Good Tasting, Gluten-free, Low-fat, Low-sugar, Vegetarian Cookies!?

You be the judge!

I personally LOVED these Oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies even if they weren't loaded with white sugar and butter, I still found them very yummy, especially fresh out of the oven.  I found the original recipe on: Recipe Girl and of course tweaked it to my liking ...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 egg + 1 egg white, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp maple syrup (or agave nectar)
1 Tbsp honey (sub this for agave nectar or maple syrup to be strictly vegan)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup gluten-free flour
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
⅛ tsp baking soda
⅛ tsp baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
¼ tsp (heaping) ground cinnamon
¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup or more of dark chocolate chips (or raisins or craisins to be vegan or healthier)

TIP: Be sure to add xanthan gum to your gluten-free flour mix, keeps it from falling apart!



1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix egg, maple syrup, honey, oil and vanilla together in a bowl. Stir very well.
3. Combine flour, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir very well, then add to the wet mixture and stir until blended.
4. Stir in oats and desired amount of chocolate chips. Let batter sit for about 5 minutes.
5. Scoop Tablespoonfuls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until set and golden. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Makes about 14 small cookies or 8 large cookies.

Nutrition Facts (chocolate or raisins are not included):
Amount Per Serving
Calories 132
Calories From Fat (33%) 44
Total Fat 5.01g
Saturated Fat 0.52g
Cholesterol 16.06mg
Sodium 106.94mg
Potassium 78.88mg
Carbohydrates 19.87g
Dietary Fiber 2.14g
Sugar 8.88g
Net Carbohydrates 17.73g
Protein 3.05g

I Can't Eat These Ripe Strawberries Fast Enough!

Living in Toronto has been an amazing 10+ years experience so far.  One of my most favourite things about the city, is the varitety of places you can go to get your groceries, from supermarkets to Asian markets to farmers markets - you name it!  Besides Farmers' markets in the summer my next favourite place to go is the local Asian fruit & veg markets, which are basically spread out all over the city.  It's true, in almost any given Toronto neighbourhood you are sure to find one.

One of the things I love about these markets is that you can always find ripe, ready to eat produce at very affordable prices, although the items are not always local I do my best to buy Ontario grown produce.  The problem I find, is that sometimes the food is a little too ripe that by the time I get it home and to my kitchen it's starting to turn. I encounter this problem mostly with the berries - more specificaly strawberries!

Hence, my dilemma - I can't always eat the strawberries fast enough!  My solution - gluten-free / fat-free honey strawberry bread! This bread was very yummy and freezes well if you want to save and savour it.

Strawberry Honey Bread
(Gluten-free & Fat-free)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups gluten-free flour
- 2 tsp baking powder (GF)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup diced fresh strawberries
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup fat-free soy milk
- 1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1/2 honey
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. Lightly coat a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan with coconut oil

3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda

4. In a small bowl, lightly toss the strawberries with 1 Tbsp. of the flour mixture until strawberries are well coated and set aside

5. In another small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, orange juice concentrate, honey and oil.

6. Stir liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened

7. Gently fold in the strawberries and spoon the batter into the pan.

8. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean

9. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack