Julie Surprise: Homemade, Clean "Samoas" (Girl Scout Cookies)

Yesterday my sister posted this graphic on Facebook.

I confess, after looking at all the unnecessary additives and poor quality ingredients, I bragged in a comment that I could easily make my own and that they would be better in every way. Someone replied to that comment by saying, "Please hurry!"

I laughed at first, but it got the wheels turning for me. I looked at what the girl scout website said about their cookies and it just seemed like it would be all too easy.

I've been working with coconut flour for a few years now, and I've made very similar treats, like this to-live-for, caramel chocolate cheesecake that tasted like it had a crust made from twixt bars. (Yeah, I still need to post that one.)

Anyway, I figured, I might as well give it a shot. So I made a very small batch of half a dozen cookies last night and had to take the time to convert it to a larger batch for all of you here this morning.

The recipe does have a lot of steps, but it really isn't difficult. If you want to shave off some of the time it will take to make these, I would suggest not cutting out a center hole and just leaving them a solid circle. If you like the idea of the narrow strip that the wreath shape provides, you could even dispense with circles altogether and shape the cookies into little sticks instead. (Think twixt bar)

One reason I was able to do this so spontaneously last night was because I already had some leftover caramel in the freezer that I made a couple of months ago. Although, I could have made fresh caramel since I have dates in the fridge right now. It's a pretty simple recipe and if you can get someone else to help you make the cookies you could have one person working on the caramel while the other person mixes and shapes the cookies.

At first I felt sure that someone else must have already created a clean version of these cookies, and perhaps someone out there has, but a quick browse through pinterest only revealed "homemade" versions that consisted of store bought cookies covered with store bought caramels and melted chocolate chips. . . .
Yeah. I know.

Thus, I present to you:

Julie Surprise:Clean Caramel & Chocolate Covered Cookies ("Samoas")

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Coconut flour
• 1/4 cup shredded or flaked unsweetened Coconut (Plus extra for topping)
• 2 tablespoons Coconut sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tablespoons Coconut Milk

(Oven Preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.)

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients until you have a nice shape-able cookie dough consistency.

     Note: You might want to add the coconut milk one tablespoon at a time and test in between to gauge how much moisture you need to help the dough form into a circle without crumbling. I'm high altitude so you may need to add more or less milk to achieve the desired consistency. (See note for Step 3)

2. Cover a large cookie sheet with baking parchment and form about a teaspoon's worth of dough into circles using your fingers, directly onto the pan. You may flatten them with the underside of a cup.

    Note: if you are going to use cupcake liners for adding the toppings later, you may wish to have one handy so you can form the cookie into a size that will fit into the bottom of the liner. The cookies will not spread when baked.
3. If desired, cut circles out of the center of each cookie with a small cookie cutter or other small cylinder that will serve the same purpose.

     Note: You may need to use the tip of a knife to help you remove the circles from the cookies once cut. Seeing how your cookies react to this step will also give you a clue as to how crumbly the dough is. If cutting out the center makes your cookie fall apart, you may wish to return the dough to the mixing bowl and add a bit more coconut milk. Thus, you may wish to test one cookie in this way, before you transfer all your dough to the cookie sheet.

4. Once all your cookies are formed on your cookie sheet, bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom edges are starting to turn brown.

    Note: You will probably start smelling the cookies just as they reach this point.

5. Once baked, remove from oven and carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

6. Once cooled, you can begin to coat the underside of each cookie with chocolate. (recipe below)
To do so, drizzle a small layer of chocolate into the bottom circle of a cupcake liner. Place cookie on top of chocolate taking care that the entire bottom surface is sitting on chocolate. Place the cookies in the freezer for a couple of minutes to quickly set the chocolate layer.

     Note: You can return the cupcake liners with cookies to a cooled baking sheet, or to a plate before transferring to the freezer, whatever best suits you.

7. Once hardened, remove cookies from freezer and carefully scoop your prepared date caramel onto the cookie; creating a nice thick layer. Top with coconut and return to freezer.

8. Once cooled, drizzle stripes of remaining chocolate onto cookie and return to freezer a final time.

9. Once set, remove the cookies from the papers and serve, or store in the freezer or fridge in an airtight container.

    Note: If you choose to make wreath shaped cookies, the center hole may become filled with a thin layer of chocolate. This is easily removed with a few pokes of a straw or knife, or you may leave it intact for extra chocolaty goodness.


Chocolate Layer Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup liquid coconut oil
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder

Mix in a small dish until smooth, with no lumps remaining.

          Note: I did not think it was necessary to add any sweetener to the chocolate as the date caramel is already quite rich and sweet. I prefer the contrast between the dark unsweetened chocolate with the caramel. Plus the layer of chocolate is so thin, it is really not noticeable when you take a bite of the whole cookie that the chocolate has no sweetener. 

 Caramel Filling Ingredients:

• 12-16 Dates
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 to 1/2 tablespoon Grass Fed Butter (optional, see note below.)

1. Soak dates and coconut oil in a small sauce pan over low heat until dates ate very soft.

2. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Blend directly in pan with an immersion blender, or if you prefer, transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. 

     Note: If the consistency is too thick to easily spread on the cookies, or simply thicker than you wish it to be, you may add additional butter and see if that helps. Another way to thin the caramel could be to add some warmed coconut milk a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. You want it somewhat thick, but spreadable, and not so thin that it drizzles off the cookie's surface once applied.

Overall, I thought they were delicious. Admittedly I did not try them in a side-by-side comparison to the girl scout version, (for obvious reasons) but to me they are awesome. My husband and three kids also approved of them, with my two year old begging for more, my six year old proclaiming them the best treats I've ever made, and my eight year old saying, "They literally melt in your mouth; they are really good!"

If, for some reason, you find them lacking, you are perfectly welcome to experiment with my experiment. My cookies turned out soft instead of crunchy. In order to achieve a crunchy texture I would probably go with more of a shortbread type recipe, dispensing with the eggs and adding coconut oil to the dough. I considered this at first, but wanted to be sure the cookies would hold together. Shortbread can be a bit of a trial and error at times, especially when working with coconut flour.
Adding more coconut sugar to the dough, or some liquid sweetener of choice to the chocolate coating may bring them closer to the original flavor. I also noticed that the original cookies have mixed the coconut with the caramel, instead of just sprinkling it on top. I will probably try this next time I make these, and you would be welcome to do the same.

Happy baking, and happier eating to you all!

~Julie :}

What My Diet is Like Right Now

My sister started a FB group recently where like minded Mom's with similar values can share articles and ideas without having to get flamed and bombarded with arguments like they would if they posted the same things on their regular page. It's been a lot of fun to share some of my favorite new ideas and findings with these few women who are all in the same boat, trying to figure out what's best for their families and how to make ends meet without sacrificing their health or values.

Tonight, one of the group members asked about if any of the rest of us feel lost when it comes to grocery shopping; trying to figure out how to afford, good clean healthy fair without it costing an arm an a leg, and even knowing what to make with the food you do get.
I totally understand this feeling!
It's one thing to know what NOT to buy and what NOT to eat. Becoming aware of dangerous additives and ingredients is really eye opening, and it can feel empowering to finally take the plunge and throw out all the junk that's been lurking in the back of your pantry (you know those instant mashed potatoes that have more ingredients than your aunt Edna's secret recipe for frog eye salad?)  Yes, it is a great feeling to say to yourself, "No. I deserve better and my family deserves better and it's not wasteful to throw out garbage."

It's after the cleaning out and rethinking is all done that you might find yourself walking through a grocery store and have no idea what to actually put in your cart. Or, even if you have managed to fill it will all kinds of things you know are great healthy foods, you might find yourself looking at a fridge full of great healthy food but have no idea what to do with it.

I'm sure we've all gone through this, are going through it, or hopefully will go through it because it's all part of the process of the paradigm shift that must occur if we're ever going to leave behind the SAD way that we used to eat.

So, of course, all of the above are the thoughts that went through my mind when I read this question posted to our group's wall. 

So, I started to write a response, and then, as is typical for me, it started to turn into a really long comment and then I had to admit that it was becoming a blog post. So here it is.

I have been figuring things out slowly for the past 2-3 years so I totally know the feeling of getting overwhelmed.
Meat is always tricky too because you want it to be safe but need to be able to afford other food too, and have room for it all. We've been thinking about buying bulk from this site:  http://pinterest.com/pin/15129348718233832/, 
but we'd have to be able to split it with a few families to be able to afford the best deal AND have the room to freeze it. So yeah, still figuring out the meat. 

As of right now Costco has been my link to sanity.
For a while there we just weren't eating very much meat and my hubby was having a hard time with that. So recently I've been buying their organic ground beef ($16.99 for 4 lbs divided into three pieces). I't doesn't say it's grass fed, but it does say hormone free so I figure it's better than some things. Then I also buy a flat of organic black beans and organic tomato paste and use these ingredients to make a big batch of chili which usually lasts us about a week as an easy lunch for my hubby to take to work, or for me to eat. Oh, I often buy their organic chicken stock to add to the chili too. 

Getting veggies from Bountiful Baskets is a great way to get lots of produce in your diet for very little money, plus it gives you a reason to try new things you might not have thought of buying. I think using this resource was a great step in helping me to transition away from the way we used to eat into thinking more about veggies, and actually using them. It was a big learning curve, but so worth it!

Honestly though, we haven't been relying on BB as much because I've been concerned about the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen thing and it seems like most of the produce you get in the BB is on the dirty dozen list. You can get an organic basket for $10 more but I'm not sure it's worth it for how much food you get because the organic basket is always smaller than the conventional one and then it costs that much more, plus, they might include things in the organic basket that are clean enough that buying organic wasn't necessary for that particular item.

Still, if you already aren't eating a lot of produce it's a really great way to get into doing that. And they say eating conventional produce is always better than no produce at all.
Pinterest is a great resource for recipes, as is the Green Smoothie Girl Blog and the Bountiful Basket's Blog.  Actually, there are a TON of great blogs out there for clean eating, most of which I found through Pinterest. You just have to take baby steps and try things to figure out what works best for you and your family.

Right now, I usually buy most of my produce at Costco, like the things on the clean 15 list, such as oranges, grapefruit, Avocado, broccoli, kiwis, asparagus, artichokes. Things with high nutrient content that I can get in bulk and my family will actually eat.
I also will buy organic spinach there for green smoothies and recently I've discovered their organic baby kale which is much easier to eat than the kind we use to get through Bountiful Baskets. It makes a great salad green.
Anyway, whatever I want from the dirty dozen list that isn't available at Costco organically,  I will supplement those veggies and fruits with produce from Whole Foods. I used to use Smith's Marketplace because they do have some organic produce, but often I find that organic apples at Whole Foods are slightly cheaper than at Smiths. As are their grapes, occasionally, and their bananas. It depends though, so watching sales can still be good.

I also have been buying Coconut sugar at Whole Foods to use instead of other sweeteners. Oh, and their nitrate free bacon because my nutritionist told me when I got pregnant that I MUST eat bacon but that it HAD to be nitrate free. I told him I would love that but had no idea where to get nitrate free bacon and he said Whole Foods is where he gets it. His family buys it from behind the meat counter. I've actually just been buying of of the prepackaged  brands because it's cheaper ($3.99 a pack) and with my small family 3-4 packs will last us a least a couple of weeks.  We gave up lunch meat over a year ago and if we have sandwhiches they are now Peanut Butter and honey(Adam's PB has only one ingredient, Peanuts. We get a big jar from Costco), or grilled cheese, or Canned Wild Caught Salmon (our new tuna; we eat it with a mixture of cream cheese based dressing or simply some mashed avocado, depending on what we have, since mayonnaise is full of soy and other things) We also use Dave's killer bread for sandwiches, though someday I dream of sprouting my own grains . . . 

Oh, and we get organic eggs and butter from Costco.  Someday we hope to have a source for local eggs, perhaps from neighbors with chickens or maybe we'll even get chickens ourselves someday. A lot of our friends who live in a house with a yard have done so. One friend even raises rabbits for food.  So, I guess my point is . . . It's a process. I'm sure I will always be wanting to improve this or that aspect of our lives and health, but you just change/try one thing at a time and as it feels right.

Just to be up front and honest, our grocery budget can be anything from $95-$200 a week, depending on the week, and what things we're low on. Oh, and that feeds two adults and two small kids. Cutting back on certain things has certainly helped of course. We don't buy any convenience foods. No cold cereal, not even the healthy kind. My daughter has trouble with milk so we gave that up almost five years ago and haven't missed it. Breakfast consists of either oatmeal (bought in bulk at Costco again) or pancakes made from scratch, compliments of my hubby, half a grapefruit, or bacon and eggs. Things like that.

As for all the meat you bought, if your chicken has bones, I would advise making some Stock from that and freezing it.

In fact, if it's a lot of meat, you could precook the chicken in in crock pot, then shred and freeze extra meat to use for future recipes, like tacos/burritos, soup, etc.
Then of course, as I just said, boil the carcass for your stock.
I've done this before and I got a ton of really yummy stock out of it. In fact, it was surprising because I used a cornish game hen the first time and they are small, but I actually added more water a couple times after the first batch of stock, let it simmer another night and got more out of the bones and veggies. Not as rich and dark the subsequent times of course, but still really good stock. I just figured I'd keep going until I'd gotten as much goodness as I could out of it. You'll want to make sure you have enough freezer containers if you're going to do it that way.
I learned the hard way that glass doesn't freeze well, so if you're using mason jars or anything put those ones in the fridge for use first, or at least don't fill them too full. Anyway, this is a great way to get the most for your money when you buy expensive poultry I think, because it's got to be way cheaper than buying the organic stock at Costco, and you can add whatever awesome veggies you want to it.  In fact, the first night you could just cook all the veggies and meat in the crockpot and you eat that for dinner and then it's just the scraps that are left over that need to be boiled for the stock.

Anyway, this has been a very long post. Hopefully some of the ideas here were helpful and made sense. Feel free to ask any follow up questions!

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

When I had limited ingredients in my house recently, I was looking through the pantry and saw a big can of pumpkin that I had purchased in bulk back in November, but I'd only ended up using one or two of the cans and still had two left. I thought to myself, "There's got to be a way I can use this for something other than treats." Then it occurred to me that people often make pumpkin squash soup and similar things. So I started looking up recipes and stumbled across one for a pumpkin curry soup. Some of the people who commented mentioned that they'd added chicken to it which that got me thinking . . . Chicken curry is already good, and pumpkin curry soup sounds good. Who's to say that I couldn't combine all three things and just make a chicken pumpkin curry to serve over rice? So combining the soup recipe with my favorite chicken curry recipe, here is what I came up with.

Julie Surprise: Chicken Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients:
About half a 19 ounce can of pumpkin*
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons coconut oil*
1 small onion,* chopped (I actually used dried minced* 'cause that's what I had.)
2-3 cloves garlic*, minced (or a tablespoon of garlic powder.*)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,* or to taste.
1 teaspoon paprika*
1 bay leaf*
1/2 teaspoon ginger*
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or other sweetener of choice)
2 cups chicken stock*
3 tablespoons curry powder*
A splash of lemon juice (if desired)
1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
3/4 cup coconut milk* (opt)
1/4 cup shredded coconut* (opt)
Salt* and pepper* to taste

Cook and shred chicken in a skillet; when cooked through, or nearly cooked, add onion and garlic with the coconut oil, saute until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients to the chicken. Stir and heat until combined and warmed through. Serve over rice or quinoa.
This three year old approves!

She filled her tummy till it was full! Check out this curry filled cutie!

*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com