Porridge Bars

  ~ transform leftover oatmeal into yummy breakfast bars ~

Porridge Bars

2 cups Left Over Oatmeal
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Melted Butter
1/4 - 1/2 cup Honey
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 - 1.2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp plain Gelatin powder (optional but mitigates the desiccating effect of coconut flour)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Generously grease 9x13 baking pan
Whisk eggs a little, then whisk in honey, melted butter (be sure it's not too hot or it'll cook the eggs!), vanilla, and vinegar. Stir in the oatmeal.
In a separate bowl sift or stir together the dry ingredients.
Sprinkle a little of the dry mix onto the oatmeal mixture and stir in; repeat until all it is all mixed in. Add the peanut butter and stir in.
Pour into the greased baking pan.
Bake in the 350 degree F oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out dry and mostly clean.
Cool in the pan, and there you have it!

  
I adapted this recipe from Sheri Graham at http://sherigraham.com. 
  
If this will last that long without getting eaten, it makes a good instant-breakfast or breakfast-on-the-go for my grandchildren.
  
  I make big pots of all dandied up oatmeal for my grandchildren and family already, so I use the lesser amounts of honey and salt above as there's some already in the porridge, put if the oatmeal was plain I'd use the greater amounts. Also, when making I use 3 cups fluid per 1 cup oats, 50% more fluid than usually called for, so you could possibly a little fluid of your choice if you feel it is needed; I would use milk or yogurt to increase the protein content. 
 
Only have one cup of oatmeal left over? Halve the recipe and bake in a 9" round cake pan. 
 
Evidently, oatmeal bars can also be made into a breakfast brownie with the full amount of honey and the addition of cocoa and optional chopped dark chocolate. I will be trying this out, maybe with carob instead for the children. (I wonder about simply using carob as the flour, ie to replace the coconut flour, would have to at least double the quantity but wouldn't need to add the extra honey.)

This recipe is gluten-free for those who tolerate oats, but be sure to make it only from oatmeal you know is safe for you!  I imagine that any porridge would work to make these bars, whether from oats or from other grains or a grain-free porridge.

Victoria Sponge Cake, Grain Free & SCD

I wanted, nay, needed, to have a nice economical Victoria Sponge Cake, and so developed this recipe.

2 Layer Victoria Sponge Cake

Gluten-Free Grain-Free SCD

         
6 Eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup Yogurt (If subbing Sugar for Honey, increase Yogurt to 1 cup.)

1/2 cup Safflower Oil

1/2 cup Honey

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Coconut Flour, sifted

1 cup Almond Flour (blanched, or white)

2 Tbsp plain unsweetened Gelatin

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Ginger


   
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease 2 round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment
Do the measuring and mixing - dry ingredients sifted into one bowl, wet ingredients whisked in another, then mix them together - and plop it into the pans
Pop in 350 F oven and bake 15 minutes
Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F and bake up to another 15 minutes until done
If the cake isn't finished after this additional 15 minutes, reduce heat again down to 300 degrees F and continue to bake until done
Cake is finished when toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean
When cake is done, remove from oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes
Turn cake out of pans and allow to finish cooling on rack
   
The recipe can be halved to make a single layer cake.
    
Peach Jam Cake Filling
    
3/4 cup Peach Jam (SCD  legal)

Honey if needed, to adjust sweetness to taste

2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger  

Topping

2 Tbsp Almond Flour

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ginger

   

    
This time I cut the layers in half to make 4 layer cake, and for a "filling" used 3/4 cup of peach jam (1/4 cup between each layer, honey sweetened freezer jam I made last year with peaches from our tree). The jam was a little tart so I added just enough honey to make it slightly sweet and added 2 tsp Cinnamon and 1 tsp Ginger. I also changed the spice in the cake to the same 2 tsp Cinnamon and 1 tsp Ginger. I was out of yogurt so replaced it with the last of some kefir and a litte milk to make up the amount needed; peach juice or puree would have been good if I'd had it. I also replaced the honey with sugar - see below. With milk and sugar my cake is no longer SCD legal. You can make whatever changes you like so long as the conform to any dietary restrictions you need to adhere to.

I don't always use Sugar instead of Honey, but when I do... Honey has gotten so expensive and our budget so dour that I cannot use half a cup or more of the liquid gold in a single recipe, especially if the bulk of what I'm making is destined to be consumed by Normies who can and do eat anything with impunity. So I do admit to using Sugar instead of Honey these days. I don't always use Sugar instead of Honey, but when I do I use the best sugar I can afford and not highly refined white stuff. I replace the honey with an equal amount of Sugar (1/2 cup), mix the Sugar in with the dry ingredients, AND increase the Yogurt by the amount of honey being replaced (1 cup) (in any recipe using Coconut Flour, another liquid must be increased to make up for exchanging liquid honey for dry sugar).

Any liquid or puree can be used instead of yogurt.
Likewise, any oil you like may be used including melted butter or coconut oil.
Any vinegar or citrus juice can replace the apple cider vinegar.

Recipe Proportions for

Single Layer Victoria Sponge Cake

        
3 Eggs, lightly whisked
1/4 cup Yogurt

1/4 cup Safflower Oil

1/4 cup Honey

1 1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla

  

1/2 cup Coconut Flour, sifted

1/2 cup Almond Flour (blanched, or white)

1 Tbsp plain unsweetened Gelatin

1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ginger

LEMON VICTORIA SPONGE

Make as above, but for two pan recipe replace Apple Cider Vinegar with 1/4 cup Lemon Juice and Oil with equal amount of Melted Butter, and to the flours add 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest. Make Lemon Curd Filling.
 4 eggs
1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter in thin slices
Blend lemon zest & lemon juice, or mince zest as fine as possible.
Beat eggs. Add honey and lemon juice & zest, beat.
Heat on medium low, using heat diffuser, stirring, until thickened & coats back of wooden spoon.
Stir in butter.
Meanwhile boil water & sterilize 2 small jars & lids.
Pour into hot jars & cover.

Coconut Flour White Chocolate & Pignoli Cookies

Z-Man and his Mommy went way down south for the day to attend a PWS study Z-Man is participating in, leaving the Big Two home with us GrandParents. At lunchtime there wasn't much to make so we all walked to the corner store where the Big Two became sweetly enthusiastic about a cute little 1 cup bag of reasonably priced White Chocolate Chips. As there happened to be Pignoli languishing in the freezer, leftover from some special occasion, it suddenly (after lunch and a visit to the library) became mandatory to figure out a recipe for and bake

    

Coconut Flour

White Chocolate & Pignoli Cookies

   

dry ingredients

1 cup Coconut Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 Tbsp Gelatin

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Ginger

   

wet ingredients

1 cup Butter, melted

2 Eggs, lightly whisked

2 Tbsp Vanilla

   

stir in

1 cup White Chocolate Chips*

1/2 cup raw Pignoli (pine nuts) or Macadamia Nut pieces

Quick & Easy French Bread

Quick & Easy French Bread

From McEwen and McEwen's "The Best Bread" Recipe

A Fast & Easy Stand-Mixer-Kneaded Yeast-Risen
French Bread for Normies

1 1/2 cups Warm Water, divided 

1 Tbsp Sugar, divided
as follows:

1/2 cup Warm Water

1 1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast

1 tsp Sugar
 -

3 1/4 cups Bread Flour
         (unbleached organic white flour)

    OR      1 3/4 cups White Flour

    AND    1 1/4 cups + 1 Tbsp White Whole Wheat Flour

2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
 -

1 cup Warm Water

 

Happy Accident Cake

Happy Accident Cake

Gluten-free and Grain-free

3/4 cup Milk (organic grassfed non-homogenized whole, was on sale)

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp plain Gelatin
 -

3/4 cup Coconut Flour

3/4 cup Almond Flour (blanched)

3/4 cup Sugar (organic evaporated cane sugar)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp Ginger
 -

6 Eggs (happy eggs)

2 Tblsp Orange Juice (freshly squeezed)

2 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp Almond Extract
 -

1/4 cup Sliced Almonds for top
 -

1/4 cup Butter, browned, for glaze
 

Greek Homemade Bread

Psomi Spitiko

Greek Homemade Bread

A Fast & Easy Stand-Mixer-Kneaded Yeast-Risen
Round Bread for Normies

3 to 3 1/2 cups Bread Flour 

        (unbleached organic white flour)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm Water (about 100°F; at least 75° & not over 115°)
1 Tbsp Dry Yeast (1 packet, or 1/4 oz)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt

COCONUT FLOUR BREADS

  "Where'd you get the coconut?"

    "We found them."
  "Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!"
    "What do you mean?"
  "Well, this is a temperate zone"
    "The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?"
  "Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"
    "Not at all. They could be carried."
  "What? A swallow carrying a coconut?"
    "It could grip it by the husk!"

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Scroll down to find:

    Plain Basic Coconut Flour Bread 

The Basics of Variations
A Short Ramble
Some Coconut Flour Bread Variations:

    All Out Coconut "Pound Cake"

    Savory
    Carmelized Onion
    Herb

    Sweet

    Cinnamon Apple

    Cinnamon Raisin-Nut

Something Completely Different