by jphilo | May 7, 2014 | Recipes
Today’s post is a follow up on last week’s recipe which featured a DYI butter substitute. (As my daughter mentioned in the comment section last week, she found the recipe at The Provident Homemaker.)
In last week’s post ended with a picture of the mixture poured into mini-loaf pans. Below is a picture of what they looked like after they spent the night in the freezer in a plastic bag.
And after they popped out of the loaf pans with a butter knife.
The picture at the top of the page shows the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made from the butter substitute shown above (minus 3 tablespoons). The cookies were delicious, made from a recipe featured previously on this blog. Here’s the recipe again…with italicized notes about changes made to compensate for the butter substitute which is slightly softer than real butter.
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter substitute
3/4 cup brown sugar (half of what the original recipe amount)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/3 cup flour (1/3 cup more than original recipe)
2 cups oatmeal
12 ounces chocolate chips (Costco’s Kirkland chocolate chips are non-dairy)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional–not used in cookies pictured above)
Place baking stones in oven. Preheat oven to 365°.
Cream butter substitute, eggs, and brown sugar until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Mix well.
Add flour and mix well. Scrape down sides and mix some more. Add oatmeal. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Mix again.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking stones. Bake about 12 minutes. Makes 4–5 dozen.
by jphilo | Sep 19, 2012 | Recipes
Today’s yummy and totally decadent recipe comes from the same issue of P31 Woman Magazine as did the blueberry crumble bar recipe posted last month. I converted the bars to non-dairy status (they were already gulten and egg free for those of you with those allergies) by substituting coconut oil for butter and unsweetened baking chocolate and agave syrup for the dark chocolate chips.
The chocolate substitution was a winner, but I’m not yet sold on the coconut oil as a substitute for 2 reasons. First, it didn’t bind the oats together very well, so the bottom oat layer was hard to get out of the pan. Second, whenever I use coconut oil in baking recipes, the end product seems heavy.
Neither of those reservations stopped the fam from eating the layered oat bars at our Labor Day Family reunion. In fact, the bars were gone pretty quick. Still, next time I try this recipe, I’ll use margarine instead of butter and report back. Now, here’s the recipe.
Layered Oat Bars
1 cup margarine or coconut oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups oatmeal
8 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 cup natural, no sugar added peanut butter
1/4 cup agave syrup
Spray a 9 x 9 or 7 1/2 x 10 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Put shortening in a large saucepan over medium heat. As soon as it starts to melt, add the brown sugar. Cook and stir until shortening is completely melted, and the mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add oats and cook, stirring constantly for 1 – 2 minutes. Press 2/3 of mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Place chocolate and peanut butter in a glass bowl. Put in microwave for one minute. Remove and stir. Repeat until the chocolate and peanut butter are completely melted and mixed together. Add agave and stir well, scraping sides of bowl often. Pour over oatmeal mixture in bottom of pan. Use spatula to spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture on top of chocolate/peanut butter. Press gently into chocolate mixture to set the oats.
Refrigerate several hours until set. Remove from refrigerator for 30 minutes before cutting into bars. Cut into VERY SMALL PIECES since these bars are very rich. Store in refrigerator in a covered container.
by jphilo | Aug 22, 2012 | Recipes
Over the weekend, we went to Wisconsin to visit the daughter and new son who just moved to that fine state. We ate like kings at every meal, and I’m pleased to say the younger generation is carrying on the following family cooking traditions in fine style:
- The oatmeal as a food group tradition.
- The never-be-content-with-the-recipe-as-is tradition.
- The non-dairy tradition.
- The what-should-I-substitute-for-the-missing-ingredient tradition.
Sunday morning, the daughter did herself proud in all categories by taking the baked oatmeal recipe, shared previously on this blog, and adapting it for ingredients she had on hand. She substituted mashed pear for applesauce and shredded carrot for an apple. She used almond milk instead of cow’s milk to be nice to her mamma. Then, she slam dunked by using fresh, grated nutmeg (more on that in a future post) for cinnamon.
It was so delicious we all had second helpings before I came to my senses and remembered to take a picture! And here’s the daughter’s version of our traditional baked oatmeal recipe. Click on the link to see the original.
Baked Oatmeal with Carrots, Pears, and Nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup Stevia
2 cups almond milk 1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. salt 2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp. fresh, grated nutmeg 1 mashed pear
3 ½ cups old-fashioned oatmeal ½ cup grated carrot
1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup chopped nuts
¼ cup dried fruit*
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir well. Add apple, nuts and dried fruit. Pour into greased 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
*Craisins, dried cherries, and dried blueberries are our faves. Blueberries are divine!
by jphilo | Jun 13, 2012 | Recipes
This week’s been a bust, at least as far as finding time for cooking and blogging goes. So today, I’m posting an updated recipe for Honey-Oatmeal Muffins that originally ran in January of 2011. It was a favorite with readers then. It was also a favorite with a couple friends who did yard work for us this past weekend. The least we could do, after they slaved in the sun and heat for a few hours, was offer them food and drink.
Here are my updates to the original recipe, which is posted below. First, I now add 1/4 cup milled flax seed to every batch. Second, I still use buttermilk for Hiram’s muffins, but mine are now made with sour rice milk. (Sour by adding 1 tablespoon vinegar per cup of rice milk and let sit for 20 minutes.)
Honey-Oatmeal Muffins
1 egg, beaten 1/3 cup corn oil
½ cup honey 1 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole wheat flour ¾ cup white flour
1 cup oatmeal ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine beaten egg, oil, buttermilk and honey. Stir. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to liquid mixture. Stir by hand until dry ingredients are moistened, but batter is still lumpy. Line muffin pan with muffin papers. Spoon batter into cups until they are ¾ full. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the edges turn golden brown. Serve them warm. Or let them cool and store in gallon freezer bags. Makes one dozen.
by jphilo | Mar 22, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
A rocking case of laryngitis provided oodles of hours for quiet contemplation since last weekend. Thanks to all that introspection, you get to suffer through reap the rewards in this week’s three thoughts for Thursday.
- Adult children find speaker phone conversations with their parents get a bit draggy when the talkative parent has laryngitis and the quiet parent, whose vocal chords are intact, prefers nodding to speaking whenever possible.
- It’s parent-teacher conference week in our town, a stressful time for parents, teachers, and kids. As a parent, you can diffuse the stress by starting the conference with two simple words: thank you.
- My friend Clare at NanaClaresKitchen.com has joined my oatmeal-as-its-own-food-group campaign by posting a recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal. She calls it a low-cal version of no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. That’s my kind of breakfast. What’s yours?
