Stephanie's Smoothie

Evan has been sick for about a week, so not a lot of recipe experimentation has been going on here. He's fine during the day, but throws up in the middle of the night. Not fun. I thought he was doing better because we just made it two days, but he was up at midnight last night. Dan hadn't even made it home from Red Robin (his part-time job) yet, so that was a blast by myself. I've been so thankful to have Dan here to help with clean-up... or at least to sit with Evan and read to him while I cleaned it up. We've got to get it under control because a week from today we'll be headed to my mom's for almost two weeks while we have some contractors here to do some work on our house. Evan will be sleeping in his play-yard (if he's not too long for it by now!) and if he vomits all over the side of that, it's done for. So we really need to get over this. Plus, I want him to feel better. He didn't really want anything for breakfast this morning, but I made him this smoothie and he went to town on that. I know it's not really part of a BRAT diet, but yogurt's now supposed to be reccomended, too, because of all the probiotics. Anyway, onto the recipe...

My friend Stephanie gave me this recipe and the only change I've made is that she uses strawberries where I use mango, but Evan's allergic, so I had to substitute. These are so fast and so good.

1/2 c. rice milk
1/2 c. frozen blueberries (70g)
1 c frozen mango (186g)
6 oz. plain coconut milk yogurt

Simply mix in a blender until smooth. Stephanie also says that these freeze well as popsicles, although we haven't tried it here yet.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm still behind. I know, I know. Still working on it... obviously not getting quite where I want to be. But hooray- here's a new recipe for today at least.

I am super proud of these cookies because I was able to recreate my old favorites in a version that is not only safe for Evan, but healthier, too! These cookies are not your typical chocolate chip, but are more like little morsels of banana chocolate chip bread/muffins. In fact, when Evan tried these, he said “It’s a muffin!” which, from him, is a huge compliment. These cookies are also quick and easy, which is always a plus, too!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
1¼ c. brown rice flour (200g)
1¼ c. gluten-free oat flour (150g)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 large ripe bananas
⅜ c. canola oil
⅜ c. pure maple syrup
½ tsp. vanilla
1 c. Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (175g)

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Then in a blender, pureé the next four, until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients from the blender into the bowl and mix until well-combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies onto baking sheet by the tablespoon. Bake for 10 minutes at 350° and cool on wire racks.

Note: My original NOT-allergy-friendly cookie recipe was from Gooseberry Patch Family Favorites and I worked from that and then borrowed from the recipe for Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies from Clean Food by Terry Walters. Also, this recipe makes about 45 cookies. Yum!