Gluten Free/Dairy Free Apple Oat Bars

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Apple Oat Bars

1 1/3 cups unsweetened applesauce

6 TBS Maple syrup

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup grated apple (this is equal to 1 sm/m apple)*

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup oat flour*

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 scoops collagen peptides (totally optional)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper or grease the pan instead.

In large bowl combine applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil, egg, vanilla and grated apple. Whisk until combined. 

In a separate bowl combine oats, oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder collagen and salt - whisk together. Then add to the wet ingredients. Add in raisins and coconut and mix to combine.  Pour into pan and smooth out.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until slightly golden and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and cut into bars.  I store mine in the refrigerator for up to a week.

*I leave the skin on my apple, but you can also peel it if you like.  I usually don't measure out the apple, I just grate one apple on my box grater and call it a day.

*You can buy oat flour, or just put old fashioned oats into a high speed blender or food processor and blend until it looks like flour.

If you don't like raisins or coconut you can leave it out, or use any nut, dried fruit or even chocolate chips.

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet

I'm trying to loose the extra baby weight so naturally I've been baking more then I should.  Baking is my happy place and during this time of social distancing I seem to be needing to go to my happy place more then usual...mostly because what the heck else am I going to do?  My 2 year old son loves to cook with me.  If I am in the kitchen making something it usually takes about 5 seconds before you can hear him dragging his kitchen helper stool out of the pantry to come help his Momma.  He helped me make this recipe - his favorite part to measure was the chocolate chips of course.

We bought a delicious chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake after lunch on Sunday and after dinner I wanted more - so we made this instead.  A little less bad for you, but still so tasty!  I took one bite and then realized it was so good I was going to have to share the recipe...so that explains the big bite missing in all my pictures.

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet

4 TBS unsalted butter (can use coconut oil if you want it to be dairy free)
1/4 cup + 2 TBS coconut sugar or brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat butter in an 8" skillet over medium heat.  Cook until the butter is browned but not burnt.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar, salt and vanilla - stir until smooth.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes.  Whisk in the egg until smooth.  Add flours and baking soda - stir until smooth.  Add in chocolate chips and stir to combine.  Smooth out dough.  Bake 10-12 minutes until set around edges but still gooey in the middle.  Cool slightly before eating.  Serves 1 or many - your call 😉  Can also be doubled and made in a larger skillet.

Healthier Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten free, dairy free) and word of the year!

Social media is being flooded right now with new hopes, dreams, resolutions, goals and different things to help start our new year off right.  Another thing I keep seeing is people choosing a word of the year to help motivate and keep them on track.  I was sitting in Mass the other night thinking about what word to choose and the choir began to sing "Silent Night", as always when I hear that song my heart was flooded with peace and calm.  Can I choose two words this year?  "Peace" and "Calm".  I took a deep breath, yes, these are my words for 2019.

2018 was a year filled with many blessings, but also heartaches for me.  Adjusting to life with 2 little ones proved a lot harder then I thought it would be.  My body has been struggling since the birth of my second son, and physically I was at my lowest.  My gallbladder attacks would hit out of nowhere and bring with them severe pain that would have me rolling on the ground in agony crying.  When I wasn't having attacks I had the fear of having another attack looming over me asking "is this the day? Will I get one in Mass?  Will I get one while walking down the aisle as a bridesmaid? Will I get one when I am alone with the kids, who will take care of them and me?"  It has now been 10 weeks since my last attack and my body is feeling much stronger as it continues to heal.  Praise the Lord!

Mentally, the last 2 years have been really hard on me.  My original family has been broken apart by the pain that comes hand in hand with divorce.  After 36 years of marriage my parents are now legally divorced.  I know I am a grown woman, as are all of my siblings, but no matter how old you are divorce affects the children on some level.  My dad lives 10 minutes away from us and we haven't seen or heard from him in over 18 months.  He has not met my 1 year old.  I have a history of not doing well with rejection, and to have your father reject your mother, your family, some of your siblings, your kids and me is a hard pill to swallow.

Peace.  Calm.  

This is what I want for myself and my family for 2019.

I have seen many people go through hardships and suffering in this life, and those that remain calm and at peace amidst the turmoil and storms are the ones that have such beauty and grace surrounding them as you can visibly see the hand of God at work in their lives.  This is what I want.  This is what I need to strive for.  The storms will come no matter who you are, but if you have faith and trust in God you will not be overcome.  

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, 

they will walk and not be faint."

 Isaiah 40:29-31

I know many of you have goals to be healthier in the New Year - here is a recipe that might help with that!

Back in October I did a yeast detox, which meant no sugar of any kind - even fruit!  I have slowly let the sweets seep back into my life, but in a much healthier way.  Yes, I indulged in pie at Thanksgiving, but it was Paleo and sweetened with maple syrup not refined sugar.  Yes, I eat honey and maple syrup again on a daily basis, but in very small amounts.  This recipe is a delicious cookie that satisfies my sweet tooth without making me feel like junk.  My kiddos really like it too!  Let me know if you try it out!

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 15 cookies

1 cup oats

1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips or raisins

2 TBSP melted coconut oil or butter, cooled for a few minutes before using

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup almond butter or peanut butter*

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium sized bowl combine the oats, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips.  Mix well.  

In medium saucepan melt the coconut oil.  Allow to cool for a few minutes then add the almond butter maple syrup and vanilla and whisk 

until combined.  Add to the dry ingredients and stir well.  Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Dough can be a little loose, so sometimes I take the portioned out dough and roll them into balls before baking.  Bake 8-10

 minutes until slightly browned.  I  just store them in a ziploc or glass container on the counter - they usually don't last longer then a few days but have lasted up to 5 days for us.

*Use almond or peanut butter where the only ingredients listed are the nuts and maybe salt.  No added sugar or oils.

Thick and Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies

My niece asked if she could come over this weekend and make some cookies for one of her teachers with me.  Um...yes...I am always down for making cookies!  She requested snickerdoodles and we decided to try out a new recipe.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were and ate way more then I was planning too.  I am not the biggest fan of any cookie without chocolate in it...but these were darn tooting good!  After I made them I thought that they might also be good using pumpkin pie spice in the topping instead of straight cinnamon...this I will try next time!

My niece is 13 going on 21 and as we were baking she told me that she bakes cookies with her 2 friends a lot and that she is the one always telling them what to do.  She said she learned a lot from watching me bake and then baking with me, and then she said "you know all your tips and tricks really do work, I mean, scraping the bowl down really well in between mixing really does make a better cookie!"  Haha, not going to lie - it made me smile : )

These would make a good addition to any Christmas Cookie tray or tin.  I was contemplating getting started early on Christmas cookie dough baking this year since baby is due to arrive at beginning of December...but then realized I don't really have time to do that now either.  I'm hoping I can still manage some sort of less fancy Christmas cookie assortment for neighbors and friends this year...not sure I am capable of just letting Christmas go by without any Christmas baking.  Haha, but honestly, I probably won't even realize it is Christmas this year I will be so zonked out from having a newborn.

Did I mention we are having baby #2?  We are super excited and of course have nothing ready for baby again!  Names?  Nope.  Found a doula?  Nope.  Nothing is ready.  Somehow I blinked and we are in our third trimester already!  When I ask Charlie where baby is he points to my belly and then points to himself - he is so right...he will always be my baby : )



Thick and Chewy Snickerdooles
adapted from sallysbakingaddiction.com

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (not kosher or coarse)

Topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375°F  We have a gas oven that gets super hot so I actually preheated my oven to 360 instead...every oven is different so do what works for you!
2. Make the topping: mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Make the cookies: In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Then add the sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed and mix again.  Set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. The dough is quite thick and you may have to stir it by hand to fully incorporate the dry ingredients.
5. Scoop 2 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the dough balls into the reserved cinnamon-sugar topping.  Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will be very puffy and soft.  Cookies remain soft & fresh for 7 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Chocolate Lava Cookies

You know those decadent molten lava cakes you see on many restaurant menus?  Yeah, this is the cookie version of that...you are most welcome. : )

As you can tell from my recipes that I post we have a healthy food/cookie diet in our household...I like to call it the "healthookie" diet.  We avoid most dairy and many grains, we don't do processed food, we eat our greens, our vegetables, our fruits, our proteins and our vitamins...but we also eat our cookies.  Oh the cookies.  Some days I wish that I didn't know how to bake, but then I laugh and realize that is absurd...my love language is "cookie" and if I took that away I would not know how to communicate love to others.  Can you imagine?  I would be trying to tell my husband that I loved him and so I would send him to work with a box of carrots...how depressing is that?

Good news...FALL is almost here!  Top season of all times!  We got married in the Fall, and that was a good decision...the marriage part and the Fall part.

Fall means colder weather, and colder weather means you need extra fat on your body to stay warm...here enters the chocolate lava cookie.  Eating cookies is cheaper then a new cold weather wardrobe...you are most welcome again. : )

These pictures don't do these cookies justice.  I waited until they cooled to take the pictures, and by that time the gooey molten centers had solidified.  They still tastes amazing, but they taste divine if you eat them warm.

Chocolate Lava Cookies
From the Guittard chocolate chip bag : )

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3 TBS butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Melt chips and butter over double boiler until smooth but thick.  Set aside to cool.  In mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla on high until pale yellow and thick about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in cooled chocolate mix on low speed. Scrape bowl and mix again.  Add flour and baking powder and mix until combined. Scrape bowl and mix again.  Cover dough and refrigerate 15-30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Scoop 8 - 2 inch mounds onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 8-12 minutes until crusty on outside but soft in the center...do not over bake!  Cool a few minutes and eat warm.

White Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Oat cookies

Being a mom is an emotional roller coaster.

A few weeks ago I felt like I had a clingy baby and couldn't do anything without having to hold him in the process.  Many days he would only sleep if I was holding him.  He was waking up on average 2-3 times a night.  I was often frustrated about this.

Then one day he decided to grow up.

Just like that.  He turned 4 months old and became an adult baby who doesn't need his mama as much anymore : (  He rolls over, sucks his thumb, puts himself to sleep, won't sleep if I'm holding him, and is basically a professional baby now.  Now this frustrates me too, but at least he still needs me to feed and change him!

Haha...sometimes you just can't win!

I am proud of my little guy, and every time another developmental light bulb goes off in his head it makes me so happy.  The days go by quickly and I am really making a conscience effort to not get frustrated when the house needs to be cleaned, or my to-do list is getting neglected.  To me, the most important thing is to really savor these precious moments with our little guy, and to take as many opportunities as possible to play with him, to watch him, to cuddle him and to love him.  I know that in a blink of an eye he will be graduating college, and I just want to enjoy this special time with him.  Mama and Charlie one-on-one time...my heart is full : )

When super baby is napping I'm usually in the kitchen making something.

When I'm in the kitchen I'm usually making cookies.

When I make cookies they are usually fattening but delicious.

Totally.worth.it.

I was in the mood for a non typical cookie and decided to try a new recipe out.  I found this one on all recipes, but altered it a bit to my liking and to my pantry.

White Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Oat cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

In mixing bowl cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar.  Beat until smooth and creamy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Scrape bowl and beat again.

In separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk to combine.  Then add the oats, cranberries, white chocolate chips, and walnuts.  Stir to combine.

Add dry ingredients to the wet and beat until combined.  Scrape bowl and beat again.

Using a small ice cream scoop or TBS. drop onto parchment lined baking pan pretty close together.  freeze for 1-2 hours.  remove from freezer and space out more on pan.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  DO NOT OVER BAKE unless you want a dry crispy cookie.  If you don't plan on eating all of these cookies at once you can scoop the batter onto parchment and freeze, once hardened place in ziploc bags and bake directly from the freezer as needed.

White Chocolate Brownie Cookies and Serving each other

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small 

things with great love.” - Mother Teresa

We were with some friends this weekend and one of the guys was joking with his wife and said something like, "Woman, get me a beer"...this was all in good fun and we started talking about spouses demanding things like this from each other.  When you demand things from your spouse or anybody they are less likely to do it, and will probably make them angry.

While we were discussing this topic I was reminded of a conversation I had a few years ago with a woman who had been happily married for about 40 years.  I asked her what was the secret to their marriage?  She responded with this: "Every morning when we wake up he takes a shower and I make him a cup of coffee.  When he gets out of the shower the hot cup of coffee is waiting for him.  He starts his day knowing that he is loved and cherished by me, and I start my day knowing that I am needed and appreciated.  Then at the end of the day I take my shower and when I get out a hot cup of tea is waiting on my night stand for me.  So, I end my day knowing I am loved and cherished and he ends his day knowing he is needed and appreciated.  This simple act of serving and taking care of each other really gave them both the right attitude towards each other in their marriage.

Now I know I am no expert in marriage, seeing as I have been married less then a whopping 2 years...but we are definitely happier when we are making an effort to serve and help each other.  While I am nursing baby he asks what he can do to help me, when he gets home I try to have dinner ready for him, when I am low on gas in my car he makes a quick trip to fill up my car, when he has work parties I make his cookies to bring.  At the end of the day everyone wants to feel loved, appreciated, and needed - and this is truly a key to a happy marriage.  Instead of saying "woman, get me a beer" or "husband empty the trash" - maybe we should all be looking for ways we can serve our spouses before they have to ask?

This doesn't just apply to marriages, but to all relationships...if we keep asking ourselves how can we serve others and make them feel loved, appreciated and needed...how amazing would that be?

One of the ways I make my husband happy is by making him cookies...way too many cookies...these cookies are our new favorites and we indulge in them a few times a week.  Like all my cookie recipes I make a batch, scoop them, freeze the dough raw, and then pop a few into our oven or toaster oven when we need some dessert...which happens to be every darn night in our household...we are seriously cookies addicts up in here!  If you over bake these cookies you will be disappointed...take them out of the oven even if they don't look cooked...trust me on this. : )

White Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 stick unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white chocolate chips*

Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together — you can do this on the stove over very low heat, stirring constantly until almost melted. Take this off the heat, stir until completely melted and stirred together.

Whisk sugars into melted butter and chocolate, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Whisk in baking soda and salt. Add cocoa powder and stir to combine. Then add flour and stir until just combined. Allow batter to cool 5-10 minutes. Then add white chocolate chips and stir until combined.

Scoop cookies out using a 1 TBS ice cream scoop onto parchment paper and place in freezer for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350°F 

While oven is preheating remove cookies from freezer and place a few inches apart from each other onto a parchment lined baking sheet...they don't spread that much.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, at which point they will still definitely look under baked, but you should take them out if a fudgy-centered cookie is your goal...which it should be : ) 

*Milk, semi-sweet, dark or peanut butter chips also work well in this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Tomorrow is Halloween.  This is the first time in a long time I am not dressing up. : (  I love theme parties, and in the past have thrown quite a few for Halloween.  Unfortunately, a lot of friends were going to be out of town or busy this weekend so we opted not to throw a party this year.  It's all good...next year we will throw an awesome one and God willing we will have our baby to dress up in a fun costume as well!

I can't believe the Holiday season is upon us already!  So much fun is up ahead in the next few months!  Best of all Christmas when I can see most of my siblings again for a few days...darn this distance between us all!

In other news - my parent's dog, Flopsy, just became a first time Mamma!  She had 6 little pups, but only 3 of them made it.  The 3 that survived are strong little guys with jet black coats and are busy wearing out Flopsy with their needy little whimpers. : )  Right now they look like little rats, but in a few weeks they are going to be adorable miniature schnauzer puppies...then they will be wearing my parents out as well!

Pregnancy update!  I am 19 weeks along, and my belly is finally popping out!  It is such a weird feeling to have this extra weight in my mid section area - I know I'm not that big, but I already feel like a house that will knock everything down in my way. ; )  It is getting more difficult to move quickly, and my workouts have slowed down in pace since I get winded so much faster now.  Thankfully my appetite is back and I am eating food again!  Hopefully this will translate into more recipe posts as well.  : )

I realized that I didn't have a go to chocolate chip oat cookie recipe...and that just wasn't going to work for me.  I played around with a few recipes and came up with this gem!  The trick to these cookies is 1) using two kinds of oats - this jumps up the texture appeal, and 2) you must not over bake the cookies...if you do, they will be dry : (

Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup old fashion oats
1/2 cup quick cooking oats or ground whole oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In small bowl mix: oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips.  Set aside.

In large mixing bowl beat butter and sugars until creamy - 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl a few times.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine until smooth.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until combined.  Scrape with spatula and mix again for a few seconds.

Scoop out 2 TBS size balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 10-11 minutes...do not over bake!

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Refined sugar free, nut free - Chewy Raisin Snack Cookies

I am always on the search for a healthy snack option that isn't a store bought granola bar.  I have made a few granola bars recently, but haven't had a lot of success making ones without refined sugar in them.  I came across this recipe on the "Deliciously Ella" blog that my good friend told me about.

There were a few things that I really liked about this recipe:

1)  No refined sugar
2)  No gluten
3)  No dairy
4)  No nuts, which mean pretty low in fat content then
5)  Shredded apples in a cookie?  Say what?

I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised.  The texture is very different then normal cookies, but the flavor makes up for it.  These are a healthy nut free snack that I will definitely be making again!

Chewy Raisin Snack Cookies

Adapted and converted from Deliciously Ella blog

2 1/4 cups old fashioned oats

4 ripe bananas

3 TBS Honey

1 1/2 cups raisins

3 medium apples (I used pink ladies)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grate the apples (no need to peel them) and place them in a small bowl.  Drain the excess liquid from the grated apples using a sieve. (fyi, drain the liquid into a bowl so you can drink some really delicious freshly squeezed apple juice - this step of straining is super important or the cookies will be too wet and fall apart) Then in another bowl mash the bananas. Then mix the grated apples and bananas with all the remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Line a baking tray with parchment paper.  Scoop a heaped tablespoon of the mix and pat it lightly into flat cookies shape on the tray, do this until all the mixture has been used.  Batter will be slightly loose so you may have to squish the batter together.  If you don't want to bake them all at once, you can scoop some onto a parchment lined pan and stick them into the freezer.  Once frozen you can throw them in a freezer bag until ready to bake. Should yield 30 cookies.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes until they turn golden brown, at this point take them out the oven and let them cool slightly.  If the raisins look like they are burning then they are most definitely done!  You can store them in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator. 

White Chocolate Fudge Brownies and Forgiveness

The first reading today was the story of Joseph and his brothers.  For those of you who don't know the story, here is the super short version:

Joseph had a bunch of brothers, like 11.  He was highly favored by their father and he gave Joseph a pretty coat with lots of colors.  The other brothers were jealous and mad about this, and about other things too...they had some deep seeded issues they didn't want to talk about. : )  One day Joseph went to fetch his brothers from a field they were working in, as he got closer the angry brothers decided they wanted to kill him.  After some rough grunts and manly debates they decided to throw him into a deep pit that just so happened to be nearby...how convenient for them! : )  After some more grunts, arm wrestling, and paper/rock/scissors battles they decided to sell him to some passerby people instead of killing him.  Then they took the infamous coat of many colors and splatted it with animal blood, took it to their father and told him his golden son was dead.  (sounds like a strange episode of CSI to me)  Joseph was really blessed at this point and became buddies with the Pharaoh, I mean he spent some time in the clink for a few years on and off, but at the end of the day he ended up sitting pretty with some authority and title that was important.  Come to find out there was a famine and his evil brothers came to ask for grain...turns out they had to meet with Joseph to get the grains...who they didn't recognize!  Ha, what are the odds?  After a very dramatic, head turning, and shocking revelation of the truth Joseph straight up forgave his brothers for their crime against him.  Just like that!

Can you imagine forgiving your brothers, friends, or strangers for wanting to kill you and then selling you off into slavery?  Wow?  That kind of betrayal is intense.  Or take for instance the shootings in Charleston, SC...many of the families of the victims have spoken of forgiving Roof for his horrible crimes against their loved ones.  Wow, that is powerful stuff!  I know I personally have a hard time with forgiving people...especially my family members and friends.  It is so difficult to mentally make that step and letting go.  Sometimes letting go of something seems like it is a sign of weakness, like you are giving up power over that person, but in reality it is so freeing and makes you stronger!  How crazy is that?  I know when I am hurt by someone, or I am arguing or fighting with them I don't want to give them the satisfaction of "winning" the battle against me...how ironic it is that when you forgive someone you are the one who wins!  Not that it is about winning, but to me everything has some degree of competition to it.  Haha : )

I recently received an email from the "Prepare and Enrich" marriage prep program.  We used them while we were engaged and they send us emails every once in a while for tips to a healthy marriage.  This was a list they included on practical advice for how to give and receive forgiveness

Steps for Seeking Forgiveness

1. Admit what you did was wrong or hurtful.
2. Try to empathize with the pain you have caused.
3. Take responsibility for your actions.
4. Assure the person that you will not do it again.
5. Apologize genuinely and ask for forgiveness.
6. Forgive yourself. 

Steps for Granting Forgiveness

1. Acknowledge and give yourself permission to feel pain, anger, or disrespect.
2. Set clear and specific limits and expectations for the future.
3. Give up your right to “get even,” but insist on being treated better in the future.
4. Let go of blame, resentment, and negativity toward the person.
5. Communicate your act of forgiveness.
6. Work toward reconciliation (when/if safe).

I don't know about you, but I think I need to print this list out and tape it to my forehead and all the mirrors in my house. : )

I also think another step should be added to the list for "steps to seek forgiveness".  

Step 7.  Make the offended party brownies. : )

My husband will be eating so many brownies. : )

I needed a quick dessert for a Young Adult ministry meeting we were having at my house last night and these guys ended up being the perfect thing!  The key to a chewy brownie is to not over bake them!  When in doubt take them out! : )  These are also great because they don't call for baking chocolate, just cocoa powder, but boy oh boy are they fudge-y good!

White Chocolate Fudge Brownies

10 TBS unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup + 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup white chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and line an 8" or 9" square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Melt the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, salt together over medium heat in a saucepan.  Stir until butter is melted.  Batter will be gritty, fear not.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes.

Stir in the vanilla.  Add the eggs one at a time stirring quickly so the eggs don't scramble.  Add the flour.  Do not over mix!  Gently fold in the white chocolate chips - if the batter is too hot at this point the chips will just melt and the brownies won't be as yummy...which is why it is important to let it cool a bit before adding the eggs.  Pour into pan and smooth out evenly.

Bake 20-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out relatively clean.  Keep an eye on them after 20 minutes checking every 2 minutes until perfectly cooked.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.  

* you can also use peanut butter chips or chocolate chips here if that is what you have on hand

 Listen to this song.  Make these brownies.  Go ask someone for forgiveness.

Be 

strong.

Eat your heart out,

Dagny