Frosty Vitamin C

A quick yummy treat

In a blender combine

1 nectarine

3 clementines/mandarins

1/4 teaspoon orange blossom water

1 cup ice

1 1/2 cup water

Blend until the ice is crushed and you have a nice frosty drink.  Add more ice if needed.

Orange blossom water is available at mediteranian stores.  You can order it online but it's much more expensive that way.  I saw it for 4oz/$10 online and I paid 4oz/$3 at the store.  

This treat is low on calories and high on vitamin A and especially high on vitamin C  A little iron, calcium and fiber too.

Cucumber Lime Chicken & Black Beans with onions & Peppers

I found some chicken tenders on sale.  Snapped up a couple of packages.  Today I used the first one for our lunch.  

One of my cucumbers from the weekend was a bit soft.  Not super crisp for a salad but not bad either.  I decided to see what happens when you bake chicken with cucumber.  It was tasty.  And easy.  I'm a huge fan of easy.

Black beans are a mainstay of our diet.  I did these with some onions, peppers, lime, cilantro, ancho & coconut.  Adding the lime to the beans inspired me to put it on the chicken too.  It was one of those inspirations that worked well.  (unlike a LOT of the others)

Cucumber Lime Chicken

Preheat oven to 350

Put chicken tenders (however many you want to cook) in a baking dish

sprinkle with salt.  Not much, just a bit

chop a large cucumber up and put it over the chicken.

Bake covered until the chicken is done. How long depends on how much you cook.   Mine took about 20 min.  The cucumber loses a lot of water and keeps the chicken moist and tender.

Remove from oven and squeeze the juice from 1/2 - 1 lime (depends on how much you cooked) over the chicken right before serving.  I added lime garnishes for people to add a bit more lime at the table if they wanted.

138 calories per serving

Ancho Black Beans with Onions & Peppers

2 cups of dried beans soaked over night

1 large onion sliced into thin rings

1 large red bell pepper cut into bits.  You can dice it nice and even or slice it into rough squares like I did.

4 fresh jalapenos sliced

1 large poblano pepper sliced, chopped, diced - however neatly you want to do it

Juice from 1 lime

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon dried cilantro

2 tablespoons ancho powder

3 cups chicken broth

1 14oz coconut cream

Soak and drain the beans preserving 2 cups of the water if you want, otherwise you'll need a couple of cups of water

Add the stock, water, peppers, onions, lime juice and spices to the beans.  Cook until the beans and veggies are tender and soft.  Stir in the coconut cream and serve.  

77 calories per serving

Fast, Gluten Free & Easy Broccoli Soup

My daughter loves to snack on broccoli florets but then I am left with a bunch of stems.  I do what I can to find uses for them and today that was soup.  Today was such a gray day that soup was a perfect fit.

Ingredients:  

Stems from 2 large head of broccoli - or use the florets too if you want.  chopped

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1 poblano pepper chopped into pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon course ground pepper

2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

water for steaming

cheese, chopped green onions and ancho pepper for garnish

Steam the broccoli, onion & pepper until very tender.

drain and put the veggies in a blender.  Add the milk and broth.  Then blend the heck out of it.  I have a ninja blender and I love to ninja stuff.  Pour the soup back into the saucepan and add the pepper and salt.

Heat it up and cook until it's the consistency that you want.  Longer if you want it to be super thick, less if you don't.  We tend to go for less here.  Alternatively you could add a thickening agent like a bit of flour or starch.  I was going for simple, fast and gluten free,so we I didn't go that route.  

Serve with a bit of cheddar, some onions and a sprinkle of ancho pepper.  Paprika would work well too, but we put ancho on pretty much everything.

Ground Beef Coconut Curry with Peppers

I was looking through the cabinet trying to figure out what to cook and decided to use up some of the coconut milk sitting in the cabinet.  I still had lots of peppers from the market and ground beef, so those were going in.  I buy spices at the market and have accumulated quite a variety of curry types.  I decided to use some Thai curry for this, but any would do.  I also had a head of cabbage that really needed to be used.  Those were my starts and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

1Tbsp coconut oil

1lb ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 large red bell pepper (or any other color if you want), diced

1 fresh green jalapeno, diced

1 fresh red jalapeno (or another green if that's what you have), diced

1 poblano pepper, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp fine ground pepper

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon tumeric

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 can coconut milk.  I used Trader Joe's. 

1/2 teaspoon ancho pepper (or other spicy pepper powder)

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon sugar if desired

Steamed cabbage, rice or anything else you want to serve it over.

---

Prepare the cabbage (or rice, or whatever)

Brown the beef in the coconut oil and get your veggies ready.  I don't add them first because I like them to retain some crispness.  If you want them to be cooked a bit more, then add them first for a minute or three before browning the beef.

Add the tomato sauce & spices.  You can grate the ginger directly into the skillet to taste or do it ahead of time to measure it.  Turn down the heat.  

If you want it a bit sweet/spicy then add the sugar.  It's not really necessary but some people like it.

Add the coconut milk and let it heat up.  Add the lemon juice and then serve over the cabbage.

My Year in Coffee - Day 17

A cappuccino and blood oranges for my Saturday.

I  used a dark roasted Sumatran to make this cappuccino.  I'm not a huge fan of brewed Sumatran coffees, but I do like it as an espresso.

I can't say a lot about the coffee because it's mixed with milk and a hint of sugar, so it's just sweet and yummy.

Later in the day I decided I was the mood for a more dessert kind of thing.  I blended a banana with 1/4 cup of milk then added 3 shots of espresso.  To that I added 12 oz of steamed milk and topped with whipped cream.  Oh so yummy

Marinated Spiral Cucumber with beets and walnuts

Found this great slicer at a thrift shop.  Didn't appear to have ever been used and since it was only $3.98 - I figured it was worth the buy.

Gave it a try on a cucumber.  No instructions so I just went with the first blade.  It cuts spirals.  You don't have to make spirals for this - as a matter of fact I found it easier to cut the spirals down a bit, not leave them long.  Long spirals are a pin to serve!

Thought about changing blades for the next cucumber.  Didn't get too far because it was SHARP and my hand slipped.

Of course my husband is the only one who knows where he put the bandages and I can't reach him.  Wrapped it in a clean cloth and worked left handed from there on.

Last week I scored some wonderful baby beets.  I plan on pickling them, but this one is going in with the cucumbers.  

I washed it and diced it as well as you can expect a one handed person to dice something.

In the bowl I also added

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon course ground black pepper

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons finely diced (came that way in the bag) walnut pieces

1 cup white vinegar

shoved all of that into a pint sized jar, covered and put in the fridge for 48 hours.  That's the point where the beets are a little more tender and so are the nuts, but both retain some crunch - while the cucumbers have not turned to much.

This dish has a strong flavor, but I'm a fan of strong flavors and I love it with a basic salad that has a bit of blue cheese on it. 

Seasoned Beet Greens

I eat or juice a lot of beets.  I've not always been sure what to do with the tops.  Found a recipe that I really enjoy, so I'll be eating more of them.  For these I started with 2 bunches each organic golden and red beets.  There were 3-4 beets per bunch.

Tops from 12-16 beets

wash, wash and then wash again.  Beet greens can really hold onto the dirt.

I didn't tear them much, leaving them large bits, like large whole leaf spinach.

In a pot add the beet greens, two cups water, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons lemon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cook covered over medium until greens are tender.

I eat them with either a dash of lemon juice or hot sauce.

Chipotle Eggplant with zucchini

This one is kind of spicy, but I love spicy.  Eggplant and zucchini were on sale, so I stocked up - now have to use them before they turn.  You can never really "stock up" on produce.  Only buy enough to eat quickly!

1 medium eggplant  peeled and cut into strips about the size of homecut french fries (1/2 inch across)

1 medium zucchini sliced

1 small can chipotle peppers in sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil for cooking

In a large skillet cook all ingredients, starting with the zucchini because it takes a tad longer.  After it's started to get tender, add the eggplant and cook until the eggplant is translucent.  

Eggplant with Cactus & Peppers

I scored some great deals on eggplant and prickly pear cactus at the market.  Love both, but this is the first time I have cooked them together.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant - sliced into rounds about 2 inches thick

2 cactus paddles with the spines removed (google the instructions, it's not hard to do) & sliced into strips

yellow bell pepper - sliced

1 small onion - diced

salsa - I used a roasted pablano salsa from Target that I love

chili infused olive oil.  I'm sure regular oil would work, but I found some infused stuff at Aldi and like it quite a bit

a bit of cheese, diced peppers & a drop of sour cream for garnish

I used my cast iron skillet for this one

I don't use a lot of the olive oil, just enough to cook the veggies in

fry the cactus, pepper & onion until they are tender and the cactus is less slimy.  (it's always a bit slimy like okra)

set aside

brush the pan with a bit more oil if needed and cook the eggplant on one side until browned and kind of transparent.  Then turn over and do the same to the other side.  It should be pretty tender all the way though at this point.

Warm up the salsa.  I know salsa is usually cold, but I wanted it warm this time

spoon some over the eggplant and top with the cactus/pepper mix

sprinkles a bit a cheese and top with diced tomatoes and a drop of sour cream.  

Gluten Free Pasta & Cheese

8 oz gluten free pasta.  I used brown rice/quinoa from Trader Joe's this time.  Any will work.

2 cups shredded cheese.  Cheddar is best, for this version I used something called "Mexican blend"  Straight cheddar will make it a yellower dish.  This one has lots of white cheeses so it's only kind of yellow.  For a full out yellow mac & cheese toss in some American.  I hate American, so that's not happening for me.

1/3 cup ricotta

1/3 cup grated parmesan - not dry - the moist stuff from the fridge section

1/4 cup provolone

1/3 cup onion

1/2 cup diced peppers - bell, poblano, whatever you have

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ancho pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon gluten free all purpose flour (coconut flour works too, but is drier, so more milk might be needed)

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup masa harina

2 tablespoons butter cut into the harina to make crumbs

2 cups milk

 1/4 cup heavy cream

-----------------------------

Heat oven up to 350

make noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside.  

In saucepan combine 4 tablespoons butter, onion and peppers.  Saute until onion is soft.    Add spices, milk and cream.  stir constantly until boiling.  Mix in the cheeses and cook, again stirring constantly until bubbly and thick.  

Mix together with the noodles and put into a baking dish.  Make sure the sauce is well mixed.  

Old fashioned noodles & cheese add bread crumbs at this point.  I have yet to find a gluten free bread that I consider edible - especially given the price.  I made a topping crumb mix from butter and masa harina.  

Cut the 2 tablespoons butter into the masa  If you're not familiar with cutting butter into flour, Betty's Kitchen has a great tutorial.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RAONX3BZZU

Sprinkle crumb mix onto the noodles and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.  Everything should be piping hot and the top should be a little crunchy.

nutritional information is based on 6 servings.  It's a heavy dish and super filling.  I was super surprised that it came back with a b-.  After adding the cream, milk & butter I was fulling expecting a D.

Poblano peppers stuffed with spicy brie

A quick dish for 2 (or more if you double/triple/etc it)

2 large poblano peppers - seeds removed and sliced open lengthwise

4oz brie cheese

4 peppers from a small can of chipotles in sauce

4 1 inch slices of pre made polenta from Trader Joe's.  (or about 1/2 cup if you're making your own)

Steam the peppers until they are tender

While they are cooking mix the brie and chipotle peppers in a food processor.  I tried to do it with a hand mixer, but that failed miserably.  So much for being too lazy to get the food ninja out.  

When the peppers are tender layer the polenta in the middle and top with the cheese mixture.  Wrap each pepper in tin foil and bake until hot and the cheese is all melty.  

Each pepper is pretty filling, so I just serve one with a salad.  This dish got a C rating because of the brie.  You could easily substitute a cheese with lower fat/calories, but I wanted the specific taste of brie.  A bleu cheese mix would also be tasty I think.  chipotles not from a can would also lower the sodium quite a bit.

Coffee Caramels

I love coffee, so today I made coffee caramels

3  cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
3 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups brewed coffee - I saw a lot of recipes that called for instant coffee, but I don't have instant coffee because it's gross.  I used one of my favorite coffees, which was roasted right here in Kansas City from a small family roaster - Java Brothers

You will also need a 13x9 pan, a large, heavy pot and some wax paper

Add 1 cup of the sugar to the coffee in a large pot - big enough to finish the whole job in.  Because of the extra butter and cream this one expands a lot.  6 qts is probably better than 4.  heat at close to a boil until the mixture is thick.  I do get why people use instant, the reducing takes awhile with that much coffee.  also could have used several shots of espresso, but I didn't feel like making espresso.  Might do that next time though.  The whole house smells yummy while the coffee syrup is reducing.

meanwhile in other parts of the kitchen......

butter a large 13x9 pan  Set it aside.  This is where you'll pour the hot sugary caramel mix and wait for them to cool.

once you've got your syrup, add all the other ingredients EXCEPT the vanilla.

cook that over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it forms a firm ball when dropped in ice water.  Takes 20 - 30 min or so. I bet it would be wonderful if you stop at the soft ball stage and spread it between two layers of chocolate cake.  I can't eat cake, so I won't ever try it.  Some days my wheat allergy saves me from myself.

 As it gets closer you can see it getting thicker and the bubbles will start to kind of snap as they pop.  This is a good time to start testing it with the water.

Once you've reached the firm ball stage, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  The alcohol in the vanilla extract will evaporate quickly creating quite the commotion.  :-)

Pour into pan and cool completely.  Cut into pieces that are roughly 1 inch x 1 inches and then wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap.

Store in the fridge.

Chipotle Chili

This chili is a bit of a change up from my normal weekend chili.  I tend to put a lot of veggies in my chili, but this one is heavy one the beans and meat.  The chipotle's give it a nice smokey flavor.

chili spice

35 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

pinch of sugar

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 tablespoons dried ancho pepper

1 teaspoon salt

..................

4lbs ground meat.  I usually use 80-20 ground beef, but I've used a lot of others as well.  

........................

Beans

1 lb of dry black beans
1 lb dry kidney beans

The night before, soak the beans according to the package directions.  Drain

..................

Veggies

1 large onion diced

An assortment of fresh seasonal spicy peppers.  I use about 15 peppers.  Jalapenos, poblano, chilis and some thai peppers I picked up at the market.  The amount and variety really depends on what the market has

1 clove garlic

.........................

Canned products

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 large can tomato puree
1 7oz can whole chipotle peppers

.................

Other stuff

1 jar garlic lime salsa

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

6 cups water

Sour cream and cheese for garnish

-------------------

really big skillet

very big pot.  

........................

In the skillet

melt the butter and saute the spicy peppers and garlic.  I cut the garlic up into little bits, but leave the peppers in large pieces because not everyone in my family likes them and that way they can pull them out and leave them for me.  :-)

When the peppers are cooked remove them from the heat and put them in the pot.  Next toss the meat in the skillet with the chili spice ingredients and brown it.  I like to drain some of the fat from it.  4lbs is a lot of meat, so you might want to divide everything up into two batches if your pan isn't big enough.  Divide the spice mix too so that all the meat can get the flavor.  Drain the melted fat off of the meat before adding it.

Dump everything else into the big pot.  Add the meat and peppers cooked earlier. Stir it all together and cook.  I bring it to a boil and then turn it down and cook over medium until the water has reduced to a consistency you want AND the beans are soft.  If the chili is thick but the beans are not done, add more water and cook some more.  Stir occasionally to keep the meat and beans from settling on the bottom and burning.

garnish with sour cream and cheese if you wish.

you can sub any salsa for the garlic lime one, I just really like citrus flavors in my chili

The serving size is 1 cup and this is without sour cream and cheese garnish.

Ancho Tortillas

On a whim I picked up some Masa Harina.  It was cheap.  I thought it might be fun to learn to make my own tortillas.  I can't eat wheat, so why not.

The why is simple - because once I started I can't stop.

Homemade corn tortillas are AMAZING.  I think my stomach would stage a revolution if I tried to put store bought ones in there ever again!

So easy to make too.  Takes no time to whip some up for a meal. 

1 cup masa harina

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 of ancho pepper powder - I love that stuff      I know it's not in most tortilla recipes, but I like the flavor it gives.

2/3 cup hot water

Start with your skillet.  Heat a cast iron or non stick skillet up to medium/high while you prepare the dough

mix until it's the consistency of a fresh can of play doh.  add a little more masa or a little more water if you need.  Humidity in your home can make a huge difference to each batch of dough  You want it to be smooth, soft and silky, but not sticky.

cover is a slightly damp cloth as you press or roll out the individual tortillas.

This batch is for 8, so divide the dough into 8 balls and press out one ball at a time into the thickness you prefer.  I go for somewhere around 1/8" of an inch thick but that may be because that's what my press decided for me.  Use heavy plastic or wax paper when you press.  

I have a tortilla press, but the first batches I did were with a rolling pin.  Tried the plate method but it didn't work for me and I didn't care if they were round.  Tortilla press makes it easy though and they are cheap.  Get a metal one, it will do a better job

Cook your tortillas

I cook one side for 25-30 seconds and then the other for 45-60 seconds and then flip it back and cook the first one again for 20-30 or until it puffs up.  I love to see it puff up.  The ones at the store are flat, I thought they were supposed to be that way.

Supposedly you can store them in the fridge, but I make small batches and people have scarfed them up before they even cool so I don't have any experience with storing them.  

Who needs bread.  I have tortillas!

The nutrition is based on 1 tortilla, though I never eat just one as a serving

Pinto Beans w/ Jalapenos

Today I'm making pinto beans.  I put a lot of them on - 2lbs of dry - so I can set some back for lunches during the week.

2lbs of dry pinto beans ,soaked and rinsed.
1 large red onion, sliced,  I like the onion left in rings so that picky people can fish it out.  Diced would work too.
8 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (I love this stuff and go through a ton of it)
4 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic

Put all of the ingredients into a large pot, add water until it's about 1/2 inch above the level of the beans, less if you have a really wide pot

Cover and cook at a low simmer until tender - about 1 1/2 hours.  My pot isn't totally flat on the bottom anymore, so I stir occasionally to make sure they don't stick and burn in the dents.  (totally need a new pot)  With other pots you won't have to stir very often at all.

When the beans are tender, fish out the garlic and serve.

A little spicy, you can leave out some of the pepper if you like a milder dish.  Or add a lot more pepper if you live life on the fiery side.

This one got an A.  Not surprising.  The only real "bad" things are added salt and the butter.

based an 1/4 cup serving

My weekend chili

I make this chili on Saturday or Sunday and we have leftovers all week long.  It's great for taking in lunches.  This recipe makes a LOT and I've never tried to cut the recipe down.  I just put the leftover in jars in the fridge and we eat it over the next week or so.  It heats up great.  I use lemon and lime juice because I like a lot of citrus in my chili.  The peppers are seasonal, but usually spicy.  If you prefer mild chili, just use mild peppers.

chili spice

3 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

pinch of sugar

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dried ancho pepper

1 teaspoon salt

..................

3lbs ground meat.  I usually use 80-20 ground beef, but I've used a lot of others as well.  Never tried this one with chicken though.

........................

Beans

2 16 oz cans black beans or the equivalent from dried (cuts the sodium down a lot)

2 16 oz cans dark red kidney beans or the equivalent from dried.

Basically you want a lot of beans.  Those are the ones I usually use, but sometimes it depends on what is on sale.  Don't use dry beans that have not been soaked.  I said FROM dried, not STILL dried.  I guess you could use them if you add a lot more water and are cooking it over a long time period.  I've never tried it though.

..................

Veggies

1 large onion diced

2 lemons - sliced.  They will be cooked in the chili but removed before serving

An assortment of fresh seasonal spicy peppers.  I use about 15 peppers.  Jalapenos, poblano, chilis and some thai peppers I picked up at the market.  The amount and variety really depends on what the market has

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow  bell pepper, diced

2 green bell pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic

.........................

Canned tomato products

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

2 large cans crushed tomatoes

.................

Other stuff

2 large jars of your favorite corn/bean salsa or make salsa from scratch and add that if you have the time.

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons lemon juice

4 tablespoons lime juice

4 cups water

heavy whipping cream - you'll use this when serving, 1 teaspoon per bowl

-------------------

really big skillet

very big pot.  I use an 18 quart stock pot with a lid

........................

In the skillet

melt the butter and saute the spicy peppers and garlic.  I cut the garlic up into little bits, but leave the peppers in large pieces because not everyone in my family likes them and that way they can pull them out and leave them for me.  :-)

When the peppers are cooked remove them from the heat and put them in the pot.  Next toss the meat in the skillet with the chili spice ingredients and brown it.  I like to drain some of the fat from it.  3lbs is a lot of meat, so you might want to divide everything up into two batches if your pan isn't big enough.  

Dump everything else into the big pot.  Add the meat and peppers cooked earlier. Stir it all together and cook.  I bring it to a boil and then turn it down and let it simmer un-covered for about an hour or longer, until it has reached the thickness I want, then I keep it covered and just enough heat to keep it warm.  Stir occasionally to keep it from settling and keep the flavors mixing well.  

When you're ready to serve, remove the lemon pieces - honestly I do this as I'm serving.  I don't have the time to hunt around in there for them.

In each bowl add a teaspoon of heavy whipping cream.  I used to use sour cream and it does work wonderfully, but one day I was out and tried this.  I liked the addition, so it's my new way.  My kid still tops it with sour cream and cheese.  

Some days I substitute other salsas for the corn/bean one, but I really do prefer it.

this is without the cream for serving because not everyone does that

Spiced Caramels

I love fresh homemade caramels.  Such a treat.  these are made with just a touch of pumpkin pie spice.

2  cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Butter a large pan - 13x9 or so.  Set this aside for later.  Skipping the buttering step is a mistake.  Caramel sticks and is a nightmare to clean.

In a heavy pan - large 4quarts, combine everything except the vanilla.  Over medium heat, cook, swirling it around or stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.  until it boils - 10 - 15  min the cook for another 20-30 min or so again swirling it around to keep it from burning until it reaches the firm ball stage (when you drop a small amount into ice water and it forms a firm ball). I don't have a candy thermometer, so I don't know what the exact temp should be.  I have seen recipes that say between 240 and 250.

Make sure you have a large enough pan.  The sugar and cream expand a LOT and it becomes a bubbly, sputtering cauldron of molten yummy that will burn the heck out of your skin if you get splattered.

Remove from heat and then stir in the vanilla.  Pour into that pan you readied in step 1.

cool
then cool some more

until it's COMPLETELY cool.

Cut into 1inch x 2inches pieces and wrap in plastic food wrap or wax paper.  I sometimes use butter on my hands when I am wrapping individual pieces because I get tired of having sticky  hands.

This one gets an actual F on the good for you grading scale.  Then again, how could it not?  Each tiny (1x2) piece has almost 100 calories.  It's good for a treat, but only an occasional one!

No bake gluten free cinnamon hot chocolate coconut peanut butter cookies

Yeah,  I could have shortened the title, but why not make it a mouthful.  :-)

1 3/4 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup gluten free hot chocolate mix
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup  peanut butter
3 cups gluten free rolled oats

some waxed paper on a cookie sheet

In a large, heavy sauce pan bring all the ingredients EXCEPT the peanut butter, coconut and oatmeal to a boil.  Stay with it and stir or the sugar might burn.  It goes from fine to burnt faster than you might imagine.

Boil for 1 min - stirring

add the other ingredients and mix well.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto the wax paper and let cool until hardened.


Because this can be a melty cookie, I freeze a couple if I am going to send them in lunches.  That way they won't get overly soft from the heat of the locker.

The kid really likes them, but how could she not.  It's more like candy than cookie since there is so much sugar!

not worried about gluten?  Use regular rolled oats and any hot chocolate you want.

I used an online tool to analyze the recipe.  One serving is 1 large or two small cookies.  I'm actually surprised it got a D.  I was expecting an F.  They're tasty, but NOT good for you.