Perfect chocolate chip cookies + grain-free flatbread.

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Ohhhh, yum.  These cookies from one of my favorite food blogs, The Urban Poser, are definitely a hit.  "Thick and pudgy" is right...they're perfectly light, made grain-free with almond flour, sweetened with a bit of honey, and there aren't even eggs.  Not that there's anything wrong with eggs.  I was just shocked that a cookie turned out this good without them.

Variations:

  • We didn't have any coconut milk on hand when we made them, so we subbed a little coconut cream mixed with water, and they turned out great. 
  • I think I prefer these cookies with 100% cacao nibs rather than chocolate chips.  The nibs are already tiny so the chocolate taste doesn't overwhelm the cookie, plus I like the slight bitterness, and they're crunchy!
  • Since there aren't any eggs, you could actually just roll the dough into balls, and then freeze it, and eat it raw!  Yum.  Or, what we did the other night is bake them for less than 10 minutes, then put them in the freezer.  They were so good slightly cold and cakey, with a nice cup o' bedtime tea.

And then, there's this crispy flat bread made with almond flour that we tried for dinner last night...

The Urban Poser is actually based here in the Dallas area and just posted a great feature on our small business, Urban Acres.  One of the recipes that she made with the produce was this grain-free flatbread with local arugula and mango-strawberry salsa.  When we made it last night, we topped it with goat cheese, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, chicken sausage, and arugula.  Holy cow, it was delicious.

If you try either of these recipes, let me know what you think.  So thankful for healthier recipe options that actually taste good!

The best kind of Saturday.

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You know those days when you seem to say from start to finish, "Wow, I get to live this life?!"  When you wish you could immediately start it all over again and do the exact same thing?  That was today.  Nothing earth-shattering, just a handful of ordinary glimmering moments full of life and joy and abundance.

First, my brother, nieces and nephew came over for breakfast.  Chocolate chip pancakes for all, scrambled eggs with cheese, a fruit bowl of juicy blueberries, peaches and apples.  Frothy chocolate milk and cups of applesauce.  The house was full of yelling and rambunciousness and laughter.  And lots of jumping on the bed, "cooking" with the play kitchen, acting like monsters, reading books from my childhood, and pretending we were Charlie's Angels.  A memorable moment was when 10-year-old niece declared she was going to serve me eggs with "sea salt and sea pepper."  Quote of the morning from my nephew, "I'm not a monster!  I'm ZACHARY!" 

Then, early afternoon, it was off to Urban Acres to visit Steven at work.  We made the "mistake" of letting  almost-two-year-old Luci Belle get into the watermelon bin once, and then she wouldn't stop asking, "Squash?  Up, Mama?"  Well, they're not squash; they're melon.  But okay.

With all the daily challenges, it sure is fun owning a store, because I get to witness scenes like this just about every weekend.  Melt me.

Back home, it was time for a snack, and I couldn't wait to tear into the newest Hail Merry tart flavor - coconut vanilla creme!  Yes please.  For those of you in other states, Hail Merry products should be at your local Whole Foods! 

After some time for relaxation and naps, we saw the storms 'a rollin' in.  One moment it was sunny and scorching; the next it was dark and windy and blustery, all cozy outside and a cool(er) 85 degrees.  Thank  God.  Our parched city really needed some relief.  We decided to take a walk to revel in it. 

As we set out, it was glaringly obvious that our 2-year-old doesn't see rain often.  As soon as a few droplets started to sprinkle her toes, she asked for a towel. Seriously.

But we kept strolling and reveling in the quietness and coolness.  On the way home, Steven decided to take us past a grove of massive fig trees growing wildly in the Winnetka Heights neighborhood.  Popping them in our mouths like candy straight off the tree, we filled our tummies.  Meanwhile, cars whizzed by, oblivious that a delicious free food source was growing right there on the side of the road.

This the handful that made it home...

By the end of the walk, my hair looked like Monica's in the Friends episode where they're in Barbados, but I didn't even care.

We heated up some chicken stock and added shredded chicken, yellow squash, red potatoes, spinach, and Applegate Farms chicken and apple sausage.  As the perfect soothing soup bubbled on the stove on a rainy evening, I thought, these are the days that make it all worth it.

And I just had to share with you.

A perfect picnic.

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It was late on a warm, sunny Sunday morning.  We were two married couples, two sets of parents on the loose, four foodies, four best friends ready to reconnect, reveling in the freedom of having our moms to babysit our children for a few hours. 

And we were likely the only people to bring no less than the following items on a casual Sunday picnic: a giant coffee air pot, two glass champagne flutes, four ceramic mugs and four plates, and a full-size wooden pepper grinder.  But that's just what we do with these friends, Tommy and Linda.  We share our lives; we share our faith; we share our food.

So, we unfurled our plaid quilted blankets under an elegant oak tree and began the first course - coffee for the boys, Prosecco for the ladies, blueberry cake donuts all around.

Then, we carefully constructed sandwiches of homemade almond butter and peach and plum jam on squishy bread.  We opened a dish of still-steaming egg casserole, ate fistfuls of tart Texas blackberries.

We played catch, one of my favorite activities in the entire world, which I haven't had the chance to do since our daughter was born. 

It's so special to have friends who are like family - friends with whom you share your food, your faith, your lives.

We ate, we drank.  We exhaled.  We lay on our backs in the grass and listened to the crickets singing in the oak trees. We were refreshed.

And it was perfect.

View from the picnic blanket