I've been going through my cookbooks, food magazines, printed recipes from random websites and scraps of paper with recipes scrawled across them in the preparation for finally creating my months worth of menus. Yeah its taking awhile, some of these are written in pencil on paper plates. I need to work on my recipe organization. I either don't write them down or I can't read whats written. Needless to say all of this has made me really want to cook rather badly. But alas, we lost power recently (lots of catching up to do) and with more than half the family (myself included) on a diet, the possibilities are rather limited. And most of my diet friendly recipes were on my computer, gee I'm glad I put those into the computer...
Anywho, since cooking is out for now I have been dreaming up the perfect meal day. The ideal menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course assuming budget and diet isn't a factor. Which it is but who cares, I'm having fun.
For Breakfast I imagine a I'd have a variation of a baked french toast. Mmm, with raspberries and blueberries. Yes. And whipped cream with some kind of syrup on it. I'm going towards a raspberry syrup with a simple syrup as a base perhaps. Hmm...
When Lunch rolls around I'd like to have a homemade version of a childhood favorite. I grew up in Midwest Illinois, near Peoria. I used to love Avanti's Restaurant. They serve amazing Italian food at a very reasonable price. My favorite thing on the menu, a Gondola. Think a sub with extra sweet, chewy sourdough bread filled with Italian deli meat, tomatoes and lettuce. Mmmmm. The bread totally makes that sandwich. If you live anywhere near Peoria, IL. I recommend you check them out.
My homemade version would be made with fresh sourdough, mayo, tomatoes, homemade pepperoni, sliced deli meat, lettuce and sharp cheddar cheese. With a fresh lemonade, perhaps a limeade.
Dinner would be my homemade Lasagna. Filled with a hearty meat sauce, fresh ricotta cheese, Parmesan and some mozzarella. Served with a slice of some soft Italian bread sticks. Dessert would follow with my Raspberry cheesecake dessert bar. I am still toying with that recipe but I can taste it in my mind. Yum.
At least that's what I'm in the mood to make right now. Tomorrow may be a different dream menu. The joys of cooking.
Now I'm hungry. Great.
When I get around to actually making those things, I shall post a blog with the recipes. In the mean time why don't you try these Healthy Oat cookies. They are awesome for breakfast, or a snack, or anytime :)
Oat Cookie
Old fashioned oats yield a chewier cookie, Quick oats are a bit smoother, but in this case the Old fashioned oats work best in my opinion. This is a really easy recipe to double (or triple) and they keep well but don't last long ;)
1/2 Cup of Peanut Butter (No sugar added, creamy or smooth bake up about the same)
1/2 Cup of Honey (Using darker honey adds health benefits without altering the taste much)
1 T Almond Extract (Optional, use less if you like)
1 1/2 Cups of Oats
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium size bowl, stir the Peanut, Honey and Almond together until smooth. Add the oats and mix well until combined. It will be rather stiff. Use a tablespoon for a small cookie, a smaller ice cream scoop for a larger cookie. Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Depending on the size bake for 8-12 minutes until starting to brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet as they are very crumbly when warm. Transfer to a cooling rack until they are cool to the touch.
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