KTgreen

Power Cookie

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“The 17 Day Diet” sucks.  It’s all about protein.  Very little carbs.  But as with most diets, I did find a few (very few) things to like about the diet.  This is a recipe introduced in the 2nd phase of the boring diet.  Since I thought the cookie was dry and tasteless, I changed it up a little.  Here’s the original: http://www.the17daydiet.com/recipes/

Now, here is my disclaimer.  I’m not a good cook or baker.  I am too easily sidetracked and forget what I’ve added then stick them in the oven and go off to play on my computer.  Until that smell of charcoal cookies makes it to my office.

But here goes….

I have read a few places that you CAN NOT heat flaxseed oil.  It can cause stomach issues.  So I replaced it with canola oil.  The recipe is also just written crazy.  I made it more readable — at least for me.  Like it says to drop the cookies in 1 Tablespoon amounts and it makes 18 cookies.  Totally wrong.  I use my tablespoon scooper thing and I have 48 cookies.  Also Dr. Mike wants me to bake the cookies for 20 minutes which creates total lumps of coal.  I have replaced the Truvia with Whey Low.  And last but not least, I dropped Dr. Mike from the name since I am not Dr. Mike.

Power cookie
Most of the ingredients

POWER COOKIE

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together

½ c. Unsweetened Applesauce ( I buy those little premeasured applesauce containers because buying a big jar just goes to waste. And the small people that magically appear here will eat them without too much whining about eating something healthy)

2 T. Almond Paste (Since I’m not sure how long Almond Paste lasts in the fridge, I preroll the paste into 1 tablespoon balls and freeze them)

1 T. Vegetable Oil

1/3 c. Whey Low Sugar Substitute

¼ c. Agave Nectar

Beat in

1 egg

½ t. vanilla

Add

¾ c. Whole Wheat Flour (I keep this in the freezer, too. I don’t bake much!)

½ t. Baking Soda

½ c. Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

½ t. Salt

¼ t. Pepper

1 t. Cinnamon

Beat thoroughly

Stir in

2 c. Oatmeal

1 c. Dried Cherries (or any mix of dried fruit)

½ c. Sliced Almonds (I’ve also used pecans and walnuts.  And I always bake them at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  They are so much tastier!)

Mix Well

Use 1 T. scoop and drop onto parchment paper covered baking trays. Flatten each cookie slightly with the back of a spoon or fork.

Bake 8 minutes.

Makes 48 cookies

65 calories each (I’m not sure how I came up with that calorie count so I wouldn’t actually rely on it too heavily)

Power cookie
Sliced almonds? Guess I used the wrong disk in my food processor.
Power cookie
Here’s my little 1 tablespoon scooper. Stole that idea from Michelle.
Power cookie
Power Cookie Finished

Terry came down from his office to see what I was doing.  I know he was hoping for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and quickly backed away when he saw the dried fruit. But a small person that was upstairs followed his nose to check things out.  Hmmmm.  Are there raisins in there?  No.  Dried fruit.  Is that like raisins?  Yes.  You won’t like it.

But he went ahead and took a nibble.  I was impressed with his bravery!

Power cookie
Human Guinea Pig
Power cookie
Hmmm, the oatmeal cookie part isn’t bad!
Power cookie
Now a little nibble of the dried fruit
Power cookie
Everyone’s a critic!  He suggested I use chocolate chips next time!

 

Butterfly Garden

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Butterfly Garden
Purple Coneflower. I’ve tried to grow coneflowers in other colors but they only last for the one season and don’t reseed. The purple coneflowers come back every year and spread.
In the garden
Black Eyed Susan. This is another flower that reseeds itself and returns year after year.
In the garden
Palamedes Swallowtail
In the garden
Purple Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susan
Butterfly Garden
Gult Fritillary on a Blue Indigo Spire. This is a salvia and another very hardy butterfly attractor. I accidentally broke a stem off of another spire so stuck it in the ground and here it is!
Butterfly Garden
Cosmos. The orange and yellow varieties reseed and take over. I’ve tried other colors with no success.
Butterfly Garden
Hamelia Patens or Firebush. Both hummingbirds and butterflies love this plant. It is not very cold hardy. I planted this one last spring and we had a mild winter so it did come back. I usually treat them as annuals.
Butterfly Garden
Chinese Pagoda Plant. Vera gave me this about 3 years ago and it finally bloomed this year.

Outdoor Living Project

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I love to sew and create things but also love to be outside working in my gardens and yard. We’ve had a LOT of rain in the past month and I have been forced to stay indoors.  So I look at it as an opportunity and went back to updating my outdoor furniture that I started on last year.  Here’s the post that references the original changes: https://ktgreendesign.com//a-finished-project/

The next step in the project was to recover the two cushioned dining chairs.  I bought good-quality chairs thinking that they’d last longer, but the upholstery on them turned nasty right away.  Since the covers couldn’t be removed, I cleaned them with a scrub brush and oxi-clean.  When they were hopelessly pilled and not coming clean I decided something had to be done.  So I recovered the cushions with this cute chevron fabric that matches the sofa and chair. It’s a fabric from Premier Prints that I bought from fabric.com.  The covers on all of the furniture is removable since I used velcro on the cushions so I can wash them whenever necessary.  Accidents happen!  Especially when those grandkids visit!

Patio Project
Love these chairs!
Patio Project
Added another pillow to the sofa. It just needed a little more padding for my reading pleasure!
Patio Project
Another cute little pillow for this chair.  See that sweet little flamingo table? My friend Donna did that mosaic. And she doesn’t do mosaics anymore. So sad. She was so talented. And I need more mosaics!
Patio Project
Here’s the entire set!
Patio Project
This is Maggie’s favorite spot!

While I’m done with the screened room, we have a huge deck that covers the entire back of our house.  There is a little alcove by our bedroom that has some furniture that is crying for new cushions.  Will I ever be done?  Hopefully not!