I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s weekend and President’s Day. This weekend we took a nice hike through local rolling hills. The incline was pretty steep as we made our way to the highest peak. At one point, my husband shouted from ahead. I thought we were approaching a snake, but I quickly glanced up to spot a speeding mountain biker racing down the terrain. I jumped aside just in time to let him pass. Whew! What a thrill that must be for mountain bikers. Racing downhill, maneuvering through cliff turns and catapulting over large rocks.
We took our dog, Daisy, along with us. She seemed to enjoy most of the hike with a few stops in the shade from time to time. My husband carried her when we hiked up the hill, which she didn’t seem to have a problem with ;). Here are some pictures from the excursion.
 |
| From the top of the hill. |
 |
| Happy, healthy girl. 13 years old and full of energy and love. |
 |
| Blooming orange trees. Guarded with a small fence decorated with signs reading “orange picking is forbidden!” So tempting… Last week I shared the recipe one of my favorite snacks to bring on a hike, my Chewy Granola Bars. This week I decided to make some trail mix cookies without using any maple syrup or other sweeteners. The apple sauce in the cookies along with the other dried fruit give just enough sweetness for my liking, but if you would like them to be sweeter, you can add 2 Tbsp maple syrup. Along with being sugar-free, these cookies are also gluten-free. For the flour, I blended oats in my Vitamix blender. If you don’t have a blender, you can leave the oats whole and bake these as bars.
|
Trail Mix Cookies
2 c Oats- ground in a blender or processor
1/2 c Sunflower Seeds
1 c Walnut pieces
1 c shredded Coconut
1/2 c dried Cranberries
1/2 c dried Raisins
1/2 c dried Pineapple chunks
1 1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
—
1/4 c Almond butter
1/4 c Water
2/3 c Apple sauce (or 2 apples blended)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350º F.
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix almond butter, water, and apple sauce. *If you don’t have apple sauce, blend two cored apples with the almond butter and water in a blender or food processor.
Mix wet ingredients into the dry and stir well.
Scoop 1″ cookies onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
Enjoy as they are or with a cold glass of almond milk.
Leave a Reply