baking – Friendly Food

Oatmeal Bars (Gluten/Dairy Free)

Published on August 9, 2017August 9, 2017 by friendlyfoodforusLeave a comment

I know it is not even mid August yet but it is already starting to feel like fall around here. The winds have changed and the need to bake begins!

I have been torn however since I have not done much baking since going gluten free. Baking without flour (I refuse to buy anything labeled “gluten free”) seems tricky!

So I started playing around with oats! Let me tell you, these oatmeal bars are delicious and just as satisfying as anything else laced with wheat! I made them for a pot luck party and they went over so well that I had to make another whole batch for myself!

OATMEAL BARS

2 medium bananas
1 3/4 cups oats
1 egg
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup dark chocolate
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350c and grease a 9×9 pan. Mix all ingredients together (try microwaving the peanut butter first to make it easier) and bake for 20 minutes.

It really couldn’t be easier and I love this recipe since I always have the ingredients on hand. Perfect for a fast dessert, healthy enough for breakfast and delicious enough for a party!

Good Morning Muffins (Sugar Free / Gluten Free)

Published on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 by friendlyfoodforus2 Comments

I am not a breakfast lover. Well not until around 11am, then I could eat just about everything! But when I get up, it’s all about the coffee and that’s about it! Mmmm…coffee!

I know eating breakfast is important and the healthy and responsible choice, but I just don’t think about it. About once a month, I make a pact with myself that I am going to eat breakfast everyday from now on. This pact lasts about 2 days and I forget again!

So I came up with a little healthy little breakfast muffin that goes so well with coffee, I look forward to them just as much or more than my coffee! The Good Morning Muffin!

Sugar free, gluten free goodness! It is so healthy, I don’t feel so bad about putting sugar and cream in my coffee! I like to make them bite size so I can eat more of them!!

GOOD MORNING MUFFINS

Makes 12 regular or 24 bite sized muffins

1 large yellow plantain
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup rice flour
Cinnamon to taste

Make sure your plantain is yellow, even with some black spots. When plantains ripped, they get sweeter! Chop up the plantain in the food processor and then add the rest of the ingredients until well blended. Scrap the edges of the processor to make sure there is no chunks of plantain in there.

I always use muffin liners (mainly because I hate scrubbing anything and muffin tins are THE WORST!) Bake at 325c. for 18-20 minutes for bite size or 20-25 minutes for regular size muffins. You can test by lightly pressing with your finger for a slight spongy feeling.

I like to sprinkle extra cinnamon on top! They have a slight banana taste and are perfect with your morning coffee!

Now I wake up saying Mmmmm….muffins! I feel good about eating breakfast. Like a healthy, responsible person!

Trials and Tribulations of a Foodie

Published on July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 by friendlyfoodforusLeave a comment

Being a Foodie isn’t always dinner parties and cooking shows! It not only changes your life, it changes your friends and families lives too. They are constantly having to listen to you blab on about new recipes or the new, exciting fruit that is now available at the farmers market! Little do they know the daily dilemmas this lifestyle has created for you!

Here are 5 Trials and Tribulations of a Foodie that my friends will understand:

Going to restaurants becomes an opportunity to take new and exciting pictures of food! Whether you are a blogger or not, taking great food pictures is an addiction for a foodie. When you go to a restaurant with an amazing table setting, perfectly plated food and interesting lighting, the first words out of your mouth when the food arrives is “Don’t touch anything…..I have to snap a picture!”
After taking four hundred pictures of your food (and your friends food) at a restaurant, your immediate reaction after digging in is “I can make this better!” Whether it is a dessert, BBQ meat or the seasoning on veggies, you will always compare it to your own recipes. And if by chance you think theirs is better, although you would NEVER admit to it, you are secretly trying to figure out their recipe and anxiously awaitin going home to try it out the minute you walk in the door. You’ll be damned if some restaurant out there is making better waffles than you!
Being a Foodie means constantly trying out new recipes. This means shopping for ingredients ALL THE TIME! Great recipes usually begin with great ingredients, and by great, I mean hard to find ingredients that will put you on a scavenger hunt around town. There is always that recipe that calls for Fig Leaves. “Where the hell do you find Fig Leaves?! So begins the great ingredient hunt!
Foodies love food, and anyone that loves food that much will always be just a little fat! There really is no way around it. You can try and be healthy all day long, but if a friend comes over with a lemon meringue cheescake for you to try, you will probably eat the whole thing! There is nothing to be ashamed of! We Foodies enjoy life through food, whether it is growing it, creating it, cooking it or eating it! Just go with the flow and feast on my Foodie friends!
Foodies put their heart and souls into creating new recipes, and when one fails, it hurts man…..I mean really hurts. It is a feeling of failure that a lot of Non Foodies would not understand. Imagine creating a invention that so many people will benefit from and enjoy, and when you go to produce it for those people, it isn’t great at all and those people snub you and your invention. Recipe Blues is a real thing!

What are your trials and tribulations as a foodie? Sometimes it helps to come together and share frustrations, stories and lifestyle dilemmas!