No coy title. Just cookies.

As usual, I came across this recipe on Pinterest and did NOT think this one was legit. No measuring of sugars and flour and baking soda? No cutting in or gentle blending? 

Nope. Check this out: 

Yeah. You are four (five if you count the eggs as individual units,) simple ingredients away from a fabulous, painfully easy, batch of peanut butter cookies. 

All you need to do is combine the cake mix, eggs, 1 cup of PB and 1/2 cup of canola oil. Roll into one inch balls - just use your hands, no fancy tools required - then evenly space on a baking sheet. 

Gently smoosh each with a fork one way, then the opposite to make pretty criss-crossy patterns. You know what's next: Put those babies into a (preheated) 350 degree oven. 10 to 12 minutes is all it takes... Keep your eye on them around 8 or 9 minutes. They can overbake in a hurry! 

* The lighting in this shot is weird but trust me; these are baked.* Set on racks to cool before packaging up. 

Oh, hello cookie. Why yes, I will take a plate of you to the family dinner for all. And I will save a few to have as tomorrow's breakfast, heh. Since I slaved ALL day making these, I deserve a few. Right? 

Get baking,

Stace. 

Source: www.youthlitreviews.com/2012 

 

Did you know?

Short and sweet (pun intended) entry: 

Apparently, if you wash your berries in this easy concoction, they can last days, even a week or two, longer than if left as-is. 

Mix one part apple cider vinegar to ten parts water. Put your fresh fruit in for a quick bath, rinse, and then store in the fridge. 

Have you tried this? If so, did it help? I've just done it for the first time tonight...so I'll let you know if it works! 

*The Web said no vinegar taste should be evident, either. I hope not...*

You know ya wanna quinoa.

Quinoa. The holy grain of the giantly popular paleo lifestyle. *Note: never call it a diet to one who follows it. They WILL correct you to the word "lifestyle." Whatever. Let's all just eat and enjoy the stuff, shall we? 

Today I decided to get off the dinner (read: animal protein) cookery, and bake something that can be eaten as breakfast, a snack, or as a light lunch with something like a side salad. IF my recipe works, that is!

As always, I have to put my own spin on it and in this case I did for three reasons: The original calls for stevia, juice and zest from a fresh lemon, and egg whites. I did not have the first 2 and was feeling a bit anxious about wasting yolks (yeah I know, but if you've read previous posts you know this kills me). So let's see what my ingredient list looked like: 

You'll need: 

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa 

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon pure honey

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 whole eggs

1 cup thawed bite size fruit blend

1/4 cup frozen pomegranate seeds

1 /2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt 

Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a standard-size muffin pan with cooking spray. Now in a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Nom....look at that ooey gooey honey drip off the spoon...

Let your mix hang out in the bowl for awhile so it can thicken up a bit; I let mine sit about ten minutes while I hung laundry. Happy Susie Homemaker, that's me...*cough-not-quite-cough-cough.*

Ahem.

Here is what I found when I returned to the kitchen. Apparently I am now going to bake a batch of Smurfs.

 Alas, do not fret! I carried on with the plan and scooped even amounts into the pan, filling each cup halfway. Then off to the oven they go for 35 minutes.

This photo was after about 15 minutes of baking. I was expecting this to be a flop as they looked very wet and unhappy still. 

Nooooo! These have to come through! And guess what? 

They did! Oh quinoa. I'll never doubt you again. They weren't even blue anymore after they were done, but a toasty brown and perfectly moist in the middle.  Pleasantly surprised, for sure. 

Three tips: These do not rise like muffins or cupcakes; they're rather small and disc-like so be prepared for that. Also, they are tricky buggers to get out of the pan, so go heavy on the pre-greasing before baking. Lastly I think 3 whole eggs may have been a bit much, so next time I'll try with just 2. 

Now to eat with a wee dollop of Greek yogurt! 

Get cooking, or uh, baking,

Stace. 

Source: www.damyhealth.com