutes.

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If all else fails this recipe would be perfect for my cookie swap at work. Semi-healthy and delicious!

Question of the day: What are your favorite holiday cookies?

My mom makes pretty amazing sugar cookies and green holiday snickerdoodles. Yummm. I also really love those little peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses in the middle, but they’re not really a tradition in my family. I guess I like when other people make those haha!

Candy Corn Cookies

Recipes 12 Responses »

Oct 232012

Heyyy there people! Hope your day is going well! I am still having a tough time catching up on sleep from Maryland’s Homecoming this past weekend. Last night I really wanted to spend some time reading and watching the presidential debate, but I zonked out around 9:30. Fail!

Oh well, hopefully now I am all caught up and will be awake enough to watch the Homeland episode from Sunday tonight! Love, love, love that show. If you have Showtime you should definitely watch it!

Workout

So I have a new workout tip to share with you all today!!

Recently I have to admit my early-morning exercise motivation has been…waning. I am still waking up early to run with Jack every morning, but those extra stops at the gym or quick HIIT circuits are just not happening as frequently as they used to. Instead my workout routine has switched to more of an evening schedule, which is definitely not my favorite.

Working out in the evenings has been fine, but sometimes other plans crop up (e.g., baseball games, errands, happy hours, etc.) and I don’t always get in as many workouts as I should. Sometimes I’m also just so tried after work that the thought of going to the gym at the end of a long, hard day makes me want to die. I still definitely prefer waking up in the morning to work out, but I just need something to kick by butt in gear.

Last week I was flipping through some old posts from one of my favorite bloggers Tina, from Carrots N Cake, and I stumbled across an article she wrote on tips for staying motivated. One tip that I thought would really work well for me is to write down the workouts I am going to do each day, and keep myself accountable to them.

Tina’s thinking is that it’s too easy to give up on a workout if nothing is holding you to it, but if you have them written down it helps you adhere to them a little more. I thought this was a great idea and immediately ordered this cute little dry-erase calendar from Amazon!

Isn’t it great?? It arrived last night so I didn’t fill out my workout for Monday, but check out my planned workouts for the rest of the week!

Tuesday: Spin at 6:00 a.m.
Wednesday: Boot Camp at 6:00 a.m.
Thursday: Body Pump at 6:00 a.m.
Friday: Alyssa’s 4-week shred workout (plus a bit of cardio thrown in depending on how long the workout takes me/how difficult it is)

I love that it’s right on the fridge where I will see it everyday! No skipping my morning workouts now (er-hopefully). So far the calendar has been working great, but obviously it’s hard to tell after just one day.

What are some motivation tips you guys use??

Recipe

When my friend Lauren invited me over for brunch this past weekend, I knew I wanted to bring something delicious and fall-themed. My mind instantly went to pumpkin-flavored goodies, and I knew I would be able to find a ton of delicious options online for inspiration. [Source]

Yeah. That definitely wasn’t a problem. I saw pumpkin recipes everywhere! Lol!

However, I also wanted to bring something else to the brunch. Something still festive and fun, without being too difficult to make (don’t worry, the pumpkin recipe is coming soon too! haha).

So, I did what any girl would do, I turned to Pinterest! I swear I spent at least two hours sifting through all the delicious potential recipes, when I finally landed upon this recipe for candy corn cookies.

They looked simple and delicious and the best part was I already had all the ingredients on hand. Win!

These cookies came together really quickly and were a big hit at the brunch! Here’s how I made them

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Then I poured 4 tablespoons of butter (softened), 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 large egg yolk, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract into a large bowl. Using my mixer, I beat the ingredients together until everything was combined.

Note: It seemed like this wasn’t going to be enough dough for the cookies, but it wound up being fine!

Then I added the dry ingredients to the bowl. These included1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, and 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

Note Number Two (haha): Usually I mix my dry ingredients together first in a separate bowl and then dump them in, but since the amounts in this recipe were so small I didn’t bother.

Using the slowest speed on my hand mixer, I beat the dry ingredients into the wet.

Once I had a nice chocolatey dough, I used a spoon to drop little cookie balls onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. I rubbed the dough around in my palms to make nice circular cookies.

Then I popped them into the oven for about 9 minutes, rotating the pan halfway.

As soon as the cookies looked firm and started getting a tiny bit crackled around the edges, I pulled them out.

I immediately topped each one with a little candy corn and then let them cool completely so the candy corns would stick.

Yay for cute, easy, and delicious candy corn cookies!!

These little treats would be perfect for any Halloween parties you have coming up and are just so adorable!

Candy Corn Cookies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Adapted from Bake at 350

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 9 mins

Total time: 14 mins

Serves: 26

These little cookies are so festive for Halloween! They come together in a pinch and you probably have all the ingredients on hand already!

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
About 26 candy corns

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment.
Beat/stir the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until combined.
Stir in the baking powder, salt, flour and cocoa, and mix until a dough forms.
Use a teaspoon to scoop out the dough and roll into balls. Roll dough between your palms to shape the dough, if needed.
Place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart. (It looks like too little dough for each cookie, but it works.)
Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch, 9 to 11 minutes.
Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly).
Cool on sheets 1 minute; transfer to a rack to cool completely.

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So there you go! Now go bake yourself some Halloween treats to enjoy this weekend! Especially when they are as tiny as these, you don’t even have to feel guilty about eating them! Just try to control yourself from eating more that ~~two~~ ~~three~~ six haha!

Enjoy!

Question of the day: What are your favorite Halloween treats?

When I was younger Reese’s were definitely my favorite, but recently I discovered 100 Grand bars, which are delicious! Have you ever tried them??

Healthy Apple Cookies for Fall

Recipes 6 Responses »

Sep 252012

Hey there! I hope you are having a great Tuesday so far! It’s a beautiful day here in the nation’s capital and I hope some of you get a chance to go outside and enjoy it! Despite the nice weather right now, this morning was actually pretty chilly and I wore my North Face fleece during my run with Jack. It is definitely feeling like fall around here!

This morning I realized just how much I miss running in my jacket, mostly because I can zip my keys up in my pocket instead of removing my house key from the key ring and tying it around my wrist via a hair tie (please tell me some of you also do this and I’m not a weirdo…). It’s the little things in life, right? Haha!

Workout

Lately I have been having a hard time waking up in the morning to workout. I think it’s probably because of the change in the seasons (and the dark mornings) but I always used to wake up early last winter to work out so I don’t know what my deal it. I guess I’m just being lazy haha but either way it doesn’t really matter because I have just been altering my schedule a bit to work out in the afternoons instead. Gotta be flexible!

Yesterday after work I ran two miles with Jack and then completed the warm-up of my Insanity DVD. After that I decided I wanted to try out a few of the new workouts that were suggested in this month’s Fitness magazine, which just arrived on my doorstep last week. Yay!

I took my heart rate monitor off before completing the Fitness workouts because I planned to do the exercises while watching TV and I wanted to take my time without worrying that I was lowering my average heart rate too much. Here are my stats from after the run and insanity warmup:

You can see that compared to last week, my duration and calories were less (last week I worked out for 50 mins. and burned 488 calories) but my heart rate was higher this time (last week my average was 159 and my maximum was 185). I’m happy that even though I cut my cardio a bit short, I really pushed myself to work hard during that time. Plus the Fitness workout after my run & insanity combo helped me burn even more calories. Success!

Recipe

Alright so now I have an awesome recipe to share with you guys! On Sunday afternoon I was feeling a bit bored and got the urge to bake something (how shocking! haha). We had a ton of apples in the fridge thanks to a big sale at Giant, and Fabio had teased me when I insisted on buying them that there was no way I was going to eat them all before they went bad. Well, that was more than a week ago and I started to worry that he might be right so I quickly Googled some sweet treats involving apples so I could prove him wrong. I debated over delectable apple crisps and pies but I wanted something that would last me the week that I could take to work.

Then I saw the perfect recipe: Caramel Frosted Apple Cookies. Although I wasn’t planning to make a caramel frosting (I still had cream cheese icing leftover from my healthy zucchini cookies) and I was planning to swap out half the butter for applesauce and replace the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, there was a good base to these cookies which thankfully included two apples. Yes!

Here’s how they came together.

First I combined 1/4 cup butter (room temp.), 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, and one egg into a large bowl. I used my mixer to beat the ingredients until they were smooth and creamy.

Next it was time to grate my apples. First I peeled their skins and used the small side of a grater to get a nice apple pulp. I continued this until I had one cup of pulp, which for me was two small apples.

It actually tasted just like the applesauce haha and I don’t actually think they were very different in retrospect. I suppose if you want to sub the apples for an additional cup of applesauce it would probably work out ok. Don’t take me word for it though- as I didn’t try it myself.

Then I added the grated apples to the wet ingredients and added in a few more “goodies” including 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup of pecans (or whatever you have on hand- I used walnuts. If Catrina were visiting I wouldn’t use any nuts since she’s allergic! They would have still tasted great though!). The recipe also suggested adding 1/4 cup fat free milk at this point so I dumped that into the wet ingredients as well. Then I gave it all a gentle stir until it was well-incorporated.

Then it was time for the dry ingredients! Into a separate bowl I added 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. of cloves, nutmeg, and salt. All these spices made my kitchen smell just like fall. Yum!!

Then I whisked it all together really well because baking soda can leave a bitter taste if it’s not mixed all the way.

One it was mixed I slooooowly added it into the wet ingredients, stirring as I poured.

Once it was all incorporated I had finished cookie dough!

I may have dipped my finger in the batter a few times, just to make sure the seasoning was right It was!

At this point I dropped the cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the tops were just set.Then I let them sit for a minute or two to firm up and then transferred them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

I made sure they were completely cooled before I then drizzled them with icing. The recipe I followed had a delicious-sounding caramel topping, but as I said I had some leftover cream cheese icing so I just used that. They are also good as-is if you want to skip the icing!

Yummm these are soo good! And they aren’t too bad for you either since they use half applesauce instead of a whole stick of butter and have whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. Plus, there’s all those vitamins from the apples!!

Now don’t get me wrong, they’re not like eating raw celery, but they will satisfy your sweet tooth without packing on the pounds. Delish!!

Healthy Apple Cookies for Fall

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 24

These healthy apple cookies bring out all your favorite fall aromas. No one will ever guess they are healthy!

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup apple (peeled and grated)
1 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)
1 cup pecans (or walnuts)
1/4 cup milk

Instructions

Beat butter, applesauce, sugar and egg well.
Add grated apple, milk, raisins and nuts.
Whisk together all dry ingredients and slowly incorporate into wet ingredients.
Drop onto parchment-covered cookie sheets.
Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until done.
Cool and top with icing.

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These are so good, I really can’t recommend them enough!

So tell me, what are your favorite fall dessert recipes? Feel free to link up in the comments below!!

Zucchini Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

Recipes 8 Responses »

Aug 212012

Hey there, people! How are you doing today? Well, even though my crazy stressful project is over, I am still swamped at work (does it ever end?) and am running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I’m sure you can imagine.

Then, right in the middle of the afternoon I got an IM from the front desk assistant saying I received a package. Usually they just bring packages right to my desk (you know, really exciting things like thousands of fact sheets being shipped back from a conference) so I was wondering why I had to go pick up this package from the front office.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting there!

Aren’t the beautiful?! They came from my wonderful, sweet, mom, who has been worried about me the entire time I was captaining this crazy stressful project at work. She was also really appreciative that I was able to go down to my grandparent’s house this weekend even though I knew I also had to go in to work. She is the best mom in the world, isn’t she?

Thanks, mom! They are beautiful!

Bootcamp Update

I have to admit that my bootcamp could be going better. Yesterday I had to be at work an hour earlier than usual, so the hour that I usually spend at the gym in the morning went right out window. Then, after work, Fabio and I met up with some friends of his family since they are visiting D.C. We drove them around, showed them the monuments, and went out to dinner. Although it was a really nice evening, we didn’t get home until late and then it was too late for the gym

Today’s workout was better, but it wasn’t technically the plan I was supposed to be doing as part of the bootcamp. See, every two weeks Tina sends the next set of workouts to everyone via email. While you can just print the document and work from there, I always need to watch the demonstration videos and draw myself little hints and reminders of what the moves should look like (I’m a nerd- I know).

I didn’t have time to look at the new workouts yet this week (fail) so this morning I just continued one of the workouts from last week. That was fine for today, but now my schedule is all off. Womp womp. I’m going to make sure I print out those new workouts and write down the tips for myself today. No more procrastinating. Sheesh.

Recipe

Anyway, I have a really great recipe for you all today! I saw this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats, which is probably my favorite blog, hands down. Kristin is the blogger behind the site and she is sweet, down to earth, and an amazing cook. She is also really creative and great at photography! Plus I think we just have really similar tastes because everything she makes seems exactly like something I would love. I have recreated a ton of her recipes and they always turn out great. As soon as I saw her Zucchini Bread Cookie Whoopie Pies, I knew I just had to try them out!

First, I mixed 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room temperature butter, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/3 cup each brown and regular sugar and then beat everything for a couple of minutes until it was well-blended. Then I added 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. The applesauce is really great here, since it acts as a replacement for any oil or extra butter. I love you when you can make a healthy swap in recipes!

Then I mixed together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Into the bowl went 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1-1/4 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Then I made sure to whisk this mixture really well because lumps of baking powder or baking soda can leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Blech.

Then I slooooowly added the dry ingredients to the wet, and mixed it all together until I had a uniform mixture.

One day I’ll get a KitchenAid, but for now, a hand mixer works fine!

Then it was time for…the zucchini!

I took my medium-sized zucchini and used the small side of my grater to grate it all up.

Ta-Da!

Then, I placed a few paper towels in a bowl and squeezed the extra moisture out of the zucchini.A lot came out!! Kristin assures me that squeezing out the excess water keeps your cookies soft, but not soggy. FYI.

Once the zucchini was squished dry, it was time to add it to the batter. I measured out one cup of zucchini (which happened to be the whole thing and no extra. yay!) and added it to the cookie dough.

Then I added in 1 cup of old fashioned oatmeal.

Then I gently mixed everything together, and popped the cookie dough into the fridge for about an hour so it could solidify a bit. I have to admit, the color of this cookie dough is…interesting. At one point I thought of gross cat food (or vomit?), but I quickly wiped that thought from my mind lol. Gross! Whatever, it tasted great.

Then I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, and spooned the dough out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

I popped these babies into the oven for about 12 minutes or until the tops were set.

While the cookies were baking, I got the cream cheese icing ready. The original recipe used the icing for whoopie pies, but I wasn’t crazy about the idea so I cut the recipe in half and used it as icing instead. Yum!

To a bowl I added 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter, (I used Brummel & Brown yogurt spread), 2oz of room temperature fat free cream cheese, 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.

As a helpful hint, I actually ran out of powdered sugar, so I pulsed regular sugar in the food processor until it resembled powdered sugar. It took a little while, but it worked out perfectly!

I mixed these ingredients together really well, and soon I had icing!

Once the cookies were done, I removed them from the oven and allowed them to cool completely. Otherwise, the icing would melt!

Then, I added the icing into a Ziploc bag, cut a tiny hole in the bottom, and piped the icing onto to cookies.

Yummm!!!

These were so delicious, and weren’t too unhealthy, especially since they were made with whole wheat flour, applesauce, and zucchini. Win!

These are a must-try!

Zucchini Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

Recipe type: Cookies

Author: Iowa Girl Eats

Prep time: 1 hour 30 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 1 hour 40 mins

Serves: 12

These cookies use whole wheat flour, applesauce, and a whole zucchini, but they taste so delicious you would never know they are “healthy”!

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (4oz) unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup finely grated zucchini (squeezed of excess moisture then measured)
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the icing:
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature (I used Brummel & Brown)
2oz fat free cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Combine butter, applesauce, and sugars in a large mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes.
Add egg then beat to combine. Add vanilla then beat to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together both flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add to the dry mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, mixing well between each batch.
Add zucchini and mix to combine. Then add oatmeal and mix to combine.
Cover bowl then place in the refrigerator for one hour, or until dough holds it’s shape when scooped.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets then bake for 10 minutes, or until set on top.
Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, combine butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Scoop into a piping or Ziploc bag, snip off the corner, then pipe onto cooled cookies.
Eat!

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These cookies are nice and soft, sort of like Zucchini bread. I have been handing them out to my coworkers all week and everyone has loved them! You gotta’ try these for yourself.

So tell me, what are your favorite cookies? I love peanut butter and chocolate chip, but I get super excited over any healthy cookie concoctions haha!

Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes 16 Responses »

Jul 172012

Good afternoon! I hope you are all having a great Tuesday. My work week is pretty slow right now, which was great at first but now is starting to get super boring. Like yesterday I had fun browsing blogs, pinning on Pinterest, and sort of goofing off, but eventually I got bored and the day was just dragggging on. I think today will be a little better, but it is still off to a slow start.

Part of the reason we are slow at work right now is because many of our contracts with clients are wrapping up and we are waiting to hear if we won new business. Cross your fingers that we do so my boredom will end! Haha but really, these slow times are rare so I need to stop and appreciate them before I’m back to feeling stressed. Phew!

Workout

My workouts this week have been sorta…meh. While I did wake up this morning early enough to run a mile with Jack and complete part of an Insanity DVD, I was feeling kinda unmotivated and just went trough the movements without really pushing myself like I usually do. Don’t get me wrong I will still tired and sweaty, but I definitely was lacking my normal intensity.

I think part of this reason is because I am getting really excited for Tina’s best body boot camp next week and am just over my current workout routine. I think I should probably just go ahead and join a gym to make this boot camp easier, but I want to wait and see what the workouts will look like before I take the plunge. Hopefully I can make it through a little longer with my Insanity DVDs before I start this new routine! We will see…

In other workout-related updates, my friends and I recently purchased a Living Social deal for 5 hot yoga sessions for $15. Yay!

I should admit that I have never done yoga before so I will probably look like a total goon while taking these classes. At least none of my other friends have done yoga either so we will be in the same boat. I can’t wait!

Recipe

Ok, so as I mentioned yesterday, I did some baking this weekend that turned out some really amazing healthy (er- relatively healthy) cookies. As I was lounging around recuperating from my hot run on Sunday, I suddenly had the urge for something sweet. We didn’t have any desserts on hand, but I remembered that one of my favorite bloggers Tina @ Carrots N Cake has a large collection of healthy cookie recipes on her blog (including the one minute peanut butter cookie that I have since recreated multiple times. So good).

Anyway, I dug through my email archives where I save all of the recipes that I want to make and found her awesome list of cookies. I looked through each recipe and the required ingredients and I decided that the Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were exactly what I needed They came out perfectly and I have been eating ~~way too many of~~ them all week! Yum! Here’s how they came together:

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

Then it was time to make the dough. Into a large bowl I combined old fashioned rolled oats, almond butter, brown sugar, baking powder, 3 egg whites, and chocolate chips. I mixed everything together until I had a uniform dough.

Then I spooned out small portions of the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. I think it’s important to note that these cookies don’t change their shape much in the oven, so if you want round uniform cookies you should shape them by rolling them between your palms. However, I left mine natural-looking

Then I placed these in the oven and baked them for about 15-20 minutes or until they were firm and their edges started to brown.

Then I removed the cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool for a few ~~minutes~~ seconds before devouring one

These were delicious!!

Enjoyed with skim milk, of course.

I think that without the chocolate chips these cookies may have tasted too “healthy,” but because of the sweet, decadent chocolate chips (I used kind of a lot…woops!) they tasted awesome. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe type: Cookies

Author: Adapted from Tina @ Carrots N Cake

Prep time: 3 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 18 mins

Serves: 12

These cookies are made healthier by the use of oats, almond butter, and egg whites. They are so delicious, you won’t be able to stop at just one!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almond butter
3 egg whites
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Add first five ingredients in a large bowl (through egg whites) and mix until well combined.
Add chocolate chips, and mix just until incorporated.
Spoon cookies out onto parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies start to brown on the edges.

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I hope you enjoy these as much as I am!

So tell me, what’s your favorite kind of cookie? I really liked the almond butter flavor in these, but I bet they would have worked with peanut butter too (goodness knows I love peanut butter cookies). Yum!!

Also, have you ever tried hot yoga??

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Recipes 3 Responses »

May 152012

Healthy cookies can be kind of hit or miss for me. I’ve attempted a few recipes before, but usually I wound up feeling disappointed in the flavor or texture and threw them out in the end (not true for my one minute peanut butter cookies, but those only serve one person).

But what’s a girl to do when she has two mushy, brown bananas? I would have liked to make some chocolate peanut butter banana bread, but that requires three mushy bananas, not two. Thankfully I turned to Julie’s website where I remembered seeing a healthy cookie recipe that she recently posted involving peanut butter, oatmeal, and two ripe bananas! Perfect! Last night I had all those ingredients on hand and the bananas were getting gross, so I pulled out my mixer and got to work.

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I mashed the two bananas in a bowl until they were soft. They were pretty lumpy still, but since they would be mashed more with the mixer I didn’t mind.

I added the bananas to a large bowl along with some peanut butter, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and an egg. I mixed everything up until it was smooth. In a separate bowl I combined oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I mixed all the dry ingredients together really thoroughly because I hate the bitter taste of baking soda, which you can sometimes taste if it’s not mixed properly.

When the dry ingredients were well combined, I slowly poured them into the bowl with the wet ingredients and used my mixer to stir everything up (I was initially concerned because the batter was pretty wet, but it all firmed up in the oven).

I used a spoon to drop the cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and baked them for about 10 minutes. I had to make my cookies pretty large since I only have two cookie sheets, but I definitely would have liked to make them smaller and use another tray.

The scent of banana wafting through my kitchen was heavenly. Yum!!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Adapted from Peanut Butter Fingers)

Yields two dozen large cookies or three dozen small cookies

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Mash bananas, and mix with peanut butter, vegetable oil and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir well.
Slowly mix oat mixture into banana mixture until everything is combined.
Spoon dough onto cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 – 12 minutes.

These cookies were moist and delicious! Be warned that although they are made from relatively healthy ingredients, you should not start chowing down on these like they are raw carrots. They should still be treated like a cookie and you should only indulge when your sweet tooth is ravaging. I just think they are a nice alternative to decadent buttery chocolate chip cookies, for example

Oh, and happy National Chocolate Chip Day! I’m going to celebrate by….er…eating peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies instead? Lol.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes 1 Response »

Apr 222012

Hello! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday so far. The weather here is pretty dreary so we are just hanging around the house today. There are a lot of humans/dogs lounging around on the sofa. It’s just that kind of day. Since there is no “beautiful day pressure,” as my mom calls it, today is a perfect opportunity for me to experiment in the kitchen!

Workout

I have to admit there hasn’t been much of a workout yet today. I did take Jack for a pretty long walk this morning, despite the drizzling rain. Does that count for anything? Probably not. Well I’m hoping to get an Insanity workout in later this afternoon (or maybe I’ll try Zumba again?) so hopefully that will count as my workout for today. If I don’t get to it I won’t be too upset; I always think of Sundays as my rest day anyway. We will see what happens!

I did order a new workout DVD and it should be arriving next week in the mail. I can’t wait for it to get here! I promise to do a review of the DVD after I try it out. Woohoo!

Recipe

Remember those gluten free flours that I talked about last week? The ones I won from Daily Bites? Here’s a photo to refresh your memory:

Well I was getting pretty antsy about having them sit around so I decided to experiment with them again. Off the top of my head I had no clue how to incorporate these flours into recipes so I turned to trusty Google to help me out.

I found a recipe for Buckwheat and Rice Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies from WhatsCookingAmerica.net. I had never been on that site before and was pleasantly surprised to see that in addition to the cookie recipe, there was a whole section explaining the health benefits of buckwheat flour and how it’s made. Pretty cool! Here’s a snippet that I thought was particularly interesting.

The nutritional profile of buckwheat is quite impressive. It is high in fiber, protein, niacin, amino acids and vitamin D. It is also rich in potassium, phosphorus, iron and calcium. The protein in buckwheat is said to be one of the best sources of protein available from plants and it contains all of the essential amino acids.

Buckwheat is good for the cardiovascular system. It is linked to lower blood pressure and a lowered risk of developing high cholesterol. This is because it is rich in flavanoids which are phytonutrients that help protect against disease by acting as antioxidants.

Buckwheat also contains high levels of magnesium which helps relax to blood vessels that improving blood flow. The nutrients in buckwheat also help to control blood sugar levels – of great benefit to people with diabetes. “

Does this mean I can feel good about eating these cookies? You bet! Winking smile However there is still a good amount of sugar and butter in this recipe so I should remember not to go too crazy. They turned out so yummy though!

First I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. The recipe explained that the dough would be sticky so I lined two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Next I added some softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large bowl. I used my hand-mixer to combine everything, and then added in the egg, salt, and vanilla. Then that got mixed up too!

Once the wet ingredients were well combined, I whisked up the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. The buckwheat flour was really interesting and had little flecks in it.

Next I slowly added the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet and mixed everything up. You want to make sure to do this in batches and use a low setting on your mixer so you don’t get covered in flour. Then it was time to add the chocolate chips! A few may have slipped from the bag into my mouth Winking smile Can’t imagine how that happened…

Next drop the cookies onto the lined cookie sheets and leave a few inches in between (the recipe warned that they spread and they weren’t kidding)! I forgot to photograph this step (sorry!) but you’ve all seen cookie dough on a sheet before right? Yeah that’s what I thought. Who needs a picture!

Then pop the cookies into the oven and bake for about 7 minutes or until the tops start to brown. These cookies definitely baked differently from normal cookies so it was sort of hard to tell when they were done. In the oven they rose and bubbled up and then fell back down. I took them out when it seemed like most of the cookies fell back down, if that makes sense. They came out looking really silly.

#CookieFail

Luckily the other tray looked a little better and I was able to remove some normal-looking cookies. I think next time I will pay attention to the recipe’s note about chilling the dough in the fridge if it seems particularly soft. I think that definitely would have helped. Oh well, the cookies were DELICIOUS!!! They tasted just like regular chocolate chip cookies and were soft and chewy. I may have eaten TWO of them straight from the pan (no one would have wanted the deformed one anyway, right?). Then I had a tummy ache from too much sugar so I will refrain from engorging that much in the future. Those suckers are huge! Anyway, try these out and let me know what you think!

Gluten Free Buckwheat and Rice Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light buckwheat flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and the brown sugar until they are nicely blended.
Add the egg, salt, and vanilla extract to the butter/sugar mixture; continue to blend until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, rice flour, and the baking soda.
Stir in the flour mixture into the creamed ingredients and blend until smooth.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop large teaspoons of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet leaving about 2 inches between each cookie, as they will spread. Note: If the dough seems particularly soft, chill it in the fridge for about one hour before doing this step.
Bake for about to 7 minutes (rotating sheets halfway through), until the cookies are barely browned on top.
Remove from oven and let the cookies stand for a couple of minutes before removing to a wire to cool.

Eat, and enjoy!