Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vegan and gluten free, not to mention quite healthful!

The rice flour could be changed to another flour; the sugar could probably be lowered a little without sacrificing texture.

1/4 c. boiling water
1/2 c. evaporated cane juice (or sugar of your choice)
1 c. almond flour (pulverize 1 c. almonds in a coffee grinder)
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. Oat flour (pulverize 1/4 c. oats in a coffee grinder)
3/4 c. Rolled oats*
3/4 c. Chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the water and sugar well; add almond flour and vanilla and stir very well. Mix the salt, soda, cinnamon, and flours, and add to the wet ingredients. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Roll in to balls about 1.5" diameter and place on a cookie sheet. Take a flat-bottomed glass, dip it in a bowl of water, and give each dough ball a good push down to flatten them. Bake for about 8 minutes, until the cookies look a little brown and dry. Gently slide a spatula under them immediately, and let cool. Makes about 12-15 cookies.

* I use Bob's Red Mill GF Rolled Oats

Our news segment on natural parenting!

The local news channel did a great story on our new group! It's really weird to watch your living room on television while sitting in your living room.

http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local_wlfi_lafayette_natural
parenting_200901091222

Our article on natural parenting!

Emmett and I were featured in an article on natural parenting...stay tuned for more features on related subjects! (And how cute is he, eating little Olive's head?)

http://www.jconline.com/article/20081112/LIFE08/811120306

Reusable Produce Bags

As a first post, here is a very simple and useful project. I made six reusable, washable produce bags in about an hour (minus some difficulties with my sewing machine), saving goodness knows how many plastic bags.

To make these: You will need fabric, a sewing machine, thread, and some sort of drawstring. To be extra eco-savvy, reuse whatever you can. I used floursack towels and some flat diapers that were too thin to be useful for their intended purpose. You could use old bedsheets, fabric remnants...I bought the cord (braided cotton), but you can use anything washable--long shoelaces, heavy cotton yarn, etc.

The flour sack towels are nice because they involve minimal hemming of raw edges (and I hate doing that). The diapers involved no hemming at all. Hurrah!

I cut the towels in half, giving about a 16"x30" rectangle. It is in your best interest to iron the fabric (and hem). Hem the raw edge (fold over twice). The side with the hem showing will be called the inside.

Then take the cord (a couple inches longer than the fabric's width--so, maybe 36") and fold the top of the bag over it (towards the inside). Tack it in place with some pins. Stitch this part closed, being very careful to not sew over the drawstring, or it won't, well, draw. Then fold the bag in half and sew the remaining two open sides (on the inside). Make sure that you stop sewing right before you get to the drawstring.

Knot the string (or put a large bead on it, or some sort of fancy stop). If necessary, singe or paint the end to prevent fraying (I used some nail polish).