Chocolate Chip Bread Bites...or are they cookies??

Today was a special day for us.  My little guy turned 6!  I made these wonderful from-a-box cupcakes that were dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, sugar-free.  (Believe it or not, they really are good!!)  At the party this one little cutie says "no thankyou" to the cupcakes.  I said, "Really? Are you sure?" and he said, "I've already had two donuts today.  I can't have any more sugar."  (Cheers to his mom!)  I was so impressed!  So I said, "Well, guess what!  These don't have any sugar in them!" and with that three kids at the table pushed them away and said, "Ew!  I don't want to eat these!"  Oh well...  You win some (1) and lose some (3).

I changed up my Recipe page and won't be posting any recipes on there from this point on but will be catching up on all the past recipes and re-posting them.  They will now be accessible to everyone.  Today I'm transferring over the recipe that has been on that page (for the past 6 months...oops it's July... so 7 months!) to this post. 

And I have a favor to ask.  If you look to the right ------------> where the "email" button is, would you please enter your email to receive subscriptions straight to your inbox when I publish new posts?  Once you enter it you will receive a confirmation email.  Just open the email and click to confirm.  I'd love to get my numbers up a little bit and would appreciate the help!  Thank you!!

Here's the Recipe.  It's a favorite!  I made it for our recent trip to California.  It traveled well and gave us energy for both Legoland and Sea World.  I hope you love it as much as we do!

Re-posted from January 2012:  I found this recipe last week and immediately had to hop off my bed and run to make it.  It only has a few ingredients and is super quick to whip up, making them a truly perfect recipe.  BUT while they were called cookies in her blog (Chocolate Covered Katie), and they look like cookies, they do NOT taste like cookies.  Once I got over the non-cookie-tasting cookies, I loved them. 

I have adjusted a few ingredients and renamed the recipe to be Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bread Bites.  Because they really are like eating little oatmeal bread bites...or Chippers as Paradise Bakery might call them.  They're great for a solid snack, easy to grab for on-the-go, great breakfast for kids before school (and they're sweet!).  They are gluten-free AND sugar free!  My kids didn't like them at first but, as with all of my clean-eating snacks, they are adjusting and just gobbled up a few of the ones that came out of the oven moments ago.  So here you are...have fun trying variations of this recipe and enjoy!

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Bread Bites



Ingredients

· 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

· 1 cup applesauce (or a little less)

· 1/2 cup organic or all-natural peanut butter (try with almond butter too!)

· 1-2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

· 1 tsp vanilla

· 1/2 tsp cinnamon

· 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt (depends on how salty you like it)

· Chocolate chips (I didn't measure, just poured in until I was satisfied)

Directions

· Preheat oven to 350 degrees

· Mix all ingredients together in one bowl.  This is a moist dough.  I kept adding more oatmeal to make it a little stiffer until I got to the amount I listed above.

· Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet

· Bake for 30 - 35 min  (less if you like moister cookies, more if you want a more crisp top)

· yields 2 dozen

Isn't that the easiest recipe ever!  You can do raisins/craisins instead of chocolate chips.  Add in some chopped nuts.  Change out 2 over-ripe mashed bananas for the applesauce for more of a banana bread taste.  So many options!  This is super healthy.  Add in 1 T ground flax-seed for more of a health kick (ooh - why am I just thinking of that now?  I'm definitely doing that next time!)  Take out the maple syrup if you want it less sweet.

I hope you love these as much as I do!

With clean-eating recipes, food doesn't expand as it bakes.  Feel free to pack them on the tray!  They'll come out exactly the same size that you plopped them on at. (pre-baking pic)



Post-baking picture.  They look pretty much the same.  Bake 5 min longer if you want them a little more browned on top.

A TON of Oatmeal Recipes!

I have always hated cooked oatmeal so I find it kind of ironic that I'm writing about oatmeal today.  Or that oatmeal has become such a HUGE part of my diet at all!  I had no idea it was possible to eat raw oatmeal until a few months ago, when my sister introduced me to their raw oatmeal that they eat every morning.  It turns out that while I hate cooked oatmeal, oats in general I absolutely love!  It's a good thing too because they're rich in iron, which is something I seem to be really needing these days.

Oats are not only high in iron, they also provide a solid amount of protein and fiber.  They can be ground into flour or used whole.  You can find them in quick cooking versions (these have lower nutritional value as they are more processed), long cooking (these are what we eat/use.  I think they taste better) or steel-cut oats, which are harder to chew but pack a real nutritional punch!  Oats help lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar and are incredibly healthy for the heart.  Seriously, what's not to love about oatmeal? 

Except...when cooked, I seriously hate the texture.  It's either slimy or so thick I'd need a glass of milk for every spoonful.  And they're sooo bland.  The only way I could eat oatmeal was in the instant flavored packets.  But once I started learning about eating healthy, I discovered how unhealthy those packets were.  In fact, the sugar and salt levels in them completely negated all health benefits of the oats!  (And the "diet" versions are actually much worse that the regular.)  I can't tell you how glad I am to discover that raw oats not only taste great but are even healthier than the cooked version.  (Any food cooked over 104 degrees loses nutritional value.)

Is it any surprise that I have a TON of recipes to share?  Some I'll give you links, some I'll type below for you.  Sorry I don't have many pictures.  (There are some things I just have to let slide these days and photos of food is one of them.)

Serving Size:  1/3 cup = 1 serving of oatmeal.  If you're focusing on weight control, be sure you keep a measuring cup with your oats.  I used to just dump from the container the amount that looked good to me until I discovered it was more like 2 servings worth.

Recipe 1: Melissa's Raw Breakfast Oatmeal

I name this for my sister who shared the recipe with me.  I can't remember if she created it herself or found it somewhere.  What I'm sharing below is how I make it, which is a little different than she does.  Same great results though!

1/3 cup whole long-cooking oats
pinch of salt
couple shakes of cinnamon
approx 1 tsp pure maple syrup
handful of raisins or craisins
non-dairy milk (we use almond milk...also rice or soy are good options)

Mix ingredients and add as much milk as you desire.  Let sit for 5 min.  The longer they sit the softer the oats will be.  Remember this oatmeal will be cold!  It's a different experience and one I was hesitant to try, but once I did...absolutely loved it!!

Recipe 2: Tosca Reno's Oatmeal-on-the-Go

This recipe is from The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Reno.  She keeps the following ingredients in baggies and carries them with her.  If she's out and clean food isn't an option, she simply asks for a bowl, spoon and hot water, whips out her oatmeal, adds water and has a full meal.  My kids eat this several days a week.  2 of the 3 love it (pretty good stats for my family).

1/3 cup whole oats + a little of each of the following (no worries if you're missing one or two):
wheat germ
ground flax seed
cinnamon
sea salt
protein powder
bee pollen
raisins or craisins (although they do have sugar)
*peanut butter
*maple syrup or honey

The * foods are ones we add in addition to Tosca's recipe.  Add boiling water and wait 3-4 minutes before enjoying.

Recipe 3: "Crunchies" (aka Clean-Eating Granola)



Ingredients

·   2 cups of Oats

·   4 Tablespoons crushed raw walnuts (or other nut of choice)

·   2 Tablespoons all natural nut butter (any kind you like)

·   1 tsp pure vanilla

·   3 Tablespoons raw honey

·   3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

·   1/2 c dark chocolate chips

·   a few Tablespoons flax seeds

·   1 tsp chia seeds

Instructions

1.      Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

2.      Mix the oats, walnuts, flax seed and chia seeds in a mixing bowl.

3.      In a separate bowl add the nut butter, coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Heat in microwave in 20 second intervals until melted. Stir until nice and creamy.

4.      Slowly add the wet mixture to the oats and fold gently until all oats are covered and a bit moist. Fold in the chopped dark chocolate.

5.      Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Spread the oatmeal mixture on the parchment paper nice and flat. Bake for 12 minutes and then flip and move the oat mixture around, then cook for another 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes.

Makes approx 3 1/2 cups of granola.

Recipe 4: Tosca's Oatmeal Pancakes

This is our favorite pancake recipe, although I'll add one more at the bottom via link that is also fabulous.  The base recipe is Tosca's however I've changed a few things so if you find hers on-line, it looks similar but isn't exact.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups dry rolled oats
• 4 whole eggs (or 6 egg whites)
• 1 cup milk of your choice
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Coconut oil for cooking the pancakes

**Our favorite way to eat these is to leave out the cinnamon.  Add juice of 1 lemon + the grated rind of the lemon.  Add about a cup of blueberries.  YUM!!

Preparation

1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor (except blueberries if you're using those...add those at the end whole). Blend the mixture for 20 seconds. The resulting mixture should be smooth. Melt or pour 1 tbsp coconut oil into your frying pan. Heat over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of pancake mixture on the hot surface. Cook until the pancakes are dry and bubbly on the edges. Bubbles should appear on top, as well. Turn and brown the other side. (These take longer than normal pancakes to cook.)
2. Always use pure maple syrup, never the cheap fake versions.  This is always your best option for both flavor and health.

Blueberry Pie Pancakes (and a whole lot of other choices): 
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocolate-covered-recipes/pancake-pandemonium/

Energy Bites (my kids call them chocolate balls): http://naturallysweetsurprises.blogspot.com/2012/03/pinterest-or-pin-uninterest.html

Clean-Eating Muffin Cookies:
http://naturallysweetsurprises.blogspot.com/2011/09/muffin-cookies-for-breakfast-or-any.html

Alrighty...there are actually SO many oatmeal recipes I keep coming across that I'll have to do another blog with more of them.  Here's my most recent one and a current favorite.  It was so good when I made one batch (and ate straight from the bowl) that I had to make a 2nd batch while the ingredients were still out.  It uses oatmeal flour.  I just put raw oats into a mini food processor and a few seconds later have flour!  I do sift it before adding to the bowl.

No Bake Peanut-Butter Pretzel Bars  (leave pretzels out to make them GF)
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/04/09/no-bake-peanut-butter-pretzel-bars/

You can probably tell from these recipes that I also love peanut butter! 

All of this reminds me that I have to bring a casserole for my MOPS group this next Wed.  Guess what I'm bringing...OATMEAL CASSEROLE!  (A recipe all the moms love, and one I'll have to share next time because I actually have to locate the recipe :-).

Enjoy and please share your feedback: which you tried and what you thought.

**Note on oats...they are gluten free naturally however Quaker Oats are processed in a plant where other wheat products are processed.  There is a high chance there will be cross-contamination.  Try Bob's Red Mill for truly GF oats.