Is it snowing where you are today? We are expecting 9 or 10 inches to arrive soon and school was closed again today. This April storm is fun! In other news, see these frosty glass jugs in my kitchen? My friend Katie made a special delivery this week: farm fresh, local, raw, grass-fed milk. Liquid gold! We got some raw goat milk, too. You have no idea how over the moon I am about this exciting new find. A small farm with just a handful of goats and 1 cow and a heart for good quality dairy. Such a sweet enterprise! This is what we've been waiting for. I'm so thankful, and in debt to my friends for letting us in on this venture. Isn't it crazy how, even in this internet-driven world, word-of-mouth is still the best way to discover some things?

The milk tastes amazing. We are starting slow in drinking it, as raw milk is a powerful healing food and has awesome probiotic properties. (Most of our grandparents grew up on fresh milk, but you'd think by the way we talk about it that it's exotic and edgy.) We're anxious to see how well we tolerate real, raw diary compared to conventional pasteurized diary from the store. If we notice any issues, I'm going to try fermenting the milk by making homemade kefir or yogurt. So far though, we seem to be handling it well. If you're interested in or have questions about raw milk, or you want to find a source of your own, here are a couple great Q&A articles.
Raw Milk Facts
Real Milk

To go along with our milk, I've been making cookies. Of course! We've had some of "the good cookies", which are almondy, salty-sweet, flat, and chewy. Definitely the favorite these days. And we've also had these new ones:

I call them slab cookies, but they're simply the crust of these roasted banana coconut bars. They're very light and chewy-crunchy like a granola bar. Because they are coconut-based they can be really chewy, which is how Grant likes them. I love them more crunchy than chewy, so sometimes I give them an extra 2 minutes in the oven to get toasty brown. You can either include the chocolate chips in the dough, or sprinkle them on top to make a glazed cookie. They're great both ways! These cookies are mixed together with a fork, in 1 bowl, in about 5 minutes, and no scooping onto cookie sheets or anything, which makes them the fastest dessert I've made in awhile.


Coconut Pecan Slab Cookies

Gluten and dairy free. Adapted from Izy's s'mores bars

1 1/2 cups finely shredded coconut (unsweetened)

1/8 tsp. sea salt (heaping)

2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, use a fork to combine the coconut, salt, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the coconut sugar, pecans, and chocolate chips (or you may reserve chips to sprinkle on top when cookies are done, which will make a pretty chocolatey glaze like this). Press mixture into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toasty brown and edges are very crispy. Crunchy is good! Cut into square cookies and enjoy while warm, perhaps with a glass of cold milk. *We buy our unsweetened shredded coconut from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. They have a good price and I love how finely it's shredded. If you have bigger coconut shreds, I'd recommend pulsing them in a food processor first.