No Bake Gluten Free Oatmeal Bars

I am always trying to find something filling that Kid 3 can eat in the morning. Cereal typically upsets her stomach as does just about anything with dairy or wheat. I found a recipe for Coconut Mocha Vegan Protein Bars on Pinterest. I modified the recipe somewhat to suit Kid 3's tastes.

We use Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats (affiliate link). I buy my coconut milk at my grocery store. There are several brands to choose from, I buy whatever happens to be the cheapest. I have yet to notice a difference in quality between the brands available at my store.

Gluten free and dairy free (if you use dairy free chocolate chips, I did not). These bars are great for an afternoon snack or as a filling breakfast bar.

No Bake Gluten Free Oatmeal Bars

by Jen Loves Life

Cook Time: 0

Keywords: breakfast dessert snack gluten-free vegetarian oatmeal coconut milk coconut chocolate 

Adapted from: Coconut Mocha Vegan Protein Bars

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Ingredients (12 Bars)

• 3 cups gluten free rolled oats
• 4 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sunflower seed butter (or your favorite nut butter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 can full fat coconut milk

Instructions

Line a8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. Allow for the paper to hang over the top of pan.

Use a food processor to grind the oats into a course meal, leaving some larger pieces of oats in the mix. Pour the oat meal into a large mixing bowl.

Add dry ingredients to oat meal. Stir to combine.

Add coconut milk and mix. Next add vanilla and sunflower seed butter. Mix well.

Pour in coconut and chocolate chips. I prefer to use mini chocolate chips because it just feels like there's more chocolate even though there isn't.

Transfer the mixture to the baking dish. Press the mix into the pan firmly. Cover pan and refrigerate for 20 minutes or longer.

Once bars have chilled remove from refrigerator. Lift block of bars from the baking dish using the extra parchment paper. Cut the bars into six long strips, then cut the strips in half.

I melted chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave and drizzled on top with a little bit of the unsweetened coconut, this step is optional.

Store the bars in an air-tight container in the fridge.

I store mine in freezer. Kid 3 just grabs one in the morning and sets it out of the counter while she gets ready for school and by the time she's done it's defrosted and ready to eat.

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Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are so easy to make and my girls love them. We make these all the time. Sometimes we add chocolate chips which almost make the cookies taste like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I like to use crunchy peanut butter but the girls prefer smooth peanut butter.

There are only three ingredients; sugar, peanut butter and an egg. The cookies are gluten free and dairy free.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

by Jen Loves Life

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients (20 small cookies)

• 1 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 cup Sugar + more for dusting
• 1 Large Egg

Instructions

Combine egg, sugar and peanut butter in a bowl. Once well mixed, spoon small amounts of cookie dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Next, we dip a fork into a small amount of sugar and make the crisscross pattern on each cookie. We re-dip the fork for each cookie. Place cookies in oven and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are no longer shiny and look dry on the edges.

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Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I made this Beef Stew a few nights ago. We had an appointment to see a house at 6:00 so I knew I wouldn't have time to make a dinner. I threw everything in the Crock-Pot that morning and when we came back dinner was ready. On a side note, the house was in terrible condition and the owner had no intention of making any repairs before renting it. We were only there a few minutes, it was that bad!

I got this recipe from my mom many years ago. I don't know where she got it but it always comes out fantastic. Rob requested that we add green beans next time. I thought about throwing some frozen peas we had in the freezer in but I knew Rob hates peas, so I didn't. I used five potatoes and I think that was too much, I also used less beef than the recipe called for (because Rob chose the meat at the grocery store) so my pictures don't fully depict what the recipe would look like if followed.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 pounds beef stew meat
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika 
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 carrots, cut into rounds
4 potatoes, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 cups beef broth or 2 cups water plus to beef bullion cubes

Directions: Place meat in slow cooker. Mix flour, salt, pepper, and paprika together; sprinkle over meat. Add remaining ingredients, mix. Cook low for 6-8 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving (my slowe . Makes at least 6 servings. 

The photo quality sucks because I used my phone. Sorry

I didn't have Kitchen Bouquet on hand, so I searched the internet for a recipe. Basically this is what I did to substitute for the Kitchen Bouquet (which is a browning sauce used in soups and gravies, I didn't know that). The sauce I made didn't change the taste of the beef stew at all and I will probably just make the sauce in the future since we don't use it often and it's way cheaper to make it.

Browning Sauce Recipe:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup hot water
a few tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Directions: Cook 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium heat until sugar is melted and starts to darken. (I used dark brown sugar and cooked the sugar for about 10 minutes.) Remove from heat and add 1 cup hot water (my water wasn't hot enough and the sugar started to harden, I turned the stove back on and cooked the mixture on low for a few second and it all dissolved and mixed together fine). A few of the recipes I found said to leave the mixture alone at this point, let it cool and use it. Another few said to add two beef bullion cubes to the mixture. I did neither, I added about 20 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce to the mixture. I let it cool before adding what I needed for the beef stew recipe.

Brownies!

I have been craving some gooey chocolate goodness for days now. It is making me miss my favorite brownies. I found this recipe a few years ago on the blog bread & honey. The title of the post "the best vegan brownies. i swear" doesn't do these tasty bites justice. I'm not vegan, I did try to be a vegetarian for awhile but that didn't work out because I was too lazy to constantly cook each and every meal and snack I ate from scratch. Anyhow, these are the best homemade brownies period.

I am a horrible baker, even though I like to think I'm amazing at it but truth is, I suck. My scratch made cupcakes could be used as lethal weapons; the small, round brick-like creations that come out of the oven are deadly. When I make brownies they usually taste chalky and well, gross. These brownies taste magnificent. I have made them several times and they are yummy each time. LA also took them to her class last year and the kids in her class liked them.The girls love it because they can taste the batter since there aren't any raw eggs in the mix.

I followed the recipe as listed below but we added extra chocolate chips on top and since the kids don't like nuts I added walnuts to the top of half the brownies. The recipe also states that the brownies taste better cooled but they were equally tasty warm, in my opinion. I can't wait until I have a full size oven again to cook up a big batch of these suckers!

This is the first batch we ever made

I wish I had some of these right now!!

So, here's the recipe:

The Best Vegan Brownies Ever

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 11 x 17" or 9 x 13" pan.
Boil water and 1/2 cup of the flour in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches the consistency of a gluey paste. Remove from heat and let cool.
Mix sugars, salt, vanilla, cocoa and oil. Then add the rest of the flour-water mixture and mix well. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour and baking powder, mix well, and then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if you're using them). The end mixture will be rather thick.
Spread the mixture into your baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. These are much better when completely cooled.