Sometimes you feel like a (health) nut…

…sometimes you don’t!

So, I did some baking this afternoon, as promised.  This was definitely not a back-on-track recipe…but it was DANG good!  I’ve found myself with a surplus of pomegranates again, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that as an ingredient.  Then I thought about how good pomegranate tastes with coconut.  Then I thought about how good white chocolate chips taste with anything.  One thing lead to another, and this recipe was born:

Pomegranate Coconut White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened (one stick)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 egg

1/3 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup white chocolate chips

2/3 cup pomegranate arils

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix dry ingredients (flour through salt) together, and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugars together until smooth.  Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until light and fluffy.  While still mixing, slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet by the spoonful.  Once all the flour is incorporated, add in the pomegranates, coconut, and white chocolate chips.  Mix well (dough will be sticky).  Roll dough into balls by the tablespoonful and place on ungreased cookie sheets.  

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until tops are golden. 

Here are some pics:

Dough balls:

 

Cookies out and cooling:

These cookies.  Are.  Good.

I managed to stay away from the dough, but I did enjoy one hot out of the oven 🙂

And then Ryan enjoyed six.  Ah, men.

Dinner was a quick one, because we were headed out the door for the Rick Bass reading (more on that later).  I had an Amy’s bowl (brown rice, vegetables, and tofu) and a clementine:

Gotta love Amy’s for their quick, healthy meals:

I found a moldy clem in the box today…I hope they aren’t going bad already!  This guy was just fine, though:

Ryan also wanted me to take a picture of his VEG dinner (!)

He had a wrap with feta, olives, spinach and hummus, and a BIG side of barley:

Talk about a health nut!

After our quick meal, we headed up to campus to the Rick Bass reading.  Bass has a background as a scientist (geology, specifically), and has written over twenty books of fiction and non-fiction centered around nature, especially the Yaak valley and the West.  Tonight, he read a short story entitled “The Hermit’s Story,” which told the tale of a man and woman who get lost in a snowstorm and spend the night under a frozen sheet of ice.  His descriptions of the wilderness and the setting of the story were amazing– really vivid and fresh.

After he finished the story, he opened up the room for a question and answer session, and things got kind of…well, bleak.  He talked a LOT about his concerns for the future of the world, the human race in particular.  He talked about how we (the human race) haven’t been around long enough to feel the effects of our negative behavior, and because we haven’t faced real consequences, we’re left very defenseless against the negative aspects of climate change, like rampant diseases and species’ extinction.  He also basically mocked the idea of “sustainability,” and claimed that humans were not a sustainable species.  He said that people recycling their aluminum cans was a noble effort, but one that should have happened 500 years ago. 

It definitely gave us a lot to think about, but it wasn’t the most uplifting experience.  In a strange way though, it was nice to hear someone speak the truth.  He kept repeating the phrase, “Shit has hit the fan,” and you know– it has!  Everyone talks about “being green” and “sustainability”– they’ve become these buzz words that people toss out every chance they get.  It was strangely refreshing to hear someone suggest that we might be fooling ourselves.

Yep…it was kind of a downer!

But after creating a feeling of impending doom in the audience, he did end on a joke, so that was nice 🙂   

I’m exhausted.  It’s been a long day.  Hope you’ve had a good one!

See you tomorrow!