Indulge Your Shelf

One of my FB pages invited us to share a favorite recipe; I shared this one, and the story of my dear friend Fran, and it was so wonderful to spend time thinking of her!  She's been gone since 2008 and I will always miss her. Fran and I met when I was in my early 20s and, despite the difference in our ages, found we shared so many things.  We loved the same foods, art, past times and hobbies.  She became one of my closest friends and remained so for many years! This is her recipe for Christmas cookies; they are something like meringues, and different because they are pale green.  The sweetness with the addition of the mint flavor makes them very memorable!  The cookies were a regular on my Christmas cookie tray for many years -- even though back then, in the 1980s, they were already old fashioned! If you read through the recipe, you'll see how they got their name.  I always made them as the very lats batch after a long afternoon or evening of baking!

I baked cookies today and when I was finished and the oven was still hot, I whipped up a batch of these healthy breakfast cookies.  I found the recipe online recently, but there was no attribution, so if you know where it came from, I'd love to hear. I like them for breakfast because they contain no sugar, no flour, and no dairy; but they do have lots of fiber, and are filling.  If you're tired of making banana bread and (like me) don't like bananas in your smoothie -- it's a great way to use up your over ripe bananas, too.  Here's the recipe: 1-1/2 cups whole oats 1 cup unsweetened applesauce 2 or 3 very ripe bananas Raisins or dried cranberries Cinnamon, to taste I just mash the bananas and then mix with all the other ingredients.  I drop them from a TABLESPOON onto a greased cookie sheet, then, bake at 350* for 35 min. or so. Once they cool, the cookies will come out firm but moist so I always keep them in the refrigerator in a plastic zipp...