Category Archives: Organic Mama Cafe

This recipe is a compilation of several muffin recipes I researched. But, I didn’t love any of them exclusively. So, I created something different. The results are a nutty, fiber filled and delicious muffin (Yes – you can have both!). I do use butter, not nasty canola oil. It just tastes better. However, in a pinch, you could use coconut oil. Also, as we’ve discussed before on this blog, when making muffins, keep the following tips in mind.

1. Start with room temp ingredients – eggs, melted butter. The best way to do this is just take them out as your start measuring so they’re ready when you need them.

2. Measure dry and wet ingredients separately and make sure they’re well mixed before you put them together. Then, just barely fold them together so you don’t end up with tough muffs!

3. Grease your muffin tins BEFORE you start making the muffins. Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, they need to go straight into your preheated oven.

Zucchini Apple Carrot Oat Muffins

Makes 12-14 good sized muffins – or, you can also use 2 med sized loaf pans (I ran out of muffin tins)

These taste great hot out of the oven. Just try to leave a few for the kids!!

This morning, my husband was home for breakfast. So, we celebrated with a rare treat, delicious Barley Oat Pancakes with Homemade applesauce. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know by now that I don’t buy many pre-made packaged products and this is no exception. But, that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult.

I don’t usually like pancakes – simply because only 1 leaves me feeling full and kind of sluggish for the rest of the day. This recipe is a nice alternative. The dairy-free version tastes lighter and has a better flavor overall.

The original recipe appears on the back of the Arrowhead Mills Barley flour package. But, I made a few changes to include almond milk, remove oil (since you’re cooking with oil anyway) and add pecans. Barley flour and oat flour are available in most health food stores. However, you don’t have to buy oat flour. If you have rolled oats at home, just whiz them around in a food processor till they are flour-like. And – presto! Oat flour. You can also use less honey or leave it out since you’ll probably be putting something sweet on top of the cakes anyway, like my homemade applesauce.

Enjoy!

Once, when my oldest was about 2 1/2, she came into the kitchen and asked for an apple. Pleased she wanted such a wholesome treat, I gave her one – even though it was bedtime. She took one bite and slumped to the floor dramatically. Then, she looked up at me out of the corner of her eye and in a theatric whisper said, “It was poisoned!” Apparently, I was playing the role of the wicked witch! Thus began our family’s obsession with drama – and with all things apple. After all, if it’s in a fairy tale…!

We’re on a porridge kick at our house lately. When I say porridge, I mean steel cut oats, of course. As a young girl, I had my share of the rolled oats version of oatmeal and always found it rather lacking. The texture of the oats was closer akin to slime than a nutty oat and I always had the feeling I was eating slugs for breakfast. (What can I say, I was imaginative even as a youngster!).

Not having true slimey ogre-ish tastes (we’ve seen Shrek about a BILLION times at our house), when I decided to use oats to save money and feed my family something nourishing, I chose the non-slug version of oatmeal. Steel cut oats. Now, I reserve rolled oats for cookies and fruit crisps (a rarity at my house but I dream of getting around to that!).

Steel cut oats are nutty & creamy, warm and fill up your tummy! Not only that, they’re filled with all kinds of great nutrients like fiber, calcium, Vit-B complex (happy vitamin), magnesium, folate and potassium. We always add a dash of sea salt and a bit of fat – like a dab of butter or some milk. I know choosing to eat saturated fats flies in the face of some current ideas of health. However, the women in our family are (usually) amazingly  long lived and they always ate real food like butter, raw milk, eggs, meat etc. A little bit of healthy fat like butter or coconut oil early in the day will give you a surprising boost of energy and keep you feeling full till lunch.

But, where to buy steel cut oats? McCann’s Irish Oats may look cool on the shelf but they are pricey so I started buying Trader Joe’s Organic Steel Cut Oats. Then I discovered that  I could buy them in bulk from my local Whole Foods. They’re still organic but even more affordable that TJ’s (though I remain a loyal fan!). I suspect if you shop at Sprouts or Sunflower markets, you can find oats in their bulk section too. Just give them a sniff because if they don’t sell a lot of them, the oats tend go rancid. Nothing will ruin your first oat experience like a bowl of rancid oats!

The thing that probably keeps most people from eating steel cut oats is the cooking time. We all have places to go in the morning and no one wants to sit around waiting 30 minutes for their oats to cook!
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to take all morning & once you’ve cooked them, you can keep them in the fridge for several days and just heat them in the morning!. Here’s another option that reduces the cooking time significantly.