Personal Growth

I'll admit that I am a creature of habit. I remember hearing a few years ago that people do most of their growing and changing between the ages of 18 and 25, and thinking that huge things had happened in that time, but that my habits were mostly the same as they had been in high school. But you know what? Maybe I am just a late changer (goodness knows I was definitely a late bloomer). Because lately there are some things that have seriously grown on me:

• Puppies! Three years ago, I did not particularly like animals. I KNOW. This blog is one big testament to the fact that this is no longer the case. Moving on.
• Chili. Where has chili been all my life? I had chili for the first time a year and a half ago. Now I could eat chili for every meal, especially the steakhouse kind they sell super cheap on the soup counter at Safeway.
• Watching basketball. Specifically, Whitworth basketball. I know obscure things about the players. I look up recaps of games I just got home from. If we can't go to a game, I watch it stream on the computer. I've even gone to a bunch of games without Travis. I am certain I've been to more basketball games in the last year and a half than in the previous 25 years. Does this make me a sports fan? I shudder to think that it just might.
• Using recipes. I have never much liked using recipes, partly because they usually require small amounts of lots of expensive ingredients (I am cheap), partly because I like to stick with what I know (poor Travis- I'd be happy with the same 3 meals over and over), and partly because I am just not that disciplined. But after going gluten free a few months ago, I realized that my repertoire was seriously limited, and we'd be eating the same one thing over and over if I didn't branch out. So I started using recipes, and discovered some beautiful things. Did you know you can wrap things in bacon and cook them on skewers, and it tastes like heaven? Did you know maple syrup makes chicken and potatoes sweet and juicy and tender? Did you know you can make an amazing cookie with only peanut butter, brown sugar, and eggs? Well let me tell you, recipes know those things. And now I do too.
• Wearing makeup. I held out for YEARS, and I'm glad I did, but now that I wear a little bit of makeup every day, I will concede that it makes me look older. Lately, people have been asking if I'm a college freshman and not a freshman in high school. Improvement!

  

  Exhibit #1 that people can change: I take hundreds of photos of my dog, and edit them just for fun.

COOKIES.

So far I've had success with cookies only twice since going gluten-free, and both winners were flourless recipes. I think there's something to that: if the recipe contains any alternative flours (almond, tapioca, rice, etc.), even in combination, something will always taste and feel just a little bit off (though I have just received a recipe that looks promising from my Aunt that contains a little bit of gluten-free flour mix).
I'd like to share last night's cookie recipe because it is so easy and delicious that you might decide to try it, even if you have a good relationship with wheat.
Note #1: Credit goes to my mom, who sent me the Favorite Brand Name Gluten Free 3 Books in 1 Cookbook, and who deserves a huge hug for practically forcing me to go gluten-free even when I was bratty about it and made a hundred excuses, and who hasn't brought that up even once when I've told her how much it's been helping my head.
Note #2: You would be crazy not to double this recipe. I doubled it and ended up with about 40 small cookies. Half of those were gone in a few hours.
Note #3: There were no nutrition facts with this recipe, I think we can make a good guess that these cookies are all fat and sugar, which your body needs a bit of in order to survive.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chippers

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter, not the natural kind

1 egg

1/2 cup-ish of chocolate chips (I didn't use that many)

A little bit of granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 

2. Beat brown sugar, peanut butter, and egg in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well-blended,

3. Shape dough into 1.5 inch balls; roll balls in a plate of granulated sugar and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use the tines of a fork to flatten each ball to 1/2 inch thickness, crisscrossing with fork. Press 3 to 4 chocolate chips on top of each cookie.

4. Bake 12 minutes or until just set (12 minutes exactly was perfect in my oven). Cool on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely (that part must be a joke- you should definitely eat some cookies while they are warm).

Makes 1.5 dozen cookies

There was no photo in the cookbook so I did a photo shoot in the living room. Sasquatch was prowling around waiting for me to lift my guard for one second, but I am very careful about my cookies.