Comments (23)

By Estela - Weekly Bite, May 28, 2010 8:19 am

Happy Friday!! Are you excited for Memorial Day weekend? I know I am!!

I’m so glad you all enjoyed my Nutrition Q & A! Your comments were all so sweet! I am so proud to be a cancer survivor and I do my best to support the cause. I plan on writing a more detailed post on it in the future.

On most days, my day starts at 6:15 a.m. My alarm goes off at that time every morning. Sometimes I wake up to it… sometimes I get woken earlier by you know who.

This day she slept in till 7 a.m., so I was able to get breakfast ready for her before she woke up.

This is her “Mom why are you taking a picture of me so early in the morning with egg on my face?” face.

On the menu for Miss M was a scrambled organic farm fresh egg, chopped kiwi, and a toasted whole wheat english muffin with Crofter’s Super Fruit Spread.

She ate all the egg and kiwi, and picked at the English muffin.

It still amazes me that two brown eyed people conceived a child with some of the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen!

My mission for the day other than taking care of my little munchkin was to purchase a large suitcase and play around with a new cookie recipe.

M and I are traveling to Minneapolis to visit my brother We’re so excited! But… traveling alone with a baby is tough. There are so many items to pack… hence the need for a very large suitcase!

Here are just some of the items I will be traveling with:

• Stroller
• Car Seat
• Car seat base
• Pac-n-play for her to sleep in
• Tons of diapers
• Wipe
• Multiple changes of clothes
• Snacks
• Travel Meals
• Toys to keep her occupied
• Not to mention a million odd and ends and my clothes too!

Between my husband and I, we had accumulated a lot of REI dividend points, so I ventured to REI and ended up purchasing this monster of a suitcase! Its not the most attractive suitcase… but with all the points we earned it was practically free! Score!!

I was also able to squeeze in a yoga class. My yoga studio has childcare now! I’m so happy about that because no childcare = no yoga

I also experimented in the kitchen.

I’m such a messy baker!

I’ve seen these cookies before but have never attempted to make them. I decided to add my own little twist to them and try to make them into a healthy snack.

I used whole wheat flour and flax meal as the base. These cookies were so moist and dense! It made for the perfect afternoon snack!

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 14 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream bananas and butter together. Add sugars and vanilla. Mix until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, flax meal, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until combined.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cookies set on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Do you have any big plans for the holiday weekend?
My husband will be in town so we’ve got lots of fun family time planned
Have a great weekend!!!!

Comments (21)

By Estela - Weekly Bite, March 24, 2010 8:05 am

Hi

To say that I’ve been “feeling under the weather” is an understatement.

I know I don’t have the flu, but this is about as bad as a cold can get.

Whatever I have has completely wiped me out! I was out for count for a few days!

The good news is I feel like I’m on the mend… kinda!! Phew!

Bear with me as I try to recoup

Ok… so let’s move on to these cookies!

I mentioned in this post that I was going to birthday party over the weekend.

I made some chocolate chip coconut macaroons and these M&M Chocolate Chip cookies

I wish I could take credit for this recipe.

A while back I was reading Alice’s blog Savory Sweet Life. She claimed that these were the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

I knew I had to try this recipe.

These cookies do not disappoint!! These ARE the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had in a very long time!

I altered the recipe just a tiny bit.

I added 1 tablespoon of vanilla and being that this was a child’s party, I added some dark chocolate M&M’s to add some color!

Both the kids and adults loved these cookies!

You can find the original recipe here.

Have a great HUMPDAY

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Question of the Day?

What’s the best cookie you’ve every had?

Comments (23)

By Estela - Weekly Bite, March 1, 2010 8:15 am

Do you mind if I gloat for a few seconds? Thanks!

I have never in my life been so excited about the weather as I am today.

You see, this girl (me), was born and raised in South Texas where I met my super cool husband.

My husband took me from Texas to San Diego… I know… I’m spoiled…

Then, my husband took me from San Diego to Washington, DC.

Here in DC, I have experienced some of the most beautiful fall weather with gorgeous fall leaves.

We have a giant Cherry Blossom tree in our backyard, which when bloomed in the spring, looks like pink cotton candy flowers.

And here, in DC, this girl from Texas has experienced more snow then I have seen in my entire life. Thirty-seven inches to be exact!

I have never been more ready for spring!

And today, this first day of March, the weather is suppose to reach a high of just over 50 degrees!!!!!!!!

Spring is on its way! I may even bust out the jogging stroller today… who knows… the options are endless!

Okay… I’m done gloating

If you haven’t figured this out yet… chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite!

I have a few recipes that I love. One of them is this recipe. When I made these vegan cookies, people can’t even tell they’re vegan.

Well… they’re kinda vegan. I’m not a huge fan of carob, so I use regular semi-sweet chocolate chips

A couple of years ago I came across this recipe online from Dreena Burton of Eat Drink & Be Vegan.

Over time I’ve slightly altered the recipe. What I love about her recipe is the creative use of molasses.

The molasses combined with maple syrup makes this cookie taste like there’s tons of brown sugar in it… but there’s none at all!

My favorite part about baking chocolate chip cookies is eating the cookie dough!

The fact that there’s no eggs in this recipe makes me feel less guilty about indulging!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or carob chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Whisk until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk maple syrup, molasses, vanilla, and canola oil.

Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix until well combined. Add in chocolate chips.

Drop by HEAPING tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Will make about 9 cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven immediately. Let set on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then carefully remove and place cookies on cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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Have a great Monday!!!!