My new cookware!

My in-laws and husband showered me with new cookware this Christmas.  With all of the cooking I have been doing over the past year, it has become embarrassingly evident how pitiful our cookware is.  As in,  one of only two sauce pans we have was from my husband's bachelor days in the house he lived in with several guys.  I shutter to think what that pan has been through.  That pan is now at Goodwill if anyone is interested.  Our cookie sheets were so bad that I finally ditched them in the trash with cookies still attached.

My in-laws gave me these AMAZING cookie sheets. They are heavy duty, cookies slide right off of them, cook evenly and are a DREAM to clean.  USA Pans is the brand, and what a delight to have something actually made in the USA!  Thank you, thank you for these gifts!

I made Dr. Joel Fuhrman's chocolate oat clusters, he shared with us at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo:

Chocolate Oat Clusters

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup date sugar

2/3 cup raw walnuts, ground

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 ¼ teaspoons arrowroot powder

4 Tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman’s Cocoa Powder or other natural cocoa powder

¾ cup oats

8 dates, pitted and coarsely chopped

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Blend applesauce, vanilla and date sugar in blender until creamy.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, arrowroot powder, ground nuts, and cocoa powder.  Add the blended wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in oats, chopped dates and chopped nuts.  Bake for 10 minutes.  (makes approximately 4 dozen)  These cookies freeze well.  For a chocolate-coconut cookie, add 3 tablespoons of unsweetened, shredded coconut.  

On to my new HUGE saute pan!  All Clad - 

I had left over chopped up veggies, cubed some extra firm tofu (after I pressed the water out) and dumped 3/4 of the Trader Joe Curry Summer Sauce in the pan.  Let it saute for about 15 minutes, while I cooked rice my other new sauce pan. Dinner Served! 

Note - the sauce is much higher in sodium than I usually care for, but it was SO easy.