Funky Monkey bread

Johanna originally gave me this recipe called Funky Monkey Baked oatmeal. It's supposed to be a breakfast meal. The original recipe said to serve it by scooping the oatmeal into a bowl and adding milk. Which sounds gross to me since I don't like mushy cereal, porridge etc. If you like mushy oatmeal or porridge then by all means fill your boots and eat it like that.

Below is my own version of it and I just call it Funky Monkey bread. I've included calorie, fibre and protein counts.

Cream bananas and (drained and rinsed) canned beans with peanut butter, using an immersion blender. Add the remainder of the ingredients and stir. Pour into a greased 9 X 13 inch greased pan. Bake at 350 until a tooth pick comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Cool and cut into 10 squares.

You could also add nuts, raisins or whatever you like to this. Obviously any changes you make would affect the nutritional counts.

This recipe is gluten-free.

Crack squares

These squares are so good. And super easy to make. And no baking required. Not exactly low in fat though. But it's good fat, and Harvard Medical School actually says that peanut fat is up there with olive oil. Who knew?

1 package butterscotch chipits (300 grams)
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies

Put butterscotch chipits and peanut butter in a large bowl. Microwave on medium heat for about 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds, until melted and combined together.

Stir in Rice Krispies and marshmallows. Work quickly as it will start to congeal.

Press into a greased 13 X 9 pan. Let cool and cut into squares.

The last time I made them I thought I'd melt the marshmallows in with the peanut butter and chipits. Not a good idea. The squares became very brittle. Still tasted fantastic, but I didn't like the texture of them.

Pic below was with the melted marshmallows (as opposed to the unmelted marshmallows) which I won't do again.

Granola bars, part deux

Put in large bowl and microwave to soften and combine:
3/4 cup honey (use 1/2 cup honey or maybe brown sugar?)
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup apple sauce (use 1 cup to hold together better)

Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients:
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
3 cups rice krispies
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Press into 9 X 13 inch greased pan.

Put in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

They were good but too sweet. Next time I'll reduce honey to 1/2 cup and increase applesauce to 1 cup. They also were too crumbly so the additional applesauce should hold them together better.

Gluten free chocolate peanut butter cookies

Yesterday we took our sister Maureen out for her birthday. I brought my camera but forgot to take pictures. We were all too busy yelling at each other. That's what Maloneys do when they get together. They yell. We don't even have to be together to yell. We can also do it by phone. Friday I was talking to Barb on the phone downstairs. Fred was upstairs and he heard me. He thought there were three people in the same room as he was in having a fight. No. It was just me and Barb "talking" on the phone.

From Paula. Her yummy flour free chocolate peanut butter cookies. She have us each some yesterday, and Barb gave us some yummy chocolate brownies as well. Oh my goodness they were so good.

2.5 cups peanut butter (I use unsweetened/unsalted Kraft). The recipe says not to use natural p/b as they don't cook properly
2.5 cups brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda

Mix peanut butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Mix cocoa with baking powder.
Mix it all together. It will be crumbly, so with clean hands, form balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Press balls down with a floured fork to flatten a bit.

Bake 8 minutes at 350 degrees.  It made about 40 cookies I think.

If I make them again, I will cut down on the cocoa. Maybe 3/4 cup? That, and/or add a banana? They would still be chocolaty, but moister.  Plus the mixture wouldn't be so crumbly and the balls would form better.

Peanut butter oatmeal cookies

I made peanut butter oatmeal cookies one day while in Victoria. I can't remember what my motivation was. Anyway they were pretty good.

In Victoria our condo had cable TV service. At home we don't have TV service, we only watch Netflix. We don't feel the need to throw money at Bell or the other cable providers, and Netflix is way better anyway.

The only channel I did watch sometimes was the Food Network. I do like to watch cooking shows. But I would record the shows first so I could fast forward past the commercials, which seem to have increased exponentially since I last watched commercial TV.

Mind you, most of the shows on the food network are fairly useless, like Food Factory. This show tries too hard to be cute. It also shows how some products are made in a factory. I don't really care how they're made. I want to know what the recipe is. Plus, many of the products they showed being produced contained 90% sugar. Gross.

Then there were other shows that showed competitions like Chopped, which wasn't bad, but very stressful to watch. I don't want to get stressed when I watch TV.

Then there were food shows (as opposed to cooking shows) where almost no actual cooking takes place. Like one guy who goes into diners or whatever, and makes all kind of noise as he inhales big greasy gobs of whatever concoction being served. Gross times two.

I want to watch actual cooking shows. You know where someone cooks food and tells you how much of each ingredient is in it?

One show which I liked was the Spice Goddess. Bal Arneson is from India and cooks food using Indian spices. She made a macaroni and cheese recipe that I want to try. I love macaroni and cheese, and I love Indian food. Though it sounds like a weird combination to me, but I will try it.

Anyway back to the Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies

1 cup flour (whole wheat or all purpose)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins (chocolate chips would be even better but it was lent and I gave up chocolate)

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or regular peanut butter)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg (I would probably increase to 2 eggs as the mixture was very crumbly)

Mix first seven ingredients into a small bowl.

Mix remaining ingredients into a large bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and incorporate. Use your hands if you have to.

Make smallish balls of dough and place on greased cookie sheet. Press down with fingers or a floured fork.

Cook for 10-12 minutes at 350 until the cookies start to brown.

Granola bars for Jesus - the recipe

To see how this recipe came about, see here.

4 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup melted, or liquid honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup natural peanut butter (could use regular)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup applesauce (mine was made from 1 spartan apple and one royal gala apple and a 1/4 cup water)
1 cup raisins (or nuts if you're Jennifer or Johanna and don't like raisins)

Mix everything together. You many have to use your hands to mix it as it will be very thick.

Grease a cookie sheet. I used a 12 X 16 pan (I'm guessing since I didn't measure it). A smaller cookie sheet would have been better, since the mixture wasn't enough for the whole pan. Just grease the portion of the pan that you use.

Press granola mixture firmly and evenly into pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes at 325, or until the edges start to brown.

Cool. Cut into squares. I made 16 large squares. Cut them smaller if you like.

Store in freezer. Or give them to the homeless.