Wednesday, February 29, 2012

What's Cooking? Peanut butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

You know that Veggie Tales song, "Oh where is my hairbrush?"  Well, the version I've been singing is, "Oh where the hell is my ketchup!?"  No, seriously, my ketchup is missing.  I made eggs the other day, and went to the fridge, tasting the tomatoey goodness on my tongue, and...I couldn't find it. I physically touched everything in the fridge to make sure that no one cast a spell of invisibility on it, but nope. It's gone.  So now...I am out of ketchup around the same time I discovered that I love eggs with ketchup, and only have eggs in the house to eat for breakfast, and refuse to go grocery shopping for the next week. What a conundrum!  Now moving on to unrelated food issues, I recently made another recipe from Pinterest.

I was pursuing Pinterest, and found and immediately made this recipe. I actually forgot to pin it when I made it, and had to go back through my internet history to be able to find it again! I loved the wholesome ingredients (no butter or added oil!), and the fact that I had them all on hand!  With a few easy ingredients you can make a breakfast bar, serve it with a little peanut butter, and have a ready made breakfast for your whole family.  I even put these out at my swap-a-thon as a 'cookie' and most of them were eaten.  Since these have a super moist consistency, I would suggest you eating them pretty quickly.


If you are looking for something super sweet, this isn't it. However, it's a great bread-like base for things like nut butters, honey, or just something quick to grab. I plan on using different spices next time. I think it would do well being spicier with nutmeg and a tiny bit of cloves. I'd also love to try it with a hardier oatmeal that maintains it's texture after it's been cooked.  Quick cooking oats tend to lose all of it's texture when they're cooked. If you want it to be a bread like texture without making you think of oatmeal though, currently, this is it.

Variations:

  • Use rice milk, like I did to make it dairy free
  • Use gluten free oats to make this celiac friendly. 
  • Use Egg substitute and rice milk to make it vegan
  • Experiment with some honey/agave nectar to take out the sugar. 
  • Make them in muffin tins...I think these would make great muffins.
  • Allergic to peanuts, or don't like them? Almond butter would work! As would any other nut/seed that ends in butter!
  • Hate bananas? Use unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree instead. I'm not sure on the measurements, so check online and tell me how it tastes!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares
From Here!

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk *(I used rice milk)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large mashed banana *(I keep my old bananas in the freezer, so I just pulled one out)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
*my comments on the recipe. The links are to the actual product that I used!

Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and ground cinnamon.

Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together.

Then add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all of the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Cut into squares and enjoy!
Pressed into Pan
All Done!
Yes, I can see my reflection too.

1 comment:

  1. Looks SWEETT!!! Probably a good treat to take hiking too. I will keep all the original ingredients, because I like them!!! but I really appreciate your effort to make it as friendly to others' diets as possible :)

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