Almost Vegan Choco-Chip Cookies

I found this yummy recipe while searching for a healthier version of choco-chip cookies, if there was such a thing. In reality, calorie wise, it's a bit less than your typical Toll House recipe. But, is your typical Toll House choco-chip cookie made with natural sugar and have fiber it in? NOPE! Anthony will choose these cookies over store bought, which makes my heart happy. We do not buy alot of store baked goods anyhow. I typically bake it myself.

Here are the ingredients. You are definately going to want and double this! I have made this in the past with whole wheat flour instead of barley flour, but the barley is a better flavored flour and the texture of the cookie is much better. I call this "almost vegan", because I use regular choco-chips. I haven't tried the carob chips because we are not vegan (we love things that have eyes....lol).

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola, safflower, or sunflower oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chip or vegan carob cookies
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional for those who think peanuts are evil) ;)
1 cup barley flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation
I use a silpat whenever I'm baking things that go on a cookie sheet. http://silpat.com/  I never burn my cookies because of this little investment. If you don't use silpats, make sure to lightly grease your cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 350 F. Process the oats in a food processor or blender until they are the consistency of coarse flour.

In a small bowl, mix the oil, maple syrup (I think you could actually use less of the maple syrup) and vanilla until well combined; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground oats until well blended and then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until everything is well blended.

With a small ice cream scoop or two 2 spoons, scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the batter onto your cookie sheets. Bake, one cookie sheet at a time on the center rack, for 11 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet. Bake 5-6 minutes more or until the cookies are barely golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and place the cookie sheet on a rack. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then place the cookies on a cooling rack to finish cooling.

This little guy LOVES to be in the kitchen with his Mommy and Daddy. He get's it honest, I guess! I've also included a picture of my little wiggly dishcloth that I just knitted. Love it! As you can see, I am soooooooo inconsistent in my stitches. I start out real tight and then after I put it down a few times and then go back to knitting, I get real lax. I still love it though! I love the way it feels in your hands while washing dishes.

I wrote this while we were waiting for our cookies to cool and now that they have cooled, we are grabbing our cookies and heading to the deck to enjoy! (As Anthony comes out from his train room asking, yet again, "Are they cool yet? Pleeeeease Mommy?")

Garbage

Do you ever have those days or weeks, where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? I really question this when I'm in the Word and being faithful. I know life isn't supposed to be easy. I was comforted yesterday when a fellow stay at home mom said she woke up in a bad mood. I didn't tell her, but it made me feel normal! I too was experiencing the same thing that day. Mabye I'm letting the little things in this life that don't matter, get to me again. I need to take all this garbage to the cross, yet again! Sometimes I feel so full of garbage, rather than the Holy Spirit. Is this just another of Satan's tactics to distract me? Sneaky he is indeed!

MacGyver's Peanut Butter

Well, I just tried organic peanut butter for the first time and loved it. Seriously though, I could care less that it was "organic". I was looking for a peanut butter that was healthier/natural and didn't have all the other junk added to it. I've been trying more natural foods here of late. My desire is to be a bit more healthy. I think this whole organic craze is a little over-rated and it's totally a money maker.

So, back to the peanut butter! This peanut butter has to be kept in the fridge once opened. The first time you open it, you have to mix it because there is a nice layer of oil (natural, from the nuts, not added) on top. It's not as sweet as regular P.B. and it's soooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuch mooooooooooooooore creamier. It's soo thick too. Talk about "stick to the roof of your mouth".  In fact, it's so thick and creamy, that I bet MacGyver could of used when making one of this homemade bombs, etc on his show. Hey, his show might even still be around to this day if he had only used natural peanut butter verses gum or electrical tape. (Sarcasm abounds in my laughter!)

Later on I'll share an almost vegan recipe for choco chip cookies! Delish! In fact, I might start sharing recipes on here too. But for now, go buy some natural peanut butter and give it a try. I love it on my toasted bagel in the mornings, with natural honey drizzled on top.

Eager to Learn

I have seen such a change in our little one this past week. He is totally ready for school this fall. We played the Sunny Day/Rainy Day game alot this week. He enjoys rolling the dice and counting the dots and placing the covers on the sheet, according to what he rolled. It's such good practice for counting and is enforcing the whole numbers/math concept. We've even been working on addition with that game since we roll 2 dice. It such a joy to see him progress and becoming eager to learn. He will be 5 next month and I can say as of now, he is truly excited about learning.  Last year, not so much, but we did it anyway. It's going to be even more cool when we really start in the fall. I will get the honor of seeing him learn, one on one! Words can't describe what a privilege this is to me.

We've also come to a decision in regards to curriculum; Rod and Staff. I can't wait to order it and get it in my little hands! I think for the primary years, at least for the first couple, we'll probably use Rod and Staff, then move onto something else. We'll just have to see how it works for us at least for this year.

I've also got my reviewer set up, 2 reviews per year in Maryland. I've also called the BOE and am awaiting paperwork to come in. Everything seems to be falling into place so far. Mark and I talked about homeschooling while I was still carrying Anthony in my tummy and now, the time has come. This homeschooling thing has become so "normal" to us. (We probably don't seem so "normal" to the world though! lol) It's all so exciting!

I know you probably can't tell from the following picture, but he is sooo ready for serious learning! Bring it on! (This is his idea of getting ready to go bug hunting. Looks like he already caught a big one!)

Say "Baaaahhhh" for the Birdie

Well, if you can't tell by now, I LIKE Sheep. This all started when my nieces taught me to knit 4 years ago.  Mind you, no one else in our family knits, so I consider this a miracle!  All they could show me was how to knit a simple garter stitch, but that was all it took. I was hooked! I got tons of books from the library, as well as, DVDs on knitting and even watched clips on You Tube on how to do different stitches and how to finish what you started. I became fascinated with all the different colors of yarns and textures. Anyhow, I don't get to do it as much as I'd like now since Anthony stopped his naps, but occassionaly I get to. Needless to say, this how the whole sheep adoring thing came about...thank you Kaitlyn and Allison.

I always try and attend the Sheep and Wool Festival in MD http://www.sheepandwool.org/.
This festival is free and great for kids (although, extremely crowded, kinda hard for strollers, but do-able). They have great food and music too. This year I took my friend Taylor, who is thinking of getting some sheep (can you say JEALOUS?!) Well, I didn't get a picture of me and Taylor, that would of been nice. However, here are some pictures of what we saw. Oh for lunch, Taylor had pit lamb and I, a lamb burger. It was delicious!

Last but not least, check out this lady's hair! Taylor and I couldn't decide who had curlier hair, her or the sheep!

Life, It Happens!

Well, it's been more than several weeks since I've written anything (sorry to family). Between sicknesses and travel, life in general has taken a lot of our time lately over the past 4 weeks. Not much schooling has been going on. Lots of life lessons though, especially about being patient and obedient, for our little one, as well as for us too.

For Easter, we headed to Scranton, PA to visit Great-Grandparents and other family. We stayed at the lovely Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. We specifically stayed there because of our little train lover. The tracks are directly behind the hotel and we requested a room with a view of the tracks! Apparently, they get that request alot. The hotel was orginally a train station and was built in the early 1900's. The hotel and it's rooms are beautiful and were so clean! Easter morning we had an Easter egg hunt in the hotel room. Anthony and his cousin Lucas had fun hunting all the eggs.

The day prior, we visited with family and checked out the park & tree house at Nay Aug Park http://www.nayaugpark.org/ . We loved it, except Daddy was a little leary because it was sooo high! Here is Anthony with his Great-Grandma Helen.

The trip to Scranton was a great trip and Anthony loved hanging out with his cousins Lucas and Weber! However, it seems like so many in our family are getting older (all at once!) and their health is not so well. It's a bit sad at times to see them this way. Even my own Mother, was in the hospital on Mother's Day, as well as her own Mom. My Mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her all I wanted was everyone to be healthy and not in the hospital! It's such a sobering reminder that our life is so short and trival things in this life hardly matter. I should be living my life more vigorously for Christ and stop letting the little things bring me down or allow them to put fear in my heart. Anywho, Happy Easter & Happy Mother's Day!