Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies {Gluten Free!}

I am a big breakfast fan. It was never more apparent than this past weekend when our family went on a weekend getaway. I stayed in the hotel room with our sleeping Tommy, while my husband got us breakfast at the hotel's continental breakfast. My husband ate his usual bowl of cold cereal, and then brought me up a tray with a waffle, Danish, bacon, yogurt, juice, and a muffin. And I ate it all. My husband sure knows the quickest way to my heart! ;)

These cookies taste like normal cookies, but with a lot less fat and sugar! And the oatmeal flour adds a nice texture and taste.

Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups oatmeal flour (just blend regular oatmeal in the blender)
1/2 cup of your desired mix ins like chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit

Cream together the oil, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Mix in the vanilla and egg. Stir in the flour and baking soda. When combined, stir in the mix ins. Roll into small balls and bake on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet before removing.

Sweet and Savory Tofu with Savory Asian Noodles

 

 

I've always wanted to try tofu because it's so healthy. I finally purchased some at the store, and then scoured the internet for good tofu recipes. I'll admit, the only one that really appealed to me was a recipe for fried tofu.

Fried tofu.

Isn't that some sort of oxymoron?

So I came up with my own recipe. I have to admit, I love the caramelization of the marinade on the tofu. And I also came up with some Asian-inspired savory noodles. I wanted the tofu to be the shining star in the dish, so I made the flavors of the noodles pretty delicate.

Sweet and Savory Tofu
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1/4 cup oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12.3 ounce package of extra firm tofu

Combine all of the ingredients except for the tofu in a large bowl. Slice the tofu into 1-inch thick slices. Put the tofu into the marinade and make sure the tofu is coated in the marinade. Let the tofu marinate in the fridge for at least two hours to absorb the flavors. After marinating, place the tofu onto a roasting pan or cooling rack (that's oven-safe) and broil in the oven until the marinade caramelizes on one side, and then flip and caramelize the other side. Use the leftover marinade as a dipping sauce.

Savory Asian Noodles
6 ounces linguine or fetticine noodles
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 squirt sriracha sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 green onion, sliced

Boil the noodles according to the package's directions. While the noodles boil, mix the remaining ingredients, except for the green onion, in a small bowl. When the noodles are finished cooking, drain the water and return the noodles back to the pan. Pour the sauce ingredients into the pan and stir to combine. Serve with the sliced green onions on top.

Take 5 Cake Mix Bars

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! I know I certainly did. Lots of family and lots of food :) And Santa (my sweet husband) gave me this:

Isn't she a beauty? I was so excited to try it out! In honor of its first mixing, I created a sweet treat that I hope you'll enjoy as much as I did!

You get the salty pretzel, chewy caramel, creamy peanut butter, and delicious chocolate flavors of a Take 5 bar sandwiched in cake batter! 

 

Take 5 Cake Mix Bars
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup broken pretzels
1/3 cup + 1/4 cup peanut butter
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups caramel candies
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, 1 egg, butter, and milk until it comes together as a thick batter. Divide the batter in half. In one half of the batter, mix in the pretzel pieces. Press that mixture into a 9 x 13" pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 8 or 9 minutes, until the batter is barely set.

Next, cream together the other egg, peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Carefully spread that mixture over the pretzel mixture. For the caramel part, I used those caramel squares you can buy in bulk at the grocery store. Feel free to use whatever caramels you like. Since the caramel squares were pretty big, I cut them in half. Sprinkle the caramels over the peanut butter mixture. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the peanut butter mixture, too. Feel free to be generous with the sprinkling :)

Now flatten little pieces of the remaining half of the cake batter to evenly cover the top of the bars. 

Bake for 18-20 more minutes. The cake batter on top should be golden and puffed. 

Let cool and enjoy!