Oatmeal Cookies...

Well, to be fair, cookies are a dessert... this is more of an energy... lump... disk... thing. 

And it tastes good, but not good enough to get a toddler to eat it and not too good that you feel bad eating 4 of them for breakfast.

So, if you're in a super granola mood and you want a healthy snack that's on the sweet side but ends up more like a bran muffin, this is your recipe.  If you're looking for ooey-gooey finger-licking decadence, check back soon. 

Ingredients:

DRY:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Tablespoons toasted wheat germ

WET:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoon milled flax seed
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

Extras* (optional): Nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries (*I added chocolate chips in an attempt to entice my picky kiddo to eat them.  It failed and I was mad that I didn't add the Craisins I had laying around because I think those would have been delicious.)

See?  This is me working out the recipe:

Yikes. 

So, combine all dry ingredients and set aside:

 

Then, combine all wet ingredients.

 

Slowly add dry to wet and combine well, adding any extras at the end... it will look like poop.

 

 

Use rounded tablespoons to drop onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 335 degrees for 15 minutes.  Be aware that the honey in it burns at a much lower temperature so this recipe has to bake at 335!

 

And here is, I think, where my toddler was totally turned off because he didn't even TASTE these things.  I left them as lumps on the cookie sheet and didn't think about the fact that there is no fat (like butter or shortening) in these cookies to melt and allow them to spread out in the oven, so they came out of the oven in exactly the same shape as they went in.  

 

And what toddler takes a look at a turd on a plate and thinks, "Wow, I won't eat scrumptious looking veggies but I'll sure stick this lump of fecal matter in my mouth!"?  I mean, seriously.

If you're concerned about presentation, take the time to squish these cookies into cookie-like shapes before you bake them.

Next time, in fact, I'm going to do chocolate chips and squish them into cookie shapes and drizzle them with a bit of cream cheese icing.  

But really, these are terrific for a breakfast-to-go or quick snack mid-day.  And they're cookies... well, they want to be cookies.  So it's pretty much a win-win.

My Culinary Love Affair - Wheat Germ

Okay I am obsessed OBSESSED OBSESSED with wheat germ.

My husband thinks I'm crazy.

But I LOVE it.  I add it to all the babies' purees now.  I mix it into every possible recipe I can.  I sprinkle it on salads and on diced fruits for the girls.  I sneak it into PB&J sandwiches.  I love wheat germ.

What the heck is it?  Germ? What?  Ew.

Nope, germ is short for "germination" and refers to the fact that wheat germ is like a wheat kernel embryo.  It's just where new wheat kernels sprout and is super rich in nutrients like... oh, EVERYTHING.  Nutrients such as B vitamins (folate, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B6), Calcium, Fiber, Iron, Omega-3's, Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorous, Protein, Selenium, Zinc and Vitamin E.  Wow.

And it's not technically a food. 

Wheat germ comes in two basic varieties: raw and toasted.  I use toasted for a few reasons: 1) it tastes better, 2) it's easier to find, and 3) it lasts a little longer.  The toasted wheat germ has a light nutty taste to it that all but disappears from notice in things like sandwiches and salads or even in meatloaf or meat balls, and it lends a little somethin'-somethin' to oatmeal or waffles or muffins or cookies.  The only real key thing is, you have to store that stuff in either the freezer or fridge so it doesn't go wonky on you.

   

 

So in addition to mixing in in with whatever breadcrumbs I might use in a recipe, such as this one, you can just add it into cookie or muffin recipes or swap out 1/2 cup of the flour in the recipe for 1/2 cup of wheat germ, for instance.  I also made breakfast for the girls the other day by mashing up a banana:

 

 
 

And stirring in a couple tablespoons of wheat germ to get this:

 

It may look gross, but it was really yummy.  It cuts down on the "snot factor" as I call it... Bananas, when mushed, are a little slimy and my kids aren't huge fans of the texture, but the wheat germ gives it some grit (insert manly chuckle here).  I tasted it and determined it was quite tasty, so I later did the same thing for myself but smeared it on a piece of bread and smushed that on top of another piece of bread that I'd coated with peanut butter and I thought I was in heaven.  Then, I tossed some mini chocolate chips into the sandwich when I realized how awesome the "banana jelly" was and essentially considered myself a genius at that point.  Now, did the wheat germ make that heavenly sandwich?  No.  Not at all.  BUT it was there and I was able to use its presence to justify eating a sandwich made with chocolate chips and not feel in the least bad about it.

Okay, so maybe to some wheat germ is a nutritional supplement.  To me, however, it is probably more of a crutch. 

Whatever.  I'm lactating.  Back off.

Anyway, so there you have it.  I *heart* wheat germ.  And I make no qualms about the fact that it goes in mac 'n cheese and into my home-made pizza crusts and into the breading on my chicken nuggets and it holds my hamburgers together so if my picky kid only takes one stinking bite of something I toiled for hours to make, at least that one bite has as much goodness as I can feasibly pack into it.