My First Casserole!

     Tonight, I dove head first into my personal cooking challenge of 2012 and tried TWO new recipes! First, for dinner, I made a vegetarian biscuit casserole. I was craving something sweet, so for dessert I whipped up chia seed peanut butter cookies. Both, I have to say, turned out well!
     I found the casserole recipe on the website of the author of "Operation Beautiful", Caitlin Boyle. The website is healthytippingpoint.com , check it out! Anyway, back to the food, here are the pictures of the concoction process:

Mixing it all up!

Ready for the oven, vegetables topped with biscuit mix

Hot out of the oven and ready to eat!

     The casserole was pretty tasty, but could have used a bit more flavor. I will spice it up a little more next time, maybe with some flavored hummus. Jeremy even tried it (which surprised me) AND HE LIKED IT! Well, he liked it OK, he said he would really like it if I added chicken . Which I said, I could do. Well, then, in true Jeremy fashion, he went FARTHER with his idea of what would make this SOO delicious. His idea is to that add HOMEMADE biscuit mix on top, top it with his dad's homemade sausage gravy and maybe some hash browns and then it would be a delicious breakfast dish. When I pointed out that by adding those things it would negate the HEALTH factor of it, he responded with a "So..it would be delicious". Welcome to my life of trying to incorporate healthy eating into the Dunham household!
          After cleaning up from dinner I embarked on the cookie baking! I found the recipe on Pintrest, one of my obsessions of the moment.  I prepped them while I waited for the casserole to cook.  It was a pretty easy prep and the dough...delicious! Here are the pictures of the cookie baking

MMM...the peanut buttery batter



Ready for the oven



Cooling and making the house smell AMAZEBALLS!!



      After letting them cool and cleaning up the baking mess, I tried two of these bad boys with some almond milk and it was a perfect end to all my hard work! I really liked them!! Soft, chewy, peanut buttery, with a little chocolate,mmm! The recipe made a bunch so I am taking some for my co-workers to try, saved a few for Jeremy, let the pups share one and saved some for Mom to try! I think everyone will enjoy, I know I did!
      So, I would call the first night of my personal cooking challenge of 2012 was a success!( I posted the recipes below in case anyone is interested) Funny how when I let some of my  distorted thoughts and fears of food go, I end up discovering some delicious healthy food! I am not even scared to screw the recipes up like I was before! That is saying something for a perfectionist like myself. So, onward with both the Cooking Challenge of 2012 and this week!

Biscuit Casserole: 1 cup frozen green peas; 1 cup frozen corn kernels; 1 can cannellini beans; 1/2 cup hummus; salt/pepper to taste; whole wheat biscuit mix (1 cup) and associated ingredients (on package)
Preheat oven to 400. In small bowl rinse and drain beans. Mix in peas and corn. Add hummus and mix well. Try to coat beans and veggies equally, mix is thick. Pour into greased loaf pan and pat down. Mix together the biscuit mix in another bowl. Separate mix into 8 small circles and flatten slightly between your palms. Place on top of veggie mix. Cover casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes (I baked mine for longer and lowered temperature, and took foil off too for biscuits to brown). 

Chia Seed Peanut Butter Cookies: 1 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 tbsp. chia seeds, 1/4 cup bitter at room temp, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup peanut butter, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together oats, baking powder, flour and chia seeds. Set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy, add peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir in oat mixture and combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Place heaping tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet. Press/form into balls with hands. Bake 12-15 minutes. Cool. My recipe made about 21 medium sized cookies. Original recipe says is make 12, I assume rather large, cookies.