Cookies?? Maaay-be! lol! Easy (ludicrously easy) Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Easy (ludicrously easy) Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soo, I just made these cookies - my lovely son came in and called them, "Cookies??"  Hahahaha, mah' son is so funny!  Jus' like his Ma! lol! (Dat me!)  So we laughed and laughed... is pretty funny....

These are not your typical 'cookies', but they are surprisingly good (way to sell it, right?? haha!), but I heard this recipe when we were driving in the States, a long time ago, was the John Tesh radio show, and he would chat in between the music, put little tidbits of information on - was fun to listen to as we drove happily along - we looove a road trip! 

Anyway, so John Tesh was saying about these healthy 'cookies' that he and his wife really like - I think they must really be into health food, and healthy living, so, that's good... we're into chocolate chips, sooo, maybe this could work for us, too - haha!

So John Tesh's recipe was 2 bananas, 1 cup of Oatmeal, and some raisins (in my mind, I automatically substituted chocolate chips - you gotta think on yer feet, right? lol!).

I happened to have 4 very ripe bananas, and couldn't really be bothered making my favourite Banana Bread - mostly because we still have two pies from Thanksgiving, and not may takers to eat them, soo, it seemed like not a good idea to put even more stuff in the fridge, right now...but cookies fall under a different category and I really, really didn't want to waste the bananas, and, thus, this "Cookie" arrived - finally!  I have been meaning to try this for a long time, now...

My Recipe: A clever adaptation on John Tesh's recipe:

4 Bananas (or whatever is leftover, and you don't want to throw out your bananas...)(Mashed)

2 cups of Oatmeal (really, I think I could've added a bit more Oatmeal)

1 cup of Chocolate Chips (okay, you got me, I just threw in da whole bag - or whatever was left in the bag - lol!)  (I feel like the 'saving grace, as it were, to these 'cookies', is the chocolate chippies! lol!)

That's it.  Three little ingredients, and I just popped them in the oven, in spoonfuls, on Parchment Paper, at 350 Degrees for about 20 - 30 minutes.  I would just check them, see how they're doing, maybe leave them in a little longer, if you felt like it... I liked the ones on the bottom shelf, better... had to put the ones on the middle shelf of the oven back in, make them kind of 'toasty' on the bottom, not lightly cooked - the key to to bake them thoroughly, I think : )

See how ludicrously easy this recipe is?  Mash the bananas, add the Oatmeal, stir well, add in the Chocolate Chips (or nuts, raisins, all of the above... whatever you happen to enjoy), and voila, some pretty tasty little 'cookies'.  and surprisingly sweet, too, and not a drop of sugar, flour or eggs... is a funny little recipe, but it might totally work out for you, too - is definitely worth a try, and you won't waste your bananas!!  Yahoo, Save the Bananas!  

Oh, and I happened to put the 'Cookies?' in front of my lovely wee Trees that I love to make - fancy up the picture for your viewing pleasure - hahaha!  Ooh, and I think these little cookies would've cost about $1.50 to make - the bananas that you might have tossed out, anyway, and the chocolate chips, and oatmeal, which I loove, costs next to nothing, and Oatmeal is a Super-Food (so are bananas, in my opinion...and also, the chocolate??? hahaha!  Okay, that's a bit of a streeetch, but if that's what makes them tasty, so be it, right? lol!  

Wee tidbit:  I actually eat a fair bit of Oatmeal - I loove my Scottish Porridge!  Excellent for weight loss or weight maintenance, and general, overall good health - lowers your cholesterol, is truly a little miracle food, for sures!  If you've never made your own porridge, you can try my recipe - I think I might put a wee bit more salt in than is the norm, but pretty common in Scotland - or, at least, at our house (oor wee housie!).  : )  Oh, and I love my porridge with milk - poor old milk, it's gotten such a bad rap, lately, but milk is very, very good for your body - great for your bones, and whatnot, and I work out a lot, so I need that, for sures - plus, I totally plan to live well into my 90's or beyond, sooo, I've gotta keep my body strong and healthy, right?  Dat my goal: old!  Jus' like Steve Harvey says, "Old is the goal!"  (Love me some Steve Harvey! lol!)

Yours in Healthy Eating! Ailsa : )

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Martin Short's New Book, I Must Say - Sooo Funny!! I say, 'A Must Read!' lol! #MartinShort

   Oh, man, I just finished binge-reading (is that a thing?? lol!  Is just like binge-watching your favorite 'new-to-you' TV series, like how you would maybe watch Mad Men, or Arrested Development...or like people who love books to 'just read a book, all the way through - lol!)  Anyway, I couldn't put Martin Short's new book, I Must Say, from his famous Ed Brimley character, down at all... was up 'til 3:23am, last night, reading it, and then - well, I guess I could put it down, but only because my good sense told me to go to bed at 3:30am - hahaha!  Makes me laugh!  And so did Martin Short's new book - is sooo funny, is soo sweet, so touching (not literally, mostly figuratively...buh'dum-bum...) - is an absolutely beautiful book - you will love it!

It was so funny reading Martin Short's book, because his life mirrors what I thought my life was going to be.. joining second City in Toronto, back in the early 80's... I really thought that was where my life was gonna go, and, at one point, there was an opportunity for me to go to Toronto to do some modelling, but I was only 16, and my Dad wouldn't let me go, for my own safety... and I had Big Plans to join Second City... was a different time, a differnt era.  But I loooved SCTV, was the funniest thing on TV - that and Fernwood Tonight, with Martin Mull - remember that?  Was hi-larious!  My Dad and I would watch it, together, and laugh and laugh... anyhoo, I ended up going to Grade 13, in Ontario, and then on to Queen's University, because I also really wanted to be a teacher... and I guess I never really thought of being able to have a career in comedy, was something for fun - I don't think I connected it with making money, earning a living, at the time. So I particularly loved all of Marty's stories about how he rose up through the ranks, as it were, and all of his stories of how he got there, and what he had overcome, already, at the very tender age of 22.

All in all, Martin Short's new book, I Must Say, is a 'must read' - it's soo beautiful, so funny - and wee bits, scattered throughout, from his favorite characters - my own personal favourites are Jiminy Glick - hill-arious - omg, so funny - I love when Jiminy Glick forces himself of a guest he finds appealing - oh, God, that's so funny, and I loove when he sneaks a donut during an interview... oh, man, that's laugh out loud funny.... so I put a little link at the bottom, in case you haven't seen Jiminy Glick, then you're in for a brand new-to-you treat, and if you want to relive some fabulous old memories, I've put in SCTV links, too... that's some seriously funny stuff.  and I loved the 'Half-Wits' and the Men's Synchronized Swimming - omg, hilarious.  Loved how Marty describes how they did his teeth and his hair for that character - so funny!

Marty Short waits 'til the very end of the book to talk about his beloved wife, Nancy, and it is so beautifully told... will make your heart melt.. which reminds me of one of Marty's lines, 'from the bottom of where my heart should be' - omg, how funny is that?? hahaha!  Hilarious.  And the lessons he's learned over the course of his life -  loved the Nine Categories - how Martin Short looks at his life... I laughed so hard in Category 2: Immediate Family - the questions are so crazy-funny, you'll laugh at that, too - and there's a bit at the end that I don't want to forget, because it's so beautiful, I want to be sure to be able to access it, if I ever need to use it - it's a poem/eulogy that Marty read after his beloved wife Nancy passed on (or passed through), page 316, from Martin Short's I Must Say:

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is
     untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.  Laugh as we always
     laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.

Henry Scott Holland, 1910.


How forward-thinking was that, in 1910?  Brilliant, and so very, very kind.

All that being said, this is not a sad book, this is a very lovely, very funny, beautiful book about Martin Short's amazing life, thus far, and you will love all the stories, start to finish.  For me, it was so much fun reading about all my favorite people, from when I was growing up - Steve Martin, all the cast from SCTV - these are names and people I feel like are old friends, so was so much fun to read about them, and find out what lovely and funny people they all are - I knew it! I just had a feeling... lol!

This is a lovely book for a holiday gift, if you're looking for something wonderful to give to someone you love : )  Big Hugs, Your Pal in Reading, Ailsa : ) xox



 

#WaistTrainer - Don't 'Waist' it... Maybe a really easy way to Lose Weight?? #Diet #SmallWaist #WasteNotWaist

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Waist, Not Waste! lol! 

See, I don't want to waste the last Croissant - sounds like a movie, The Last Croissant...haha!

So this happens all the time, especially to mothers, for some reason - we feel obligated to eat whatever's left, not to waste anything, and then it goes straight to your waist - dammit! haha! 

Noo, not straight to your waist...sometimes it heads right to your thighs - hahaha! 

Nooo, me joke! But you know what I mean - parents are forever finishing off the last of whatever the kids don't eat...

And any other time you have something, you've decided you really shouldn't eat any more of it, but then, here comes the dilemma - you don't want to WASTE it, do you? Your Mom's words might be ringing in your ears, about children starving in Africa, if you happened to grow up with that line... very popular in the 70's, maybe? How old AM I? haha! Only old on paper? haha! No, me not 'old' - old is a state of mind, so me will never be old - young thinking is where it's at, man - seeee, there's that 60's influence, right there... I can't get away from it! haha! 

Okay, well, I'm gonna go haz that last croissant, but right after that, I'll prolly have the Apple Crumble, and then the 10 Sips of Water - surely it'll all balance out, right? haha! Cross Mah' Fingers! lol! : )

Otay, dat me - with a smaller waist than I have, right now - but here's what drives me crazy - that's my waist at 32", so that's what a 32" waist looks like, for me. How annoying is that??  Here's why it's so annoying to me - all you ever hear from the Dr. Oz peoples, is, you have to have a 32 inch waist to be healthy - to be even considered remotely healthy, and that infuriates me, because I KNOW I'm super-healthy, and I am trying to get back to my 'old waist', but even when I'm at the gym an hour and a half, every day - okay, you got me, me at home, this morning - I didn't feel like being judged at the gym, today - ugh, despise that - I just want to go to the gym, enjoy my workout, get nice and fit - I do looove to be super-healthy - come home, done.  I know my way around the gym, I've been lifting weights for 30 years (mostly with the weight machines, which I love, but also with free weights, depending on the exercise...and I don't bother with the treadmill or Stairmaster - mostly because I can never get the damn thing to work - is super-annoying, and then you finally DO get the stupi thing to work, and then you feel exhausted after a while, and look down and it says you've burnt 23 calories - for real??  No. That's too much work for not enough benefit, so then I'm right back to mah' fave work out machines - hahaha!  I feel like, it's better to do 100 light reps (30 pounds or under), enjoying myself on a weight machine, than struggle away on the Stairmaster for what, 23 stoooopid calories??  Ugh.  No.  Build muscle, that's what'll make those pounds drop off - guaranteed.

I do have a Waist Trainer - I like it for working out, because it does seem to concentrate some energy in your waist, and I think a lot of women are looking to shape their waist, have a nice little waist, or any size waist that you like - lol! They should make one for arms and thighs, too - maybe they do! hahaha!

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Otay, first things first - you gots 'ta stop being sooo jealous o' mah' fancy meals... on the menu for tonight? Campbell's Vegetable soup, me threw in a bunch o' Baby Carrots that I can't be bothered eating, because they're at the bottom of the bag, and, really, I just like the suuper-teensy-tiny Baby Carrots, sooo, #LeftoverCarrots? haha! Oooh, sounds delish! Stop, you're makin' me hungry! hahaha! 

 Anyway, that looked super-sad, for a dinner,soo, I looked in the Freezer, and, mah' lucky day - Frozen Corn! (This is where your jealousy knows no bounds, but, really, you gots 'ta get a hold on yer'self! You, too, can have a fan'ceh bowl o' Doctored Up Veggie Soup! lol!)

So I threw in a bunch of the Frozen Corn, too - think will add some parsley - you know for that extra little "je ne sais quoi" - or, literally, "I don't know what" - hahahaha! But, really, I do really like it - lol!  

So here's how this little article came to be - I was having one of my favourite meals - sometimes I have it for lunch, sometimes for dinner...is really yummy, I love it, and is crazy-healthy... I just take a can of Vegetable Soup, add in a bunch of frozen corn - or chopped up celery, if I happen to have some left over from mah' fave Celery Salad, but more on that, later... anyway, then just add maybe a half a can of water, enough to cover the corn, stir, pop in the microwave for 4 minutes, done - yum!

So, the other day, I couldn't make my way through my whole bowl of soup.  I'd already gotten up from the table twice - I have a little theory about getting up from the table in the 'middle' of your meal - really, your body is probably telling you that you're done, now, that's enough, but then you quickly over-ride you're annoying body for telling you what to do - hahahaha - that makes me laugh! haha!  Me no likes to be told what to do, and maybe that's why I'm not at the gym, this morning?? haha!  Whatevs. Me really don't like being told what to do, or when to do it, or how to do it - bleah!  No, leave me alone, I would like to be left alone (well, I love a wee chat, as long as that doesn't include telling me what to do - hahahaha...can you see a running theme, here? lol!).


Anyhoo, after I got up from the table a THIRD time (I'm really quick on the uptake...), I thought, why am I trying to force myself to finish this bowl of soup?  What's making me do that? Clearly, I'm full, and can't eat any more, even though half the bowl of soup is left.. and it dawned on me, I always, always say to myself, as a running dialogue in my mind, I don't want to waste it.  Sound familiar?  How many of us grew up with that very strong message, 'don't waste it - do you know how many starving children in Africa would looove to have that liver?? hahahaha!  Yuck!  Liver! haha!  (Does anyone under 60 really like liver?? lol!)

So here's what I have come up with to help me with my waist size... instead of saying to myself (or, more accurately, when I catch myself saying, which I always do) 'don't waste it', I'll mentally switch it to 'Don't WAIST it', right?  Like that?  I do, too... maybe that'll work for a whole lot of us - and then there'll be a whole lot less of us?? hahaha!  We'll each lose a little bit, will be fabulous!  : )

I'll let you know if that works, but you do have control over what you're thinking, sooo, is definitely worth a try, to switch up your internal message to never waste anything, don't waste it, to the much better, 'Don't Waist it'... because, really how many times do we eat something, specifically because we don't want to waste it?  And where does that go?  Right to your waist, dammit!! lol!  So, be like me, and 'Don't Waist it', and let me know if it works for you, too : )

Well, that's a pretty terrible picture - who took that?? haha - was me, o' course!  lol!  But, can you make out the numbers? That's 1 gram of Fat, 19 grams of Carbohydrates (with 3 grams of Fiber, 7 grams of sugar)... these are fantastic numbers - very healthy, and very inexpensive, since the Campbell's Vegetable Soup was on sale at WalMart for 50 cents a can (for the record, our WalMarts in Canada are soo nice, and they pay their employees well, and treat their employees well - so they already have a model to go by, should the US government choose to raise the minimum wage, at least to $10/hr.... but I digress...the point is, WalMart is a great shop, in Canada)... and the corn hardly costs a thing, so there's your very healthy meal for under a dollar... and it's not like you'd have soup all the time, but you know, is a nice option, whenever you might feel like it. : )

I am a huuuge (well, me gettin' littler...hahaha!) proponent of eating what you like - in that, literally, you eat what you really enjoy eating - I am not a fan of restricting your diet, making yourself (and everyone around you, possibly) miserable.  Nope. That's not what food is for - food is to nourish you - nourish your body, but also to nourish your mind and your soul.  That can't be any fun, to constantly be restricting yourself, never enjoying your food...that sounds like a terrible way to live.... 

And it IS sorta funny, since I've said this at the gym, every now and then, when someone is going on and on about how restrictive their diet is, and I pipe in with, well, I just eat whatever I feel like eating... and I think the Big Assumption is that when people say that, they mean they're lunatics with what they eat - nooo, that's just silly. I love a wee treat, obvs....hahahaa!  But I loove to eat well, I love healthy food - it makes you feel great, and is delicious. I think what has happened, is people associate 'eating what you want', with eating like a looney, and why would you do that? haha!  That's silly!  But maybe why I enjoy saying that?  haha!  Entertaining myself at da gym?? hahahaha!  Makes me laugh! 

Oh, here's my other favourtie, favourite soup - Cheddar-Broccoli Soup - the only hard part is trying to remember how to spell 'broccoli' - hahaha!  Two 'l's or two 'c's??  Always a mind bender - lol!  

So here's the take-away... (no, it's not Chinese food, but that's a good idea, too! lol!).... when you feel full, and you know, for sure, I've had enough to eat, really, I shouldn't eat any more of this, even if it IS delicious, and you don't want to waste it.... just remember to change your spelling from waste to waist...and say to yourself, no, I don't want to WAIST it....and soon you'll see some really nice changes : )  (And now you've got another meal for the next day.. or later... depending on yummy it really was - lol! I never did finish that soup - hahahaha!)

And forget about that whole 32 inch waist-thing - so annoying. Strive for good health - doesn't the 32 inch waist for EVERY body shape and size seem a little crazy?  Come on...and if I hear one more doctor spouting that you should look like your 18 year old self - ugh!  Gimme a break! You don't want to have your 18 year old life back - what the helll???  No.  It's fun being an adult - and looking like an adult. Whoever came up with that idea is a' idiot (oooh, me loves when peoples say that... and my absolute favourite, is when people write - admittedly, I see this mostly on Facebook, "Your a idiot" - hahahahaah!  Yes, they are da idiot.... haha - makes me laugh, every time! 

Okay, so...we're all gonna try it out.... "I DON'T want to WAIST it..."  Good luck!! (Me luvs you just the way you are! lol!) Ailsa : )

Happy Eating!  Ailsa : )

More Great Recipes : )

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