Healthy Trail Mix Cookies
Who wants a recipe for cookies that are easy to make, delicious, and mooostly healthy?
I always think buying trail mix is a good idea, but it usually ends up sitting in the cupboard for months and going to waste while I eat everything else. As much as I like the idea of trail mix, I’m just really not a trail mix girl.
My mom and I bought a bag of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate raspberry trail mix when we were travelling last month, and the majority of the bag got left in my cupboard to die a slow death. I was trying to be less wasteful and think and I landed on cookies when I was thinking of things that always seem to just disappear from my pantry.
Since I wanted these to be more snack-like than dessert-like, I tried to cut down on as much sugar and oil as possible while still having something I’d want to grab out of the cupboard. I think these are a winner!
Healthy Trail Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 – 1 1/2 cup favourite trail mix
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup room temp butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- Mix all dry ingredients together, then add
- Bake for 12-15 mins, until cookies are firm enough to transfer.
- Cool on a baking rack, and then store i an airtight container.
They also keep very well! I’ve had this batch for several days now and they still taste great, although I don’t think they’re going to last much longer.
P.S. I’m not dead, I promise! I just haven’t been struck with the urge to blog for several months now so I’ve just stepped away for a bit… but I think it might be coming back 
Tangy Honey Coleslaw
I’m sorry I lied… I promised this recipe yesterday, but I got sidetracked and it never found its way onto the internet. It may be a day late, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less delicious. Crunchy cabbage and carrot in a sweet and tangy dressing, this coleslaw makes the perfect side for almost any meal.
Tangy Honey Coleslaw
Ingredients
- 1/2 head cabbage
- 1 large carrot
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Directions
- Shred cabbage and carrot and set aside.
- Mix together all the remaining ingredients until uniform, and stir in cabbage and carrot mixture.
- Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving to let flavours come together.
Using honey instead of white sugar really makes a difference, so I wouldn’t recommend just using sugar! Letting it sit for 24 hours also makes a huge difference for the flavour. You can eat it immediately, but it tastes so much better the next day! You could also add in other types of veggies, like radicchio, to add more colour if you wanted to brighten things up. This batch didn’t even last a week, which says something for the girl that isn’t so fond of leftovers.
So sink your fork in and take a bite!
Recovery Time
After finally finishing exams, most people are either travelling, visiting their families at home, or heading out to the bar every night for a well-deserved break. Unfortunately, I’ve just been doing a lot of this:
Lying on the couch icing my swollen face and looking pathetic. Being in a program where I’m perpetually in classes or working made it really difficult to schedule any kind of procedure with a recovery period, but after months of waiting and rescheduling, on Monday I was finally able to get a dental surgery (gingival graft) that I’ve been needing for a looong time. I’m really glad I was finally able to get it done, but I think I’ll be even more glad when everything’s all healed up and I don’t have a protective piece of pink putty over the bottom half of my teeth.
Although I haven’t had too much pain and the only area badly affected is my lower front teeth, it still makes eating a little difficult. Surprisingly it’s not the firmness of food that’s as much of a problem as the size – anything that’s really large or needs to be bit into smaller pieces is out. So sandwiches, pizza, long pasta, popsicles… all no-goes.
I had a gift card for Fiddleheads (a local health food store) from last Christmas, so I’ve been using it to get smoothies for breakfast. This one of called “The Fiddlehead” and is made with rice milk, banana, frozen yogurt, proteins+, greens+, pistachios and coffee beans.
Quick and easy-to-eat lunches like pear and old cheddar are also surprisingly easy to eat. It’s not as pretty when everything is cut up into tiny cubes, but it still tastes the same!
Dinner has mostly been soup, but after two days of this I was ready for something I could chew at least a little. After 6 hours in a slow cooker, the pork was more than soft enough to handle, and the coleslaw (recipe coming tomorrow!) was also in small enough pieces that it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Unfortunately the corn muffins were really dry and hard to eat, even broken into little pieces. I used a recipe I found online that got great reviews, but I must have done something wrong because they were like little bricks. I guess you can’t win them all!
And chocolate mousse for a typical dessert. I would say ice cream as well, but that hasn’t really been restricted to dessert – more of a “whenever I want to eat something easy” snack, haha.
After three days the swelling has gone down substantially and I’m almost ready to venture into public again, but even so I think a few days of rest at home have been good after weeks of no sleep and high stress. Onwards and upwards from here!
Read MoreChinese Eggplant and Tofu
This post is dedicated to my friend Linz.
She’s currently on exchange in Singapore, but before she left we were both living in Toronto, and a lot of nights ended with us on Spadina Avenue for late-night eggplant from one of the hundreds of Chinese restaurants. This happened so often that it kind of became “a thing”, and now I never feel complete when I eat eggplant by myself.
Lately I’ve been craving the amazing, buttery eggplant you can get in most Chinese restaurants, so when I was at the grocery store I added an eggplant to my cart.
A quick google of some common sauce ingredients, and I was off!
Chinese Eggplant and Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 package cubed tofu (any firmness)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- sriracha hot sauce (to taste)
Directions
- Chop eggplant into large cubes, and microwave for 5 minutes, until softened slightly.
- As eggplant is cooking in microwave, make sauce. Whisk together soy sauce and corn starch until fully dissolved, and then add water, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, and sriracha. Mix well.
- Put a wok or large pan on stove over medium heat, and sauté the garlic in vegetable oil.
- Add in the sauce, and then the eggplant and tofu. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Notes
- Don’t microwave the eggplant for too long! It will make it tough and chewy, instead of soft and creamy
- If you use silken tofu, you might want to add it in right at the end if you want it to remain in large chunks, otherwise use a firmer tofu.
Chop the eggplant into cubes.
Microwave for about 5 minutes, until slightly softened.
Assemble the sauce ingredients (sriracha not pictured!), and mix together in a separate bowl.
Saute the garlic in vegetable oil.
And add the sauce to the pan.
Add in the eggplant and tofu, and mix into the sauce.
Bring to a boil…
And then let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the eggplant has gotten very tender.
Then enjoy for lunch,
or dinner,
or even a late-night snack 
Exciting News
I have some fun news to share with all of you
Last night, some friends and out went out for all-you-can-eat sushi last night to celebrate the occasion, and I’m still smiling ear-to-ear.
For the whole term I haven’t had any idea had any idea what I was going to be doing with my summer as I had yet to find a job, but a month-long exchange opportunity to Japan popped up on the notice board for my Japanese class, and I decided to take the leap and apply. I had my interview yesterday and was worried after that I wouldn’t get picked because there were so many candidates, but…
I got one of the positions! This means that I’ll be in Osaka from mid-May to mid-June This is where I went on exchange back in high school, so I’m really excited to be going back! With this program, I’ll be taking Japanese classes and helping to teach English classes at a university, and living with a host family for the month. The only downside is I won’t be earning any money, but I think a little debt will be worth an amazing summer.
I had never had this much trouble finding a job before and was really worried, but it looks like everything works out for a reason. Now I just have to brush up on my Japanese and sushi-eating skills!
I think I’m fine for at least one
