Wretha's Adventures Living Off Grid: June 2024

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Coffee and Batteries

What do batteries and coffee have in common? Besides the fact that you can get a charge from both... Well, earlier today I got to experience both.

Let me talk about coffee first, I am not a daily coffee drinker, but I do consider myself a bit of a coffee snob. I like dark roast, whole bean coffee, I found a good brand from Sam's Club, it can only be purchased online, which is fine with me as I live pretty far from my "local" Sam's. And as with anything purchased from Sam's, it's going to come in an extra large size. It does take me a while to go through a bag. I have been buying this particular coffee for a few years now, everytime I try another brand, I am typically disappointed and quickly go back to this one.

You can try this from Amazon (it's more expensive there, but worth it if you don't have a Sam's account)

Or you can buy it from Sam's (a much better price!) Dark roast (my favorite) or medium roast (I just saw this!!!!)

So today (yesterday technically), I finished the last few beans in one bag and got to open a fresh new bag! If you are a coffee person, you must know the delight in opening a fresh new container of coffee, the scent is heavenly, the beans are oily and shiny... Oh I must say that this coffee roaster is one of the best I've experienced, their beans are whole, not broken, consistent in size and roast (that matters!), it's a pleasure to make coffee from this roaster, and they seem to do some good things for society which is a bonus!

The other exciting thing that happened today (or technically yesterday) is, well lets go back a week, I ordered 2 more LiFePO4 batteries (lithium iron), they came in a couple of days ago and we just installed them. A bit of history, we are running 3 separate solar systems, the original one that we started out with, we call that one the SkyCastle, the second system that we call the Tower of Power, and the third one called the Island. We named them so we would know which system we were referring to when discussing them.

We were using 2 100AH 12 volt LiFePO4 batteries on the SkyCastle system, these are Weize brand and fairly new, just a couple of months old. The Tower has 2 100AH 12 volt LiFePO4 Battleborn and the Island also had 2 100AH 12 volt LiFePO4 Battleborn batteries. The idea I had was to take the Battleborn batteries out of the Island and add them to the Tower giving us 4 100AH 12 volt LiFePO4 batteries together in that system, and buy 2 more Weize brand 100AH 12 volt LiFePO4 batteries to put into the Island. I'm thinking that in the near future, we will get 2 more Weize batteries and add them to the Island to have a total of 4 batteries in that system too, but one step at a time.

The reason for wanting, needing more batteries is because we added 2 more large loads to our systems. We try to keep the loads on each system in balance, the refrigerator is running on the SkyCastle along with the water pump and a few lights. We run a freezer on another system, sometimes it's the Tower, sometimes it's the Island depending on how much power is on each one. Of course we are running more lights, laptops (mine and PB's), and various charging of phones, tablets and the such.

Recently we purchased a small window unit air conditioner, and even more recently we changed our internet from a local company to Starlink. Both of those items use a LOT of power each. The AC is pulling a pretty constant 500 watts, and the internet runs between 50-100 watts constantly. We don't run the AC all the time, just a few hours during the hottest part of the day, the internet, well that runs from the time one of us gets up in the morning (typically PB) until I go to bed at night (or early in the morning). So between these 2 new loads being added to our systems, we really needed to upgrade our battery storage.

Yesterday, we ran out the Island using the AC, I didn't mean for that to happen, I just got busy and didn't watch the power close enough. It was starting to get dark so by the light of a flashlight, PB removed the Battleborns from the Island and installed the new Weize batteries. One thing he immediately noticed, the Weize batteries are significantly lighter in weight than the Battleborns. Fortunately these batteries usually come fully charged so I have all 3 of my current systems charged up for the night.

We took the Battleborns over to the Tower but decided to install them tomorrow. We need to charge up the ones that were removed from the Island, all 4 batteries need to be as close to the same charge as possible before hooking them all together. It may be a few days before I can get PB to work on the Tower system, I just had an idea, we can run the existing 2 batteries in the Tower down using the AC tomorrow, then we can hook them all up after the sun goes down, that will give them a chance to bottom balance overnight, then they can start charging once the sun comes up the following day.

Hope you are having a great week, how is your week going? Let me know!

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Monday, June 24, 2024

Eating Healthy vs Eating Junk

Eating healthy is definitely a journey rather than a destination. It's a daily thing, sometimes a battle, but more often than not, it's becoming a pleasure. I am absolutely enjoying the benefits of eating cleaner. I have been eliminating negative foods (and drinks) from my diet for many years, choosing to work slowly and deliberately; I figure it's easier to keep the promises to myself if I'm going slow rather than turning my food choices on their head. I'm also choosing to replace unhealthy with healthier versions of my favorite foods.

One thing I've noticed is that when I choose to eat in a very unhealthy manner like I used to eat, I can definitely feel it, the sluggishness, in my mood, spirit, and insides 😧

Yesterday I was reminded how I feel when I eat a lot of junk foods. This was a celebration of my sister's birthday, we went to a public pool a little over an hour from my place. I brought chips and dip, the chips were 2 bags of very junky chips and one bag of slightly healthier organic corn chips. The dips, well, they were the run-of-the-mill bad choices: queso, ranch, and creamy spinach. I ate mostly the corn chips dipped in all of the dips. I also ate a chicken sandwich and a couple of bites of a hot dog. I had a couple of pieces of fresh watermelon (the healthiest thing there!), There was also a giant chocolate chip cookie cake; I had a biggish piece. I drank 1 glass of sweet tea and half a can of cherry Coke (yuck, I'm really disliking the taste and feel of any sort of soda). We had Topo Chico but had to leave it in the vehicles because they didn't allow glass inside the pool area.

Needless to say, by the time I got home, even though I didn't eat much of all of those things, it was enough to take its toll. I was feeling practically drugged.

Now for the amazing thing: Once home, I decided I had eaten enough food but wanted to top it with something very healthy. I ate some homemade yogurt with fresh strawberries and grapes, sweetened it slightly with maple syrup, and added a scoop of protein powder. Within 20-30 minutes of eating that, my gut calmed right down; it was no longer fussing at me. That and the several bottles of water I drank helped tremendously.

I'm actually glad that my body lets me know how eating the junkiest of junk food is detrimental to my body, mind and spirit, it makes it so much easier to turn it down. I've been walking away from heavy sugar foods for a few months now, I can tell the difference. I am able to politely turn down really good cookies and other sweets and really mean it, I'm not secretly wishing I could go ahead and eat it, I'm seriously good with saying no. I am also trying not to push my beliefs and practices off on other people, no one likes a smug mug. But if asked, I will gladly educate people on what is working for me, it's up to them to walk that path, or not.

Thursday, June 13, 2024

AI - Love It Or Hate It

I know people who are fearful about AI, and understandably so, it seemingly came in like a big wave, I say seemingly because it wasn't unexpected if you were paying attention, it's been here for a while, but it's now part of nearly everything we see, especially online and on our computers, tablets and smart phones.

I made the decision that I can't stop AI by ignoring it, fearing it, or not using it. It is a tool, and like most tools, it's quite neutral, neither good or bad, it's all in the hands and minds that use it that it works for good or evil. For me, I'm going to use it, I'm using it to co-create, to write, to make graphics, to answer questions that I would have gone to Google to ask. I played around with a few different AI sites, right now my two favorites are

https://playgroundai.com/

and

https://chatgpt.com/

The first one above I use for creating graphics and images, the link takes you to my profile where you can see the images I co-created.

The second link, is the infamous ChatGPT, I began playing around with that a few months ago, the free level is good for writing, I decided to try out their paid tier, that one does even better with writing and it also lets you work with graphics. Using Playground I got pretty good with prompts to make graphics, so I took what I knew and brought that to ChatGPT. Sometimes I come out with something I'm happy with, sometimes not so much.

Typically I start out with a description of what I am looking for, I try to be as descriptive as possible, then from there you can tweak the prompts to get closer and closer to what you are looking for.

Here is an example of something I played with earlier tonight, I slightly changed and added to each iteration:

Me: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain making eye contact with the viewer in a mid-shot view.

ChatGPT: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain, captured in a mid-shot view. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, creating a sense of connection. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the man. He wears a weathered hat and a long coat, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face. The expression on his face is thoughtful and slightly melancholic, and his eyes convey a sense of wisdom and experience. The muted colors and soft lighting add to the emotional depth of the scene.

For some reason it decided to rewrite my prompt instead of giving me a picture, so I copied that prompt and asked again.

Me: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain, captured in a mid-shot view. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, creating a sense of connection. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the man. He wears a weathered hat and a long coat, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face. The expression on his face is thoughtful and slightly melancholic, and his eyes convey a sense of wisdom and experience. The muted colors and soft lighting add to the emotional depth of the scene.

ChatGPT: Here is the photograph of the old man walking in the rain, making eye contact with the viewer. The scene captures the thoughtful and melancholic expression, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face, adding to the emotional depth.

Me: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain, captured in a mid-shot view. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, he has fierce piercing blue eyes, creating a sense of connection. He has the slightest upturn of a smile. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the man. He wears a weathered hat and a long coat, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face. The expression on his face is thoughtful and slightly melancholic, and his eyes convey a sense of wisdom and experience. The muted colors and soft lighting add to the emotional depth of the scene.

ChatGPT: Here is the photograph of the old man walking in the rain, making eye contact with the viewer. The scene captures the thoughtful and melancholic expression, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face, adding to the emotional depth.

Me: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain, captured in a mid-shot view. He is walking away and looking back over his shoulder at the camera, head slightly tilted down to allow the rain drops to fall from the front of the brim of his hat, one eyebrow is slightly raised. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, he has fierce piercing blue eyes, creating a sense of connection. He has the slightest upturn of a smile. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the man. He wears a weathered hat and a long coat, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face. The expression on his face is thoughtful and slightly melancholic, and his eyes convey a sense of wisdom and experience. The muted colors and soft lighting add to the emotional depth of the scene.

ChatGPT: Here is the photograph of the old man walking in the rain, looking back over his shoulder and making direct eye contact with the viewer. The scene captures his fierce piercing blue eyes and a slight upturn of a smile, with a thoughtful and slightly melancholic expression. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the emotional depth of the moment.

Me: A photograph of an old man walking in the rain, captured in a mid-shot view. He is walking away and looking back over his shoulder at the camera, head slightly tilted down to allow the rain drops to fall from the front of the brim of his hat, one eyebrow is slightly raised. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, he has fierce piercing blue eyes, creating a sense of connection. He has the slightest upturn of a smile. The rain softly blurs the background, highlighting the man. He wears a weathered hat and a long coat, with raindrops visible on his clothes and face. The expression on his face is thoughtful and slightly melancholic, and his eyes convey a sense of wisdom and experience. The muted colors and soft lighting add to the emotional depth of the scene.

ChatGPT: Here is the photograph of the old man walking in the rain, looking back over his shoulder with his head slightly tilted down, allowing raindrops to fall from the front of his hat's brim. One eyebrow is slightly raised, and he makes direct eye contact with fierce piercing blue eyes, creating a sense of connection. The slight upturn of his smile, thoughtful and slightly melancholic expression, and the rain-blurred background add to the emotional depth of the scene.

Which picture do you like best? I slightly changed or added to each iteration, the last one I left the prompt the same to see what it would do differently, sometimes if you don't like what it did, you can request a new picture using the same prompt.

I could have gone on but I was happy enough with the final image. Of course, so far I have never had any AI come up with exactly what I pictured in my head, and no matter how many times I tweak the descriptive words, it just can't read my mind or see what I see, I do like that it rewords what I wrote to clarify what it thinks I want, often adding in details I didn't. Sometimes that works out well, other times not so much. I have also discovered that often if you keep trying to tweak something like this, especially if you have it pretty close, it will reach a point where it seems to grow tired of the game and the images will become worse instead of better. Some of the time, the images are spot on, and other times I wonder if the AI is having a bad day LOL.

At any rate, I am having fun with this for now. I am not afraid of it removing the creativity of the human touch in writing or art, honestly for me it's pretty easy to spot the AI generated things, I've been using it long enough to become familiar with the look and feel of its output.

There are always those who believe that technology is inherently evil, I'm just old enough to remember my grandparent's generation being told that washing machines and the such are the Devil's tools, or at the very least it would allow women to have more time on their hands therefore the phrase "Idleness is the Devil's workshop..." was born, it was thought that computers and the internet would usher in evil, and it's true, it certainly has, in the hands of those who wish to use it for evil. It was once thought that going faster than a horse could run could cause internal injuries, referring to the automobile, and it was said that man would never fly, well both of those things were not true.

I look at some technology with a suspicious side-eye. Again, it's less about the actual tech and more about the hands that wield it, their intent, what they do with it, or in other cases where they bury the tech because it would dig into the profits of the tech that is in use now.

Love it or hate it, fear it or embrace it, AI is here to stay, I am using this tool, for my enjoyment, my education, to help with work and other things.

What say you?

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

1st World Problems...

Living in the rural wilds of far west Texas, we don't have many stores to choose from, at least not that are close by. We rely on Amazon and Sam's Club deliveries for much of what we want from stores.

One of the things I discovered about Sam's Club is when I make an order, they try to cram everything into one box, I can appreciate that, as long as the box isn't the size of a small house! I remember once, I had to go pick up the package from our community center (don't even get me started on that issue!) a few miles away, it was late, dark, not a soul around. The box wasn't all that heavy, but it was too big for me to get a good grip on. I had to drag it from the community center to my truck, I barely got it into my truck. Once I got it home, I had to open the box and remove the contents to get it up to the SkyCastle. I do have a little red wagon (Radio Flyer!) that I use to tote things up from my truck to the house, it's a bit of a hike, uphill, over the bridge and everything. That box was too wide/big for the wagon.

I offered constructive criticism on their online form, I'm sure SOMEONE read it, but since my orders come from various different stores, I still can't be sure that my orders will be packed properly. Oh and there is also the issue of packing heavy things in with more fragile things with very little or no padding materials added, like the time they put 2 big bags of popped popcorn into a box with some heavy items, no padding, all loose... by the time the box got to me, I could smell popcorn through the box, one of the bags of popcorn had burst and was all inside of the packing box.

I came up with a solution, it's not ideal, it's not very green either, but one does what one has to do to get by in this world. I now "strategically" order, instead of doing one large order, I break my orders up into what I'm sure will comfortably fit in a box that I can get my hands around AND lift, AND will not destroy other items in said box.

This only seems to happen with Sam's Club deliveries; so yesterday, I made an order, and I saved part of the order to complete today. I honestly meant to complete the second part yesterday later in the day, but the day got away from me. Both orders were packaged and shipped today, one of them is a large package of Puffs facial tissues, I know they are lightweight but since they are large, if they packed them into the same box as all the rest of my order, it would be problematic for me when they arrived.

I guess this is what they call 1st world problems. I am very grateful that I am able to get the deliveries that I do, I'm grateful that I have the resources to make these orders and have them delivered. And believe me, I give good comments on the surveys when things go right, I don't want to be the person who complains but doesn't give good feedback as well.

Healthy Chickpea Toll House Style Cookies - Take 2

As you may or may not know, my previous attempt at making healthier chocolate chip cookies were a bit of a fail. I ended up tossing the cookies I had made, it turned out to be the coconut flour that caused the problem. It gave them a sandy/gritty texture that just wasn't pleasant.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, I tried again, this time using ground oat flour and almond flour. I haven't tried baking them, yet, it's just been too hot to turn on the oven. On a side note, someday, I hope to set up an outdoor kitchen area on my breezeway so I can bake and cook without heating up the house.

Raw, last 3 LOL

A few nights ago, I made up another batch of "healthy" (or healthier) version of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough, I haven't tried baking them, yet... if you follow me you'll know that I made this previously with coconut flour and it turned out sandy/gritty feeling, both the raw form and in the baked form. I asked AI about this and it gave me some good suggestions. So last night I got to work making a new batch, this time I used oat flour (I ground my own oats) and finely ground almond flour, everything else was more or less the same. Well they turned out very tasty and the texture was spot on! So far I have only eaten the "raw" dough, it's perfectly safe as it only contains ingredients which can be eaten without cooking. I even gave PB a bite, he was OK with it until he found out what he was actually eating LOL.

Here is the "recipe", these are approximates, I'm mainly guestimating on the almond and oat flour, I added each one until the dough seemed to be the right texture, not too wet, not too dry. I suspect the total amounts of the dry ingredients would change based on how wet the chickpea puree came out, this one came out pretty wet.

Chickpea Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough

1 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained (I used Goyoa brand)

1.5 cups almond flour

1.5 cups oat flour

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 plump fresh Medjool dates, pitted

1/4 t vanilla extract

dash of Celtic salt

6 oz of milk chocolate chips (Hershey's brand)

First, take 3-4 pitted Medjool dates, pour boiling water over them in a bowl and allow to plump up. Next pulverize your oats until they are powdered. Once your dates are plump, drain off most of the water and puree until smooth (I used a Magic Bullet blender). Drain a can of chickpeas (but save the liquid for other uses!), puree the chickpeas until smooth. Pour this into a large bowl to finish mixing. Add the other wet ingredients and mix. Add the oat flour and almond flour alternately, about 1/2 cup at a time, mix, continue adding and mixing until you get a dough that looks like a regular cookie dough, the more of the oat and almond flour you add, the stiffer the dough will be. I add a few shakes of a good salt (I prefer Celtic sea salt, you use what you have). Next add your chocolate chips, measure with your heart, I had a half of a 12 oz bag so that's what I added. Mix until all the chips are incorporated. Now you can eat the cookie dough with a spoon, or roll into balls and eat, or you can bake them. Store any left over in the refrigerator. I'm not sure just yet if I'm going to try baking mine, if I do I'll probably add a bit of baking powder, or not... I'd bake them at 350 degrees F for about 12-15 minutes.

Here are the approximate nutritional values:

Chickpeas (1 can, 15.5 oz, drained)

Calories: 269

Protein: 14.5g

Fat: 4.3g

Carbohydrates: 45g

Fiber: 12.5g

Vitamins and minerals: Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc

Almond Flour (1.5 cups)

Calories: 960

Protein: 36g

Fat: 84g

Carbohydrates: 36g

Fiber: 12g

Vitamins and minerals: Vitamin E, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, Potassium

Oat Flour (1.5 cups)

Calories: 612

Protein: 18g

Fat: 9g

Carbohydrates: 102g

Fiber: 12g

Vitamins and minerals: Iron, Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B5

Maple Syrup (1/4 cup)

Calories: 216

Protein: 0g

Fat: 0g

Carbohydrates: 56g

Fiber: 0g

Vitamins and minerals: Manganese, Zinc, Calcium, Potassium, Iron

Medjool Dates (3, pitted)

Calories: 199

Protein: 1.5g

Fat: 0.3g

Carbohydrates: 53g

Fiber: 5g

Vitamins and minerals: Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, Iron

Vanilla Extract (1/4 t)

Negligible nutritional value

Celtic Salt (dash)

Negligible nutritional value

Milk Chocolate Chips (6 oz, Hershey's brand)

Calories: 840

Protein: 9g

Fat: 48g

Carbohydrates: 108g

Fiber: 6g

Vitamins and minerals: Calcium, Iron, Magnesium

Now, let's combine these values to get the approximate nutritional values for the entire recipe.

Total Nutritional Values

Calories

Chickpeas: 269

Almond Flour: 960

Oat Flour: 612

Maple Syrup: 216

Medjool Dates: 199

Milk Chocolate Chips: 840

Total Calories: 3096

Protein

Chickpeas: 14.5g

Almond Flour: 36g

Oat Flour: 18g

Medjool Dates: 1.5g

Milk Chocolate Chips: 9g

Total Protein: 79g

Fat

Chickpeas: 4.3g

Almond Flour: 84g

Oat Flour: 9g

Medjool Dates: 0.3g

Milk Chocolate Chips: 48g

Total Fat: 145.6g

Carbohydrates

Chickpeas: 45g

Almond Flour: 36g

Oat Flour: 102g

Maple Syrup: 56g

Medjool Dates: 53g

Milk Chocolate Chips: 108g

Total Carbohydrates: 400g

Fiber

Chickpeas: 12.5g

Almond Flour: 12g

Oat Flour: 12g

Medjool Dates: 5g

Milk Chocolate Chips: 6g

Total Fiber: 47.5g

Vitamins and Minerals (not exhaustive but key ones)

Folate: High from chickpeas

Iron: High from chickpeas, almond flour, oat flour, maple syrup, and chocolate chips

Magnesium: High from chickpeas, almond flour, oat flour, and dates

Phosphorus: High from chickpeas and almond flour

Potassium: High from chickpeas, almond flour, dates, and maple syrup

Zinc: High from chickpeas, almond flour, oat flour, and maple syrup

Vitamin E: High from almond flour

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): High from oat flour

Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid): High from oat flour

Calcium: Moderate from almond flour and milk chocolate chips

Manganese: High from maple syrup

Per Serving (assuming 12 servings)

Calories: ~258

Protein: ~6.6g

Fat: ~12.1g

Carbohydrates: ~33.3g

Fiber: ~4g

Monday, June 3, 2024

Chickpea Cookies and ChatGPT (short version)

Hey everyone, I understand that not everyone wants to read lengthy, wordy posts, so I shortened my previous post about my chickpea Toll House cookies experiment. Enjoy!

Hey everyone! Hope you're doing well! Today, I’m sharing a healthy and tasty post about my journey to eat healthier. I've been an avid label reader since my son Josh was young. Over the years, I’ve realized that many processed foods, even the so-called healthy ones, contain undesirable ingredients.

I'm working on cutting out sugar, especially cookies, which are my weakness. While I typically avoid store-bought cookies, I sometimes buy Mexican wafer cookies for PB, they have less junk. I love dipping cookies in my after-dinner coffee, but I often end up eating half a package!

Thanks to Facebook and other social media videos, I've discovered cooks who use healthy ingredients to recreate unhealthy foods. Inspired, I decided to make Toll House-style chocolate chip cookies with better ingredients. Here's my recipe (more my experiment, no real measurements this time, maybe later):

- **Ingredients:**

- 1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed, save the juice!)

- Coconut flour

- 5 pitted dates (softened in boiling water)

- Maple syrup

- Celtic salt

- Coconut oil

- Aquafaba (chickpea liquid)

- Baking powder

- Chocolate chips

- **Instructions:**

1. Blend drained and rinsed chickpeas into a fine mass.

2. Pulverize dates with a bit of hot water.

3. Mix chickpeas, dates, coconut flour, maple syrup, and salt.

4. Add coconut oil and aquafaba for moisture.

5. Separate dough for 2 cookies, add baking powder and chocolate chips.

6. Bake at 350°F for 12-20 minutes.

Initially, the cookies were crumbly. Adding an egg improved the texture. I plan to use oat flour and more eggs next time. I also forgot the vanilla extract. I sought advice from ChatGPT.

ChatGPT suggested the following tips to reduce crumbliness:
1. Increase binding agents (extra egg or aquafaba).
2. Add moisture-retaining ingredients (applesauce or Greek yogurt).
3. Use different flours (almond or oat flour).
4. Add a small amount of starch (cornstarch or tapioca starch).
5. Chill the dough before baking.
6. Adjust temperature (lower) and baking time (longer).

I found that chickpeas make a great base for cookies, providing a healthier alternative to traditional ingredients. Despite my dislike for whole chickpeas, they work wonderfully in this recipe.

Have you tried baking with coconut flour or chickpeas? How did it turn out for you?

Thanks for visiting!

Wretha

Original, more wordy version of this post can be found here:
https://www.wretha.com/2024/06/chickpea-cookies-and-chatgpt.html

Chickpea Cookies and ChatGPT

Hey, hope everyone is doing well! It's time for a happy post, and it's healthy too (that's a bonus!). So I have been working on eating healthier for quite some time now, I am a rabid label reader, it's a habit I took up back when my son was very young (remember that Josh???). I kept it up over the years, one thing I notice currently is that most processed foods, no matter what they are, tend to have garbage in them. I'm not even referring to so-called "junk foods"; I mean even the healthy choices, if you read the labels, will often contain at least one ingredient that I am opposed to putting in my body.

Now, I'm not a health nut by any means, this is definitely a work in progress and will be something I continually work on for the rest of my life. I am currently working on cutting out sugar, specifically things like cookies, a definite weakness I have. I am quite able to walk past the cookie aisle in the store with no problem, all I have to do is pick up the package and read the label, it's not hard to put the package back on the shelf. BUT, I am not opposed to making my own cookies, and occasionally I buy these Mexican wafer cookies for PB, they contain "less" junk than many commercial cookies, so I have been willing to buy them for PB, the problem is I like to drink coffee after dinner a couple of times a week, I treat it as a dessert and love dipping cookies in it. If I ~~steal, uh borrow~~, oh who am I kidding, I'll eat half a package of those cookies without batting an eye.

Along comes Facebook short videos, and all the other social sites with short videos, they have figured out I love watching cooks who use healthy ingredients to make what would otherwise be unhealthy foods, they bring in alternative flours (coconut, oat, almond...), if IF IF IF I am going to use an "alternative" sweetener, it's going to be natural and non-toxic, so things like raw honey, dates, maple syrup... it turns out that you can make cookies with these ingredients and they look so tasty.

I've been hankering for Toll House style chocolate chip cookie, but with better ingredients. So I opened a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans, but honestly I prefer the word chickpeas LOL), I drained and reserved the liquid (called aquafaba), I rinsed and drained the chickpeas and placed them in a Magic-bullet blender and ground the chickpeas. I didn't make a paste, but nearly, it was a finely finely finely minced chopped mass of chickpeas, I put that into a large bowl. Next I poured in some ground coconut flour. Sorry I don't have a recipe, I just added each ingredient, mixing until it looked right and moved to the next ingredient, that's just how I roll...

Wait, before I did that to the chickpeas, I needed to soften up some pitted dates, I added about 5 pitted dates to a bowl and poured some boiling water to cover, I allowed that to sit while I worked on the chickpeas. I used the Magic-bullet with a tiny bit of the hot water to pulverize the dates, then I added that to the ground chickpeas, mixed and added the coconut flour. I also added a bloop of maple syrup. I tasted at each addition to make sure everything was sweet enough but not too sweet. I sprinkled in some Celtic salt, actually quite a bit, it really needed that to keep from being too bland. Oh puff, I just remembered what I forgot, I should have added a small bloop of vanilla extract, that would have make it better... oh well, next time.

I knew I'd need something to make it moister, I added a few spoons of coconut oil and some of the aquafaba. I was hoping the aquafaba would add some structure, like adding an egg. I wasn't opposed to adding an egg but I was thinking I might make this safely edible without cooking, like eating raw cookie dough without the salmonella surprise lottery. Well, honestly I didn't care for the texture in its raw form, so I moved on from that idea, for now...

At this point, I had a base mixture that looked a lot like the Toll House cookie dough, minus the chocolate chips, those would come later. I wanted to test out 1 or 2 cookies, cooking them and seeing what needed to be added to make it better. So I separated enough "dough" to make 2 cookies; I added some floof powder (baking powder) and a few chocolate chips, preheated my oven, and rolled 2 cookie balls; I flattened them, thinking they wouldn't flatten during cooking (I was right). I cooked them for 12 minutes, they didn't seem done, I kept adding 2-3 minutes a couple of times, then removed them from the oven. I ate them while still warm. They were OK, not the best cookies I've ever made or eaten. The biggest problem was they were crumbly, not exactly dry, but didn't hold together, they were almost "sandy" in texture.

Next, I broke an egg into a separate bowl, whisked it, and used just a little of that in another batch of 2 cookies; I noticed that batch came out much better. The texture was getting better. I noticed that I needed to bake these for around 20 minutes. They didn't really "brown" or crisp up, they stayed soft and still had a bit of a "sandy" texture. But they were definitely getting better. So I committed to the egg, adding it to the rest of the entire batch, along with floof powder and the chocolate chips.

I made one small tray of cookies, and then on the final batch of cookie dough, I added a few spoons of cocoa powder to give it an even bigger chocolate hit. The final outcome was that they are pretty decent cookies, better than just OK, good enough that I want to continue with this experiment. I know that having chickpeas as the main ingredient makes them much, much healthier than the traditional Toll House cookies.

I needed to figure out what makes traditional Toll House cookies hold together. Normally I would go to Google to ask such questions, but lately I have been playing with ChatGPT, I'm even paying the $20 a month to get the extra sauce from them (It's been soooooo worth it to me!). I decided to ask ChatGPT a series of questions and find out what it has to say about this. Here is the chat I had with it:

ME: What makes toll house cookies hold together?
ChatGPT: Toll House cookies, like most cookies, hold together due to the combination of ingredients and the chemical reactions that occur during baking. Here are the key factors:
1. **Flour**: Provides structure through gluten formation when mixed with liquid.
2. **Eggs**: Act as a binding agent and add moisture, which helps in holding the ingredients together.
3. **Sugar**: Caramelizes during baking, adding to the cookie's structure.
4. **Butter**: Contributes to the cookie's texture and helps bind the ingredients.
5. **Leavening agents**: Baking soda or baking powder creates air pockets that help the cookies rise and maintain their shape.
The right balance and combination of these ingredients ensure that Toll House cookies have the desired consistency and stay intact.

ME: I made Toll House style cookies using a can of chickpeas, drained then ground fine. I added some unsweetened coconut flour. For sweetness I added dates that had been soaked in boiling water for a bit, then drained and ground, I also added maple syrup for sweetness. I added a beaten egg, some salt and baking powder, a little coconut oil, and enough of the aquafaba liquid from the can of chickpeas to make a moist batter that held together. I added some chocolate chips. I baked them,, they needed extra baking time compared to regular Toll House cookies, they came out tasty but the cookies seemed crumbly. What can I add or do different to make them have a better texture?
ChatGPT: To improve the texture and reduce crumbliness in your chickpea-based Toll House style cookies, you can try the following adjustments:
1. **Increase Binding Agents**: Consider adding an extra egg or more aquafaba. Eggs and aquafaba both help to bind the ingredients together.
2. **Add a Moisture-Retaining Ingredient**: Try adding a tablespoon or two of a moisture-retaining ingredient like applesauce, mashed banana, or even Greek yogurt. These can help add moisture and improve texture.
3. **Use a Different Flour**: Coconut flour tends to be more absorbent and can make baked goods crumbly. You might want to try a different gluten-free flour like almond flour, oat flour, or a gluten-free baking blend.
4. **Add a Small Amount of Starch**: Incorporating a tablespoon of cornstarch or tapioca starch can help give the cookies a better structure and hold them together.
5. **Chill the Dough**: Letting the dough chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking can help the cookies hold together better during baking.
6. **Adjust Baking Time and Temperature**: Since your cookies needed extra baking time, consider baking at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period. This can help them bake more evenly and reduce crumbliness.
Try one or more of these adjustments to see how they affect the texture of your cookies.

ME: Next time I'll replace half of the coconut flour with oat flour, will that help?
ChatGPT: Yes, replacing half of the coconut flour with oat flour should help improve the texture of your cookies. Oat flour is less absorbent than coconut flour and has a higher protein content, which can provide better structure and moisture retention, making your cookies less crumbly. This substitution should result in a more cohesive and less dry cookie.

ME: How healthy is the recipe I used (without the oat flour) compared to traditional Toll House cookies?

ChatGPT: Your chickpea-based Toll House style cookies are generally healthier than traditional Toll House cookies in several ways:

1. **Lower in Refined Sugars**: By using dates and maple syrup as sweeteners, you're avoiding refined sugars, which have a higher glycemic index and can lead to blood sugar spikes.
2. **Higher in Fiber**: Chickpeas and dates provide a good amount of dietary fiber, which can aid in digestion and help you feel full longer.
3. **More Protein**: Chickpeas are a good source of plant-based protein, which can be beneficial for muscle repair and growth.
4. **Healthier Fats**: Using coconut oil instead of butter introduces medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which can be a more easily digestible form of fat. However, the health benefits of coconut oil vs. butter can vary depending on the overall dietary context.
5. **Nutrient Density**: Chickpeas, dates, and aquafaba offer additional vitamins and minerals not typically found in traditional cookies, such as iron, potassium, and magnesium.
6. **Lower in Saturated Fat**: Your recipe likely has less saturated fat compared to the traditional recipe which uses butter.
7. **Gluten-Free**: Your recipe, using coconut and chickpea flours, is naturally gluten-free, which is beneficial for those with gluten sensitivities or celiac disease.
However, it’s important to note that while your recipe is healthier in many ways, it still contains sugars (even though they are natural) and fats, so they should still be consumed in moderation. Overall, your chickpea-based cookies provide a more nutrient-dense and lower glycemic alternative to traditional Toll House cookies.

ME:

This is how they turned out, I also added cocoa powder to the last batch.

ChatGPT: They look delicious! The addition of cocoa powder to the last batch adds a nice variety. Considering the ingredients and methods you used, the cookies have a great appearance. For the next experiment with oat flour, you might find the texture to be improved and less crumbly.
Given their current look, you might want to:
1. **Add More Binding**: As mentioned before, a bit more egg or aquafaba might help.
2. **Consider Moisture Content**: Adding a bit more coconut oil or a moisture-retaining ingredient like applesauce or Greek yogurt could also help.
Your approach to making these cookies healthier is commendable. Keep experimenting, and you're likely to find the perfect balance!

So, that was my conversation with ChatGPT, I was even able to add a photo, it's amazing that it can recognize what is in photos. For the record, the chocolate chocolate chip ones were the best of this batch, it made it less "sandy" or crumbly. I do intend to replace approximately half of the coconut flour with ground oats (oat flour); I think that will improve the texture greatly. I'll also add 2 eggs to the mix. Believe it or not, chickpeas as a base in cookies turn out pretty good, I don't even like chickpeas by themselves, I love hummus and other things MADE with chickpeas, but honestly I just don't care to eat chickpeas in their whole state, I think it's the texture I dislike.

The cookies turned out tasting like cookies, not like chickpeas. The coconut flour did add a tiny bit of coconut flavor, it's not overwhelming though. The biggest issue was the texture, presumably from using coconut flour, so exchanging half of that for oat flour should help the texture be better, and adding a second egg to the entire batch will also help the texture. And I must remember to include some vanilla extract, I have some really good vanilla paste from Sam's Club.

The coconut flour is on clearance at my local small-town grocery store; they do have a small section of healthy alternative flours, but they tend to be very expensive. I came in one day to find the coconut flour was on clearance but no price label, I grabbed half of what they had ( I didn't want to be greedy) and found the price to be extremely good. The following week, when I went back, all the rest of the bags of coconut flour were still there, so I snagged all the rest of them. I gave many of the bags away to my friends, the rest of the bags I needed to figure out what to do with them. This is a good thing IMHO.

Have you tried coconut flour? If so, what did you do with it? Were you happy with the outcome? What about using chickpeas in cookies or something like this?

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