Cranberry Walnut Grain Medley

Cranberry Walnut Grain Medley

1 T oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cl garlic, minced
100g / 3.5 oz dried cranberries
100g / 3.5 oz pearl barley
100g / 3.5 oz brown rice
60g / 2 oz walnuts, chopped
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of mustard powder
a pinch of thyme
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1) Cook rice and pearl barley separately and let cool.

2) In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened and golden brown. Let cool.

3) In a large bowl, combine together onion/garlic mixture, dried cranberries, barley, rice and walnuts. Season with salt, pepper, mustard, thyme and cinnamon. Mix everything until combined.

Makes 2-4 servings.

Recipe by collecting memories

Cranberry Greek Yogurt Oatmeal Bars

Cranberry Greek Yogurt Oatmeal Bars 

125g / 1 cup flour
90g / 1 cup quick-cooking oats
100g / 1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
160g / 1 1/3 cup dried cranberries
285g / 1 cup Greek yogurt
100g / 1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp flour

1) Preheat oven to 160C / 320F. Prepare a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

2) In a large bowl, mix together flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Add coconut oil and 2 tablespoons of the Greek yogurt to the oat mixture and stir to combine. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Set the remaining 1/3 aside.

3) In a small bowl, combine together dried cranberries, Greek yogurt, white sugar and flour. Spread the mixture over the crust and sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the filling.

4) Bake for 25-35 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool completely before slicing. 

Recipe adapted from here.

Cranberry Muffins

Cranberry Muffins 

312g (2 1/2 cup) flour
2 tsp baking powder
226g (1 cup) white sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
76g (2/3 stick) butter, melted and cooled
230g (1 cup) sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g cranberries, frozen
1 tbsp flour
Sugar, to sprinkle (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 200C / 400F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, combine together flour, baking powder and sugar. Set aside.

3) In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Stir just until combined.

4) In a small bowl, mix together cranberries and 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix them into the batter. 

5) Divide the batter among muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with some granulated sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes or until nicely puffed and golden brown on top.

6) Cool before serving. I also made a simple icing sugar glaze: mix a cup of icing sugar with a few tablespoons of water and drizzle onto the cooled muffins.

Recipe by collecting memories

Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Bake

This oatmeal bake has been my favorite breakfast for a couple of years already. I've been baking it over and over again and I always add something different. It's almost Christmas and cranberries are everywhere, so this time I decided to use cranberries, white chocolate and coconut. That's an amazing combo! Tart cranberries pair perfectly with sweet chocolate and coconut. It actually tastes like a dessert, but it's not too sweet and is quite healthy too so you can definitely have it for breakfast. I usually bake it in the evening and leave it to cool overnight (it's good chilled too!). If you have a sweet tooth like I do, drizzle some Agave syrup on top.. Amazing!

Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Bake

180g (2 cups) quick-cooking oats
50g (1/4 cup) light brown sugar
40g (1/4 cup - 1tbsp) white sugar
100g cranberries (I used frozen)
500ml (2 cups) milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
80g white chocolate chips or chunks
2-3 tbsp dried coconut flakes
Agave syrup, to serve (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Prepare a 20x20cm / 8x8inch silicone baking dish.

2) In a bowl, combine together oats, sugars and cranberries. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish.

3) In another bowl, mix together milk and egg. Pour this onto the oat mixture. Don't stir.

4) Sprinkle coconut flakes and white chocolate on top. Don't stir.

5) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool before serving. Slice and enjoy!

Serves 4.

Recipe by collecting memories

Chewy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars

Recently I've been so obsessed with all things oatmeal. Okay, not even recently. It's been a long time since I do not want all that unhealthy store-bought stuff anymore. That's just because  I can make myself much more delicious treats at home which are healthy. That means I can eat tons of them without feeling guilty.

So this time I made no-bake sweet bars with quick oats and coconut oil. I'm so happy that I discovered coconut oil, really. It's just perfect for making raw fudge and bars like these. I chose quick oats because I wanted my texture to be more fudge-like and chewy. And of course, I never forget to add some dried cranberries to my oatmeal or granola bars. Although there are so many possible variations which I'd love to try!

Chewy No-Bake Oatmeal Bars

2 cups quick oats
2 tbsp ground almonds
4 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
100g dried cranberries, chopped
50ml coconut oil
6 tbsp honey

1) Grind 1 cup of oats and mix with almonds, coconut and remaining oats. Mix in dried cranberries.

2) In a small saucepan over low heat, melt honey and coconut oil. Pour into the oat mixture and mix well.

3) Press into a 10x20cm loaf pan and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares. Enjoy!!

Recipe by collecting memories

Granola Peanut Butter Bars

I am not going to tell you how many of these bars I can eat in one sitting. You simply wouldn't believe. But that  just proves how good they are. When I made them first, I said to myself that I will never eat store bought bars again. Homemade are so much better! However, after I ate half of the batch at once, I changed my mind. It's just too dangerous. I know, I know. But I just CAN'T eat only one... Really, I wish I could.

As you already know, I am a huge fan of oats, dried fruits (especially cranberries and apples), peanut butter and brown sugar. So it's not surprising that I loved them so much. Feel free to add your favorite dried fruits instead of apples, pears, apricots and cranberries. You can also replace peanut butter with cashew or almond butter. Improvise! 

Granola Bars:

100g dried cranberries

160g dried fruits (apples, apricots, pears)

½ cup toasted chopped peanuts

1 ½ cup quick cooking oats

1 cup rolled oats

5 tbsp brown sugar

6 tbsp water

3 tbsp honey

4 tbsp homemade peanut butter (+ 1tsp honey)

1) Chop the dried fruits into small chunks and mix together.

2) In another bowl, mix together the oats and chopped peanuts. Add in the dried fruits.

3) In a food processor, grind the peanuts until they start to liquefy. Add 1 tsp of honey and mix for for some more minutes until the consistency resembles peanut butter.

4) In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine together brown sugar, water and honey. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and small bubbles start appearing in the edges of saucepan. Reduce heat to low and add peanut butter. Mix until combined. Turn off the heat and let cool a little bit.

5) Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and mix very well. Lay a piece of parchment paper over a bottom of a 20x20cm square pan. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and press it to the bottom with your fingers.

6) Let stand for couple hours and then cut into bars.

Chewy Granola Energy Bars

Soft, chewy and healthy granola bars.

2 cups quick rolled oats
100g walnuts
4 tbsp wheat germ
2 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 tbsp natural honey
1/2 tsp natural brown sugar
~1 cup sweetened applesauce

100g dried cranberries
100g raisins
100g chopped pitted dates
(you can use any combination... There's so much fun to experiment with it. Next time I'll try it with dried apples, apricots etc. You can also use any other nuts but I chose walnuts because they're softer. I imagine pistachios would add a nice flavour)

1)  In a saucepan, mix the first four ingredients and toast until fragrant and lightly browned.
2)  In another saucepan, combine next four ingredients and heat until everything is melted.
3)  Mix the dried fruits together.
4)  Turn off the heat and add wet ingredients into oat mixture. Add in the fruits. Mix well!
5)  Now line a baking sheet into your pan and pour the mixture onto it. Press down and let completely cool before cutting.