Slow Cooking Monday & Delicious Cookies!

This is a quickie, because it's late and honestly these aren't my recipes.  :) Today, I threw together jambalaya in my crockpot (the house smells wonderful now), whipped up Marie Callender's Cornbread (so simple and tasty why fuss with making it from scratch?), and these fabulous Orange Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies (with some minor adjustments).  My fellow Foodie Dietitian and great friend, Katie Clark came over to enjoy the meal with me!  She is the one who has the great blog Fiber is the Future. If you have questions about fiber check out her fabulous blog!

So, on with the recipes!  First, I made Emeril's Jambalaya recipe.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cajun-jambalaya-recipe2/index.html
Here are my changes:

1. I used the crockpot!  I cooked the chicken fast on the stove top and then cubed it into the crockpot and layered the ingredients).
2. Chicken andoiulle sausage is the way to go! Far less fat!
3. I did not use oil, nor did I saute my veggies to begin with--I put everything in the crockpot and turned the thing on!  Magic happens people!  ;o)
4. Add in the shrimp for the last 15 minutes of cooking (I used a bag of frozen shrimp from Trader Joe's)
5. I only used 1 cup chicken broth, because in a crock pot you don't need as much liquid.
6. Serve over brown rice--prepared with remaining chicken broth in place of water!

Okay and now the cookies!!  Wow!  These are lifted from a new food blog I found on Foodgawker.

The following recipe is from this blog: http://danazia.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/the-holiday-cookie-quest/

Orange Cranberry & Choco-Oat Cookies

1 cup of dried cranberries

½ cup orange juice

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup butter, room temp

3 tbls of honey

1 large egg

1 ½ cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

3 cups of oatmeal

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon orange zest

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the cranberries and orange juice in a small bowl, cover and let stand while you make the cookies. Beat the sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in honey and egg then add the cranberries and orange juice.

Combine flour, soda, powder and salt in a separate bowl and enthusiastically whisk together. Toss in the oatmeal, walnuts and orange zest and whisk some more.

Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and blend together till just right. Drop loving spoonfuls onto lightly oiled baking sheets and bake for about 8-10 minutes, depending the size of your cookies.

Here are my changes:

1. Added semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/3 cup
2. Used orange cranberries (it's what I had on hand)
3. Switched out the walnuts for pecans, because it's 1) what I had and 2) I really prefer them with these other flavors
4. Made 3 1/2 dozen and cooked for 10 minutes (I have a convection oven)
5. Used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all purpose (again, it's what I had on hand)

Good news too...I already put 3 dozen in the freezer so I don't nosh on them all week!!  I have to show some restraint.  They really are that good!!!  I hope you try them and comment on them, too!