LEMON CRINKLE COOKIES!

If you've ever had a chocolate EARTHQUAKE cookie, also called CRACKLE cookies, you will be able to relate to these little beauties!  Same cookie, in a lemon version! YUM!  I found this recipe on laurenslatest.com (Thanks Lauren!).  I made these and had them sitting on my dining table in my cake plate and had many visitors tell me how delicious they were.  So, roll up your sleeves and get down to some serious cookie making.  You're definitely going to want to try these!  A cute friend of mine has requested these for her birthday this weekend.  Happy Birthday Tani!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

yield:  2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbls Fresh Lemon Juice (I added twice that and felt like they could even use more!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice.  Scrape sides and mix again.  Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar.  Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.  Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate.  Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar.  Place on baking sheet and repeat wit remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny).  Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Living The Dream!

Well, so far so good! I am living pretty darn close to 100% no animal products (including no dairy) and no oils that aren't already part of a whole food. It's whole food, plant based, nutrient rich living. I feel really good and just trying to get used to it and hopefully stick with it. I'm getting to the point where just thinking about eating meat or highly processed foods makes my stomach queezy. I've tried new recipes and am looking for ones that will be my favorites. I made a black bean, corn and potato soup that is yummy. I love a corn tortilla spread with no fat refried beans warmed up and topped with lettuce or spinach and fresh salsa. I totally love and look forward to my bowl of cereal every morning - some plain bite sized shredded wheat, some plain Cheerios, some old fashioned oats (they are so good raw like this), some chia seeds, some sliced dates, some sliced banana, some walnuts or other nuts, and any other fruits. This morning I added raspberries - the other day it was kiwi. This cereal is so good and keeps me full until lunch and sometimes later. I have so much food in my fridge right now that I can eat - roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions - whole wheat southwest cous cous veggie salad - black bean soup - tons of salad fixings and fresh fruits and veggies. I have also recently read The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyne, who is the son of Dr. Esselstyne who wrote How To Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. It's a great book and he also has a movie where he meets with two families to show them how to live like this. It has been very helpful to me, to see how easy it can be. I'm dying to try his veggie lasagna with sweet potato. I really like his approach. I'll try to get some of my own pictures posted soon. But my camera stinks. When does it pay off to have a photo major daughter? I would love to hear from others of you out there eating this way. A fun website for recipes is Oh She Glows (ohsheglows.com). I'll include a picture from that website if I can. We'll chat soon, Annie

Happy New Year!

Isn't it fun how everything seems new and exciting and possible at the beginning of a new year. It all depends on how tough we can be right there at the very beginning - like the first month or so, to get those new habits going. Well, I'm trying, along with the rest of you, to solidify some new goals into my daily routine. I've seen a great new video that I feel really good about called Forks Over Knives. I just feel as though the way of eating in that video feels right. I also read a book by Dr. Esselstyne (I think that's how it's spelled) called How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. It's hard to change the way you have eaten throughout your lifetime. I also love to cook and especially goodies. We'll see how it goes. I hope that I can do it because I think it's part of living an authentic life, you know, doing what feels right. I've been trying to gather vegetarian and vegan recipes that look like they'll be really yummy. I've been using the Peppered Plate app on my iPad, hoping that will make this a little easier. So, this is, of course, only one of my new years resolutions, but one of the more complicated ones since my family doesn't really want to change the way they eat. Sometimes mamas gotta try! Making stuff is another one of my resolutions - like dollies.  These ones in the picture came from a flicker picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34725112@N08/4481997995/in/photostream) as an idea.  I'm working out the details of the dolls that I want to make.  What are your new years resolutions? Love, Annie