Coconut chocolate Chip Cookies

These. Are. Delicious. We like them because they are not too sweet, and contain two things that deserve to be together always- dark chocolate and coconut. BONUS: the only oil/butter in these cookies is coconut oil. Some on Pinterest might classify them as a "HEALTHY Cookie recipe!!! yay!" Lets be honest here- they are still cookies. But yummy ones.

I think these, along with the kitchen aid chocolate chip cookie recipe, are my favorite cookies. The dough is good, the cookies are soft, and they aren't crazy sweet.

Here is the link to the recipe:

http://www.welltraveledwife.com/2013/03/coconut-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I used about half of the shredded coconut the recipe calls for and used DARK chocolate chips. MMMM. I am baking another batch right now for Danny to take while the men watch the football game. They are full of gluten so I will not be able to enjoy them- that is love people.

Chick-Fil-A Nuggets.

So I think you all know that I LOVE Chick-fil-a.  And, of course there isn't one here, which is probably a good thing.  Anyway, I saw this recipe on pinterest and tried it out last night.  SO GOOD!  So far I'm 2 for 2 with new recipes.  I love when that happens.  Anyway, no picture, but here is the link:

http://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/2012/01/fabulous-food-friday-111.html

And, yes, I did fry them.  I know it's not healthy, but it's good. Really good. 

Quinoa Cake

I made this cake today after church, and didn't tell anyone what it was made of.  It was SO GOOD.  I'm not kidding.   I didn't really expect my kids to notice, but Kyle was super surprised when I told him it didn't have any flour in it, just the quinoa.   Anyway, it was fun to try something new and have it be so good!  Here's the link to the recipe:

 http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/08/decadent-chocolate-cake.html

Also, I always just use my rice cooker to cook the quinoa, and it works really well. I made sure and blended the quinoa really well.  I used the magic bullet.  I used special dark cocoa powder instead of normal.  I also made the frosting with coconut oil instead of the heavy whipping cream, and it actually worked really well.  I mostly did that because I didn't have any whipping cream, and I was curious.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have pinned many recipes for lettuce wraps because I love them but I have not dared to try any yet. Luckily Rachel inspired me when she emailed us a recipe for one the other week and they seemed less intimidating. So I looked at all the recipes I pinned, along with Rachel's, and I made my own recipe. Not to brag or anything... but they are basically delicious. Danny ate it up like a starved caveman when he got home and insisted that they be added to a "very frequent dinner rotation." Lucky for him I loved them too so it will happen. AND lucky for you I even tried out two different meats so we could decide what is better. The recipes I found called for either ground beef, ground chicken, or diced chicken. I tried ground beef and diced chicken (didn't even try ground chicken because... well ew). DICED CHICKEN IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER! Don't waste your time making lettuce wraps with ground chicken because our taste test proved that the diced chicken was out of the ball park compared to the beef. See recipe below:

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
- 4-5 Chicken breasts
- 1 Can Water chestnuts
- 1 Clove of Garlic
- 2 Tbs Vegetable oil
- 1 Tbs Sesame oil
- 4 Tbs Soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbs Rice wine vinegar (or Apple cider Vinegar)
- 2 Tbs Fresh lime juice (ok fine you could probably use the bottled kind)
- 4 Tbs Brown sugar
- 1 Tbs Sriracha (or some whatever sauce you'd like- sweet chili, hoisin sauce- Rachel wanted to try Panda Sauce and that sounds yummy to me)
- FRESH CILANTRO (I was surprised to not find cilantro in any of the recipes because I think this was one of the BEST parts of the dish... TRUST ME! But please get fresh cilantro. Your taste buds will love you for it)

Serving Ingredients:
- Lettuce... of course
- Chopped cucumber and carrots (I loved the cucumber with these)
- Any sauce you like... thai peanut sauce would be yum

Directions:

1) Cook your chicken whatever way you feel is right. Dice it up real tiny like. Dice up the water chestnuts and add to chicken.
2) In a skillet heat the minced clove of garlic with the vegetable oil for 30 seconds
3) Add all other ingredients except for cilantro. Let simmer for a few minutes.
4) Add chicken mixture to the sauce and let it cook together for a couple minutes. Add minced cilantro.
5) Stuff your face