In a blink of an eye, we are now in our last week of online/home based learning. This is it. Bella will officially be done with 5th grade and Jamie with 1st grade. Time really flew by. We have been living this new normal for the past 8 weeks now. And even though I know it has been difficult for my kids, more so Bella than Jamie, they have been superb! They do what they are supposed to do when it comes to homeschooling, they help around a lot with house chores and I think we definitely appreciate each other more. I know I do.

We are spending so much of our waking hours together since they haven't been going to school. And that means cooking 3 meals a day, everyday! And I haven't even included the crazy amount of snacks these kids need! While I do stock the pantry with store bought cookies, chips and other snacks, Kian is always trying to encourage us to not consume so much snacks that has added sugar. But this mama here sometimes have sweet cravings too.

So, these Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great substitute. It is low in carbs because it is flourless. Almond flour aka almond meal is not type of flour actually. It is basically ground blanched almonds. I used Monk Fruit Blend as a sugar substitute and because everyone is baking at home during this pandemic, sugar free chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips were out of stock. So, I had to used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. But you can absolutely make this a flourless and sugar free recipe if the ingredients are available to you.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Miss Crumbs A Lot, adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup Almond Flour or Almond Meal (finely ground)
2 tbsp Monk Fruit Blend
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Xantham Gum
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1  tbsp Almond Milk
4 tbsp Chocolate Chips (of your choice)

Cooking Method
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Mix the almond flour, monk fruit blend, salt, baking soda and xantham gum very well together.
3. Dissolve the coconut oil in the microwave in short cooking times (20-30 seconds) until it is in a liquid form.
4. Add the coconut oil, vanilla extract and almond milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until a soft dough is formed. If it is too dry, you may add another 1/2-1 tbsp of almond milk.
5. Shape the dough into round cookies and place on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10-15 minute as they will be very soft and delicate when first taken out of the oven. The cookies will firm up once cooled.

Makes 10 small cookies.

We recently had some beautiful weather over the last weekend and since we still preferred to stay home and social distance, we just spent the afternoon swimming and chilling in our backyard. Dinner was already in the grill and the table was set for us to dine out in our patio. But knowing my kids, whenever they swim or are just playing in the pool, they seem to get extremely hungry the moment they step out of the water. Since dinner won't be ready for another 20 minutes or so, I quickly whipped up these super delicious Chinese Scallion Pancakes for them to have as an appetizer and to tide them over until dinner was ready.

These Chinese Scallion Pancakes are so easy and simple, you can make it in no time with just some pantry staples. Served hot straight off the skillet, my family literally devoured it in 60 seconds!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes
by Miss Crumbs A lot, adapted from food52

Recipe
Pancakes Ingredients
1 cup All Purpose Flour (unbleached) with extra for dusting
1/2 tsp Sea salt
1 tbsp Ghee or Clarified Butter
1/4 cup Water
2 tbsp Milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup Scallion (thinly sliced)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Dipping Sauce Ingredients
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Sesame oil
Dash of White Pepper Powder

Cooking Method
1. Please refer to the pictures above throughout the recipe. Make dipping sauce by whisking all the ingredients together and set aside. You may also use store bought dumpling sauce. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
2. Combine 1/4 cup of water and 2 tbsp of milk in a microwavable bowl or measuring cup. Warm it up in the microwave for 1 minute. Pour the mixture into the flour and mix with a spatula until a soft dough is formed. You may add more warm water or flour but do not rush to do so yet. Use your hands to mix the dough until it is soft and does not stick to your hands. You may find that with some patience and kneading, no additional water or flour may be needed at all.
3. Lightly dust clean counter top or clean surface with some flour, knead the dough for about a minute or two. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and allow it to rest, covered with a slightly damp paper towel for about 5 minutes.
4. Keeping counter top light dusted with flour, roll out one dough into a 8"round circle with a flour dusted rolling pin, to about 1/8" thick. Repeat with second ball of dough.
5. Using your finger tips, smear the ghee or clarified butter over rolled out dough. From the edge of the circle, roll up the dough into a tight log. Then, roll up the log into a tight spiral ball. Repeat with the second rolled out dough. Allow it to rest, covered with a slightly damp paper towel for about 5 minutes.
6. Keeping counter top light dusted with flour, roll out one spiral dough ball into a 8"round circle with a flour dusted rolling pin, to about 1/8" thick. Repeat with second spiral ball of dough.
7. Sprinkle the thinly sliced scallions on top of the rolled out dough. From the edge of the circle, roll up the dough into a tight log again. Then, roll up the log into a tight spiral ball again. Repeat with the second rolled out spiral ball of dough. Allow it to rest, covered with a slightly damp paper towel for about 5 minutes.
8. Keeping counter top light dusted with flour, gently roll out one spiral dough ball with scallions into a 8"round circle with a flour dusted rolling pin, to about 1/8" thick. Repeat with second spiral ball of dough with scallions. Set aside covered with slightly damp paper towel until ready to fry.
9. In a non-stick frying pan or skillet, heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium to medium high heat. Carefully lay one pancake into frying pan. Fry until the underside is golden brown, gently flip and cook the other side until it is golden brown as well.
10. Remove from heat and onto a chopping board. Cut into 8 triangle slices and serve hot with dipping sauce.

Makes 2 pancakes