Chickpea Sunbutter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Some of the other mothers at the playground will often offer Baby Chuck cookies to eat.  I'm touched by their generosity and always feel bad saying no. Sadly, his numerous allergies prevent him from eating a lot of baked goods.

Last week I turned away some particularly delicious looking chocolate chip cookies. I could tell that Baby Chuck really wanted to try one.  So I found this recipe for Chickpea Chocolate chip cookies and was intrigued that the "dough" mostly consisted of chickpea and cashew butter.  With a couple of tweaks, I made these chickpea sunbutter oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredients:
(1) 1 can chickpeas
(2) 1/2 cup sunbutter
(3) 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
(4) 1/2 cup sugar
(5) 2 teaspoons vanilla
(6) sprinkle of salt
(7)1 cup raisins
(8)1 cup oats

Directions:
(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheets
(2) Blend chickpeas till smooth
(3) Add ingredients 2 through 6 and blend together
(4) Stir in ingredients 7 and 8
(5) Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets and pat down flat (cookies look the same going in and out of the oven because the dough doesn't rise)
(6) Bake 15 minutes

They weren't particularly sweet and they tasted like tiny nutrition bars.  I liked them and appreciated their high fiber content.  Hubby was used to eating normal cookies, so he wasn't a fan.  Baby Chuck on the other hand, really enjoyed them.  He quickly gobbled up one and then asked for another. 

I think we have a tiny cookie monster on our hands!

Little happy things

Here are four things that made me feel happy this past week:

1.  Hanging out with family and far-away friends

2.  Baby Chuck eating his first slice of gluten free pizza

3.  Feeling inspired by Hoboken's Arts and Crafts festival

4.   Seeing this artist's gorgeous hand-cut coin pendants

Hope you had  a good weekend too!

Crapty Fridays- Make a flower wreath out of plastic bags

When I woke up the morning of our trip to the Renaissance Faire, I realized that I hadn't planned out any costumes to wear.  Now that just would not do.  Unlike Maria, I wasn't able to quickly whip up three outfits using thick window drapes.  But, as a crapter I was able to quickly crapt two headpieces fit for a tiny king and a peasant girl.

Here's how I made the "floral" wreath:

Materials: 
- plastic bags (I used a thicker plastic bag, but I think thinner ones would have created more delicate flowers)
- scissors
- thin stretchy headband (although you could always make your own by cutting up a t-shirt)

Step 1:  Cut your plastic bag into long strips     (Baby Chuck- "Oh no!  Another crapt!")

Step 2:  Wrap the strip around your fingers.  (We're basically creating a plastic pom-pom.)

Step 3:  Slip your plastic loops off your fingers.  Tie a thin strip of plastic around the middle of your plastic loops. (Make sure that it is tightly tied so your flower petals stay put.)  Cut through the end of the loops and make rounded (or zig zag, or whatever shape you want) edges.

Step 4:  Starting on one side of the tie, pull each sheet of plastic up towards the middle.  Repeat for the other side. 

Step 5:  Tie your plastic flower onto a headband.  Make more flowers until you cover the headband.  (Note:  I ran out of time so I wasn't able to make a complete crown, but I think you get the point.)

Then I made a small crown for King Baby Chuck:

Materials:
- old cardboard cereal boxes
- tape
- aluminum foil
- stickers
- scissors
- pen
- ruler (optional)

Using a ruler I drew out one half crown.  Then, I cut it out and used it as a template to trace out another. 

I wrapped my cardboard  pieces in aluminum foil and then taped them together.  I made sure that the shiny side faced out.  I used stickers to decorate the crown.  To ensure that the crown stayed on Baby Chuck's head, I  taped a cardboard "x" inside.

Sometimes I'm so glad that Baby Chuck is only one and can't talk back.  He's pretty willing to go along with my crapty shenanigans and doesn't mind wearing trash.

Baby Chuck- "Oh mom, you're so trashy."  Me-  "Thanks!"

Tee hee hee.  I think he looked better in the crown than me.