Easy Apple Baked Oatmeal: Vegan and Glutenfree

Happy New Year! Although I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, I do think it's a great time for small changes you can make to improve your (and your family's) life. One resolution this year is to pay special attention to SUGAR in our family's diet. It's amazing how easily it is to eat sugar, even if you avoid dessert and treats. Sugar can be found in baked goods, yogurt and even milk! And I know my kids get enough sugar in their diets even if we try to avoid all extra sweet treats and desserts. 

So, to stay on the lower sugar trend, I can't wait to share this easy Apple Baked Oatmeal recipe with you that's vegan and gluten-free. I adapted it from this recipe, and cut the sugar in half (actually, even more than that!).

This apple baked oatmeal is a time-tested recipe that I've made about every month for the past 3 years. WOW. I'd say it's about time to post it! Of course it's dairy free, egg free and allergy-friendly. It's also gluten free as long as you use gluten free oats.


My Little Guy with food allergies just LOVES this baked oatmeal. I usually just cut it into squares, leave a few pieces in the refrigerator to eat for the next few days, and then freeze the rest of the squares for future breakfasts, snacks or to pop in lunchboxes. It's just as moist and delicious after it's been frozen. 

Simple, homemade, real food in an instant!

This isn't the prettiest photo of my baked oatmeal from the freezer, but real life isn't always pretty. Ha!

Like me and the hubs, Little Guy LOVES the apples and always asks me to put more in the baked oatmeal. 5 year old Little Gal doesn't like the pieces of apples as much. So, I usually cut the apples in big enough pieces for her to easily pick them out (or in reality, for me to take them out for her). That method seems to work for all of us!

Print this recipe

Easy Apple Baked Oatmeal: Vegan and Gluten-free

Makes 12 large servings. Makes 24 servings for smaller (kid-sized) squares.

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 3 cups milk* 
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup oil (I've used coconut or canola oil in the past)
• 6 tsp vanilla extract

*Any kind of milk work. I've personally used coconut milk and soymilk in the past. If your milk has no sugar in it, you could slightly increase the sugar in this recipe.

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 6 cups rolled oats (use gluten-free if needed)
• 2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp flax meal
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 diced apples (Put in as many or as little as you want. I usually add in about 1 - 2 cups of diced apples).

DIRECTIONS:

• Mix together wet ingredients in large bowl (no mixer needed, just use a spoon!)
• Mix together dry ingredients in separate bowl with whisk or fork
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix with spoon or spatula
• Pour mixture into 9 x 13 greased pan
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until slightly golden brown around edges, and slightly firm in the middle
• Let cool before serving to make sure it doesn't fall apart when cutting it

Print this recipe

Are you on Pinterest?  Don't forget to pin this recipe! You might also like some of the other vegan baked goods pins on my Pinterest board. Check them out and let me know if you have any other favorite vegan baked good recipes that can feed a crowd!

The Rachel Way: Gluten and Dairy Free Food Pantry Cooking Classes

There are certain kinds of people in the world that take action when they see a problem. Heather Gannon is one of those people. After her daughter, Rachel, was diagnosed as gluten and dairy intolerant, she realized the high cost of specialty foods. She wondered how people who needed food assistance could afford allergy friendly food. So she started The Rachel Way, a gluten free and dairy free food pantry located outside of Philadelphia in Plymouth Meeting, PA, dedicated to helping people in need who struggle with food allergies and sensitivities.

In order to spur awareness of and donations for the food pantry, Heather is now offering fun allergy friendly kids cooking classes open to everyone. You don't need food assistance to participate. In fact, it's a great time to bring along allergy friendly foods to donate to others in need!

We recently attended a cooking class and got to meet Heather and see the awesome food pantry. Look at all those donations!

We brought a few boxes of coconut and soy milk to donate. There were a bunch of other donations by the time everyone came for the cooking class.

Each kiddo got to choose one of these awesome apron's to wear. How cute is that!?  They also had the ingredients setup in stations. Since Little Guy also has to avoid nuts and sesame (plus dairy), I worked with Heather before the cooking class to make sure all ingredients were safe. She was more than accommodating to make sure everything Little Guy used was safe. 

Rabiya Bower, RD, LDN (here in the black apron) was the wonderful cooking class teacher. She made sure to clearly give the directions, and even had a mini nutrition talking circle with the kids while the baked apple crisps were cooking!

Little Guy and Little Gal had fun cutting their apples for fresh apple crisps, and putting all the ingredients together.

While we waited for the apple crisps to cook, the kids also got to try banana ice cream (just frozen bananas blended to make ice cream. Heather made sure to supply safe Enjoy Life chocolate chips. Smiles all around :)

Want to know more about The Rachel Way and how you can help? Keep reading!

Q&A with Heather Gannon, Founder, The Rachel Way

Why did you start The Rachel Way? 

My daughter became acutely ill a few years ago. After months of doctors and tests and not many answers, we finally found out she was gluten and dairy intolerant. On the way home from the doctor, we stopped at the grocery store and both left in tears. I enrolled in nutrition school the next day to help families with food intolerances not feel as overwhelmed as we did. Then as a family, we felt the pinch of buying specialty foods and couldn't imagine where people would get safe food when they needed food assistance with dietary restrictions.

How did you start The Rachel Way? 

I have never done anything like this before and asked anyone who would talk with me about starting a non profit. Everyone told me not to do it, it's too expensive, too much work, just buy food and donate it. That only made me want to do it even more! That wasn't the vision I had. I researched how to file the paperwork and went from there.

What kind of food does The Rachel Way usually need? 

We always need gluten free bread, brown rice pasta, condiments (ketchup, sauces, dressings) spaghetti sauce, Daiya (vegan) mac cheese, protein drinks, cereal, snacks and cookies (especially for kid's lunches) and non-dairy milks (almond, coconut and rice)

Is there any food you DON'T accept? 

No, as long as it is labeled gluten free, it's good!

How does someone who needs help get food at The Rachel Way? 

We welcome and help anyone who needs assistance with gluten free and/or dairy free food. Give us a call (​484-804-5293) or email (Heather@therachelway.org). You can also visit our website: www.therachelway.org. 

How many people/families do you serve each month? 

At least 20-30, some come frequently and some not so regularly, it depends on the need and how far they are coming from.

How can someone donate to The Rachel Way? 

We have a donated button on our website. There is a bin labeled The Rachel Way outside of the pantry and I am always happy to meet people with donations. Grocery store gift cards are also welcome.

What kind of events are coming up for The Rachel Way and how can someone get involved?

We have started monthly gluten free kid's activities. Each month will be a gluten free cooking class or some kind of food activity. In April, we will be dying eggs with natural colorings and decorating cookies. May will be a Mother's Day tea. We are always on the lookout for volunteers to help with events and some help around the pantry if needed. 

Cocoa Cranberry Granola Bars: SunButter Blog Guest Post

Are you looking for a great peanut-free and nut-free granola bar recipe? If so, you're in luck! I recently tried SunButter's Cocoa Cranberry Granola Bar recipe, and I wrote a guest post review of it on the SunButter blog. These granola bars get a big thumbs up from our family. They're satisfying as a snack or even a sweet treat after a meal!

Check out my guest post review of this tasty recipe! 


You may also be interested in these granola bar and snack recipes:

Nut-free granola bars - so delicious an a staple in this house!

Simple oat date bars - an "out of the freezer" sweet treat that's healthy and delicious

Pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars - a favorite!

Nut-free snack mix - hard to resist eating too much!

Easy homemade bread: Gluten-free, vegan and sesame-free

Where in the world do you buy FRESH tasting egg-free, dairy-free and sesame-free bread?

So far, I have no idea. I haven't found ONE off the shelf bread that's safe for Little Guy.

But I sure do know how to make it!

Even though Little Guy grew out of his wheat allergy, he still prefers the original gluten-free and vegan bread he ate as a toddler. I've tried a number of times to bake vegan wheat bread (whole wheat, half whole wheat half white, etc.) but he still asks for "my white bread".

Argh.

Every other week I make a different kind of bread in our breadmaker with different portions of white and whole wheat flour. I know that someday he WILL eat other bread. In the meantime, I'm going to keep on truckin' along with the same King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Bread Mix!  All you need is the bread mix box, a loaf pan and the ingredients!

Let me tell you, I'm thankful that this bread mix exists. It has made my life a whole lot easier for these past few years. Yes, it's expensive, but only Little Guy eats this bread, and the convenience factor outweighs the expense for now.

I figure, we don't buy many other "convenience" foods, or even eat out much. So, I can justify the convenience of this bread!

Here's the back of the box with the necessary ingredients. You can see the directions for the dairy free version under the pictures. In addition to the bread mix, here are the ingredients we use as substitutes:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1.5 cups lukewarm water
• 3/4 cup applesauce (1/4 cup applesauce = 1 egg)

We follow the other directions as usual, and the bread always bakes to a wonderful light brown color, soft texture and fresh taste.

It's not crumbly like other gluten free breads, and it's light and fluffy. It's also a perfect for a toddler/preschooler sized sandwich!

(And let me take a moment to thank my wonderful Mama for her bread making efforts and skills. Many days when she's watching the kiddos and I'm at work, I come home to find that she's made Little Guy his bread. What an angel she is to us).

Now, how do we store it?

Since this homemade bread doesn't have any preservatives in it, it gets moldy with a few days on the counter. It also gets a little mushy in the fridge and doesn't keep as long there either. We've had lots of trials and errors of storing it, believe me. 

Here's how we find it works best.

• After it cools, slice the bread and place as much as you want to freeze in layers in a big Ziploc freezer bag. I usually freeze one or two pieces on the bottom, and then layer it on top with wax or parchment paper. Then add another layer of bread.
• Save a few pieces of bread to be stored on the counter. This is only if you know you're going to eat it in the next one or two days.
• When you're ready to eat your bread from the freezer, microwave it for 30 seconds or more depending on your microwave's power. 
• You can defrost your bread overnight, but it will become nice a soft if you microwave it for a few seconds even after it's defrosted. I still do this even if I'm packing a sandwich for later in the day. Wrap the sandwich in foil when the bread is still a little warm. 

This is actually a photo I took before we left for a week at the beach. I baked a loaf two days before, stored it in the refrigerator until we got there, and then put it in a Ziploc bag as I usually do in the freezer.

Some of Little Guy's favorite sandwiches are:

Sunbutter and banana sandwich 
Chicken salad with avocado (mayo-free)
Ham or turkey sandwich with Daiya cheese slices

If you deal with multiple food allergies, what's your usual go-to bread?

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This post is NOT sponsored. We truly have been using King Arthur Flour Bread Mix for the past 3+ years. This post includes affiliate links.

Making Eating Out Safer and a New #1 Seller Recipe!

Going out to restaurants is supposed to be a fun and positive experience, right?

For people with food allergies, it can still be fun to participate in the atmosphere, company and food that's safe for them. But it takes more planning and communication than most people realize.

We've gone out to eat many times with Little Guy, and each time, it's a little nerve-wracking. We do research on the restaurant before we go. We also tend to stick with many of the same restaurants with which we've had great experiences in the past.

But what if you had the power to encourage your favorite local restaurants to be more food allergy aware?

FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) recently launched SafeFARE as an online resource center that offers tools for diners with food allergies. The goal of SafeFARE is to make dining out safer for families managing food allergies. 

On SafeFARE you can find:

• Tips for before and during your visit to the restaurant

• A customizable “Food Allergy Alert” chef card

• A “Find a Restaurant” feature that enables visitors to locate allergy aware restaurants in their area. 

The SafeFARE database of food allergy aware restaurants is just getting started and you can help it grow! If your family deals with food allergies, FARE urges you to tell your local restaurants about the SafeFARE program and the benefits of allergen training. 

Below are two ways you can help: 

• BECOME A SafeFARE ADVOCATE! Download this flyer from FARE and share it with restaurant staff and managers to let them know how to become a food allergy aware restaurant. Download and print the flyer and share with your local restaurant today!

• WATCH FARE's new Food Allergy Teamwork PSA and explore the SafeFARE website. This new PSA presents the importance of teamwork between those dining out with food allergies and restaurant staff.

Now for some delicious FUN...

Chicken Thighs with Pepperoni Sauce are pictured here. Chef Mike has created this dish with both chicken thighs and wings! Excerpted from http://crazygooditalian.com

One of the chef's in the Food Allergy Teamwork PSA, Chef Mike Isabella, is a professional chef, restaurant owner and a competitor on the TV show, "Top Chef". 

Chef Mike kindly shared his #1 best selling recipe at one of his restaurants. It’s a great family recipe that is not only free of dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and sesame, but of soy, shellfish, fin fish and wheat – all of the major allergens. 

This dish is proof that you don’t have to be a fancy chef to create something flavorful and memorable for your friends and family.

Recipe and Photo Courtesy of Chef Mike Isabella:

Chicken Wings with Pepperoni Sauce *

You can’t write a book called Crazy Good Italian without including pepperoni. I serve this sauce with chicken thighs or flatbread at my restaurant, Graffiato. It’s our #1 seller. 

Pepperoni Sauce

Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

Active Time = 1 hour, 20 minutes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup diced yellow onion

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

6 ounces pepperoni, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups chicken broth or stock

1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Pepperoni sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat the sauce before you are ready to use.

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sweat for 4–5 minutes until soft and translucent. If the garlic begins to brown, lower the heat.
2. Add the pepperoni and sauté for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate dry sauté pan, toast the fennel seed over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, shaking the pan often to prevent burning. Add the chili flakes and toast 1 minute longer, then add the toasted spices to the pepperoni mixture.
3. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and increase heat to bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring every now and then.
4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Transfer the mixture to a blender and purée for 2–3 minutes or until smooth.
5. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a mixing bowl, using the back of a spoon or a silicone spatula to help the sauce pass through.
6. Finish the sauce by stirring in the red wine vinegar.

Chicken Wings

Serves 4 as a small plate

Active Time = 40 minutes

Inactive Time = 2 hours, 30 minutes

8 whole chicken wings (about 2 1/2 pounds)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, smashed

2 sprigs rosemary

Peel of 1 lemon (no pith)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups pepperoni sauce 

1. Using a sharp knife, remove and discard the chicken wing tips. Then, cut each wing into two pieces: find the joint and cut at the joint to separate the drumette from the wing.
2. In a large glass mixing bowl or other nonreactive bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and lemon peel. Add the chicken wings and stir until well coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 1/2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Remove the wings from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Stir in the salt.
4. Place wings on a baking rack on top of a baking sheet to allow for even cooking. Don’t rinse the marinade from the wings, but do make sure there’s no garlic, rosemary, or lemon peel on the chicken—they will burn.
5. Roast the wings for 25–30 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
6. Pour 3/4 cup warm pepperoni sauce into a large mixing bowl, add the wings, and toss to coat. Transfer wings to a serving platter and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

* As always, please check ingredients in all packaged and canned goods.

Please leave a comment if you do visit www.SafeFARE.org to access the restaurant database, helpful tools, information and resources about food allergies. I'd love to know what you think and if you do contact a local restaurant or try this recipe from Chef Mike!

Banana Bread Oat Muffins

I know I recently posted a food allergy friendly muffin recipe, but I couldn't resist posting another! Especially since the recipe is egg free, dairy free, gluten free and so tasty. Muffins are such an easy breakfast or snack option for kids. They're also portable and easy to freeze. I try to make food allergy friendly muffins every few weeks, eat some, and freeze the rest. These Banana Bread Oat Muffins are such an easy and healthy breakfast or snack option.

I love this muffin recipe because:

• It's egg free and dairy free.
• Even though Little Guy can now eat wheat and gluten, this recipe is gluten free. Great for those who need it.
• Even though it's gluten free, it only requires one kind of flour - oat flour - and no "gums" like xantham gum.
• It uses coconut and mandarin oranges in addition to bananas to make it moist and give it lots of flavor. 

I based this recipe off of one of my favorite food allergy friendly cookbooks: Sophie-Safe Cooking.  

I've used this cookbook OFTEN in the past 3 years of cooking food allergy friendly recipes for our family. I especially like the baking recipes because most of them are based on oat flour and are very simple to make.

The only issue I have with this book is that some of the recipes are very high in sugar and the muffins come out VERY small. My kids have BIG appetites!

So, I changed a few things about the recipe to work better for our family.  Here's my version:

Dry Ingredients:

• 5 cups oat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 mashed bananas (medium to large)
• 1/2 cup shortening. I use Spectrum Organic Shortening. You could also use safe margarine or butter substitute like Earth Balance.  
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup coconut. I use Let's Do Organic Shredded, Unsweetened Coconut
• 1.5 cups mandarin oranges, drained. 

Recipe:

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix on low speed with mixer. Spoon into 24 lined muffin cups (I use a measuring cup for the spooning part!). Each muffin cup will be about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 22 - 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Mine takes about 22 minutes, but ovens will vary.

This recipes makes 24 muffins. I always want some to freeze, so 24 works best in our house.

Who doesn't like a warm muffin with butter (allergy-friendly) melted on it?  YUM.

What's your favorite kind of muffin?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

If you don't know by now, I'm a little obsessed with pumpkin.

I've posted a number of pumpkin recipes on this blog because:

• I love the taste of pumpkin.
• Pumpkin is healthy (Some people call it a superfood because of it's Vitamin A, fiber and other amazing nutrients!).
• Pumpkin is a great egg substitute. It gives egg-free baked goods a wonderful moist quality, and it holds everything together so well!

I knew I had to share these AWESOME pumpkin chocolate chip muffin tops with you.  I call them muffin tops because they're almost like the thick and dense top of muffins...the part that many people eat first and love the most.

Oh, and they're also gluten-free and free of refined sugars.

I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite food allergy friendly baking cookbooks. I wish I could say they're vegan, but I did use honey in them!

Recipe
*Makes 12 muffins (I doubled the following recipe and made 24 muffins. They go fast in our house and I like to have some to freeze!)

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 and 2/3 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 cup (or more or less!) Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips 

Liquid Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup soymilk (or ricemilk or coconut milk - any milk will do)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (you could probably use 1 cup honey or 1 cup agave nectar, but I chose to try half of each
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp canola oil or vegetable oil

Directions:

• Mix all the dry ingredients (a whisk or electric mixer makes it easier)
• Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well
• Spoon about 1/3 cup of the mix into greased muffin tins until you fill up the 12 tins. I greased the tins using my trusty Misto Olive Oil Sprayer.
• Temperature: Bake at 350 degrees. 
• Time: Set your oven for 27 minutes, and check to see the muffins are golden brown. My oven took about 28 minutes, but ovens do vary.
• Makes 24 muffins.

Also, I've been the guest pinner on WeGo Health's "Healthy Eating" Pinterest Board all month. I'm actually kind of sad this is my last week as I've had tons of fun! I've been actively seeking out healthy recipes and finding some great eats on Pinterest!

If you aren't following me already, please follow my Mamacado Pinterest Board for lots of food, family and fun!

Products included in the post you may like:

Gluten-free Homemade Stuffing that Tastes Like Stovetop

We had a great Thanksgiving. I hope you did too! I thought I'd share my new favorite recipe for homemade gluten-free stuffing. In my opinion it tastes very similar to Stovetop stuffing. I used a whole loaf of Schar Gluten Free Multigrain Sandwich Bread, but this can also easily be made into non-gluten-free stuffing if you use regular old wheat bread too.

What a tasty, savory side dish. It's probably my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Schar Gluten Free Multigrain Sandwich Bread(or other bread of your choice)
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (dairy-free) butter
• 2 cups diced yellow onion
• 5 stalks celery
• 1 tsp dry parsley
• 1 tsp dry basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

• Toast the Schar gluten-free bread in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or less on a cookie sheet. Flip the bread during toasting if needed.
• Cut the Schar bread into small cubes
• Saute the Earth Balance butter, onion and celery in a pan.
• Add the bread cubes and seasonings and stir
• Add the chicken broth in 1/2 cup portions until the bread cubes are moistened, but not completely saturated.
• Spoon the stuffing into an oven safe dish. At this point you can put it in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook it, or immediately put it in the oven at 350 degree until it's warmed throughout and a little crunchy on top.  


For a beautiful finishing touch, put it in a polish stonewaredish. I love my polish stoneware!
All opinions in this post are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links at no cost to you.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Bites

'Tis the season for warm and comforting recipes, especially those made with pumpkin! I've been making different forms of warm and comforting baked oatmeal for the past few months. Baked oatmeal is such an easy breakfast.  I mix everything together the night before, then the next morning I pour it in a pan and bake! This recipe for Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Bites is one of my favorites because:

• It includes pumpkin!
• It only calls for a little bit of honey as a sweetener. No processed sugar added.
• It's made in muffin tins for nice baked oatmeal bites. Perfect portion control, great for kids to pick-up and eat, easy to freeze, and easy to transport for a breakfast on the run or a lunch box.
• It's egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and allergy-friendly for Little Guy.
• I usually have all of these ingredients in my house, so it's an easy breakfast solution.

I made two different forms of these Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Bites. One using gluten-free oatmeal only, and the other using half gluten-free oatmeal and half quinoa. I think we all prefer the oatmeal bites, but add quinoa too if you'd like to try a different form of protein.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 2 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free, but you can use any oats you like) OR you can use 1 cup oats and 1 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 2 mashed bananas
• 1 cup milk (I used soymilk but any will work)
• 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tbsp water) - this replaces 1 egg
• 3 Tbsp honey (or more or less depending on how sweet you like your baked oatmeal!)
• 1 tsp cinnamon*
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch salt

*It's easy to make this recipe even more pumpkin-liscous.  Just add other spices like pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg or even more cinnamon.  I was making this to please the palates of a 3 and 1 year old, so I used milder spices.

Directions:

• Mix everything together in a big bowl (I do this the night before to make it easy)
• Spray the muffin tins with oil (I use my trusty Misto Olive Oil Sprayer)
• Add oatmeal mix so it's just about even with the tops of the muffin tins
• Put in pre-heated 375 degree oven
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes minutes, or until firm and a little brown around edges

Here are both the Pumpkin Baked Quinoa/Oat Bites and the Oat Bites only.  Both were tasty.  The quinoa bites just have a different texture and flavor than the oat bites.  I prefer the oat bites, but try them both and see what you think!

Everyone in our family enjoyed these including 1 year old Little Gal, 3 year old Little Guy and the
Hubs and me! I also love them because they're easy to freeze and pop in the microwave to reheat.



Are you a baked oatmeal fan? What's your favorite way to make/eat oatmeal?

Here's another one of my favorite ways to eat oatmeal: Vegan Overnight Oats

This smoothie would round out the pumpkin baked oatmeal bites nicely!: Green Ghostbuster Smoothie

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Healthy First Birthday Cake: Dairy-free, Egg-free and Gluten-free

A few weeks ago I wrote about Little Gals' perfect first birthday party. But I didn't write much about the yummiest part - the cake and cupcakes! Although we haven't seen signs of food allergies in Little Gal (saying prayers that we don't!), I still needed to make the cake and cupcakes gluten, egg, dairy, nut and sesame free since Little Guy has food allergies. That means no bakery made cakes!

I not only wanted to make safe cakes and cupcakes for Little Guy, but I also wanted to make a healthy first birthday cake for Little Gal. I decided to use the oat muffin recipe from Sophie-Safe Cooking to make Little Gal's healthy birthday cake. I like that the recipe focuses on oats and contains less sugar than other birthday cake recipes I've found. This recipe makes 12 small muffins, so it also fit perfectly into a 6 inch cake pan - a perfect first birthday cake size!

Little Gal's First Birthday Cake. Main ingredient: Oats!

I also used Cybele Pascal's recipe for allergy-friendly vanilla frosting and it turned out GREAT. It's thick enough to make pretty decorations and it tastes just like traditional frosting. *Sadly, Cybele's blog is no longer available! Here is another allergy friendly buttercream icing from Kids with Food Allergies that looks similar and just as easy and tasty!

Here are some other tips of how I made Little Gal's first birthday cakes and cupcakes:

1. Make a small special cake just for baby. Why? Because it's fun! Buy a 6 inch cake pan for the baby cake. I think it's fun to put a small cake in front of them rather than a cupcake or REALLY big cake. So, you have one cake (and/or cupcakes) to serve the guests and one for baby to get messy!

I used a 6 inch cake pan for baby's first birthday cake.

2. Buy a pastry bag and cake decoration kit. You can buy this at the grocery store or online. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it works much better than a Ziplock bag!

I wasn't about to decorate all this with a ziplock bag. Pastry bag to the rescue!

3. Keep it simple with the icing decorations. This is especially true if you are a novice cake baker and decorator like me! I made simple designs with my pastry bag like dots and swirls.

Keep the icing decorations simple!

4. Use fresh flowers for colorful decoration. This is especially great if you want to avoid artificial food coloring and dyes, but I still wanted a pretty cake with a little color!

5. Be creative with your "1" decoration. I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips which are dairy-free to decorate the cake for the guests. We put a "1" candle on Little Gal's cake. I've also seen cool "1" designs with sprinkles, fruit or other safe candy.

I planned on making one big chocolate cake using Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix and one oat cake for Little Gal. I was worried I didn't have enough (boy was I wrong!) so I made one more batch of cupcakes using Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix.  I made the cake in the same way as I did for my strawberry twist cake, and Little Guy's Fireman third birthday party cake.

Here are all the allergy-friendly cupcakes and cakes that are dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free!

I was happy that someone asked me for my recipe for the chocolate cake. I had to tell her it was directly from Betty Crocker's kitchen! 

Here are some examples of the supplies I used to create the first birthday cakes and cupcakes. Hope they're useful to you!

This is NOT a sponsored post, and I was not paid to include these products. This is what I actually used for our first birthday party celebration! This post does include affiliate Amazon links. That means I may get a few cents if you buy something on Amazon from these links. Thanks for your support!