Healthy Carrot Cake Cookies

Healthy Carrot Cake Cookies

Deliciously soft cookies brimming with wholesome ingredients like oatmeal, carrots, and raisins. A fantastic choice for a nutritious treat or snack that’s sure to be a family favorite!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce or fruit puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 ½ cups finely grated carrot (about 3 large carrots)
  • 1 cup raisins (or any type dried fruit)

Directions

  1. Wash hands with soap and water.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
  3. In a large bowl, stir together the sugars, oil, applesauce, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
  4. In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
  5. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir in the carrots and raisins.
  6. Drop the dough by a teaspoon onto the baking sheet.
  7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
  8. Store in an airtight container.

For more local health and wellness information, visit www.tillamookcountywellness.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook and Instagram.

Beet and Carrot Salad

Beet and Carrot Salad

Indulge in the vibrant harmony of flavors with this beet and carrot salad – a quick, simple, and creamy delight that elevates any meal as the perfect side dish.

Ingredients

1 carrot, sliced thin or coarsely grated
¼ cup minced onion
2 Tablespoons light mayonnaise or plain yogurt
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)
6 (2-inch round) beets, cooked from fresh and diced, or 1 can (15 ounces) drained, rinsed and diced

Directions

  1. Wash hands with soap and water.
  2. Cook sliced carrots, if desired, until just tender. Try microwaving or steaming.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the onion, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Add cilantro, if desired. Add beets and carrots and stir to mix. Serve warm or cold.
  4. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Notes

  • No mayonnaise? Use plain yogurt instead.

Resource: https://foodhero.org/recipes/beet-and-carrot-salad

Banana Oatmeal Bread

Banana Oatmeal Bread

Warm and comforting whole-wheat banana bread that is perfect any time of day. Oats add to the moist texture.

Ingredients

  • 1 cups oats (quick-cooking or old fashioned rolled)
  • ¼ cup nonfat or low-fat milk
  • 2 eggs
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup mashed ripe banana
  • 1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Wash hands with soap and water.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of an 8- or 9-inch bread pan.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, milk, eggs, oil, sugar and mashed banana. Let this mixture stand for at least 10 minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  5. Add the wet oat mixture to the dry flour mixture and stir gently to combine. Be careful not to overmix.
  6. Pour the mixture into the bread pan and spread evenly.
  7. Bake a 9-inch loaf for 45 minutes or an 8-inch loaf for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. If you have a food thermometer, the center of the loaf will be at least 190 degrees F.
  8. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
  9. Remove the loaf from the pan and let cool completely on a rack. Slice to serve.
  10. Wrap to store for several days or freeze for up to a month.

Recipe from Foodhero.org

Other wellness questions? Email us at info@tillamookcountywellness.org. For more local health and wellness information, visit www.tillamookcountywellness.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook and Instagram.

How to Create a Holiday Charcuterie Board

How to Create a Holiday Charcuterie Board

Here’s a beginner’s guide to help you create an appealing charcuterie board for your upcoming event.

  1. Plan for the board size according to your group. It’s better to overshoot on size than to run out of room
  2. Place the cheeses in strategic spots. If you pull them out of the refrigerator an hour or so ahead of time the room temperature makes for better flavor. They can be used to prop up any potentially rolling items like berries
  3. Add any small decorative bowls (dips, olives, anything you’d like the flavor to stay contained)
  4. If you are going to add any meat you will want to curve or curl them
  5. Arrange crackers and condiments
  6. Fill in all the gaps with fruit and veggies
  7. Add nuts and/or chocolate.
  8. Add garnish!

Harvest Charcuterie

  • 1 8-ounce wheel of brie
  • 4 ounces Manchego cheese, sliced into ¼ inch triangles
  • 5 ounces cheddar cheese, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 cup seedy crackers
  • 8 dried breadsticks (halved if necessary, to fit on board)
  • 2 cups black grapes
  • 3 figs, halved
  • 1 cup berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
  • ½ cup olives
  • ¼ cup gherkins
  • ¼ cup dried ginger pieces
  • 1 tablespoon pepitas
  • 1 tablespoon dried cranberries
  • Garnish with rosemary, basil, or any leafy lettuce

Charcuterie is an art medium and you are the artist.

Enjoy!

Artist/Author: Christine Webber

Other wellness questions? Email us at info@tillamookcountywellness.org. For more local health and wellness information, visit www.tillamookcountywellness.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook and Instagram.

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Thrifty Nutritious Praiseworthy Holiday Recipes for Everyone at Your Table (Series 2)

Thrifty Nutritious Praiseworthy Holiday Recipes for Everyone at Your Table (Series 2)

Scalloped Spiced Sweet Potatoes & Apples with walnuts & cranberries, Potato & Green Chile Stew, White Bean & Spinach Antipasto and Damper Bread are all delicious easy holiday (or any day) recipes to serve every diner at your holiday table. All are visually appealing for a beautiful spread, comforting and nutritious.  With the addition of meat dish or dessert, these recipes might happily serve as the entire holiday lunch or dinner menu for most diets.

Spiced Scalloped Sweet Potatoes & Apples with Walnuts & Cranberries  (Gluten free and vegan or vegetarian)

People seem forever looking for a better sweet potato or yam recipe; something simple and wholesome (sans marshmallows – please) yet lovely to look at and even better if it’s filled with both nutrition and flavor. This original recipe takes about 10 minutes to prep and bakes without any checking and fussing. It makes an attractive (inexpensive) presentation for a special occasion, and you’ll be delighted with the simplicity and the taste. 

  • 1 Tablespoon salted butter or vegan margarine, for baking pan
  • 2 or 3 medium Oregon garnet yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced in ½ inch thick slices
  • 3 or 4 large Oregon apples (two types if possible: (Fuji, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious), cored, partly peeled (in strips) and sliced in ¾ inch thick slices
  • ¾ cup walnut chunks
  • ½ cup raw Oregon cranberries – unsweetened (fresh or frozen)
  • ¼ cup salted butter OR vegan margarine, melted
  •  cup real maple syrup* OR honey *can be substituted for a sugar-free variety
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom OR ground coriander

Generously grease a 9” x 13” oven safe glass or ceramic baking pan with butter or vegan margarine. Preheat oven to 375º F. Place oven rack in center position

Alternate yam and apple slices (scallop) decoratively, in rows, in prepared baking pan   

Sprinkle walnuts and cranberries over yams and apples:

In the saucepan melt the butter, combine the butter with maple syrup (or honey) cinnamon, black pepper, salt, nutmeg, and cardamom (or coriander). Pour syrup or honey mixture evenly over all in the baking dish.

Bake, covered with foil, at 375 F. for around 35 – 45 minutes. Remove from oven; uncover and serve. This is healthy, colorful, and almost like eating dessert. A good side dish with poultry, pork, bean and rice herb pilaf or stuffed winter squash. Serves 4. Easily doubled.

DUTCH OVEN DAMPER BREAD (vegetarian or vegan)

Damper Bread is a vintage WW 2 rationing recipe from Australia. Many ingredients were hard to find and had to be purchased with stamps from food ration books. Items like sugar, butter and eggs could cost lots of stamps, so recipes had to be adapted to suit the needed thrift and distribution problems of the time. Notably baked over a campfire by Aussie swagmen, home cooks have learned to love its simplicity and good taste. Typically cooked in a Dutch oven or wrapped in foil over a campfire, this easy oven recipe is a nice fluffy but rustic quick bread for the holiday table. Looks nice too.  

  •  4 cups All-purpose Flour 
  •  2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  •  1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  •  ½ teaspoon Salt
  •  3 tablespoons Salted butter or margarine chilled and cut in cubes
  •  1 1/2 cups buttermilk OR unflavored unsweetened plant-based milk, soured with vinegar*

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. 

Add cubed and chilled salted butter or margarine

Using your fingers, crumble the fat into the fat until the fat is barely visible.

Pour cold buttermilk in the middle of the flour mixture and stir until combined. Using your hands, combine it together into a sticky ball.

Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface just to form it into a round dough ball. 

Heat the oven to 425° F.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled Dutch oven. 

Cut across on the top surface – halfway through into 8 wedges of dough. Don’t cut all the way through.

Close lid on Dutch oven and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 to 35 minutes. 

Check if the bread is done just by tapping it on the top or bottom with your fingers. It will sound hollow when it’s done.

8 servings

POTATO & GREEN CHILE STEW (vegetarian or vegan, gluten free)

Economical, quick and satisfying, this stew, adapted from the recipe by Deborah Madison is perfect the day it’s made and even better the next day. Eat with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt on top or prepare with water (instead of chicken broth), pass on the sour cream, and this is a satisfying and comforting vegan meal sprinkled with some shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas).

  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 medium large onion, diced
  • 2 – 7-ounce cans mild fire roasted diced green chilies
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 large russet potatoes or 1½ – 2 pounds smaller potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2-inch chunks
  • ¾ -1 teaspoon salt  
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 2-3 cups chicken broth OR water
  • Sour cream OR plain Greek yogurt to finish, optional
  • Chopped fresh cilantro OR parsley, optional

Heat the oil in a wide pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the diced chilies, coriander, cumin, garlic and potatoes along with salt and pepper; stir. Cook together for 3 minutes.

Add the broth or water. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to a gentle but constant simmer. Cover and cook until the potatoes are completely soft, about 25 minutes.

Taste for seasoning. If desired, mash some of the potatoes to give the dish a creamy background texture. 

Pour stew into bowls; add a dollop of sour cream, and the chopped cilantro, if using.

Serves 4

Adapted from original: Deborah Madison/Food 52

WHITE BEAN & SPINACH ANTIPASTO (vegan, gluten free)

This quick well-balanced recipe, is holiday impressive and uses freezer and pantry ingredients along with a few fresh staples. Not only is it budget friendly but takes just minutes to prepare and is a quick flavorful and light meal for warmer days and a colorful side or starter for holiday tables. Serve it alongside crusty bread, garlic toast or warm rolls. This can be easily doubled.

  • 1 – 10-ounce package frozen leaf spinach
  • 1 – 15 ounce can great northern beans OR other white beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1 clove fresh garlic, grated or finely chopped  
  • 2 Tablespoons snipped fresh chives OR finely chopped tops of green onions
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Follow the package directions on the frozen spinach; don’t overcook. Drain, squeeze dry, and finely chop. In a bowl combine the spinach with the beans, bell pepper, garlic, chives, oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve chilled, with crusty bread or rolls or garlic toast.

Serves 6 as appetizer, 3 as an entrée.

By: By Kitchen Maven, Judi Berman-Yamada, https://www.facebook.com/Creativepenandpantry/

Many recipes in my posts are found in my cookbook, “Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times”. The book is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. All (100%) of author royalties from retail sales of my cookbook go directly to the Oregon Food Bank, Tillamook Services, to assist families and individuals experiencing food insecurity. 

Gift giving time is just around the corner. Purchasing this pantry friendly cookbook will benefit not only the recipient of the book, but people in need, as well. Living near Tillamook County or even in Portland, you can also purchase the book through Food Roots Farm to Table Marketplace for a sale price below that of following online sellers, and all proceeds will go directly to that non-profit organization. Thank you for your support.

Amazon.com: Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times: 9780578310763: Berman-Yamada, Judith, Berman-Yamada, Judith: Books

Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times by Judith Berman-Yamada, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Thrifty Nutritious Praiseworthy Holiday Celebrations

Thrifty Nutritious Praiseworthy Holiday Celebrations

Nearly every one of us will celebrate one or more of the upcoming fall and winter holidays, observances, and celebrations just around the corner. This year why not aim for praiseworthy recipes and meals that are also thrifty and nutritious as well as delicious? You need look no further. Following is a menu for a pretty easy breezy meal all the guests will enjoy. Uncle Morrie won’t need to sit in the corner with salad and applesauce while Cousins Burt and Sheila sift through each dish to avoid anything with meat, your granddaughter can’t have most grains, hubby has an Epi-pen handy in case he accidentally swallows nuts, your sister is diabetic and your old friends, the Carters, are vegan. Yikes! The scenario leaves a lot of guests in a post dinner hunger mode that might well ruin the celebration for them and for you.

Turkey, ham, and brisket are not necessarily meal requirements for every holiday meal, and no one needs marshmallows on yams, cheese and butter in every dish or layer cake for dessert. Exotic fruits and vegetables from other areas of the world might be fun for a holiday meal, but if they’re unseasonal where you live, they’ll be not only more expensive but less nutritional due to their long journey to your table.

  • Prepare or at least partially prep recipes up to three days ahead, and even longer for items you can freeze.
  • Look for what’s available and least expensive at the grocery store, including cuts of meat and eggs.
  • Be aware of what’s plentiful and seasonal where you reside. It will be fresher and less expensive.
  • When there are sales at the store on dry goods, stock up. We can always have use for canned beans, tomatoes, tuna, fruit, broth, dry milk, nut butters, corn meal, butter, vegetable oil, dry and canned milk and of course flour and baking supplies.
  • If friends or neighbors have a large supply of certain ingredients or prepared foods and you have something they might use, trade. It won’t cost either of you a penny.
  • Ask guests to bring a holiday dish, to share, that they enjoy and possibly prefer.
  • Know your limitations. Base your menu on availability of your time, your expertise and whether you’ll have a kitchen helper or be the chief cook and bottle washer.
  • Don’t overextend yourself or your budget.
  • Or be even more creative and make personal pizzas with easy no-yeast yogurt crusts and toppings you have on hand.
  • Or host a taco party and ask guests to bring components, they adore, for the taco fiesta. Have gluten free and vegan tortillas available if possible or ask guests to bring their preference.

Whether for Thanksgiving or any other winter meal celebration, the menu options are endless when the chef steps out of the conventional meal box and goes creative. Here are two thrifty menus that provide dietary options for all your guests. One is a quick and easy menu. The second is a menu plan for the ardent chef, on a budget, who wants to present showstoppers. Both menus are delicious and nutritious and varied to feed all the tastes and dietary needs of your guests while fitting into your budget. Mix and match or prepare just two or three of the dishes listed. It’s all about variation and deliciousness based on what works for you and your holiday crowd.

EASY MENU:

Stove Top Popcorn (gf/vegan)

White Bean Hummus with Rice Crackers (vegan, gf)

*Potato & Green Chile Stew

Zesty Barbecue Glazed Roast Turkey Drumsticks

Steamed Fresh or Frozen Broccoli with* Tamari aioli (veg, gf)

OR

Steamed Peas with mint and lemon butter (veg, gf)

Cornbread (gf) with butter/margarine

Homemade Jam

Chocolate Wacky Cake (vegan)

& Fruit Compote Sundaes (gf)

OR

*Chocolate Love Pudding (gf, veg/vegan)

& *Carrot Spice Cookies (vegan)

ARDENT MENU:

Humble Pumpkin Soup (veg/vegan)

*White Bean & Spinach Antipasto (gf, vegan)

*Gardeners’ Seasonal Company Galette (vegan / veg) &

Gardeners’ Seasonal Casserole (vegan / veg, gf)*Scalloped Spiced Yams & Apples with walnuts & cranberries (vegan/ veg, gf)

*Turkey Meatballs Stroganoff

Herbed Rice Pilaf (vegan, gf)

*Damper Bread with butter/margarine

*Oregon Apple Tart a la Jacques (veg/vegan)

& Maple Pumpkin Pie

OR

*Light Lemon Cheesecake Cups (gf)

& Zucchini Tahini Brownies (vegan)

By: By Kitchen Maven, Judi Berman-Yamada, https://www.facebook.com/Creativepenandpantry/

Many Recipes in my posts are found in my cookbook, “Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times”. The book is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. All (100%) of author royalties from retail sales of my cookbook go directly to the Oregon Food Bank, Tillamook Services, to assist families and individuals experiencing food insecurity. Purchasing the cookbook will benefit not only the recipient of the cookbook, but people in need, as well. Living near Tillamook County or even in Portland, you can purchase the book through Food Roots Farm to Table Marketplace for a sale price and all proceeds will go directly to that non-profit organization.

Amazon.com: Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times: 9780578310763: Berman-Yamada, Judith, Berman-Yamada, Judith: Books

Thrifty Comfort Cooking for Challenging Times by Judith Berman-Yamada, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)