Sunday, December 29, 2013

Pizza Party+Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Walnuts and Dark Chocolate

This post is a part of Unprocessed Fridays on Girl Meets Nourishment! 

On Saturday, my mom, sister and I held our first annual pizza party! We invited all our closest friends and family, the people we love and have been close to for years. The house was crowded with many people... lots of mingling going on!

 Some of the older kiddos at the party!
 My momma, with the pizza assembly line behind!

More guests and fun! 


My mom bought premade pizza crusts. The idea was that two or three people would share one, and "create" their own pizza with the toppings available. I spend the hours before the party prepping... I chopped up veggies like onion, bell pepper, olives, and artichoke, as well as cooking ground beef and ground turkey meats. There also was pepperoni available, and lots of cheese. 

We also told the guests to bring one dish of sweets each, so that everyone could share and go home with a baggie full of different kinds. 



The party was a TOTAL success! Everyone had a BLAST. Everyone left full of pizza and in need of a sugar detox (lol!). 

My best friend Taylor and I stood out (in a good way) from the crowd! Instead of using pizza crusts, we stuffed some Portobello Mushrooms with all the pizza goods (mines sans cheese). Everyone thought ours looked super yummy... except my boyfriend of course, who insisted on teasing us ;) 

I of course did not plan on eating the processed sweets from the rest of the guests, but I wanted to offer everyone a treat from me, too! So thus, these cookies were born. I think I must have eaten at least six. Taylor loved them too! There were also a few other guests who tried them and told me they were yummy :D

I got the recipe idea from Ashley at The Gypsy Dietitian. I just found her blog recently and am addicted! 


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Walnuts and Dark Chocolate 
Makes 18 cookies 

1 1/4 cup oats, grounded into "flour" 
1/4 cup plain whole oats 
1 TBSP ground flax seed
3/4 TBSP cinnamon 
1/2 TSP ginger 
Pinch of sea salt
1/8 TSP ground clove 
1/4 TSP baking soda 
1/4 TSP baking powder 
1 TSP pure vanilla extract 
1 can organic pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1/4 cup raisins 
1/4 cup walnuts 
2 squares 100% dark chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 100% Dark)
1/3-1/2 cup raw local honey 

1)Preheat oven to 350


2) Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. 
* NOTE- It is going to seem as if you need more liquid. You don't! Keep mixing everything in with the pumpkin and I promise everything will blend. 



3) Grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil and spoon the mix out a few TBSP at a time, and flatten it down. (I tried it with both foil, SHOWN, and greasing the pan. It works better if you grease it!)

4) Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm! 

These cookies, in my opinion, taste best either right out of the oven or cooled in the fridge. Room temperature is fine too, but not my favorite :)

Of course, they're even more delicious with peanut butter. ;D

What are you planning to bake this holiday season?

Natalie 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great party, And food look like delicious. I pined this...I love it. I preserve a little but really want to do it more. Great post, great recipe..I cannot wait to try it! Family Restaurant

Unknown said...

Thank you for the kind comment! Let me know how they turn out :)

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