Good Things Come To Those Who Bake
Generalized Anxiety Disorder you bug me! I was diagnosed about 12 years ago. In short, it’s persistent worry about all things.
For example, Jude got a fever three times in the past two months and instead of my mind thinking well he’s only 2 and it is cold, and flu season my mind thinks “it must be something horrible that’s going to change our lives forever. I must WebMD his symptoms to confirm my fears, and so I do just to find out that yes, yes it is an incurable disease that’s causing these fevers! Or I go to a friends house and say something and then I spend the rest of the night worrying that I said the wrong thing and now I’ve offended or hurt her. So, now I can’t sleep, and the next day I’m irritable because I'm tired and I DO offend someone. It’s hard and annoying to deal with, BUT I have found a bright side.
First, my daughter started having anxiety, and because I experience the same symptoms, I knew to take her to a therapist immediately. Instead of waiting years and years like I did. The other good thing about my struggle is that I’ve been able to talk to many other women who live with GAD and it’s nice to be able to reassure someone and let them know they’re not alone.
There are a few different things I do to help relieve the symptoms. Baking helps me deal which is awesome because it leads to muffins and cake and cookies and bread. It has been very therapeutic for me because it’s very precise and controlled and my mind is chaos at times. It takes total concentration at least for me it does, and so it takes my mind away from worry. Plus I get dessert after so it's a win-win situation.
I've been making these baked oatmeal breakfast cookies now for a while. It's an easy breakfast or snack!
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas
- ½ C peanut butter
- 1 TBS butter, softened
- 2 TBS honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2½ C oatmeal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas
- Stir in 1/2 C peanut butter, 1 TBS butter, 2 TBS honey, and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add 2 1/2 C oats, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until combined.
- Add the beaten egg and stir until combined.
- Add in chocolate chips stir
- Scoop TBS sized cookies on a cookie sheet; I use a cookie scooper. If you want them to look nice and uniform you can shape them with your hand.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Let cool on baking sheet.
