Sunshine Mama's In The Kitchen...

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

I went to write a post last night, and just decided I didn't have enough emotional energy to do it because I had, had a VERY, VERY productive whole foods baking and whole foods shopping day.
Last night my husband and I went to the grocery store and I picked up some ingredients to make foods that are sugar free, white flour free and processed food free for our family. It may take a few weeks to get out all of that stuff from our diet, but this week we will be one step closer to doing it.

Some of you commented on my husband's comment about the waffles yesterday. He said, "They aren't great." What you didn't hear in his comment was that his voice was also saying, "They aren't bad either." I should have clarified that. And it is true, Darling Rose was not a complete fan of the waffles either. But, I do have another waffles recipe that I want to try out (on them) this weekend.

But, in the mean time, on Sunday, I cooked up an awesome oatmeal breakfast that was a hit with everyone except the two year-old. But we can work on him.

I found this recipe when I was visiting a blog, and they had video of Kath making it. I didn't have all the ingredients she asked for, but enough to make it very tasty. If you like oatmeal, you should visit her blog because she has 50 different ways to make it.

The version I made here is her whipped banana cream classic.

To serve two people, you put one cup of oatmeal in the pan with one cup of water and one cup of skim milk. (I just used the 1% I had). Then you cut up 1 1/2 bananas into slices and stir it in the oatmeal, the same time you pour in the first ingredients. You have the stove on one point past medium.

The reason you put the bananas in first, is so that the cooking process melts them down into the oatmeal mixture. At about 3 1/2 minutes in, you may want to start stirring, though, you don't have to. You lower the heat down when it gets bubbly which, for Kath, takes five minutes. She also likes to top the oatmeal with toasted walnuts. I only had sliced almonds on hand, so I used that (about one ounce per person). You can toast nuts by putting them in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.

After the oatmeal has bubbled, you stir in two teaspoons of brown sugar and cinnamon to taste. She adds two teaspoons of ground flax seed, which I didn't have. For my own oatmeal, I just added sweet-n-low sweetner instead of brown sugar.

Also, a little bit into the cooking process I added some salt to the water because I notice a difference in taste when I don't add salt.

Other than that, everyone loved it. Our seven-year-old Dandy Lion had a big helping of seconds. It was also very filling.

Doesn't that look good?

Next I made real easy high protein oatmeal cookies.
I cup of old fashioned oats (I just had quick oats so I used those)
2 scoops of vanilla whey protein powder
4 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
cinnamon to taste
1/4 cup of raisins ( didn't have the raisins)
I plopped them on the pan and they cooked up in about 11 minutes.

I thought they tasted bland, but every single kid, including Darling Rose loved them.
I might add some sugar free syrup or some sweetner next time.
But I can eat these and I feel good about the kids eating them as well.

Finally, I made some banana oatmeal muffins which was ALSO a hit with everyone including my husband.
4 cups of oatmeal
1 cup of applesauce
(I didn't have that, so I used what I had on hand, one cup of organic coconut milk)
8 egg whites
6 mashed ripe bananas
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
10 tsp of milk
1 tsp of butter
(I forgot the butter, but I figured the oil in the coconut milk made up for it)
cook at 350 for 20 minutes. (my muffins needed more like 25 minutes. The first batch I coated the pan with butter and the second batch with non-stick spray, which actually worked better)

The muffins come out looking dark. My husband wasn't sure. He's like,
"There's no raisins?"
"nope."
"There's no nuts?"
"nope."
Then, he disappears somewhere with his muffin and milk. Later I find him and I'm like,
"Well?"
He smiles and says, "They're actually pretty good."
I think he was surprised.
And the kids can't get enough of them. I give them the muffins for snacks, and it feels good to know that they are eating food that really feeds their body instead of white flour which has no nutritional value in it.
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Well, I hope you all aren't completely bored with these new recipe posts, but I have to tell you that I am just so excited to be making all this healthy food.

I feel like it gives me hope that I can maintain a healthy weight when I prepare foods that my body needs.

So, what's on the menu this week?
Onion rings,
Cheesecake
baked bread
More different kinds of oatmeal cookies
And maybe home made noodles if I feel up to it.

Other than that, Sunshine Mama is doing great!
I hope you all are too!