MONO Lessons (Part XIV: 271- 299)

Meditatively Obtained, Novel, and Observational (MONO) Lessons

271. I think someone has ADD…

272. Almond Breeze is my favorite milk replacement. Mmmm

273. They make butters other than peanut butter.

274. Oats are a major topic of conversation. Especially among Celiacs.

275. Immune systems are actually supposed to stop a cold from taking over your body. Mine did that for the first time in years! Hooray!

276. The Stanford Prison Experiment. Ryan and I rocked this thing.

277. Gluten antibodies attack and chop down the villi in my small intestines. Lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose, is created in the tip of the villi. Hence, I will seem “lactose intolerant” until my villi grow back.

278. “Wheat-free” does NOT infer “gluten-free.”

279. Blogging is like a disease. A rather contagious disease.

280. I’m a gatekeeper.

281. I live my life as an oxymoron. I love oxymorons and paradoxes.

282. Mayonnaise is evil. Of the devil, if you will.

283. I am eternally grateful for my past. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

284. I am infinitely relieved to have made it through the reconciliation brawl physically alive, psychologically intact, mentally resilient, and spiritually affirmed.

285. “He’s not cute enough to be gay!” – SH. I then burst out laughing.

286. Late at night, even regular humans can suddenly become cute, cuddly zombies.

287. I attached to UTemps like it was a person…

288. These tremendously complex bodies are bound to have a few minor errors.

289. Slumdog Millionaire is simply unbelievable and moves me in a way no movie ever has.

290. Really. It’s not me! It’s everybody else…. Trust me.

291. It’s not fair. And that will continue to resonate in my mind. It’s simply not fair.

292. Outback is a GF Mecca. P.F. Chang's can be Mecca #2.

293. I think about them every single day…

294. “When in doubt, leave it out.” – Danna Korn from Living Gluten-Free for Dummies

295. Gluten could be the answer behind everything.

296. Some servers can really surprise me with their gluten-free skill and memory. Really, though, he should have written it all down…I’m complicated.

297. I will meet my soul mate at Whole Foods. I’m convinced. See “Aaron the Whole Foods Boy."

298. Windows 7 doesn’t like power outages.

299. That said, F6 is the secret, magical, earth-saving button.

Jason Hoggan 7/12/10 Jason Hoggan 7/12/10

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, & Egg-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

On the morning of Sunday, July 11th, my friend sends me a text saying, "I feel like having a cookie." At that moment, I had the most immense yearning for a cookie that I've ever had. For those of you who don't know me too well, I'm really just not a sweets fan. Yes, they're very tasty, but I am content without them. What I'm saying is, it is odd to have a craving like this consume me so suddenly.

So the hunt began. After looking through about a dozen cookbooks and searching the internet, I settled on a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from Sophie-Safe Cooking by Emily Hendrix.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or shortening (I used Earth Balance buttery spread)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup rice milk (I used unsweetened Almond Breeze)
2 1/2 cups GF oat flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups GF old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup raisins

Here's the recipe:

With a mixer, mix the Earth Balance and sugars. Add vanilla and Almond Breeze and mix again. Add GF oat flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and mix well.

Finally, stir in the GF old-fashioned oats and raisins. Drop the dough on cookie sheets.

The author suggests making rounded tablespoon-sized cookies and baking at 350°F for 12 minutes making about 4 dozen cookies. That's nice, but I made my cookies about 3x larger and baked them for about 18 minutes making 18 large cookies instead of 48 itty bitty ones.

Now some notes:

Make sure you purchase gluten-free oats! Bob's Red Mill makes some amazing gluten-free oats that I highly recommend.
Unfortunately, Bob doesn't make gluten-free oat flour. He does make gluteny oat flour, so don't purchase that by mistake. Instead, make your own gluten-free oat flour with your gluten-free oats in a blender or an Ultimate Chopper.
Earth Balance is a gluten-free, dairy-free (and egg-free) buttery spread.

Here is my experience. First, I don't cook. That said, I definitely don't bake. So if I can do this, so can you.

The packaged ingredients.  Yes, I had to actually buy sugars because we got rid of all of our sugar. — The packaged ingredients. Yes, I had to actually buy sugars because we got rid of all of our sugar.

Next, in our Ultimate Chopper:

Gluten-Free Oats turn into Gluten-Free Oat Flour!

Oatmeal raisin cookies made with oat flour.  Doesn't that just make sense? — Oatmeal raisin cookies made with oat flour. Doesn't that just make sense?

The measured ingredients.  Yes, those are shot glasses...from IKEA! — The measured ingredients. Yes, those are shot glasses...from IKEA!

Now the weirdest thing happened. About 1 minute after adding the dry ingredients to the mix, I started crying. It just suddenly happened. They were tears of pure joy! I've missed oatmeal raisin cookies so much and now I get to have them again!

Here is the dough after adding the whole oats and raisins: