Oat Bran and Nuts Cookies with Dry Cherries and Chocolate Mushrooms - Have a Little Fun!

Nothing can compare with a homemade cookie for bringing a touch of pleasure to a coffee break or tea-time. These tempting cookies are quick, easy, and satisfying to make. You can easily vary the ingredients to suit your taste, I added the dry cherries, you may add more nuts, chocolate chips or peanut butter - the possibilities for inventiveness when making cookies are endless.



Oat Bran & Nuts Cookie Mix contains stone ground whole wheat flour, brown sugar, oat bran, rolled oats, walnuts, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. These full - bodied cookies are packed full of flavor, and they take only 15 minutes to make.

Makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp. water
• 2 Tbsp dry cherries
• 1/3 cup oil or melted butter
• 2 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran & Nut Cookie Mix
• chocolate mushrooms (product of Japan), optional, you can find them in Asian food market

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, just mix together all ingredients until blended. Spoon onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart, and bake until they are puffed and golden brown around the edges, 12-15 minutes.

Using a metal spatula, move the cookies onto the wire rack and let cool completely.

Tip: If you like to use chocolate mushrooms, you need to decorate your cookies while they are warm and soft.

Curried Fried Eggplant and Bob's Red Mill's Spar for the Spurtle Oatmeal Recipe Contest + GIVEAWAY

Bob’s Red Mill kicked off its second annual Spar for the Spurtle 2 Oatmeal Recipe Contest which invites home cooks and professional chefs alike to submit videos demonstrating a unique recipe that makes use of Bob’s Red Mill’s Steel Cut Oats – the World’s Best Oatmeal.

The complete rules can be found here, but basically you submit a 3 minute video featuring your unique recipe using Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. Last year’s winner was Merry Graham, whose winning entry was Black Bean Porridge Patties.

Three finalists will be flown to Portland, Oregon to compete in a live cook-off. The winner of the cook-off will then be sent on an all-expense-paid trip for 2 to Scotland to represent Bob’s Red Mill in the 19th annual Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship!

The grand prize, includes the following:

• Round-trip airfare for two to Scotland to represent Bob's Red Mill at the 19th annual Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship in October 2012
• Two nights' accommodations in Edinburg, three nights' accommodations in Carrbridge (for two)
• Rail transportation between Edinburgh and Carrbridge (for two)
• $2500 cash!

How cool is it?

The deadline to submit your videos is July 20th, which is less than a week away.  To help spark your creativity, the folks at Bob’s Red Mill have generously offered to do a giveaway! The first five readers who enter a video and then let me know, then you’re getting a prize pack filled with goodies from Bob's.

The prize pack from Bob’s Red Mill would include the following :

• Honey Oat Granola
• Cinnamon Raisin Granola
• Scottish Oats
• 7 Grain Pancake Mix

The rules are simple:

• Submit a video entry for the Spar for the Spurtle 2 Contest 
• Leave a comment here to let me know you entered

The deadline to submit a video entry is July 20, 2012, this giveaway will end on July 19, 11:59 pm

Good luck!



Today I have a very simple eggplant recipe for Curried Fried Eggplant, eaten as the side dish for a healthy salad.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 small eggplants, cut into slices about 7-10 mm thick, no need to peel
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• 3 Tbsp. breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tsp curry powder

Directions:

In the small bowl mix together breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and curry powered. Heat a little olive oil in a heavy pan. Dip the eggplant slices into the beaten egg mixture. Then cover slices thoroughly in a breadcrumbs mixture. Fry them till golden brown.

I served them with the white peach chutney (I will post the recipe for chutney later). Quick, easy and delicious!

Gluten Free Hearty Whole Grain Bread

Usually, I don't buy ready-to-use bread mix, I cook everything from scratch. But, first time for everything. I got this bread mix from Bob's Red Mill company and actually it is good. This bread similar to pumpernickel with nuts and seeds that add to its nutritional value. I very much enjoyed it, it toasted well. Very good with jam. Only, I wish it didn't have caraway seeds, not a big fan.

Moist, delicious and bursting with whole grains and seeds. The flavor and texture are complex and deeply satisfying. Specially designed for those sensitive to wheat or gluten, this mix contains: whole grain buckwheat, garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, cornstarch, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, whole grain sorghum flour, tapioca flour, evaporated cane juice, cocoa powder, fava bean flour, molasses powder (molasses, maltodextrin, silicon dioxide), xanthan gum, caraway seeds, active dry yeast, sea salt, whole grain teff, potato flour, onion powder, guar gum and soy lecithin.



Makes: 1-1/2 lb loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg GF Hearty Whole Grain Bread
• 1 cup 3/4 Water
• 1/4 cup Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Cider Vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Dissolve enclosed packet of yeast in 1 3/4 cups warm (110°F) water and let stand for 5 minutes to foam. Have all ingredients at room temperature. Put dry mix in large mixing bowl (preferably use a stand mixer). Add eggs, oil, cider vinegar and yeast-water mixture.



With mixer on low speed, blend all ingredients until smooth. Turn mixer to medium and beat 15 seconds or until mixture thickens slightly. Pour into generously greased 9 x 5-inch nonstick pan. Smooth top of dough with wet spatula. Cover pan with plastic wrap and put in warm place (75° to 80°F) to rise for about 40 to 45 minutes or until dough is level with top of pan.

Bake 60 to 65 minutes or until internal temperature of bread reaches 205°F, covering bread with foil after it starts to brown. Remove pan from oven and cool bread in pan for 5 mintues. Remove bread from pan and finish cooling on wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.