Thanks for your advice on when to run after an injury (more advice? Hit me up in the comments section!). The Achilles is still bugging me, so I’ve put my plans to run on hold for now (sad face) and continue to keep cross training.
- Sunday: 40 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes spin bike, lifting/core work, stretching and PT. PM: 90 minutes Bikram yoga (great class!)
- Monday: 62 minutes elliptical, core work, stretching and PT
I’m just trying to take it day by day, and hopefully a run can happen at some point this week. It’s been almost a month since I’ve run, and trying to stay positive is getting extremely a little challenging (I MISS RUNNING). So I decided to make some cookies – cookies always make things better, right?
Well, a gal has got to try…
My friend and grad school partner in crime Natalie adapted a “healthy” oatmeal cookie recipe from a recipe on a Quaker oatmeal container. Even though I’m definitely down with indulging in cookies and treats from time to time, I also think baked goods can be fairly healthy. These cookies are a perfect example – full of oats, whole grains, raisins, carrots, walnuts, and less sugar/butter. Of course, some chocolate and peanut butter chips were added because they’re delicious (it’s all about balance!).
Ingredients:
Creaming butter and sugar is challenging when you don’t have a mixer – very soft butter and lots of elbow grease are necessary!
Tons of great stuff – chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts, peanut butter chips, oats, carrots…
I’m not very neat when it comes to perfect shapes…
They turned out great anyways 🙂
Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup applesauce
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar (slightly not a full ½)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup white flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 ½cups uncooked oats
- ½ cup grated carrot
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chocolate chips
- ¼ cup peanut butter chips
Directions:
Heat oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Stir in grated carrots. Combine flours, soda, salt and cinnamon and add to egg mixture. Stir in oats and then add walnuts, raisins, and chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown (my oven is wonky, so I suggest checking them at 10 minutes). Let sit on cookie sheet for 1 minute an then cool on wire rack. Enjoy!
Question: Are you a fan of “healthier” baked goods?
Healthy goods? Nope-they call it dessert for a reason!
hah – tell me how you really feel, Nicole!
I sort of love that carrots are thrown in. That alone makes them twice as healthy as any other cookie! Right? 😉
i used to be into healthy cookie baking, but i’m kind of on the team now that says if i want a cookie, i want a damn cookie, and there’s no fooling my stellar taste buds 😉 but these still look good! i like healthy cookies as yogurt toppers and such. yum!
take it easy on that achilles! your cross-training regimen is kind of insane. resting is good for you!
Yummy those cookies look amazing! Hope your achilles heals up soon 🙂
I always take the raisins out of oatmeal raisin cookies, thus taking out the only healthy element haha. Although I recently tried an oatmeal cranberry cookie…that was delicious!
I love making healthier versions of baked goods…I actually prefer them! I enjoy the texture of whole wheat flour and really can’t tolerate a ton of sugar. Your cookies look awesome! Love that you put grated carrots in them – I need to try that.
I’m suddenly craving an oatmeal cookie. Darn you! 🙂
i love oatmeal cookies! i’m all for having the real thing for dessert, but i also enjoy experimenting with healthier substitutions.
Oatmeal cookies are my favourite! The addition of peanut butter chips is genius!
YAY for cookies!! i love healthier baked goods!- it means i can eat more of them 😛
Healthy baked goods are awesome, as long as they taste good!! And these look DELISH!! 😀
I always try to make my baked goods healthier and it usually doesn’t work probably why I’m not the best baker- but at least I try!
I’ll tweak a few things to make them healthy but if I want a cookie, I want a cookie. But I’m not against “healthy cookies” that are really breakfast cookies or more “energy snacks!”
Hope that Achilles feels better soon! That is such an annoying injury! Those cookies look yummy!
Thanks for sharing, oatmeal is my fave!!!
Yum!
I’m sorry you’re dealing with an injury. I can totally commiserate with the challenge of staying positive. I’m so bad when it comes to giving my body time to heal – I get frustrated and want to get back out there!! But hang in there! As I’m sure you know, it’s better to rest it now than create an even bigger injury that will sideline you for a long time. Keeping my fingers crossed it heals soon!
And those cookies look really good! I like having healthy versions of desserts because I have a hard time NOT eating everything I bake. And since I live by myself, this can be a huge problem, haha However, that’s not to say I’m not for indulging in the sugary/buttery/fat-laden stuff now and then. It’s all about balance, right?? 🙂
thank you!! hehe, I live by myself too. I usually bring leftover baked goods to friends and to work so I DON’T eat them all!
In my experience a lot of healthier baked goods still taste yummy! Still, I usually end up eating more of them, so it’s maybe just better to make the junky kind and eat less.
I tend to eat ice cream straight from the carton when I’m out of commission so kudos to you for at least attempting a healthy approach. :p
That’s funny you’ve wanted to see the corn palace. I’ve probably been there 50 times and have played in basketball tourneys there multiple times. And wall drug! Free ice water. 😉 Oh south dakota. :p
hahaha – at one point a while back my sister and I actually thought about road tripping it out to Wall Drug. We are fascinated by it! And yes, weird. 🙂
Question: Are you a fan of “healthier” baked goods?
NO.
Although sometimes I buy bran muffins. Does that count as healthy? Is that why I got sick? Goddammit, now I’m complaining all over other people’s blogs, too.
I love trying to healthify cookies and feed them to my boyfriend & his roommates…they’re a fan of any food though! Walnuts in chocolate chip cookies are seriously the best thing ever.
I feel the same with my knee!! Hope your Achilles feels better soon for you, too. Yoga must be the running injury alternative because I’m popping in Jillian’s yoga meltdown as we speak 🙂
-Courtney
PS, we just tagged you in a post!! 😀
I do like healthier baked goods, it was weird the first time I made healthy oatmeal cookies because they weren’t the ‘cookies’ I was used to. But I loved them, not that I can say the same for others I shared them with but “to each their own?” Yours look so yummy though!
Yum. I actually make my oatmeal choc chip cookies in a similar fashion. I use them as my “race day” cookies 🙂
Generally, give me the real deal stuff. If I want healthy, I’ll eat the other stuff. As some have said, if I’m going to eat dessert, I’m going to just go for it!
That said, any cookies left???