Oats Cashew Cookies

I wanted to bake cookies but realized that I had run out of butter. So, I made these oats cashew cookies with honey and canola oil. The cookies turned out extremely wonderful. They were soft, tasty and most of all healthy too, since I did not use any all purpose flour, butter or refined sugar. To make vegan cookies, replace honey with corn syrup.

Ingredients:

Oats Flour - 2 cups

Finely Ground Cashews - 1 cups

Honey - 2/3 cup

Canola Oil/Any other oil - 1/2 cup

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Almond Halves - few (Optional)

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.

2. Combine the oats flour, finely ground cashews and salt in a medium bowl.

3. In a small bowl add honey and oil and whisk them together. If the honey is too thick and does not mix well, place the bowl over a bowl of warm water and whisk.

4. Now combine the wet ingredients with dry ingredients and form a smooth soft dough. In case the dough turns out very soft (Form a small ball and see if it retains its shape, if it doesn't the dough is too soft) add a little more oats flour and combine.

5. Form small bowls of the dough and place them on the lined baking sheet. If using almonds, place one half of the almond on each ball and press slightly. Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies turn golden brown.

Note: You can even dry roast the oats flour and cashew powder separately for few minutes in order to avoid the raw smell.

Sending this to Champa's 'Bake-off'

Tomato Soup With Oats

I have a sore jaw, thanks to my wisdom tooth which instead of growing vertically up, is growing horizontally and is pushing against my teeth. Today I am not even able to eat. So, thought of making a soup which will be fulfilling. I used oats as a filler and made a tomato soup. Didn't really do anything fancy, kept it pretty simple.

Ingredients:
Tomato Puree - 11/2 cups
Oats - 3 tbsp
Vegetable stock/water - 1 cup
Chilli Powder - a large pinch
Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp
Dried Basil - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove, finely chopped
Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped garlic. Fry for a minute, and add oats to it.
2. Fry for 2 minutes, add the tomato puree, vegetable stock/water, chilli powder, salt and let it boil.
3. Add basil, pepper powder and let the soup simmer for couple of minutes.
4. Enjoy the hot tomato soup with oats.

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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

My dearest hubby had a Halloween party in his office this week and wanted me to make him something for that. I baked chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for him and they turned out pretty good. The preparation was pretty easy and I added a few raisins to the cookie dough as well. The bake time for each batch was around 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients:(Makes about 25-30 cookies)
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1 stick/8 tbsp, softened
Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup
Rolled Oats - 11/2 cups
Chocolate Chips - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp
Raisins - 1/2 cup(Optional)
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line the baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl add butter and sugar and beat them till creamy.
2. Add the vanilla extract and egg and beat till a smooth mixture is formed. Stir in the flour, cinnamon powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add the oatmeal and chocolate chips and raisins, if using to the mixture and mix well. Drop the cookie dough using a tablespoon onto the baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly using the back of a fork or a spatula.
4. If you prefer chewy cookies, then bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown and still moist else bake for 12 minutes.
5. Cool the cookies and store them in air tight container. Enjoy the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with your friends and family.

Sending this to Champa's 'Bake-off' event and Akila's 'DNSW:C'

No Yeast Brown Bread

Brown bread is a healthy alternative to the white bread. I came across a very simple recipe for brown bread in a book named 'Cookbook For Women'. The recipe uses flax seeds, rolled oats, whole wheat flour and brown sugar. Flax seed replaces most of the oil or fat used to make regular breads. The best part of this recipe is the preparation time. It takes hardly 5 minutes to prepare the batter for no yeast brown bread.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - 11/2 cup
All Purpose flour - 1 cup
Old fashioned rolled oats - 1/2 cup
Ground Flaxseed - 1/3 cup
Brown Sugar - 2/3 cup(packed)
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Buttermilk - 12/3 cup

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a loaf pan(8X4 inch) with cooking spray.
2. Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Stir in the buttermilk into the dry ingredients just until mixed.
3. Transfer the batter into the loaf pan. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oats on the bread batter.
4. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool the loaf pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove the bread from the loaf pan and place it on the wire rack.
6. Wait until the bread completely cools down(around 2 hours) before slicing.
7. Enjoy the delicious no yeast brown bread with the favorite topping of your choice. This no yeast brown bread tastes even better when it is toasted.

Sending this to  'Bake-Off' event being hosted by 'Champa', 'Tasty Tuesday' being hosted by 'Alicia', 'Slightly Indulgent Tuesday' being hosted by 'Amy', 'Tempt My Tummy Tuesday' being hosted by 'Grace'

Eat Well Live Well, New Monthly event with a giveaway offer from CSN and Any One Can Cook: Series 4 - being hosted by 'Ayeesha'

'Hearth n Soul' being hosted by 'GirliChef'

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

In my quest for healthy snacks, this is the first step. Oatmeal replaces the low fiber refined flour and brown sugar is used as sweetener. The addition of whole wheat flour and low fat milk makes this a healthy yet tasty snack.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - 1/4 cup
Old fashioned rolled oats - 3/4 cup
Low fat milk - 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Sliced Almonds - 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a mixing bowl add wheat flour, oats, sugar and mix well.
2. Add little milk at a time and gently mix the ingredients into a dough.
3. Add the oil and gently knead it into the dough.
4. Preheat the oven to 360F. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper.
5. Make lemon sized balls of the dough, press them flat, place few sliced almonds on each cookie and press slightly and place them on the baking tray.
6. Bake the cookies in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cookies turn golden brown.
7. Place the cookies on a cooling rack and after they cool down, store in air tight container.
8. Enjoy the healthy oatmeal cookies, whenever you crave something sweet.

Orange Flax Seed Granola

Here is another recipe for a tangy, crunchy and healthy orange flax seed granola. With the addition of almonds, raisins and dried cranberries, this is a great breakfast option.

Ingredients:

Old fashioned rolled oats - 1 cup

Flax Seeds - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Honey - 1 tbsp

Frozen concentrated Orange Juice - 3 tbsp (any brand 100% pure juice)

Sliced Almonds - 2 tbsp

Dried Cranberries -1 tbsp

Raisins - 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:1. In a bowl add the oats, flax seeds, cinnamon powder, salt and mix well.

2. Add oil, honey and the thawed orange juice concentrate to the oats mixture and mix well using your hand.

3. Preheat oven to 275F, line the baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Spread the oatmeal mixture on the baking sheet evenly and bake for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the baking sheet and turn around the oats mixture, add the almonds, cranberries and raisins and place the baking sheet back in the oven for 10 minutes.

5. Take the baking sheet out from the oven and turn around the granola mixture using a spatula and let it cool.
6. Store in an airtight container.
7. Serve the orange flax seed granola with skimmed milk or soy milk.

Oatmeal Mixed Vegetable Soup

Oatmeal mixed vegetable soup is a healthy and nutritious way of consuming lot of vegetables and oatmeal. I made the vegetable stock at home using onion, garlic, green chillies, carrot, celery, cinnamon and star anise. You can even use the store bought low sodium vegetable broth instead of making from scratch. 

Ingredients:

Old fashioned rolled oats - 1/4 cup

Vegetable stock - 2 cups

Celery - 1/4 cup, finely chopped

Carrot - 1/4 cup, finely chopped

Onion - 1/4, finely chopped

Corn - 3 tbsp

Green Peas - 3 tbsp

Cabbage - 3 tbsp, finely chopped

Capsicum - 3 tbsp, finely chopped

Tomato - 1/3, finely chopped

Corn Starch - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder - a large pinch

Dry Mint Powder - a large pinch

Oil - 1 tsp

Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add all the vegetables except the tomatoes to it.

2. Fry for 2 minutes and add the vegetable stock to it. Add in the chopped tomatoes.

3. Add the oatmeal and let the soup boil.

4. Add the salt, vinegar, chilli powder, mint powder and mix well.

5. Once the soup starts boiling, mix the corns starch with couple of spoons of water and mix it into the soup on medium low heat.

6. Adjust the salt and take the soup off the heat.

7. Enjoy the oatmeal mixed vegetable soup while it is still hot.

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No Bake Choco-Oat Cookies

Do you have old fashioned oats, cocoa powder and 5 minutes at hand? If the answer is yes, then you can easily make these no bake choco-oat cookies.

Ingredients:
Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - 1 cup
Brown Sugar - 3 tbsp
Honey - 1 tbsp
Butter - 3 tbsp
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Walnuts - 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Raisins - 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a small vessel add brown sugar, honey, butter, cocoa powder, milk and mix well. Bring the mixture to boil on medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil for 3 minutes or until the mixture thickens a little.
2. Remove the vessel from heat and add the chopped walnuts, raisins and oats to it. Mix well and let the mixture cool a little bit before making small rounds of the mixture and place them on wax paper or aluminium foil.
3. Let the no bake choco-oat cookies cool down completely and become firm before storing them in a tightly covered box.

Sending this recipe to 'Anyone can cook - 3' being hosted by Ayeesha 

Ragi & Oats Rotti

Thanks to my dad's job as an employee in a nationalized bank, we got to stay in different places and taste different cuisines. Finger millet, which is also referred to as ragi in kannada and telugu is considered as a great source of amino acid. Ragi rotti is a karnaraka breakfast dish, which my mom makes. I played with the original recipe a little and added oats to it. Thus making it a super nutritious breakfast.

 Ingredients:

Ragi Flour - 1 cup
Old fashioned rolled oats - 1 cup
Onion - 1, medium sized, finely chopped
Raw peanuts - 1/3 cup, coarsely ground into powder
Green Chillies - 6, ground to paste
Salt - As per taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a large bowl, add ragi flour, oats, raw peanuts powder, salt and mix well.
2. Add the chopped onions and green chilli paste, mix well.
3. Now sprinkle a little amount of water at a time and knead the mixture into a soft dough.
4. Cover the dough with a bowl and rest it for 15 minutes.
5. Apply little oil on a non stick tava and place a large lemon sized portion of the dough in the middle of tava.
6. Wet your fingers with a little water and flatten the dough evenly to form a round shape.
7. Make small holes in the center of the flattened dough using finger tips.
8. Cover the tava with a lid and place on a medium heat. After 2 minutes, take of the lid. turn the ragi oats rotti around and apply a little amount of oil on it. After 2 minutes, apply oil on the other side and turn it around and cook for 2 more minutes before taking it off the tava.
9. Serve the ragi and oats rotti while it is still warm.

Crunchy Granola

Last time we bought a crunchy granola from store, we ended up with sore jaws!! The granola was very tough to bite into. That was the day we decided not to buy any more granola. Here is a quick and easy way to bake your own granola. All it takes is 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

Old Fashioned Oats - 1 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Maple Syrup/Honey - 2 tbsp
Canola/Vegetable oil - 11/2 tbsp
Brown Sugar - 11/2 tsp

Sesame Seeds - 1 tbsp
Almonds - 6, finely sliced
Dried Apricots - 6, roughly chopped
Raisins - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 250F. In a bowl add oats, cardamom powder, salt, brown sugar, sesame seeds and mix well.
2. Add the oil, maple syrup/honey to the bowl and combine all ingredients using your hand.
3. If you like to have granola clusters, then fold a little amount of the granola in your fist and press firmly to form small lumps.
4. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the oats mixture on it evenly.
5. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Take out the baking tray and using a spatula turn the granola mixture around. Add the sliced almonds, chopped apricots, raisins and mix well. Spread the granola evenly on the parchment paper and put the baking tray back in the oven for 10 minutes.
7. Take out the baking tray mix well and spread evenly the granola mixture. Switch off the oven and place the baking tray back in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until it cools down.
8. Transfer the crunchy granola to an airtight container and store.
9. Add milk/soya milk/yogurt to your cup of crunchy granola and enjoy.

Sending this to Champa's 'Bake Off' event and  

Cinnamon Honey Granola

Granola is one of those breakfast options that is very tasty, healthy, satisfying and pretty costly too. However, it is very easy to prepare granola at home. The best part about preparing granola at home is that you can tailor make it as per your taste and preferences and can also make it in small batches so that the granola stays fresh.

Ingredients:
Old Fashioned Oats - 1 cup
Cinnamon Powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Honey - 1 tbsp
Canola/Vegetable oil - 11/2 tbsp
Brown Sugar - 1 tsp
Almonds - 8, finely sliced
Pumpkin Seeds - 1 tbsp(optional)
Walnuts - 2 tbsp, roughly chopped
Dried Cranberries - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 250F. In a bowl add oats, cinnamon powder, salt, brown sugar and mix well.
2. Add the oil, honey to the bowl and combine all ingredients using your hand.
3. If you like to have granola clusters, then fold a little amount of the granola in your fist and press firmly to form small lumps.
4. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the oats mixture on it evenly.
5. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Take out the baking tray and using a spatula turn the granola mixture around. Add the nuts and dried cranberries and mix well. Spread the granola evenly on the parchment paper and put the baking tray back in the oven for 10 minutes.
7. Take out the baking tray mix well and spread evenly the granola mixture. Switch off the oven and place the baking tray back in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until it cools down.
8. Transfer the cinnamon honey granola to an airtight container and store.
9. Add milk/soya milk/yogurt to your cup of cinnamon honey granola and enjoy.

Eggless Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Coffee is the perfect pairing for my dearest husband... This is the first ever cookie I have baked. I was scared about the outcome... however, surprisingly, they turned out well and gained appreciation from my better half. Here is the recipe to make these yummy cookies.

Ingredients:

(makes around 7 to 8 cookies)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats or a 34g packet of Quaker instant oatmeal(Cinnamon & Spice flavor)

1/4 cup brown sugar(add a little more, if using rolled oats instead of the flavored one)

1/4 cup finely shredded coconut

1/8 cup Raisins

1/4 tsp salt(not required if using cinnamon & spice Quaker oatmeal)

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder(not required if using cinnamon & spice Quaker oatmeal)

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp honey

1/2 tablespoon boiling water

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation Method:

Combine the flour, coconut, raisins and oats in a bowl. In another small bowl, add the sugar, honey and butter. Place the bowl on low heat and stir until the butter melts. Once everything mixes into a smooth mixture, remove from heat and add it to the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Take a small bowl and combine the baking powder with the hot water. Mix them and add it to the flour mixture. Mix all the ingredients and knead into a soft dough. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Make small portions of the dough into balls and flatten them a little. Place the prepared cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown.