Carrot Morning Cakes with Oatmeal Crumb - Have a Sweet Weekend!

For a simple tasty breakfast, try this old-time country style recipe. Sprinkle these large puffy cakes with sugar and cinnamon for a delectably simple dessert.

Oatmeal with Apples and Cinnamon - Perfect and Healthy Breakfast

An early-morning breakfast needs to be fresh and calming. This is the meal that will set your tone for the day. By keeping everything easy, you allow yourself to enjoy the first few hours of the day.

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!

Peach, Oatmeal and Apricot Jam Cupcakes or Muffins, You decide!

Honestly, I don’t know what the difference between Cupcakes is and Muffins. Do you? I like to hear your thoughts.

Makes: 20

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups self-rising flour
• ½ cup oatmeal
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup peach juice
• ½ cup sour cream
• 20 canned peach halves or quarters in juice, drained
• ¼ cup peach or apricot jam

Note: I did not have sour cream so I used yogurt instead (1/2 cup), but not just a yogurt the Passion Fruit Greek Yogurt. It was amazing addition of the passion fruit to the cupcake.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 20 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the oatmeal and make a well in the center. Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.

Wisk the combined egg and peach juice into the sour cream. Add both the butter and the egg mixtures to the well in the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Divide the mixture evenly among the paper liners and place a peach half or quarter, cut side up, on the top of each cake. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of a cake.

Transfer onto a wire rack to cool. Heat the jam in a small saucepan until melted. Brush a little jam over each cake.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Flax, Chia and Hemp Seeds - It can't be better than this

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Flax, Chia and Hemp Seeds - It can't be better than this. These are protein-packing cookies, with just enough sweet, and wonderful combination of healthy seeds.
Adapted from Namely Marly

 

Ingredients:

• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• 3 Tbsp soy milk or water, cold
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp hemp seeds (hemp Seeds can be purchased at most health food stores, I bought my at Vitacost)
• 1 Tbsp flax seeds
• 1 cup chocolate chips, dairy-free

Tip: Make these cookies gluten-free by using 1 cup brown rice flour and 1/2 cup buckwheat flour.

Fact: Long recognized as an excellent source of nutrition and energy, hemp foods have been used by humans for over 12,000 years all around the world, and continue to be one of the top-rated superfoods.

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350F.

 

In a large bowl combine the peanut butter, coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla.

 

In a separate small bowl combine the ground flax seed, corn starch, and soy milk (or water). The corn starch will want to get kind of clumpy. Stir it up a bit to keep that from happening. Then add the vinegar, let it sit for just a second or two and pour it into the peanut butter mixture. Stir well.

 

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir until combined. Add the chia, hemp, and give the dry ingredients another little stir.

 

 

Now stir together the dry and the wet ingredients. If the mixture seems a little bit too dry, feel free to add another tablespoon of soy milk (or water). Then add the chocolate chips and stir everything one last time.

 

Make 1 – 1 1/2 inch balls and placed them and inch or so apart on a baking pan. Bake anywhere from 10 – 12 minutes depending on your desired crunchiness.

 

Note: The cookies come out of the oven on the puffy side, but just wait a minute or so and they’ll deflate. After they cooled they were the perfect cookies – crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.

  

Blackberry No-Bake Cheesecake - Pre Valentine's Day Dessert

It's never too early to start your Valentine's Day with beautiful dessert like Blackberry Cheesecake. You may do it day before and surprise your loved one in next morning -)

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup graham crackers crumbs
• 1/2 cup instant oatmeal
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
• few drops of vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 1 envelope powdered gelatin
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar (if you like more sweet add more sugar)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cups blackberries, washed and drained
• 1 cup blueberries, washed and drained for serving

Directions:

To do the crust: Mix together graham crackers crumbs, oatmeal, sugar, salt, coconut oil and vanilla. Press into the base of round spring-form pan, and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 12-15 minutes. Remove from an oven and cool completely at room temperature.



To do the filling: Soak the gelatin in a 1/4 cup cold water (for about 10 minutes), and then put on a fire and warp up, stirring, until dissolved. Mix together cheese, heavy cream, sugar and lemon juice. Puree blackberries in a food processor(a blender will work fine) then strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into a bowl. Mix the berry mixture with cream cheese mixture.

Start stirring cheese mixture slowly, while pouring the warm gelatin, after ingredients have combined, let it stand for a few minutes until it start thickens.



Now spoon over the mixture evenly into the chilled base, smooth the surface, and refrigerate for about 4-5 hours, but best to leave overnight.

Before you unlock the spring form pan, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake.
Serve with some blackberries and whip cream if you like.

Tip: You may do variation of cheesecake in cups.