Lovin' From the Oven

Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

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While wandering the aisles of Costco, I get tempted to buy things I might not need. Example? These dried tart cherries. They sounded good in my head, but by the time I got home and ate some, I was already regretting it. They were definitely too “tarty” for eating plain. My solution? Throw them in cookies! Cookies make everything better.

The cherries still stood out after being baked, but not as bad as straight out of the bag. If you’re fan of a tart taste, then try these cookies. The dark chocolate tone down the cherries and the oatmeal finishes off your palette. They’re not as thick as I’d like them to be, but that could be fixed by pulling them out of the oven just a bit earlier after refrigerating the dough. Recipe from Showfood Chef.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup oatmeal 
  • 1 cup flour 
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder 
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda 
  • 1/4 tsp. salt 
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 
  • 1 stick (8 Tbls. butter) 
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar 
  • 1 tsp. vanilla 
  • 1 egg 
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 
  • 1/4 cup dark dried cherries, chopped 

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. 
  2. Beat the butter, both sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Stir in the egg.
  3. Add the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until just combined.
  4. Gently Stir in the chocolate chips and dried cherries. 
  5. Scoop out cookie dough in tablespoon sized balls and place on a baking sheet. 
  6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for five minutes before removing from pan.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Muffins

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Note to self: Don’t wait over 5 years for a doctor’s check up. I had to go in to get a physical/TB test for working with kids and they seriously hit me with the big bomb. Since they didn’t have any of my medical history from Southern California yet, they asked me a ton of questions and suggested that I get 4 shots and other “girl” check ups.

I’m up to date on everything BUT my shots so I figured that since I was going to get my TB test, why not get everything done at once? Terrible idea. The nurse asked me which arm I wanted to feel sore and which one I wanted to feel pain. I remember getting all my tetanus shots before going to middle school and didn’t recall they were a big deal, so I told the nurse to do two shots in my left arm and one in my right. Boy, was I in for a treat!

My HPV shot was really painful and the tetanus shot left my arm aching for days! I don’t remember shots hurting this bad. I have to do this two more times for my tetanus shots. I’m not scared of needles; I used to donate blood every 8 weeks back at UCLA, but holy cow! If you haven’t gotten your tetanus shots in the past five years, think about doing so cause apparently it’s a “new” one. It always is.

This muffins came out of the oven leaving me a bit wishful. Clearly, I added way too many apples since the batter::apple ratio was off. It tasted fine, but it was more like eating apple chunks lightly dipped in batter. Not what I was going for. I used three apples, but I’d recommend sticking to one! Adapted from Rather Be Baking.

Print
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Yield: 16-18 muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 large (or 3 small) apples, cored, and coarsely chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F and line 18 muffin cups.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar, and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Mix in the egg and sour cream.
  3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until just moistened.
  4. Stir in the apple chunks. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of sugar evenly on top of all the muffins.
  5. Pour the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
https://lovintheoven.com/whole-wheat-cinnamon-apple-muffins/

Avocado Smoothie

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Avocados are my favorite fruit. I eat them in sandwiches, salads, dip, and salsa. I sneak them in whenever I can into every meal. They’re full of Vitamin E and can help prevent diseases! Avocados also help lower your cholesterol. So yes, eat those suckers up!

I know what you’re thinking. Avocado… as a smoothie?!? YUCK! That’s what I thought, too.. until my pops made me one and forced me to drink it. Ever since then, I’ve been drinking them non-stop. You’d be surprised at how good they actually are. It scares people away at first, but once you muster up the confidence to try it, you’ll be hooked (assuming you like avocados in the first place).

This is a pretty rough recipe since I don’t really measure and just add more of whatever I think is necessary until I get what I want. Feel free to do the same, using this as a general guideline!

Avocado Smoothie
Click here for a printable recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 of a hass avocado
  • 1 cup of ice
  • 1/2-1 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon condensed milk
Directions
  1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add more sugar or milk until you get the desired consistency/taste.

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