Organic Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Not too sweet, but leaves you wanting more...

These are some of my favorite cookies, and everyone else seems to really like them too. They are great to set out for holiday gatherings... or anytime. :)

Last "baking season" (my husband laughs when I call it that), I discovered how to make my own dehydrated cranberries from fresh ones. And since you can only get fresh cranberries in the fall here, I only make them then now, because the homemade cranberries are so good, I can't go back to the store bought ones. 

So if you want to go all out and make your own dried cranberries, and trust me, you do, here's how ~

Dried Cranberries 

Ingredients:

One bag fresh organic cranberries

Organic sugar or honey 

Directions:

1. Fill large stock pot with water
2. Boil
3. Turn off and put in cranberries
4. Cranberries will fizz and pop, leave in hot water until they seem finished
5. Preheat oven to lowest setting about 160 F
6. Drain
7. Pour into mixing bowl
8. Stir in a little organic sugar or honey
9. Put foil on baking sheet
10. Spread cranberries out on foil
11. Bake for 6-7 hours 

Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup Organic Butter softened

2/3 Cup Organic Brown Sugar

2 Organic Cage Free Eggs

1 1/2 Cups Organic Rolled Oats (not quick)

1 1/2 Cups Organic Pastry or Wheat Flour

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

3/4 Cup Homemade Dried Cranberries (or 1 5oz package)

1/2 Cup Almond Slices

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Beat butter and sugar together in mixing bowl until light and fluffy
3. Mix in eggs
4. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt
5. Add to butter mixture
6. Stir in cranberries and almonds
7. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet
8. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Organic Split Pea Soup

Quick & Tasty!

My daughter and I love to have Split Pea Soup on brisk fall days. This is so easy and quick to mix up. It's also good for you and keeps you warm when it's cool outside. 

Note: You'll need to soak the peas in water overnight, or at least for a few hours before you want to cook them. I forgot to soak mine last night, so I did it for about 4 hours this morning so that I could start cooking this afternoon, and they plumped up just fine. 

Ingredients:

Organic Dry Split Peas (as much as you want)

Organic Chicken Broth (enough to cover to about an inch above peas)

Organic Carrots

Optional Seasoning (I used a little pepper & Garlic & Herb Mrs. Dash)

Getting Ready:

1. Soak peas in just enough water to cover them for 4 hours or more, or overnight

Directions:

1. Pour in chicken broth
2. Turn on heat to about 6 (medium)
3. Chop up carrots and toss in
4. Add optional seasoning if desired
5. Stir, and let get to a low boil
6. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover with lid slightly left open
7. Cook for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until desired consistency

Eat with organic crackers or pita bread. I recently tried the Ezekiel 4:9 pocket bread. We love it. I cut it into quarters and use them for dipping. So good!

Organic Sugar Cookies

These taste sweet...not healthy :)

Finally! I figured out how to make organic sugar cookies that I can decorate. I did not get a good enough picture of this batch, and I'm sure that some of y'all can do a much better job of the decorating, but you get the idea. ;)

I found this recipe in a cute book that my mom got for me and my daughter. I tweaked the recipe some, but it gave me a good place to start. I had searched quite a bit to try to find a way to make the Christmas cookies with sprinkles that I used to make before my quest for all things organic and non gmo. While, I didn't find healthy sprinkles, I did concoct a frosting that is easy to use and tastes pretty yummy. And you can make lots of different flavors. 

Also, it took me a couple of flops and then I finally found Organic All Purpose Flour. I didn't want to use my usual organic wheat flour because I wanted them to still resemble regular sugar cookies. I even tried coconut flour because I thought that it would be the right color. That is known as the Cookie Debacle of 2013 now. ;)  I forgot that coconut flour does not equate the same as other flours because it is much more dense and absorbs all of the moisture, thus making them like dog biscuits. Live and learn.

Ingredients: 

3/4 Cup Softened Butter (non hormone)

1 Cup Organic Sugar

2 Organic Cage Free Eggs

1 Tsp Organic Vanilla

1 Tsp Baking Powder (Aluminum Free)

1 Tsp Salt

3 Cups Organic All Purpose Flour 

Directions:

1. Beat butter and sugar until well blended
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla
3. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt until combined
4. Form a ball
5. Roll it out on floured wax paper and cut shapes
6. Bake at 350 F for 10 - 14 minutes 

Frosting

For these I used frozen strawberries and organic powdered sugar. I pureed the strawberries in my Ninja food processor (I love that thing!). Then, I added powdered sugar into the Ninja, alternating pureeing and adding, until it had a thick, but spreadable consistency. 

At Christmas, we used fresh mint leaves, organic powdered sugar, and a little bit of almond milk. At my daughter's request, we also made some with cocoa, powdered sugar, and a little almond milk to make chocolate frosting. All of them have turned out pretty yummy so far, and they stay fresh for a few days. I did put the strawberry ones in the fridge after the first day just to make sure, they taste great right out of the fridge. :)