Trail Mix and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cran-raisin Walnut Cookies for the Soul!

Ever wonder what you or your kids will do when that urge to snack on something hits during the Daniel fast? Me too, which is why I had plenty of fruits, chopped veggies and nuts for them to snack on  whenever they felt the need to do so. But there was just one slight problem. They were also eating the ingredients I needed for our meals. I found my self running to the produce section of the grocery store so often I should have been punching a time clock. This was not good for my gas tank or my pockets. To remedy this I decided to research other Daniel fast snacking alternatives.

First I'll share my easiest fix. Remember those holiday tins filled with assorted shortbread cookies you find at the grocery store or Sam's Club during the Christmas holidays? Good, and I do apologize for mentioning shortbread cookies (dangit, did it again!). Well, you're bound to have one saved to store some trail mix for the kids. If not, a simple gallon size Ziplock bag is cool. I shopped for all my trail mix fixings because I know what bits my boys will pick over, which would leave me with a tin full of the stuff they don't like. I threw together some raisins, sunflower seeds, mixed nuts, Made in Nature cranberries (Ocean Spray cranberries have sugar listed in the ingredients and are not permitted during the Daniel fast) and an extra bag of roasted cashews with sea salt for good measure. I mix it all together and store in a tin. The kids can come in from school and grab a cup full and go.

Now let's get to the cookies. I think back on when mama used to say, "Put that cookie back! You'll spoil your dinner!" Whelp, while we are fasting in my house, I encourage it (eating a cookie, not spoiling your dinner - darn ambiguous pronouns! Any who). Here's a peanut butter and oatmeal cookie recipe that my kids enjoy snacking on between meals. To prepare I peeled and puréed four apples. After a taste test, I chose my sweetest, which were the Fuji. I also had some date honey in the fridge for such occasions. I got the simple recipe online. Just bring a cup of pitted dates to a boil in a cup of water and simmer until they are nice and soft. When they look like they can be mashed, dump the contents of the pot into a food processor. I added some freshly squeezed lemon juice and blended until textured creamy. You can store the mixture in the container the dates came in. I also did the same with a cup of raisins for my cookies. After the raisins were plump from boiling I puréed them with four ripe bananas (you know the ones that turn speckled brown on the outside and the kids no longer want to eat them because they think they're bad; ha, they're going to eat them anyway).

Ingredients:

2 cups - Whole wheat flour
2 cups - Old fashioned Quaker oats
2 teaspoons - Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon - Ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon - sea salt

1/2 cup - Natural creamy peanut butter
2 cups - Puréed apples
1 cup - Raisin banana purée
2 tablespoons - date honey (optional)
**do it yourself instructions for purées and honey above**

1/2 cup - Raisins
1/2 cup - Dried cranberries (No sugar added)
1/2 cup - Chopped walnuts

Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix whole wheat flour, Quaker oats, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a large bowl.
3. Toss in peanut butter, purées and date honey. Then mix well.
4. Fold in raisin, dried cranberries and chopped walnuts.
5. Scoop desired size scoops onto a cookie sheet and flatten with your fingers.
6. Bake for 12 minutes.
7. Enjoy!