Tuesday 14 October 2014

Oatmeal Bars

This recipe makes a great snack for breakfast, lunch, or at school.  You can add different ingredients depending on what you like, and it's super easy. 

Combine:
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I use Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Then add:
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 cup milk or coconut milk
Your choice:  dried fruit (raisins, or cranberries, or blueberries, or all of them!), chocolate chips, shredded coconut, sunflower or pumpkin seeds are just a few of my favourite choices.

Pour batter into parchment lined baking pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This chocolate zucchini bread tastes like moist chocolate cake!  In fact I will use this recipe for my son's next birthday (he has already requested it!).

This recipe is NOT nut free!

In food processor, process dry ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Remove dry ingredients, and process wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 tsp stevia
3/4 cup grated zucchini

Add dry ingredients to processor and pulse until combined.  Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350, cool in pan for 2 hours.  I usually use a medium sized zucchini which gives me enough for a double batch, so I make two loaves at once doubling the above amounts.

Sooooo chocolatey and moist!

Gluten Free Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Yesterday my mother in law showed up with a giant bag of honey crisp apples and I needed something to do with them.  Apple muffins!

I made these yesterday, again taking an ordinary recipe I found off the internet and substituting certain ingredients to make it gluten free.  These turned out amazing!!  I will be making them again for sure.

These muffins ARE nut free!  Also, I tripled this recipe to make a huge batch.

Process dry ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Remove dry ingredients from processor, then add and process wet ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine dry and wet ingredients.  Fold in 2 chopped apples.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes at 375.  The above amounts would make about a dozen muffins, I tripled it and got two dozen regular muffins and two dozen mini muffins.  Perfect for breakfasts, and for school snacks!

Amazing Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

For this recipe I simply googled a standard chocolate chip recipe and then tweaked it to make it gluten free.  I love playing with recipes and making them my own.  This one turned out absolutely amazing, with even a cookie dough worthy of licking the bowl!

I use my food processor for pretty much every recipe now because I am always experimenting with different flour/dry ingredient mixes.

This recipe IS nut free so it is perfect for school lunches!

In food processor, process the dry ingredients:
2 cups gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend with great results)
1 cup oats
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup ground chia
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

With a mixer, combine:
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
Then add:
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl and combine.  Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.  Roll into 1 1/4" balls and place 2" apart on baking sheet, flatten slightly.  Bake for 12-14 miutes at 350.  Makes 4-5 dozen depending on size.

Yum!

The Best Gluten Free Banana Bread

I finally have something I feel like posting about - FOOD!  I even briefly considered starting a new blog to share recipes but then decided against it since I've already started 4 blogs and that is enough.  This one will do fine.

Baking has been something I've always enjoyed but haven't done that much of it since having kids, mainly due to not having time and not wanting to make a mess.  I mean I did bake from time to time, but wouldn't say I was a weekly baker.  That is not until recently.  With both boys starting school full time I decided I wanted to try and make lots of baked good we can use for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.  I was tired of constantly buying store bought cookies, cereal bars, and other snacks.  Plus I also have a wicked sweet tooth of my own, so I figured if we're all going to be eating 'treats' then I might as well be making them, and trying to make them as healthy as a baked treat could be.

My first challenge is making gluten free stuff.  My second challenge is also making much of it nut free so the kids can take it to school.  This was especially hard since my main go to for gf baking was almond flour.  I still use nut flours and butters for the treats we eat at home, but needed some nut free option for school snacks as well. 

I'm going to post my successful recipes here (individually so they're easy to search for again), starting with this gluten free banana bread recipe that I have been working on.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it is pretty awesome.

(This recipe is NOT nut free)

In a food processor, process dry ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend with great results)
1 tsp each - cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder
1/4 cup cacao nibs
3 tbsp chia or hemp hearts

Remove dry ingredients from processor, then process wet ingredients:
4 bananas
1/2 cup nut butter
4 eggs
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp raw honey
1tsp vanilla

Mix dry and wet ingredients together.  Add chocolate chips if desired.
Originally I was making this recipe in my cast iron skillet, but most recently I doubled the recipe and put it in two standard bread pans (greased and floured).  When using my skillet I baked for 45 minutes at 350.  When I made it last I accidently turned the oven off at some point and had to turn it back on again, so I'm not 100% sure how long they needed to be baked for but I would start with 45 minutes and check them, then bake for longer if needed.

I tend to be experimental with my baking so it's hard to write down exact recipes, but this is the gist of it.  I have also played around with converting this recipe into a gf carrot cake one, using a similar format as above but substituting shredded carrots instead of bananas, and applesauce instead of nut butter (and omitting the cacao nibs and chocolate chips of course, plus adding extra spices).  It still needs a bit of tweaking but it did taste good!

Enjoy!

Saturday 29 March 2014

Why Don't I Post Here Anymore?

Oh yeah, it's because life is crazy busy and I keep starting blogs I can't keep up with.  But I've just been browsing through this one, and I'm thinking about posting more.  We'll see.  Keeping up with blogs are a lot of work, and I'm not a big fan working hard.  (Working hard or hardly working?  Yep, that's me).  Maybe I'll come up with an idea for a new post soon.
 
And I've always wondered why, here on Blogger, when I click spellcheck it always flags 'blog/blogs' as misspelled.  That is so weird.