Sweet Saturday #29: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies with Flax

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I am just getting back into the swing of things after returning from my travels to North Carolina (I hope none of you missed me too much!). I hope everyone had a nice one, too. I was visiting my mom’s side of the family in North Carolina. It was an especially momentous gathering since my grandmother intends to move out of her house- the house she has been living in for the last 35 years –by next spring. The very house where I, my sister, and our cousins spent many a fine summers exploring the woods out back, building dams in the creek, hiding in Grandpa’s garden, and enjoying Grandma’s homemade treats like cookies and pancakes every day of each visit. The very house where, each December, Grandma always had the biggest, nicest tree my young eyes had ever seen, and where we’d join her in the Love Feast Mass at her Moravian church on Christmas Eve, and, if we were lucky, we’d get to catch the Christmas light garden, too. The very house where my parents and then my sister got married in the backyard, where I learned the joys of outdoor trampolines, where I used to spend hours catching salamanders and snakes and crawfish and other creepy crawlers (those were my tomboy days!), and where I’d hoped my little Lily would get to spend at least a few good years experiencing the splendors her Great Granny’s home had to offer.

It was a bittersweet visit…mostly sweet, though :)

Source

We had the whole family there for the first time in years; there is usually at least one of us who can’t make it at the same time as everyone else, but this year, somehow we managed to do it. My eldest cousin’s wife recently gave birth to her first child, a sweet baby boy named Declan. My sister has another on the way, plus a toddler who thinks the world of Lily. We ate lots of good food, played Scrabble and Scattergories together, watched a few good flicks, and enjoyed the surprisingly warm and sunny weather.

I didn’t get to make anything for Thanksgiving since we got there a bit later than planned and I had other things to do, but I did bring along these yummy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies and they must’ve been a hit because they all got eaten up :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies with Flax

(makes 2 ½ dozen)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup butter

1 cup honey

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups dark chocolate chips

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¼ cup ground flax seeds

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp flax seeds

1 tsp honey + 1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ground flax in bowl. In a separate bowl, combine butter and honey, then beat in banana, eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir dry ingredients into bowl of wet. Once well-mixed, add in the chocolate chips.

On ungreased baking sheets, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough at about one inch apart. Place sheets on center rack in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until nicely browned on top. While cookies are in oven, mix the 1 tsp of honey with 1 tbsp water in a small bowl. During last 2 minutes of baking, brush the tops of the cookies lightly with a little of the water and honey mixture, then sprinkle on flax seeds. Put sheets back into oven and continue baking. 

These cookies are nice and moist and don’t taste “too healthy” at all. In fact, you could probably even add a cup of rolled oats to the dough to pump up their grain content even more. Mmm…that sounds really good, actually.

Soft and sweet and full of banana, flax, honey, and whole grain goodness, you won’t feel bad about treating yourself or you family with these cookies!

And now for our most-clicked Thanksgiving-themed features!

Appetizer/Centerpiece

Sherry from Jazzy Gourmet shared this incredible bread dough cornucopia. Just look at it! She even has a how-to video on her blog for your viewing pleasure. This is something I really want to try next year. Thanks so much, Sherry!

Main Course

 Mary from Mary's Kitchen always shares wonderful posts with us. For Thanksgiving, she linked-up two recipes for some yummy turkeys and everyone checked that out! Thanks, Mary!

Dessert!

Good Girl Gone Green hits the bullseye on the awesome meter once again with this vegan version of green tea hot chocolate. Perfect pick-me-up for those chilly winter afternoons. Thanks, Stephanie!

Our most-clicked overall were:

Eco-friendly Gift Giving part 4 from Back to the Basics! 

Give Thanks for the Giver! from Saved by Grace 

What's Going on in Vegetable Garden? from carpe diem

 

Thanks to everyone who linked up, and welcome new linkers! Grab a button below if you were featured!

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/sweet%20saturday" target="_blank"><img alt= src="http://draft.blogger.com/%E2%80%9CADD%E2%80%9D"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/ruffandcut/HMHBfeatured_Button.jpg"/></a>

Now on to the party!

Just follow these simple rules:

This weekend's guest hostess is Tammy from Our Neck of the Woods. She has one awesome blog full of yummy recipes, beautiful photos, and tales about her switch from city-living to country-living life. Check her out, follow her, and show her some love! Her linky will not be live until Saturday, but she's still hosting!

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Tammy at Our Neck of the Woods if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/sweet%20saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby" src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/ruffandcut/sweetsaturdaybutton-1.jpg"/></a> <br> <br> <br>

Now that November is ending, it is officially Christmas time! (and I'm sure many of you have already started early). I intend to post at least 1 holiday-themed post each week, along with the weekly Meatless Monday Recipe Hop and Sweet Saturday Link Party. Let's hope I can keep it together and stick to that schedule!

Thanks for stopping by, this little get together really makes the weekend even more enjoyable for me, and gives me the encouragement to keep my little blog going :) 

Sweet Saturday #26: Pumpkin S'mores Cookies

Happy almost-Halloween, everyone! I don't know about you all, but I'm getting excited! I'm also going pumpkin-crazy, so I just had to make something pumpkin-y. I came across these AH-mazing sounding cookies recently and had to try them. Don't they look so yummy? I only did some slight tweaks, and I honestly was not 100% satisfied with them, but wanted to share anyway. The original recipe is called "Pumpkin Swirl Sugar Cookies", but they made me think of s'mores, so I gave them this cute name for my post. I Read on for how it went...

Pumpkin S'mores Cookies
(makes about 30 cookies)

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (+ extra for rolling) 
Chocolate chips  
Mini marshmallows
Raw brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar, coconut oil, and butter, then mix in the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 

Flour a flat surface for rolling the dough out on. Take a section of the dough, and roll out onto the floured surface with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 1/4" thick. Spread chocolate chips and mini marshmallows onto the dough like shown below.

  
Roll the dough into a log.

  
Slice roll into slices about 1" thick, then spread onto ungreased baking sheet about an inch apart. Sprinkle some of the raw sugar on top of each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly browned on top. Allow to cool before serving.

  
Now, as awesome as these cookies look, I was a little disappointed. I thought dough was too doughy, and the pumpkin flavor was too subtle. This may have something to do with my using whole wheat flour or omitting the ginger, but I really don't think that should've made a huge difference. Also, the marshmallows practically completely dissolved into the cookies, which may have been because they were a cheap brand, perhaps? Honestly, I don't know. I followed the recipe to a tee except for the slight ingredient changes, but what I changed shouldn't have changed the cookies flavor too much I feel, but what do you think? I'm not the most experienced baker, maybe I did miss something...

Let me know what you think if you give them a try! Now, onto the features! Last week's most-clicked on posts were....

Simple Sweet 'n Savory is being featured here again for these too-cute cupcakes!! Love the cobweb frosting!

This yummy apple and honey challah is from Something Sweet, a blog that always has the most amazing baked goods on the web! 

Pinkoddy shared this sweet and simple DIY ghost tutorial made from upcycled materials.

This adorable unicorn-themed birthday party post is sure to inspire you! Congrats, Becoming SuperMommy, for being the most clicked-on feature!

I invite you to link-up Halloween-themed posts, but feel free to link-up whatever you want, as long as it is family-friendly and sweet! Fall-related posts are also encouraged. Our guest-hostess today is Good Girl Gone Green, and her blog is one of my favorites, so please check her out and be sure to leave some comment love if you like what you see ;)

Just follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Good Girl Gone Green if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

I am still working on my Halloween costume, so expect some sweet pics of that and Lily's coming soon, as well as our pumpkins! Have a great weekend! 

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/sweet%20saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby" src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/ruffandcut/sweetsaturdaybutton-1.jpg"/></a> <br> <br>

Sweet Saturday #25: Nutty Peanut Butter-Banana Cookies

It's officially baking season in my house now! Our oven hadn't been working since we moved in to the new house, and Paul finally got around to tinkering with it, and somehow got it to work. Hooray! So, I got started on making some cookies, and here's a new one I came up with. It's so tasty, moist, and healthy you could even have them for breakfast!

Nutty Peanut Butter-Banana Cookies

(makes about 30 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup honey + a little extra for topping

3/4 cup coconut oil, softened (you can also use shortening or butter)

1 egg

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup cut oats

1/4 cup hemp seed

1/4 cup flax seed

1 cup walnut pieces

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey

Preheat oven to 375. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl until combined. In a separate bowl combine the honey, coconut oil, and egg together; then mix in the banana and peanut butter. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the wet ingredients with an electric beater until well-mixed. Last, add the oats, hemp seeds, and flax seeds. 

On ungreased baking sheets, place small spoonfulls of the batter onto the sheet, at about an inch apart. Place into center rack in oven. While they're baking, heat the walnuts and brown sugar in a small pot over medium heat. When the brown sugar starts to melt, start mixing together with the walnuts, being careful not to burn. Continue until sugar is all melted and coating the walnuts, should take about 5 minutes. 

Spread candied walnuts over a sheet of parchment paper and allow to cool for a moment. At the 10 minute mark on baking the cookies, remove them from oven without turning off the heat, and carefully press the tops with the back of a spoon in order to make a shallow indent. Dab a little extra honey onto each indent, the place a few of the candied walnuts on top of each cookie. Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Allow to cool before serving.

This is a recipe I came up with on my own. I had an overly ripe banana I needed to do something with, and peanut butter goes pretty awesomely with banana, so I got creative. The added benefits of all the omegas, protein, fiber, and minerals from the nuts make these cookies especially healthy. Walnuts are especially beneficial for brain development and function, and those candied walnuts really make them yummy, so don't leave that out unless you want them to be completely sugar-free. Of course, you could probably make them candied with honey instead. Let me know how that goes if you try that!

I was happy to see that Lily really enjoyed these cookies. She loves treats, but- like most parents -I don't want her eating a lot of sugar. These cookies are the perfect fix for your little sweet tooth- whether it be your child, or yourself! We even had them for breakfast without feeling guilty about it ;) The only thing I would change next time is either add more banana or ease up on the nuts, because the banana flavor was a bit subtle. Other than that, this recipe is a keeper!

Now, here are the most clicked-on fall features:

These tasty-looking cookies made with apple sauce, walnuts, and raisins are the perfect healthy treat to satisfy your fall sweets craving! Thank you, Angie from God's Growing Garden!

Holli from Full Hands, Full Heart had a wonderfully informative post about choosing allergy-friendly treats to give out to trick-or-treaters this year. I was especially glad she posted this since I often try to choose allergy-free treats myself! Thanks, Holli!

And we also have another adorable and creative costume from Carpe Diem who has lots of fun DIY Halloween costume ideas on her blog, so please check her out! I really liked this costume in particular because it was one of my first Halloween costumes when I was a little girl, and my mom made mine too! I'll have to dig-up a picture to share ;) Thanks, Ana!

And the most clicked-on features over all were:

Cream of Cauliflower Potato Soup from Good Girl Gone Green

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from Something Sweet

Eat to Beat Cancer (part 2) from Back to the Basics!

Thanks, ladies! I can't wait to see what everyone links up this week!

Now on to the party!!!

Just follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/sweet%20saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby" src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/ruffandcut/sweetsaturdaybutton-1.jpg"/></a> <br>

Meatless Monday: Apple Pancakes

Recently I came cross this clever idea involving pancake batter and sliced apples on Pinterest...read on...

Apple Pancakes
(makes about 12 pancakes)

2 apples of your choice
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cup milk of your choice
1 egg
2 tbsp butter or oil (I used coconut oil)

Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl, then all wet (except for oil or butter) in another; combine until batter is smooth. Core apples, and then slice width-wise at about 1/4" thick, or desired thickness. Heat oil or butter over medium-low heat in large frying pan (or use a griddle if you got one!). Dip each apple slice into batter with a toothpick, then place onto pan. Fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve topped with extra apple slices and maple syrup. (Here is a recipe for apple cider vinegar from the original post).

Super easy and super yummy! Lily and I loved them, and I'm sure your family will too :) Such a clever and simple way to make a fun, fall-themed breakfast anytime of the year. We used ginger gold the first time, and then honey crisp the second time and both ways were very good, although I prefer the sweetness of the honey crisps over the spicy ginger golds.

Now it's your turn to share your Meatless Monday dish below! No rules, other than please only link-up meat-free recipes. No other un-related links or I will remove them. Sorry to sound so harsh, but let's keep it true to what it is, ok? Link up as much as you want, and feel free to spread the word with the button below. Thanks, and have a great week! 
 

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/meatless%20mondays" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/ruffandcut/HMHBMMHop_button.jpg"/>

Whole Wheat Mango-Honey Pancakes

I made these the other day when Paul requested pancakes, and they came out so good I couldn't wait to post! Lily gobbled them up, too. These are perfect for the whole family!

Whole Wheat Mango-Honey Pancakes
(makes 6 large pancakes or 12 small, depending on thickness)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cup milk of your choice
1 large egg
3 tbsp melted butter or coconut oil + 1 tbsp extra
1 mango, diced
Extra honey and/or maple syrup for topping

Combine all dry ingredients together in one bowl, then all the wet (except for mango) in another. Next, combine together in one big bowl.  Heat butter or coconut oil over medium-low heat in large pan. Spoon pancake mixture onto pan to form a circle shape to your desired size. Place a few hunks of the mango onto pancake batter in pan, and drizzle extra honey over it if desired, like in the picture below.

Heat for about 5 minutes, or until the batter starts to bubble, and then flip over and heat for 3-5 minutes longer on other side. Serve with mango and syrup and/or honey on top. 

YUM!!!

These were so good! I was super pleased, and so was Lily who gobbled a whole coaster-sized one up with extra mango. Lily loves mango! What kid doesn't? It's always been one of her favorite fruits, ever since she was a babe. It is also very good for her, in that it provides high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, calcium and so much more!

If you are better at being creative than I am, you can make cute shapes and faces with the mango pieces in the pancakes as you fry them. I think I'll try to make a Mickey Mouse-shaped one for Lily next time :)

Meatless Monday Product Review: Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers

This will mark my third product review. I didn't expect to write one so soon, but I felt compelled to after taking a chance on a new "meat substitute" product, something I didn't think I'd do ever again. Plus, it's Meatless Monday afterall...

Judging by the package, Gardein's Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers™ look pretty darn tasty. Anything Chipotle is bound to catch my eye, so I decided to give them a try. On the package they really look like chicken fingers too! 

Now, as some of my readers who've been following my blog since the beginning may recall, I used to be a committed vegetarian. While I was a vegetarian, I was never too into meat substitute products that were made to taste like meat. I just never understood the point- I was vegetarian because I didn't want to eat meat, and I was not interested in eating fake meat either. Sure, I liked veggie burgers because they tasted like what they were called, but that was about it. I did try some "Tofurkey"-type stuff (is that what it's called?) and even vegan cheese, but it just was never the same, and usually tasted like plastic.

Gardein's Crispy Fingers are not the exception. They may not taste like plastic, but they do not taste very good either. The seasoning was pretty good and they were nice and crispy, and the texture of the soy protein and gluten combination did somewhat resemble meat, but I didn't care about it resembling meat as I have already stated. I was expecting hoping it would look more like the texture of classic tofu, but it looked like it had been specifically molded to look like chicken strips. The smell of them baking even fooled my dog, and he sat right by my chair begging for a bite with his puppy eyes while I ate them in a wrap.

Besides soy protein and gluten, the ingredients of the strips include "ancient grain flour", which also intrigued me. The "ancient grain flour" contains kamut®, amaranth, millet and quinoa. This awesome combination of grains did not save this product, although I do wish I could obtain this "ancient grain flour" on it's own. I can make it if I really want to, I suppose. The strips also contain an array of seasonings such as cilantro, chipotle pepper and lemon peel. Nothing too fancy, but it all still sounded very promising.


Here is what I prepared:

Ingredients
(makes 1 serving) 

3 Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers™
1 whole grain wrap
2 full leaves of romaine
1/2 cup of red and green bell pepper strips
2 tbsp tahini dressing (recipe below)
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tsp lime juice

Tahini Dressing

1 tbsp sesame tahini paste
1 tbsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Bake the strips in oven according to package instructions. While they're baking, mix the dressing ingredients together in a separate bowl, adding more water or sesame tahini paste as needed (I use Joyva brand sesame tahini). Optionally, you could also add some minced garlic to it. Have wrap ready to go by layering ingredients onto the wrap as desired. I put down the romaine, then the peppers, then the cilantro, then the lime and tahini dressing. When the crispy fingers are done, allow them to cool for a few minutes before placing onto wrap. I put extra tahini on it since I did not like the taste so much.

Now, you may be wondering- why bother providing a recipe if I gave this product a poor review? Well, I figure you may not want to take my word for it and try them for yourself. Let me know if you do and if you happen to come across a different flavor or product that you think is actually better.

Do you know a great product I should review, or a product you’re curious about but afraid to try? Let me know in the comments! Just please suggest a natural, organic, eco-friendly, or health or food-related product so it will at least coincide with my blog’s theme, thanks!

Note: I was not paid or asked to write this review, I did it by my own accord.

Have a happy Meatless Monday!




 

Recipe Contest Winner! Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice

Let me tell you, it was SO HARD choosing a single winner, not only because I received so many delicious submissions, but also because I had to get used to a new kitchen this week! What timing I have!

Anyway, after several taste tests and having Lily and Paul help me weigh in on which was best, we finally chose Devon Riesenberg’s Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice recipe. CONGRATS, DEVON! Devon has a lovely blog called The Zucchini Diaries that’s full of awesome recipes, from salads to main courses to even baby food! She also has another cute blog called The Jack Chronicles all about her day-to-day adventures with her family, full of lots of pretty pictures. Devon just happened to stumble across my blog apparently and decided to submit a few of her favorite recipes, and I’m sure glad she did :) You have an avid new follower, Devon!

Besides having her recipe featured on my blog today, she is also the winner of a 1 year subscription to EatingWell Magazine!

Like I said, it was very hard to choose just one recipe, so here are some honorable mentions that made the top cut:

Diablo Potato Salad from Ashley Nunez at Healthy Mom for Junk Food Kids

Simply Simple Granola from Susan Osborn at Little Shack on the Hill

Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms from Jessica Licciardello

I will most likely feature these tasty recipes in future posts since they were very good as well- thanks for participating, ladies!

Now, without further ado, I present the winning recipe:

Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice
(makes approximately 4-6 servings)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped   into about 1 inch cubes

1 tablespoon of cornstarch

2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp salt

3 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons of rice vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup water

6 scallions, thinly sliced

3/4 cup of raw crumbled cashews (optional: toasted)

Brown rice for serving (enough for 6 servings)

Cook brown rice accordingly and leave in pot until ready to serve. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl or large Ziploc bag, toss the chopped chicken with the cornstarch, salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Cook half the chicken, tossing often and then transfer to a plate. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and repeat with the other half of the chicken. Once the second batch is 3/4 of the way cooked through, lower the heat to medium-low and add the garlic, being careful not to burn it. Cook the garlic for about 1 minute, and then add the rice vinegar. Cook until evaporated, for about 30 seconds. Add the Hoisin, water and all the chicken to the pan, and stir together. Cook until the chicken is done and the sauce is slightly thickened, for around 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and add the cashews and the scallions. Serve over brown rice.

it was good with the steamed broccoli

Lily's and Mommy's plates

giving it a try

husband-approved

DELISH! Paul really liked this one especially, and although Lily turned her nose up at it initially (like she does to so many “unknown” food these days), she ate it all up once I got her try the first bite. I added extra scallions and the only thing I would alter is adding twice the amount of water and Hoisin sauce to make it saucier! But, that is a personal preference since I just love Hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce is a salty sweet and slightly spicy Asian sauce made from soybean paste, garlic, chilies, sesame, and other spices and goes great on just about any meat. It’s great in stir-fries and makes an amazing marinade for grilling. In fact, I plan to use thia very recipe on the grill this summer!

Although this recipe is Cashew Chicken, the cashews are optional if you or someone you’re serving this to has a nut allergy. There are no other nuts in the recipe, with the exception of sesame in the Hoisin sauce (check label as some may not contain sesame depending on the blend). I felt it was the vinegary garlic, Hoisin sauce, and scallions that really made this chicken great, but the subtle crunch of the cashews were a really unique addition to the tender chicken.

Cashews, like all nuts, are very good for you. They contain high amounts of many nutrients, such as manganese, copper and magnesium. Nuts are heart-healthy, help to lower cholesterol, provide an abundance of natural energy, help maintain a healthy weight, and so much more! Cashews provide an especially high amount of calcium to support strong and healthy bones. Try some cashew butter on your PB&J instead next time and I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

This recipe is fine for toddlers and kids, but not for baby. Baby can enjoy some brown rice cereal with milk or formula while the rest of the fam chows down on this tasty Asian-inspired dish!

Thanks again to everyone who sent in submissions! I will probably hold another contest in the future since this was so much fun, so stay tuned! Have a great weekend, and hopefully I will get back to my normal posting schedule soon enough! Next week I will post pictures of the new house, as well as a new Family Favorite recipe I cooked up for the first actual meal in the new kitchen. 

Wish me luck with getting my life back in order!