Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Armed with mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, cookie trays and cooling racks, and all the ingredients to make three different types of cookies, twelve members, myself included, of Highland Presbyterian Church headed to The Winston-Salem Rescue Mission on Saturday morning to make cookies for the residents. It was part of Highland's Helping Hands, a community service event where 100+ church members headed out into the community to participate in various service projects.

I usually pick projects with Habitat for Humanity, but given my current "condition" I figured that climbing up on a roof or smelling paint fumes all morning were probably less than ideal projects for me. Breakfast cookies, on the other hand, sounded right up my alley!

Our top-notch leader had organized everything wonderfully, as was exemplified by the recipes she chose for us. Instead of choosing to make three different types of cookies that would all have needed the oven, she picked this recipe for no bake cookies. Combined with traditional-style chocolate chip and sugar cookies we also made, these no bake wonders were perfect!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
Food Network

In a small saucepan, bring to a boil:
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk

When the mixture has been boiling for one minute, mix in:
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Remove from heat.

Line several cookie sheets with waxed paper. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the waxed paper. Place in refrigerator to let cool. When they've hardened, they're ready to eat.

Eat up!

Carrot Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

While there are countless headlines about the upcoming presidential elections, I think it is important that we remember our local elections. It is in these local elections - the ones I am generally the least educated about - that we elect the individuals who make the decisions that have the potential to directly affect our lives the most dramatically. For those of you who live in Winston-Salem, please check out and support my colleague, Andrew Keever, in his campaign for District Court Judge. He's a great person, an excellent attorney, and will be a fair and impartial judge.

Important voter information for 2012:
Last day to register to vote: October 9th
Early voting period: October 22nd through November 2nd
ELECTION DAY: November 6th

Carrot Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Kelley Gondring

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Carrot Cake

Ingredients
12 ounces unsalted butter, softened [3 sticks]
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
--
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
--
4 large eggs
--
3 cups shredded carrots (not packed)
1 cup craisins, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup raisins, coarsely chopped

Preparation
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Lightly grease and line with parchment paper three (3) 8" cake rounds. [Don't skip the parchment paper or your cakes will stick to the pans.

Directions
1. In a large electric mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla extract for one minute.
2. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients.
3. Add the dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time to the butter/sugar mixture, alternating with the addition of the eggs. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
4. Fold in the carrots, craisins, pecans, and raisins.
5. Pour batter into lined cake rounds.
6. Bake 30-35 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cake cool in the pan ten minutes before transferring to wire rack.
8. Let cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
--
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
--
1 pound confectioner's sugar
--
3/4 to 1 cup toasted diced pecans

Directions
1. In a large electric mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Mix in vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
3. Gradually mix in confectioner's sugar.
4. Assemble cake. Sprinkle pecans on the sides of your carrot masterpiece.

Eat up and remember to VOTE!

After a little contemplation, I decided this cake needed a little more color, so I added a circle of red stars.

Roasted Salt + Vinegar Chickpeas

It takes some real time to adjust to being on a diet for the rest of your life because your body has to the gall to not process gluten. I mean, once you start looking, it feels like gluten is in everything! No brainers like sandwich breads and cookies are one thing, but worrying about the malted barley in Rice Krispies and learning that the main ingredient in soy sauce is actually wheat feels absolutely overwhelming.

In the last couple of months, several of my friends have figured out that what has been making them feel so poorly is gluten. As they navigate their lives towards healthy, happy living and eating, they are constantly playing detective, sniffing out and finding gluten wherever it may be. Because food is not only essential to living but is the foundation upon which we build our social lives (What are you doing this weekend? Wanna go to dinner? Brunch? Out for drinks?), it becomes nearly as important for the friends and loved ones of those who have celiacs or a gluten-intolerance to be cognizant of these necessary dietary restrictions.

Now one of my gluten-intolerant friends would probably argue with this point. She wouldn't want to be considered "that girl" - a perceived pain in the ass who dictates where to go to eat on Friday night or what others serve as Game Night snacks. But I'd vehemently argue otherwise, for what kind of friend doesn't take into consideration another friend's health and happiness?

With all that being said, I've decided to add a "gluten-free" label to my recipe posts and whenever possible to add substitutions that will make a seemingly gluten-free dish actually gluten-free.

Here is a great recipe I found for Salt + Vinegar Chickpeas, a gluten-free snack for everyone to enjoy.

Salt + Vinegar Chickpeas

Oh She Glows

In a large pot, bring to a boil:
4 cups vinegar
2 cans chickpeas, drained
Turn off heat, cover with lid, and let sit for thirty minutes.

Preheat oven 425º

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Use a slotted spoon to carefully place chickpeas on foil. Drizzle chickpeas with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 45 minutes, shaking pan gently to flip over the chickpeas about halfway through. Because the heat so high, it is more likely for the chickpeas at the edges to burn, so I set my timer in five (5) minute increments for the last twenty (20) minutes and shook the pan from side to side to switch up the inside and outside chickpeas.

Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Eat up!

Peanut Butter + Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats

Whenever I make rice crispy treats, I think of Christmas 1997. I was in the eighth grade and had all the style of a fourteen year old growing up in the '90s - the poofy, unbrushed hair, the patterned shirts with stone washed jeans, a smattering of acne, and a smile full of metal with green and blue rubber bands . . . who let me out like that?!?

But back to my point. My family from Kansas was visiting that winter so there was more activity in the house than usual. It was also the year that we had a lot of snow, by North Carolina standards, anyway. Snow plus four kids meant the constant slamming of our back door as we trudged in and out between sleigh rides. We'd strip off our multiple layers of clothing, leave them uncaringly in a wet pile by the door, and come inside for a half a cup of hot chocolate and two (or three) rice crispy treats. We'd turn on the T.V. and hang around until we got bored and decided to go play again. Fourteen is the age where it almost isn't "cool" to go play anymore, but because there was snow on the ground all pretenses were dismissed. So we'd once again pile on our layers of clothing, put on our hats and gloves, and head back out the door to make a dozen more runs down the hill. We lost many a sled and toboggan to the lake at the bottom of the hill when we got going too fast and were forced into an emergency evacuation, lest we end up in the lake, too. Every once and awhile we were able to fish a seemingly condemned sled or toboggan out of the lake by fetching my dad's fishing rod, hooking the abandoned vehicle, and reeling it into safety.

I couldn't tell you where our parents were for any of this fun - probably doing adult things like braving the icy roads and driving to work since we were old enough to stay by ourselves. After the third or fourth day of this, my cousin, Laura and I got tired of sledding so we mostly sat around and ate. A lot. Like the entire dish of holiday rice crispy treats my mom had made before departing for her grown-up obligations. It isn't that we necessarily meant to eat the whole thing, but over the course of the day with one bite here and another bite there, they were gone.

And boy was my mom pissed! She loves rice crispy treats, so when she came home to an empty casserole dish that we'd had the audacity to leave dirty she was not a happy camper. Especially since Laura and I were just sitting there like "bumps on logs" watching whatever dribble happened to be on our non-cable television at the time. I remember hearing her walk (stomp) from the kitchen to the living room, holding that empty dish, and ripping us a new one about the lack of respect it takes to eat every last rice crispy treat that we hadn't even made and then leave the dirty dish on the counter.

Eek.

I'm not sure how we managed to get our hands on more Rice Krispies or marshmallows since neither one of us had a license or a car, but I certainly do remember that when Mom left for work the next day, Laura and I got busy making another batch together. And we didn't eat a one.

--

I decided to make rice crispy treats to serve at Game Night because they are a relatively easy sweet to make AND they can be easily be made gluten-free (Kellogg's now makes gluten-free Rice Krispies) for my two of my girl friends. Unfortunately, the gluten-free boxes don't come with a recipe so I relied upon my memory and a little creativity. (Yes, I could have just done a google search, but I was lazy. For traditionalists like me who like plain better, here is the original recipe.)

Peanut Butter + Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats

Kelley Gondring

In a large pot, melt over medium heat:
1 stick butter

Once butter is melted, add:
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 bag Reece's peanut butter chips
Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until all the marshmallows and peanut butter chips have melted.

Turn off heat. Stir in:
6 cups Rice Krispies
Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, transfer them to a large, buttered casserole dish (13x9). Use a spatula or buttered piece of wax paper to press down the treats so that they are even. Set aside.

Pour into a medium microwave-safe bowl:
3/4 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips*
Melt in microwave being careful not to let burn.
*For a thicker chocolate base, use whole bag.

Pour the melted chocolate over the rice crispy treats. Use a spatula to evenly spread. Let cool. Cut into small squares to serve.

Eat up!

Blackened Halibut with Peach Avocado Salsa

As I've mentioned, we caught a whole lot of Halibut when we were in Alaska. We have been slowly working our way through our supply (though you'd never know it by opening our freezer, where you'd find nearly two shelves full of one pound pieces of fish). I searched around for a different way to prepare it last night, and happened upon quite a few recipes with mango salsa. Unfortunately, when I got the "ripe" mango home from the grocery store, it turned out to be deceivingly soft on the outside while still hard as a rock on the inside. I looked around my kitchen for an appropriate substitute and spotted the two lone peaches in the fruit bowl and thought Why not? I actually liked peaches much better than mango, so it worked out perfectly!

Blackened Halibut with Peach Avocado Salsa

Kelley Gondring

Serves 4.

Rub
In a small bowl, combine:
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
3/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 pounds halibut (It is preferable to use a thick cut of fish so the spices don't overwhelm the fish; if unavailable, don't use all of the rub.)

Sprinkle rub on non-skin side of fish. Heat grill on high. Once heated, grill fish skin side down until the flesh is flakey. We used a less-thick piece of fish, so it took about 10 minutes. The thicker the filet, the longer your cooking time will be.

Peach Avocado Salsa
Combine in a medium bowl:
1 large avocado, peeled and diced
2 medium peaches, peeled and diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 small sweet red pepper, diced
1 small hot pepper, minced
Juice from 2 limes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Carefully mix together. Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving.

Serve fish with Peach Avocado Salsa and a green veggie, such as green beans or asparagus.

Eat up!