Guacamole

This is in no way my recipe. I took it from Favorite Family Recipes and I followed it exactly. It is delicious! Of course, you have to make sure you have a nice ripe avocado to make it really yummy. Otherwise it's just kind of blah. I usually half this recipe and use two smaller avocados, or one and a half big ones.

Guacamole
3 avocados
Red onion, chopped (about 1/4 c.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (or to taste)
1 large ripe garden tomato (or 2 smaller tomatoes), diced
juice of 1 lime
4-5 shakes green Tabasco sauce
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and enjoy! If you don't like raw onions, chop them very small but don't leave them out or it won't taste like real guacamole. Also, be generous with the Tobasco sauce. It's not that spicy, but it adds a lot of flavor.

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

I love warm breakfasts, as if you couldn't tell from all my breakfast recipes. But I don't always have time in the morning so I have found a few things I can make the night before. This one worked perfectly.

The problem is that, although my whole family loves oatmeal, I don't. I don't like it at all. I like the idea of it. I think it smells really good most of the time. And I've tried it a dozen times over the years thinking 'maybe I'll like it now.' But it's the texture. It's slimy. And mushy. I even tried Amy's baked oatmeal recipe, which my kids love, but it's still too soft for me. I like oats in general. I love granola and granola bars. I love oats in cookies, and even pancakes. But the texture of oatmeal was always too much for me.

Then I heard about overnight oatmeal, and as I started researching recipes I kept seeing Steel-Cut Oats. And I thought, 'hmmm. Maybe they have a better texture." Sure enough, they are delicious! Still a little slimy, but at least there's some substance to them so I can chew them. If you've never seen them, here's what they look like:


They are very different than rolled oats. And I don't know if I would do them without the crockpot because they take a long time to cook. I got the recipe from 52 Kitchen Adventures

Slow Cooker Oatmeal
•1 C steel-cut oatmeal
•4 C water
•1/2 t kosher salt
•1 t ground cinnamon

You might want to spray the crockpot with cooking spray to help a little. If you would like to add dried fruit, like craisins, apricots, or blueberries, add them to the crockpot when you put everything in. If you want to add fresh fruit, like peaches, blueberries, raspberries, etc. add them just before serving. I added a little brown sugar to mine with some peaches and it was delicious!

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes -Gluten and sugar free

Blend:

-1 cup water

-1 cup choice of milk (I used unsweetened coconut or unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

-1 Banana

-1 cup whole oats

-1 Tbls ground flax seed (I used the sprouted flax seed)

-1/2 tsp pure vanilla

-1/2 tsp sea salt

-1/2 Tbls agave nectar (or 100% pure maple syrup)

-1/2 Tbls coconut oil

After blending let it set for a few minutes to thicken, while griddle is heating up. Then these pancakes take a while to cook before you flip them, maybe 4 minutes first side and 2 the second (? not sure -the good news is, they are hard to burn. I have my griddle almost all the way to 400 and I don't ever burn mine).

Serve with 100% maple syrup or unsweetened applesauce with fruit, like chopped peaches, strawberries and/or bananas! Yum!!