Banana Cream Crunch

My brother was trying to grab it off the screen ;).

Another "Hanunyah Creation", this sure was a hit! With many bananas and the Vita-Mix cream/pudding recipe I created (with a surprise ingredient), I made this interesting no-bake treat the other day.

For a quick run-down? - A soft oat-peanut crust + ripe, sweet bananas + Vita-Cream + the good stuff (peanuts and chocolate chips) = a quick and easy, no-bake, delightful snack or dessert.

This was very good, and it was gone in minutes - credit to my taste-testers, who were hungry for a sweet snack ;).

Banana Cream Crunch
Hanunyah Creation

Crust:
1 cup safe oats*
1/2 cup peanuts*

2 to 4 bananas
a few tablespoons peanuts**

Cream Pudding:
1 3/4 cups cooked rice***
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons vanilla
1 to 1/2 cup water

1/2 cup peanuts
safe chocolate chips (optional)

1. Add all crust ingredients to the Vita-Mix container. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to variable 6 to 10. Blend a few seconds, until the mixture is crumbly and moist.

2. Press into a 9x13 inch pan.**** Slice the bananas over the crust, and sprinkle with some peanuts.

3. Combine all cream pudding ingredients in the Vita-Mix. Blend on high for a couple minutes, adding enough water until smooth and desired consistency is reached. Pour over banana layer.


4. Top with peanuts and chocolate chips, if desired. Refrigerate until set. Cut into pieces to serve.


Notes:
*Instead of blending the oats and peanuts together for the crust, you may mix together oat flour and peanut butter, then proceed as the recipe instructs.
**If there are allergies, or if desired, you may use other nuts in place of the peanuts.
***Instead of using all rice, you may use cooked mashed potato for 3/4 cup of the rice. You may need to use more vanilla and sugar to cover up the potato taste.
****The crust was kind of soggy, so, if you like, you may bake the crust for a few minutes at 350 degrees F, until light golden brown.


~ Hanunyah


Linked to Foodie Friday by Not Your Ordinary Recipes

Oatmeal Creme Pies

Crunchy, chewy, creamy sweet treats - CCC's? (crunchy, chewy, creamy ;) ).

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! Here is a recipe for one of the cookies I made. It took a few tries for these to come out good, but once they did they were great! These are like Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies (without the additives). They were gone pretty fast.

For the filling, I just made a simple powdered sugar frosting: Beat together a few tablespoons lard or shortening and about 3 cups powdered sugar, adding enough water for the right consistency. Add vanilla and maybe some spices - to taste ;).

Oatmeal Creme Pies (Gluten, Dairy, Corn-free)
Adapted from Sugar Bananas


1 cup lard (or shortening)
1 1/4 cups sugar (brown or white)
2 tablespoons molasses or sorghum syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla, optional
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oat flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups safe quick oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream lard, sugars, molasses and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.

3. Drop small teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes (depending on how big they are), until set on top. The bottoms will be medium to dark brown.


~ Hanunyah


P.S. We've had a few long nights = my brain is tired, so don't expect long posts the next few days ;).


Linked to Foodie Friday and Frugal Friday
       

Oat Flour Chocolate Cake

Oat flour chocolate cake with marshmallows and cranberries.

Oat flour has become our go-to flour (because there's not much rice flour left from the 50# bags). It's actually a pretty good flour (of course, be sure to use gluten-free oats if gluten-free). My sister, Suriyah, came across this chocolate cake recipe, using only oat flour, when searching for things to make with oat flour. If you have oats, you can make oat flour - just grind 'em up in a food processor, Vita-mix, blender, etc.

Oat flour chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

This is an awesome recipe. The oat flour makes it very moist, it rises fairly well, and doesn't fall. So easy and versatile, too.

The recipe did use a teaspoon of cinnamon, but that is optional.  I typed up the basic recipe below.

Thanks, sis, for finding this great recipe!!

Oat Flour Chocolate Cake (Gluten, Dairy, Corn, Gum-free)
Adapted from Kitchen Therapy

3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water or milk
6 tablespoons (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups gluten-free oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8-inch round baking pans, one 9x13-inch pan or a Bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. A whisk works well. Pour batter into prepared pans or pan.

3. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and remove from pans. Frost, if desired.

~ Hanunyah


P.S. I plan to do some kind of Thanksgiving post sometime soon . . . maybe a menu or something. We'll see how busy the next few days are (hopefully I'll be able to bake a little more than the last few crazy days).


P.P.S. We won a Vita-Mix!!! For FREE! Crazy, I know. So, you'll probably see some Vita-Mix recipes soon. Yay!


Linked to Just Something I Whipped Up by The Girl Creative, Motivate Me Monday by Keeping it Simple, Gluten-free Wednesdays by The Gluten-free Homemaker and Tuesdays at the Table by All the Small Stuff

Oat Potato Vanilla Muffins

Potato starch (not flour - see here) is commonly used in gluten-free baking. It is great for smoothing out the grainy texture of other gluten-free flours (such as rice). 

Okay, so you have probably heard about potato starch. But what about baking with potato in a different form? Baked potatoes, anyone? Sure! (something we have A LOT of right now). Don't gross out - really. Think about it - potatoes are pretty bland (especially if you can dress 'em up with oats, vanilla and cinnamon). 

If you make these, tell me what you think. How could they improve? Have any ideas?

What a hit they were at the soccer field Sunday where we yelled "Portado! Portado!!". And those who don't know Spanish yell "Potato!!" ;). (Potato muffins? Oh, you mean something else ;).

I didn't get a picture of these muffins, but here is one of my favorite soccer pictures (my brother in the beginning of this year).

Since this recipe turned out great (as I used this same outline here), I may come up with some more interesting ideas. (cranberries? Hhhmmmmm). 

Oat Potato Vanilla Muffins (Gluten, Dairy, Corn-free)

Hanunyah Creation

2 cups mashed potato*

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons each: baking soda, cream of tartar

1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

2 1/2 cups oat flour

1/4 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pans**.

2. Beat the potato, oil, eggs and sugar until creamy, making sure there are no potato chunks. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Spoon into prepared muffin pans about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until medium-brown on the top or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes:

*You can use left-over mashed potatoes or mashed-up baked potatoes.
**This recipe makes about 18 muffins.

~ Hanunyah

P.S. Check out my other blog for drawings I've done pictures around the ranch and soccer!!

Linked Parties:
Gluten-Free Wednesdays @ The Gluten-Free Homemaker
Food on Friday @ Carole's Chatter

31 for 21: Healthy Granola Bars

This morning I baked a little - citrus and fruit bread, Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies and these bars. They are NOT very sweet, so next time I make them I'll probably add some sweetener (Heather notes this in her recipe).

Healthy Granola Bars (Gluten, Cow Dairy, Corn and Egg-free)

Adapted from Heather Eats Almond Butter

3 cups oats

1 cup oat or quinoa flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup oil*

3/4 cup fruit paste**

1/2 cup goat yogurt

dried fruits, nuts or nut butter, (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Combine all ingredients and press into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes, until light brown.

Notes:

*Could sub applesauce or butter for oil.

~ Hanunyah

Grab This Button

Multi-Grain Quick Bread

Happy Fall!


I am excited how my recent bread creations have come out. I am finding that the recipe Quick {Sandwich} Bread can be tweaked in many ways. It is a very good basic recipe.


     Since my Grandma (aka Granny) who is coming next month to visit, likes multi-grain, healthy type bread, we wanted to make her something that she could make into toast. So we experimented some. My sister (Suriyah) tried a few recipes, but they needed tweaked a bit more. Before she tried again, I came up with this.

Multi Grain Quickbread (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Corn-free, Sugar-free, Gum-free)

Hanunyah Creation

2 eggs, separated

3/4 cups oat flour

1/2 cup oats

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup quinoa flour

2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda + 2 teaspoons cream of tartar (or 4 teaspoons baking powder, if not corn-free)

1/4 cup oil*

1 small mashed banana (about 1/4 cup) + about 1 1/4 cups milk or water*

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease well a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with oil or cooking spray and sprinkle oats and/or oat flour. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Gently scrape the egg whites into a medium sized bowl and set the bowl aside.

3. Combine all of the remaining ingredients. Add one third of the egg whites to the dough, and slowly mix until the egg whites are incorporated into the batter. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the batter until nearly no white streaks remain. It is more important that the egg whites not get deflated than it is to rid the batter of every white streak, so if a few white streaks remain so be it.

4. Scrape the dough into the prepared loaf pan. Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven, and bake for about 35 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a fork or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. If not using right away, wrap in plastic wrap to keep moist and soft.

Notes:

*Applesauce would probably work instead of the oil.

**The banana is used for sweetener. I wanted to make it sugar-free, so that's what I decided to use. But, you may substitute other pureed ripe fruit. To measure the banana and liquid - mash the banana, put in the measuring cup then fill the measuring cup up to 1 1/2 cups with milk or water.

~ Hanunyah

Cookie pictures

Here are some pictures of cookies me and my sister made over the last few weeks.

Oatmeal cookies with maple topping

Oatmeal cookies with chocolate topping

No-bake cookies

Oatmeal cookies, Flourless Peanut Butter cookies and cupcakes, Fruit Bars (aka Horse cookies), GAPS goodies

Black Gold Cookies

~ Hanunyah

Instant Oatmeal Packets

~ This is my 100th post on this blog! ~

This is a good substitute for the packets in the store. To be sure this is gluten-free, use gluten-free oats and read the labels of the variations you use.

Instant Oatmeal Packets (Gluten-free, and Dairy-free if not using some of the variations below)
From: The Dollar Stretcher Family


3 cups quick oats
salt (optional)
small sized zip bags



Put 1/2 cup oats in a blender and blend on high until powdery. Set aside in a small bowl, and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 cup oats. If you're using a food processor, you can do the 1 cup of oats in one batch. Put the following ingredients into each zip bag: 1/4 cup quick oats, 2 Tbsp. powdered oats (or oat flour), and 1/8 tsp. salt. Store in an airtight container.


~ To serve: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water - for thinner oatmeal, use more water. ~

Variations:

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal: To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp. chopped dried apples.
Sweetened Oatmeal: To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar or 1 packet 'Equal' artificial sweetener.
Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Oatmeal: To each packet add 1 Tbsp. brown sugar & 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Oatmeal w/ Raisins & Brown Sugar: To each packet add 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar and 1 Tbsp. raisins.
Fruit and Cream Oatmeal: To each packet add 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer and 2 Tbsp. dried fruit
Fun Fruit Oatmeal: To each packet add 6 or 7 pieces of 'fruit snack' type dehydrated fruit.
Confetti Oatmeal: To each packet add 1 tsp. decorative cake/cookie sprinkles.
S'More Oatmeal: 

To each packet 

add 6 miniature marshmallows and 1 Tbsp. chocolate chips.

Exploding Oatmeal: 

To each packet 

add 1 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. 'Pop Rocks' candy to each packet. This one is fun for celebration days, such as birthdays.

Update - July 27, 2011: Here is what I have come up with the last 2 times I made this. I may add more if I make up more.

~ My Variations ~

These are flavors I've come up with. Since it is eaten up so fast, I mix it in a big bowl and put it back in the oatmeal container. My brothers and sisters like it in cold milk, so they just scoop out what they want out of the container.

Seeds and Spices Oatmeal: Add poppy seeds, flaxseeds, a little nutmeg, a little ginger, and cinnamon. I made up this flavor and my sister who has been eating my Instant Oatmeal for breakfast every morning said it was really good. She likes this one better than the Maple Nut/Brown Sugar Cinnamon flavor I made today (below).

Maple Nut/Brown Sugar Cinnamon: Add brown sugar, cinnamon, finely ground walnuts and maple extract. I can't taste this since I'm on the GAPS diet, but it smells really good!

~ Hanunyah

Link Parties:
Gluten-Free Wednesdays @ The Gluten-Free Homemaker
Food on Friday @ Carole's Chatter

"Horse Cookies"

Ok, by little brother was helping me. I was making Fruit Bars, and I decided to add an apple. Then my brother saw me doing that, and said "carrot" (in his own language :) ). Oh you want me to add a carrot? So, I did. After I made them, my sister tasted one and said, "This tastes like a horse cookie"! Everyone liked them though!

Make Your Own GF Flour!! It can be Cheaper than Gluten Flour!

Yay! Well, after all gluten-free living is NOT sooo expensive :) . . . We buy big 50 lb bags of white rice for cheap (I think we get it at Sam's), and recently we found out that we can make our own rice flour - easily. Just grind it in a Vitamix (with the dry container), until fine (stir it while grinding).


So, since we can get rice cheap, we figured it out to about 50 cents a pound! Compare that to the stuff you buy in the store - it's over $2 a pound. We grind a couple gallons at a time . . . . And use it very fast. I think I've been baking the most I have ever baked - I have been stocking the freezer with goodies, and everyone likes it.


Praise the Lord for his kindness to us to be able to do all this.


Christmas is EVIL! Please see - http://www.atruechurch.info/christmas.html.

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies 2

Ok, well, I was wandering up to bed when I realized I hadn't done a post for today . . . oops :).

Anyway, I made these today and they turned out great. They were better than the other flourless oatmeal cookies I posted, they are pretty tasty. I doubled the recipe, and it made a few dozen. See my notes in the recipe for what I did different. I didn't chill the dough on the first set of cookies that went in the oven, but then I chilled the other part. All of them turned out great. The recipe says to keep them refrigerated, but I don't think I'll do that. They'll be gone quick anyway . . . so I don't have to worry about freshness.


Updated - December 18, 2011: I have changed the recipe a to what I think is easiest (since I made these many times). I have also used better pictures.

Flourless Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from: That's My Home

1/3 cup lard
3/4 cup oat flour (just grind up oats)

3/4 cup quick oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix all the ingredients well. Drop on greased cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned and the tops of the cookies are medium golden in color. Cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet before removing, using a metal spatula or icing knife.

Notes:
Makes about 1 dozen cookies.
This is a pretty small recipe, I usually at least double it.

31 for 21 Blog Challenge!

Oat Flour

You make oat flour by simply grinding up uncooked oats in your blender or food processor, then you can substitute it for regular flour in some recipes. I made a Buttery Cinnamon Cake with the oat flour, used it to thicken pudding once, and used it for some small amounts of flour in recipes as well. This one pancake recipe I tried used only oat flour. They turned out sooo yummy and moist - we really liked them. The recipe didn't mention xanthan gum, but I added some because they were falling apart. The oat flour and oat flour pancake recipes are from cooks.com

So, here are the recipes - 

Ground Oat Flour

Place 1 1/4 cups quick oats or old fashioned uncooked in blender or food processor. Blend about 1 minute, stopping blender to stir occasionally. Makes 1 cup.

TIP: To make larger amounts of ground oat flour, repeat above directions to produce amount needed. Ground oat flour can be made ahead and stored in tightly covered container and stored in cool, dry place up to 6 months.

Oat Flour Pancakes

2 c. oat flour
2 eggs
2 c. milk or water
1/2 c. oil
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt, optional

Xanthan gum (about 1/2 tsp would work)

Add dry ingredients together and mix lightly. Next add milk and water; stir. Add oil and 1 egg at a time. Mix thoroughly. Warm pan or griddle to medium with 1 teaspoon butter or oil. Pour a few tablespoons mix at a time.

31 for 21 Blog Challenge!