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.

Waffles from GF Pancake MIx

GF Waffles w/ Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix 

1 cup Milk

1 Tblsp Cider Vinegar

3 Eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tblsp Oil

1 3/4 cups GF Pancake Mix

1 tsp Baking Soda

Measure out milk, add vinegar, set aside.

Whisk the eggs.

Whisk all the ingredients together.

Pour some* batter across a heated and generously oiled waffle iron.

Cook as directed by the waffle iron manufacturer.
Actually I have to DOUBLE this recipe, or even triple it on days everyone is home to eat, but a single recipe should be plenty for two.
 

Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

Crikey Mikey. I just noticed the recipe reads "1 cup Oatmeal". I don't know how I didn't catch it before, but that is not right - the (actual) recipe takes 4 cups, aka 1 quart. I've fixed it now.

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston

Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

1 qt (4 cups) Oatmeal, either rolled oats or old fashioned oatmeal

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar

2 Tbsp Vanilla

Eat (or drink) Your Breakfast!

An Easy Way to Start the Day

 
"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."

Old adage; alternate versions include lunch like a queen and dinner like a peasant. The kingly breakfast thing, however, always remains.

Breakfast, so they say, is the most important meal of the day. And for some of us it is the hardest to get into our bellies. A very sensible thing Dr. Oz says (I don't know how sensible what he says on the whole is or is not, but this tidbit is sensible) is that it is a good idea to "automate" your breakfast.  In other words, decide on a good breakfast for yourself so you can eat the same thing every morning and keep the ingredients stocked. Of course that's not some sort of immutable law; on any given morning you can have whatever fancy may take you or go out for an arterial disaster of a breakfast with a friend (or non-friend as the case may be, I hear that happens too).  But on other mornings, if, like me, you stand about the kitchen knowing you need to furnish your body and mind with some sort of nutritious fuel but with no inspiration nor even interest in finding something to do so with, you will still be able feed yourself and get your day going.

This is what I've concocted to meet my personal criteria, with a couple of extra options for those that can have them: