Gluten Free, Veggie Filled, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This post could also be called, "How to make your real estate agent happier."

We have a great real estate agent. He is neat guy who is always kind, but luckily straight up enough to not blow a ton of sunshine at us. There are some things our little family does that don't lend themselves well to the general buyer. My next few posts (and weeks) will focus on remedying these along with cleaning, scrubbing, painting and polishing.

Things Real Estate Agents Frown Upon

1. 5 cords of wood on the back porch
   
2. One entire floor to ceiling bookcase of gallon jars filled with food
3. 12 rain barrels lining the back fence
4. Not having a dryer in one of the rainiest cities in the US
   
5. Books, books, and more books stacked in every room
6. Cottage cheese culturing on top of the refrigerator
7. All the laundry room shelving filled with canned goods
   

We're plowing through back stock like no tomorrow and watching the food bill go down even more (trying t0 hit 30 dollars a week). Even better, that means lots of sneaky veggies are creeping into Jules and The Barracuda's food. We also won't have to move a TON of cans into a smaller house. Experimenting with diversifying many of the foods we normally eat keeps me happy as well.

These oatmeal raisin cookies contain over 8 cups of fruits and veggies and contain no gluten (depending on where you get your oats).

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 pint carrots
1 quart pumpkin
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 stick butter
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups ground oatmeal
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
2 cups raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain 1/2 the liquid from the carrots and pumpkins. Cream pumpkin, carrots, applesauce, butter and sugar. Add molasses and eggs. Grind oatmeal either with a grain grinder or in the food processor/blender till fine. Add ground oatmeal and when thoroughly combined, add the rest of the oatmeal. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add to the batter. Add raisins slowly, but do not soak them first. The raisins absorb excess liquid. The batter will be loose, and the cookies are soft.

Place spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.


Grinding the oatmeal is a great way to burn off all those cookie calories...at least that is what I tell myself.