Grain-Free Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Hey My Cute Cookie Dough Bites!

Thanks for all of your support throughout the past weeks. I’m really getting into the swing of things for my classes, enjoying life, and making the best of things. I haven’t had much time to journal (which is one of those things I really enjoy doing and feel is important for me), but I will sit down when I get the impression and just write down my thoughts, talk about what’s been going on, and write down my goals and dreams. One of those goals was to read the entire Bible this year. I’ve completed the New Testament, and I’m in Job now in the Old Testament (soon to be in Psalms), so I’m really glad I’ve been able to keep up and get it done. I always feel amazing after I read my scriptures. One dream I have is to get letters behind my name. Haha, I know – that sounds so silly, but I really want to go into Health and study it and learn about it in more detail – dive into it and learn as much as I can. I NEVER get tired of it, and I want to use that knowledge I obtain to help and serve others. That’s why I want to go into Health Science (with a Public Health emphasis) and minor in Nutrition and Professional Training – so I’ll be able to help others and inspire them to become their best selves. That’s my focus right now, so I’m getting really excited, since I’ve recently started some of my courses and have been LOVING it. Life is busy, but it is good. Life is good.

I know I’ve been talking about these for a while, but they’re finally here:

My Grain-Free Cookies!

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas (or other white bean), and pour the beans into a food processor or powerful blender.

Add the almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract.

Process the ingredients to break down the beans and incorporate together the nut butter, honey, and beans. (You can also just process the chickpeas, and the mix it with the other ingredients by hand.)

Add the cinnamon and baking powder, and either process or stir them in.

It will form a grain-free cookie dough.

Spoon the dough into a bowl with a rubber spatula (metal ones will scratch the insides of the machine as it scrapes).

Add the chocolate chips and stir them in. (Mini chocolate chips are also very cute!)

Grab a spoon and dig in!

Grain Free Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1-15oz can (1 ¾ cup) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  
• 2/3 cup almond butter
  
• 1/3 cup honey
  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• Dash of cinnamon
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• 1 cup chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet)
  

Directions

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas (or other white bean), and pour the beans into a food processor or powerful blender. Add the almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract. Process the ingredients to break down the beans and incorporate together the nut butter, honey, and beans. (You can also just process the chickpeas, and the mix it with the other ingredients by hand.) Add the cinnamon and baking powder, and either process or stir them in. It will form a grain-free cookie dough.

Spoon the dough into a bowl with a rubber spatula (metal ones will scratch the insides of the machine as it scrapes). Add the chocolate chips and stir them in. (Mini chocolate chips are also very cute!)

Grab a spoon and dig in!

Print This!

If you want to make them into cookies, scoop them by the teaspoon (or use a small cookie scoop) onto a baking sheet lined with either wax or parchment paper. Bake at 350*F (175*C) for 8-10 minutes, until they are golden brown around the edges.

I prefer it as cookie dough, but my family prefers them as cookies. So I make both ways.

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What is your favorite cookie add-in?

I love chocolate chips, apples, flaxseeds, and nuts.

Do you have any food intollerances? Food allergies? Things you feel better if you stay away from?

I know by avoiding milk in any form helps my body feel better. It reacts to the smallest amount of it so I have to be careful with what I eat. It’s not fun, but it’s worth it.

With lots of hugs,

I WAS SPOTLIGHTED! + My Goals So Far This Year.

Hey My ABSolutely Beautiful Readers!

Thanks so much for all of your comments on my last post. It meant a lot to me when I received that award and I really enjoyed getting to share with you some things about me. One of my readers asked me if I could do a post about the time I lived overseas, so I’m going to see what I can do. I left at the age of 7 years old (so it’s been a while), but I do remember some things. I’ll see what I can do.

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Earlier this year I set some goals for myself that I wanted to accomplish by the end of 2012.

So, how are they doing so far?

1. Update a couple of recipes. 
2. Share promised recipes, like my homemade sun butter, zucchini breads (my favorite version and my mom’s favorite version), and other goodies!
   
3. Pass the AP Physics Test.
   
4. Pass the AP English Literature Test.
   
5. Finish reading Around the World in 80 Days, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, Mythology, and Frankenstein.
   
6. Finish reading both the Old Testament and New Testament by the end of summer. 
   
7. Complete my Church Youth Personal Progress Program again by the end of April.
   
8. Memorize the 25 scripture masteries for the Old Testament and the 25 for the New Testament.
   
9. Write more diligently in my journal. 
   
10. Continue with my 2011 goal to get to bed earlier and to eat more of the rainbow. 
    

1. DONE!
2. I think I’ve shared the ones I’ve promised. (If I haven’t share one that I’ve promised to share, please tell me and I will! )
3. I took it on May 14^th, and I just heard about my results this past Monday (the 9^th of July) – I passed. DONE!
4. Like the one above, I took the AP Literature test the 25^th of May and I heard that I passed this past Monday the 9^th of July. DONE!
5. I’ve started reading Around the World in 80 Days again, but I’ve yet to start the others.
6. I finished the New Testament a few days ago (the 12^th of July), and I’m over halfway through with the Old Testament. So I’m almost there! I may not finish the Old Testament before the end of summer, but I will finish it soon afterwards. 
7. DONE! Finished the 22^nd of April. Right now I’m working on another Honor Bee (which is where I do 40 hours of service and read my scriptures again.)
8. DONE! Finished it the 27^th of May.
9. I’ve been doing it a lot recently. I finished writing about Girl’s Camp (which took me 36 pages – Thirty-six!!!!!!!! And over half of it is from what happened on Friday (I was there Tuesday afternoon through Saturday morning). I still can’t believe it.
10. This summer I haven’t been doing so well with going to bed earlier (as I don’t have to get up at 5am in the morning), but I have been making sure I’m in bed before the clock gets too late. And I am striving to eat more of the rainbow – keeping my produce in variety so I don’t eat the same thing every day.

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I JUST FOUND OUT THAT I WAS SPOTLIGHTED BY AROUND THE PLATE AS THEIR RECIPE GURO OF THE MONTH!!!

Here’s a link to the post they did on me. (Click HERE for it!) Thank you so much, Around The Plate! It means so much to me.

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How are your goals going so far? I’d love to hear.

What time do you go to bed? I’ve been going to bed around 11pm this summer, but usually during the school year I go to bed around 10 pm.

Have there been any recipes that I’ve promised that I haven’t shared??? Please let me know!

xoxox,

How My Goals Went This Year

Hey my 2012 Snowflakes!

These were the goals I set this last year:

How did I do:

The first one goes hand in hand with my whole life. I feel this one is one I will always be working at.

SERVE OTHERS/THINK OF OTHERS BEFORE MYSELF: I have striven to do these, with babysitting for no charge (for church activities), helping out at the Food Bank, picking up litter in parks/camps, baking for good causes, etc.

BECOME IN-TUNE WITH MYSELF: I’ve found this aspect of my goals really had a big improvement after my two ED Q&A posts.

DUAL-CREDIT: I actually did NOT start taking dual-credit classes, but I am preparing now to take the AP Physics and English Literature tests (so those are in place of the community college). I’m not taking “college,” but they are dual-credit in essence.

COLLEGE ALGEBRA CLEP TEST: I took it earlier this year and DID pass!

SLEEP: I’ve been working on this and have been getting a little better (I hadn’t been going to bed at 10pm throughout the Christmas Break because I had no 5am-waking-up to do for two weeks. I haven’t been staying up INSANELY late, but pretty late. I must get it from my dad: he’s a night owl. :D But in general, I did better on this goal in the later part of the year.

EATING THE RAINBOW: This one can be tough for me since it can be easy for me to get into food ruts (like eating too many bananas and not enough of the other fruits, or eating a lot of carrots but not greens). But I have been striving to make my vegetables and fruits a variety. I’ve been eating more greens (kale, spinach, and collards are my favorites), fruits other than bananas (like melons, strawberries, blackberries, kiwi, oranges, and pears), and vegetables other than carrots (like cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, cauliflower, pumpkin, celery, green beans, and avocados).

Here are my 2012 goals:

• Update a couple of recipes/pictures of recipes
  
• Share some of promised recipes, like my homemade sun butter (in the process of taste-testing versions), zucchini bread (I have a few different variations of this, like vegan, low sugar, my mom’s favorite, etc.), and others!
  
• Pass the AP Physics Test (May 14^th – it’s on my birthday!)
  
• Pass the AP English Literature Test (May 10^th)
  
• Finish reading Around the World in 80 Days by Charles Dickens (I started it years ago and I just want to finish it!), Jane Eyre (I love the movie but have yet to read the book), The Great Gatsby, Mythology, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
  
• Finish reading both the Old Testament and New Testament by the end of summer (at the latest – I would prefer by the end of May, but if that doesn’t happen then by the end of summer).
  
• Complete my Church Youth Personal Progress Program again by the end of April
  
• Memorize the 25 scripture masteries for the Old Testament and the 25 for the New Testament. (As part of the early morning scripture study class, we are given 25 scriptures to memorize – it’s not required, but it’s recommend to memorize them. Usually you only have to do 25 a year, but since I’m doing two-years-worth of the scripture study class this year I need to do 50. I have only 2 more of the OT to do, and then I’m going to start doing the NT ones.)
  
• Write more diligently in my journal. (I used to write in my journal EVERY day with EVERY thing I did that day. I haven’t been putting the time aside to do it recently, but now I want to make the effort to write it. I have spiritual journals, where I take notes, and school journals, but I want to start my life journal again. You can only live once, and I want to remember these years in the future. The act of writing it down helps me remember it. Journaling also helps me if I’m stressed about a test coming up or if I just had a bad day. I also consider blogging as journaling, so that helps. )
  
• Continue with my 2011 goals to get to bed earlier (as Benjamin Franklin said, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”) and to eat more of the rainbow (variety is the spice of life).
  

And these are some of my goals. I also want to continue using my little notepads that help me keep organized. I set goals for the day and feel so accomplished by the end of the day. If I DON’T use the notepad, I seem to not get as much done. So that is one thing that helps me achieve my goals: the joy of being able to scratch it off my list once I complete it.

Do you do resolutions? I’m not the biggest into resolutions, as I feel if you are going to make a change (like improving your health), you should start TODAY, not tomorrow, not next week, not on January 1^st. TODAY! Nonetheless, resolutions do work for some individuals, but I think those resolutions should take charge now, not later (if at all possible).

Do you have any goals for 2012? Health goals? School goals? Life goals?

What kind of books do you like to read? I really love the classics, like Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, Macbeth, etc! I also love fantasy (especially knights, castles, and dragons), science fiction (like Star Wars), and dramatic short stories (like “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game”).

xoxox,