Oat Bars

When you have brown banana's in your kitchen screaming Banana Bread at you BUT you want something a little different...
Depending on how many of these brown little sweeties you have staring at you, you actually have SO many fun options.  Have you tried Banana nice cream ...seriously....seriously....it is like soft serve but not crappy and SOOOOO easy to make. OR you could make oat bars.
These are simple and just the right amount of sweet. All natural ingredients you can feel good about.  Perfect for afternoon tea time or pack in your lunch basket for carb energy in your day.  Great thing is once you realize you have those ripe banana's staring at you, you really have almost all the ingredients.

4 1/2 Cups Oats
2 Ripe Banana's
6 TBSP Maple Syrup
6 TBSP Tahini (you can use any nut butter here)
4 TBSP Coconut Oil, plus extra for greasing if you don't have parchment paper to line your bake tray

Preheat the oven 400F

Put your Oats into a large mixing bowl set aside
In a small bowl mash your banana's
In a small sauce pan add your maple syrup, your nut butter, and coconut oil.  Heat on medium heat stirring till smooth.  Add your mashed banana and allow to simmer until it becomes warm and liquid and smooooth.
Pour the smooth sweet banana, syrup, nut butterness onto your oats. Stir well until all your oats are covered.
Grease your baking sheet with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.  I love parch paper makes for such an easy clean up plus it makes it much easier to chop into bars from a cutting board rather than out of the pan.
Transfer your batter onto the baking sheet.  Press down firmly with a spatula so that it is even and compact.
Bake for 20 minutes until the top becomes golden.
Cool completely before chopping into bars.

Enjoy
XO
Asia Girl

Grape Nuts Muffins

I made these while looking for a way to incorporate more fiber into my diet.  I like baked goods but am extra picky since I want my food to be as natural and healthy as possible.
These muffito's are made with whole ingredients.  The grape nuts are a store bought item... but for the added benefits of the fiber I think it is a good add.

Ingredients

1 cup Grape-nuts

1/2 cup Rolled oats

1 1/4 c Almond milk

1 Flax Egg

1/2 cup Applesauce

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

2 TBS melted Coconut Oil

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 TBS Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Make Flax Egg: Mix 1 TBSP ground flax with 2.5 TBSP water. Let sit 3 min's.

3. Combine Almond Milk, Grape-nuts, and Oats. Let sit 3 min.

4. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into cereal mix.

5. Add Maple Syrup and melted Coconut oil to your Flax Egg.

5. Stir wet mixture into flour mix. Stir until combined. Fold in the berries.

6. Line muffin tins with *silicone liners or grease with coconut oil and fill 2/3 full with batter. 

7. Bake 20 min. Cool 5 min in pan, then on wire rack.

* I have used paper liners for this recipe and results were not great.  Ended up eating a bit of paper with each muffin as they STICK to the paper like glue! Silicone liners = best results :)

Enjoy! 

XO 

Ashie Girl