My mother gave me a coffee grinder for Christmas but I hardly drink coffee and definitely not at home.  This little appliance is easy to use and is coming in quite handy.  I ground my own oat flour from rolled oats and flax meal from whole flaxseeds!  I imagine it can be used to make other nut and seed flours.  I especially like grinding my own flaxseeds now because I can grind only what I need and enjoy the freshness and nutrients that get released. (Whole flaxseeds are very hard and will pass through your body undigested if you don’t grind them.)  Buying them already ground (flaxmeal) is fine and is what I used to do but the longer they are ground and thus exposed the more likely they are to be oxidized, go rancid and lose nutrients.  Who knows how long the meal is exposed in production and how long it’s been on the store shelf. Always store flax in an airtight container in the fridge.

Here’s one of my original recipes. These cookies have no added sugar or fat!  Every ingredient is unprocessed (except rolled oats which are minimally processed from oat groats and the baking powder.)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

2 very ripe bananas

1/4 pumpkin puree

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp sea salt

liquid stevia to taste (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grind 1/2 cup rolled oats then mix in with remaining rolled oats, salt, spices, baking powder and ground flaxseed.
3. Mash bananas in a food processor or with a fork and add to the pumpkin puree then add vanilla.
4. Mix dry and wet ingredients and add pumpkin seeds.
5. Form into circles (I made 14 cookies) and lay on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. (Wet hands to forms balls so the batter does not stick to your fingers.)
6. Press down gently to flatten  a bit.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes.