Gluten/Dairy/Egg/Soy Free Vegan Quinoa Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten/Dairy/Egg/Soy Free Vegan Quinoa Banana Chocolate Chip CookiesRecently, I was asked to write a book review of Carrots 'N' Cake, Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake At A Time. 

Written by Tina Haupert, a healthy living blogger, Carrots ?N? Cake (named after her blog) chronicles different experiences throughout her life and how she has managed a (mostly) healthy lifestyle. 
This is an easy, fun read, and what I liked most was Tina's honest, down-to-earth approach to healthy living. It's not easy to eat healthy and exercise as much as we should day in and day out, but if we hold ourselves accountable and come up with some tricks that work to keep us on track, we can enjoy ourselves and stay healthy.

As part of my book review, I made a few of Tina's healthy recipes that are included in Carrots 'N' Cake. One that has become a favorite snack for my son with allergies is Tina's Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, except that I made a few adjustments to make this recipe allergy friendly. Mine are called Banana Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies, as I made these cookies gluten free and oat/soy-free. I used quinoa flakes in place of oatmeal as I found these worked well in my oat-free "Clif" Granola Bars. I will be adding these Banana Quinoa Chocolate Cookies to my allergy friendly cookie collection along with my Gluten/Dairy/Egg/Soy free Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Another recipe that I made for dinner were the Lemon Chicken Skewers (see my book review for the recipe), an easy and light recipe. I did not have any preserved lemons as called for in the recipe, so I just substituted fresh lemon and these skewers came out just fine. Served with a little Chimichurri Sauce, my kids loved these bite size chicken skewers.