Oatmeal Banana Muffins

A friend was over for a visit yesterday and I thought a fresh batch of muffins would be a treat. This particular friend doesn't eat wheat so I adapted an old oatmeal muffin recipe to exclude it. Even though I've tagged this as gluten free, oats are not necessarily GF, so you'll have to do your own homework on that.

1 cup of quick-cooking oats

1 cup of boiling water

1 1/2 cups of oats, ground fine in blender

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 mashed banana

coconut oil or other shortening (1/2 cup or so)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 12 muffin cups.

Start by grinding the 1 1/2 cup portion of oats in the blender until fairly fine. I might have ended up with half of it being powder and half still in pieces.

Soak the 1 cup portion of oats and let stand for five minutes.

Combine all dry ingredients.

Mash banana and fill to 3/4 cup with melted coconut oil. Combine soaked oats and banana/oil mixture. Add the egg.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, adding water last. Stir until just mixed. Fill muffin pan.

Bake for at least 30 minutes. When I tested these muffins with a toothpick, it still looked a bit wet, but they tasted cooked through when we ate them warm and cold. 

Notes:
I made a second batch today, using old fashioned oats, applesauce, cinnamon, and no coconut oil. Nope! Note to self: stick with the recipe as written!

Gluten-free

I want to be very clear that when I'm talking about gluten-free, I am NOT the 100% GF that is required for those that are on a Celiac diet. If you want info on that, and for a huge variety of GF recipes, you'll want to look at:

www.thebakingbeauties.com

www.mennonitegirlscancook.com

(Jeanine at The Baking Beauties is actually Mennonite too, so Mennonite Girls really CAN Cook! LOL! And she's originally from Altona, too.)

Back in December, we started to go gluten-free as a family. I've been hearing for years that GF is potentially very helpful for people on the autism spectrum and for people with ADHD. One day, after Ella was running laps in the living room and bounced from sofa to sofa, I thought it would be worth a try to see if she would slow down a little. 

And, to make things even more fun, we also went dye-free :) People very commonly have a reaction to artificial dyes and in kids it can potentially lead to hyperactivity.

Even with Christmas, all of the candies and treats and baked yummies, I still believe she's been more calm since making these changes. Time will tell how much of an impact this can have. Keeping in mind, I believe that some people, like Ella, were never meant to live life with two feet firmly planted on the floor :) 

Crustless Quiche

I haven't made this one in ages, but it is gluten-free. I used to make it all the time. It's originally from a book called The Schwarzbein Principle (a guide to low-carb eating).

4 eggs
1 cup all-dairy heavy cream
1/2 cup water
dash cayenne pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack cheese 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" or 10" pie pan. In a medium bowl, using fork, whisk eggs, cream, water, black pepper, and cayenne pepper until well blended. Add grated cheese. Mix well. Pour in the egg and cheese mixture. Place pie pan on a baking sheet and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Variations: (These may not be GF)
Bacon & Ham: Crumble 1 cup bacon or diced ham into the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above.

Spinach & Herbs: Combine 1 cup cooked, drained, and chopped spinach and 2 teaspoons dried basil and spread on the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above.

Mushroom & Herbs: Combine 2 cups sauteed mixed mushrooms (shitake, oyster, brown crimini) and 1 tsp dried thyme and spread on the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese.

Crabmeat & Onions: Combine 6 oz canned crabmeat (drained and picked over) and 1/4 cup minced scallions and spread on bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above. Sprinkle chopped parsley over top before serving.

Oatmeal Cookies

My first attempt at a gluten-free adaptation of a recipe and it worked! Again, this is from the white recipe book, and it's a very nice, basic cookie. Oatmeal is always comforting and perfect for coffee or tea. I like to make these cookies little.

Sift together:

1 cup flour (to make it GF, I dumped 1 cup of oats in the blender until they were powder)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Add and beat until smooth:

1/2 cup brown sugar (I didn't add this amount)

1/2 cup soft shortening

1 egg, well beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp water (yes, that's correct)

Stir in:

1 cup oatmeal

Shape into balls and flatten on baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes:

One of the times I made these cookies, I used 1/2 cup of applesauce to replace the shortening. I found it was too sweet (sweetened applesauce) and the texture was too tough. I wouldn't replace more than half of the shortening with applesauce.

Added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Baked Oatmeal

I made this for breakfast today. Delicious. It was submitted to the white recipe book by Daphne Thiessen, who added these comments:

This is a favourite Saturday morning breakfast at our home. This recipe can easily be halved and baked in a 9 x 9 pan.

3/4 cup oil
1 2/3 cups sugar (white or brown)
3 eggs, beaten
5 cups rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk

Combine oil, sugar, and eggs. Mix well.

Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set and golden. Serves 6 - 8.

Notes:
Daphne also suggested chopped apples and cinnamon are good additions in the recipe.

I like to make these as individual servings, so I make them in muffin tins. What I did today that worked well was to bake it, 20 minutes, in silicone pans and I allowed them to cool in the pans before removing them.

I also made apple, cinnamon syrup, which was delicious. Approximate: 2 cups water, 1/2 of an apple cut into small pieces, 1 cup brown sugar, heat on stove until apples are cooked and the syrup has been reduced by about half. Add 1/4 cup butter before serving. It was like having apple pie for breakfast.

Chocolate Black Bean Brownies

 A very simple and yummy recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook. It's gluten-free, no sugar added and still tasty! This is copied directly from their site:

1-19 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed well
3 eggs
1/3 cup of coconut oil*
1/2 cup honey 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup, sifted cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Grease a 9 " inch pan.  Line with parchment paper. 
2. Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until it is all liquid with no lumps.  
3. Pour into the cake pan.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30  minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (In my oven it took a full 35 minutes, so make sure to test your brownie).
5. Cool for 10 minutes. 
6. Remove from pan, and cool completely. 
7. Cover and refrigerate over night.  In my opinion this tastes best cold straight out of the fridge.
8. Serve with whip cream or ice cream if desired.
9. This cake is suitable for gluten free, lactose intolerant diets. 

*vegetable oil can used in place of the coconut oil, but I like the hint of coconut flavor it gives the brownie. 

Notes:

I  used vegetable oil so I didn't have any coconut flavor, and I'm okay with that. 

The kids couldn't keep their hands off these brownies!

May 12, 2015: I made 12 muffin sized brownies and they worked great! LET COOL IN PAN!

Fried Rice

This is called "Fried Rice Restaurant Style" on allrecipes.com. It's very similar to how I throw together fried rice. This could be gluten-free if the soy sauce is GF.

2 cups enriched white rice
4 cups water
2/3 cup chopped baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
soy sauce to taste
sesame oil, to taste (optional)

In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.

Heat wok over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs with vegetables. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again. 

Notes:

This is a great way to use leftover rice. If you plan to prepare rice for dinner one night, make extra to use for this purpose. I personally prefer brown rice and I don't know how to link to it, but if you search my blog, I have a good recipe for that.

The first review on this recipe on allrecipes says: "really easy and yummy! IMPORTANT NOTE: if you want it to taste like true restaurant style, you need to put the rice only in a pot over high heat and stir it around for about 5 minutes or so before cooking. it helps the grains of rice to stay separate (more like restaurant style) and less sticky. i also used frozen peas/carrots from a bag...worked great!"

The second review says: "This is a great recipe! The only thing I want to add is that to get that authentic "taste" of restaurant fried rice, you should add about half a bottle of Oyster Sauce. Easily found in the asian section at the grocery store. Back off on that much if it tastes too strong, but after years of living in Japan and trying many versions of fried rice recipes, oyster sauce is the ticket!"

I typically saute onion and frozen-veggies-from-a-bag together, add the rice, then the eggs, and then the soy sauce and a little sesame oil at the end. It can be a pretty simple and complete meal on its own, especially if you have meat in it.

Mediterranean Burgers with Fattoush Salad

This is Rachael Ray too. I've made this a couple of times, but not recently.

*March 23, 2013 update: This recipe is gluten-free if you don't use the pitas. But always check ingredient lists for yourself.

3 pita breads, torn into pieces

1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground lamb

1 cup full-fat plain yogurt

3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves (a couple of handfuls), chopped and divided

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin (a palmful)

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (half a palmful)

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika (half a palmful)

1 tablespoon grill seasoning (a palmful)

1 pinch ground cinnamon

Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling plus about 3 tablespoons for dressing

1 seedless European cucumber, diced into bite-size pieces

1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced into bite-sized pieces

4 ribs celery with leafy greens intact, chopped

1/2 large red onion, chopped

2 vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 pound feta, crumbled

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

6 pepperoncini (light green peppers), chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

Yields: 4 servings

Preheat oven 375°F.

Arrange the torn-up pieces of pita bread on a cookie sheet. Transfer to the oven and toast until crispy about 5 minutes.

While the pitas are toasting up, start the burgers: Combine ground chicken with yogurt, 1/4 of the parsley, 2 chopped garlic cloves, cumin, oregano, paprika, grill seasoning and cinnamon. Score the meat in 4 equal portions then form 4 patties about 1-inch thick. Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add a drizzle of EVOO to the skillet to coat the bottom in a thin layer. Once it ripples, add the patties and cook 6-7 minutes on each side.

While the burgers cook, combine cucumber, bell pepper, celery, red onion, remaining chopped garlic clove, tomatoes, feta, olives, hot peppers and the remaining chopped parsley in a bowl for the salad. Squeeze the lemons and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of EVOO over them, season with some salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Add the toasted torn pita breads and toss again. Let sit while the burgers finish cooking. Taste to adjust seasonings. Top salad with patties and serve.

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Green Eggs and Ham

Here's a Rachael Ray recipe. It sounds strange, but it's so delicious. This recipe could be gluten-free if the deli meat is gluten-free.




1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 tablespoon butter
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1 box frozen chopped spinach (10-ounce), defrosted in microwave and liquids drained
1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream, (eyeball it)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
8 slices deli ham or prosciutto di Parma

8 eggs

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the EVOO and the butter and sweat the shallots a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir in the cream, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Cook the spinach, stirring occasionally, until the cream has thickened, 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Fold each slice of ham or prosciutto in half and line the nonstick cups with 1 slice of meat each. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the cooked spinach into each of the cups, then crack an egg into each, making sure it stays whole (hint - if you're worried about breaking the egg yolk, crack the egg into a small bowl first, then pour it into the muffin cup). Season the tops of the eggs with salt and freshly ground black pepper and bake in the oven until set, about 15 minutes. Allow the baked eggs to cool in the muffin cups for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately.