Recipe Swap: Banana-Oatmeal Bread

Published October 19, 2012 by jenmatteson

It’s time for another bloggers choice recipe swap, and I was assigned Lindsay’s blog, Life and Kitchen. She has gone vegetarian for the year, which is super cool! I skimmed through some of her recipes, but ended up landing on honey wheat bread. That didn’t turn out so well for me (see honey wheat bread fail), so I was determined to find something else that could be a success. I settled on her Banana-Oatmeal Bread.

At first glance, I was concerned because there weren’t any spices in this – usually I like some nutmeg or cinnamon in my banana bread, but I still followed the recipe as is. I after combining all the ingredients, minus the bananas, I was terrified that it was far too dry for a quick bread (I was having flashbacks of the honey wheat bread disaster). However, once I smashed up the bananas and added them to the mixture, it was super moist and resembled more of what I thought it should.

The result was heavenly. The bread was so super moist and had a ton of flavor, even without any spices. This might be a go-to recipe for future banana bread in this house. YUM!

Banana-Oatmeal Bread

Source: Life and Kitchen
Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, unpacked
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp olive oil
1 large egg and 2 large egg whites, beaten (I used just shy of 1/2 cup egg substitute)
3 large bananas, ripe or on the way to over-ripe
1 cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add olive oil and eggs and beat until well combined.

2. In a small bowl, smash bananas with a fork or potato masher and add to other combined ingredients. Add rolled oats. Beat until very well combined.

3. Pour mixture into a prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is firm and browned. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

No-Bake Energy Bites

Published September 1, 2012 by jenmatteson

I love a good granola bar, and not the kind packed full of preservatives and other ingredients I can’t even pronounce. I mean the really good for you granola bars, with real, whole ingredients. I was thrilled to come across these no-bake bites from the Dainty Chef and try them out.

The best part is that you can substitute ingredients if you prefer something else, but I liked the sound of the original combination. The only change I made was using dark chocolate chips. These were a little difficult to roll up, feeling like I got more on my hands than I did in the bites themselves. Maybe next time I’ll spray my hands with cooking spray (or I suppose I could invest $5 into a cookie scoop!), because there will be a next time. Or even try putting them in a pan and cutting them into bars.

These would be a great little snack for camping or hiking, good for the kids, and perfect for back to school. Speaking of kids, Nate likes to put a couple of these in his lunch and really enjoys them. They really fill you up. I love the coconut, though I know most people either love it or hate it, and the peanut butter with the dark chocolate combination is heavenly.

No-Bake Energy Bites

Source: Adapted from Dainty Chef
Servings: 15-20 Bites

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/3 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1/2 dark chocolate chips (sub your favorite)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine oats, coconut flakes, flaxseed/wheat germ, and chocolate chips. Stir in peanut butter, honey, and vanilla until well combined. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

2. Using a cookies scoop or your hands, roll the mixture into 1-2″ balls. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Published March 12, 2012 by jenmatteson

I had a craving for oatmeal cookies, and happened to have some extra oats lying around. I found this great recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I don’t mind a good oatmeal raisin cookie, but I really wanted to try something new. I had a bag of craisins, but ended up using the whole bag for breakfast bars. So then I thought I’d use chocolate chips, but when I remembered there was cinnamon in the recipe, I thought white chocolate chips would be perfect. Thankfully I had some in my cupboard. Nate doesn’t really care for oatmeal cookies, but he really liked these. Get creative and add whatever chips or dried fruit you like, maybe throw a nut in there!

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 light brown sugar
I egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and white chocolate chips.
3. Scoop dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. For thicker cookies, the original recipe suggests you chill the dough in the fridge and then scoop it. I didn’t do this because I was impatient, but I thought they still turned out great. Bake for 8-12 minutes. Mine took exactly 9 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.