Orange Burst Bars

Around our house, we buy lots of fruit.  Lots and lots of fruit.  Most of it gets eaten right away, or at least in a timely fashion.  But for some reason, we get bored with oranges or clementines.  We can go through pounds and pounds of them, and then one day I realize the same 3 clementines have been in the fruit bowl for over a week.  And at that point, NO one is going to eat them.

Now they aren't like bananas that I can throw in the freezer for smoothies or bread.  And it's not like apples that can be diced and put into oatmeal.  But years ago I found a recipe for Orange Burst Bars.  They are a lot like lemon bars.....but orange.  There is a yummy shortbread crust, and then a topping made from eggs, sugar, a little flour and whole oranges!  I do cut up the orange to make sure there are no seeds in there, but my kids (my little boys especially) have LOVED putting a whole (or half) orange in the blender and watching it get all chewed up.  It's a very simple recipe, too.  So any time I have a few old, dried out oranges in that fruit bowl, we get these bars.  You could actually use fresh oranges too!

Orange Burst Bars

Combine:

1 c melted butter

1/2 c powdered sugar

2 c flour

And pour into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, in a blender, combine:

4 eggs

1 1/4 c sugar (I used 1 c honey today...YUM!)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 c flour

2 small or 1 1/2 medium oranges

Pour orange mixture over crust and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.  Just like Lemon Bars, you could sprinkle the top with additional powdered sugar.  Or I think some kind of chocolate drizzle would be awesome too!

the long awaited....

Peanut Butter Oat Bars with Chocolate Chips and zucchini


Cream together
1 c natural peanut butter
1/2 c butter
1/4 c sucanat
1/2 c turbinado

Add
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3 c shredded zucchini

Stir in until combined
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Then stir in
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c chocolate chips

Spoon into prepared 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes

This recipe comes from combining my favorite peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with my zucchini oatmeal cookies. I made them as cookies and didn't really like them. They were a little cakey. So I tried them as bars. I didn't used butter in that try and had more oats. My friend Lorrie suggested more moisture. I am running low on peanut butter so i decided to add the butter that was in both original recipes. My reason for butter and not another fat comes from my desire to use what is most natural and adds more nutrition. Did you know that butter has Vitamin A? Check here for more info on butter. And click here to see the nutrition on margarine.

I didn't use as much oats this time simply because I ran out. I added all the oats I had.

Let me know how you like them!

Sour Cherry Cake

I found this somewhere online once when I was looking for things to do with sour cherries. My neighbor has some trees in front of her house and I always spend some time picking and pitting them. Growing up my mom had a friend with HUGE sour cherry trees and we would pick soooo many of them. I don't ever really remember what we did with them after the initial pie. Maybe my mom can remind me of that?

I picked some cherries the other night and froze them all once they were pitted. A friend came over yesterday and picked some too and she had asked me about this recipe. It's like a science experiment. When the sour cherries are added to the bowl, it has a little reaction in there. Aleena loves to make this cake about as much as she loves to eat it!

Sour Cherry Cake

Combine
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 c sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c milk

Beat until smooth. Then add
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Fold in
2 c pitted sour cherries
1/2 tsp almond extract

that's the fun part!

Stir in 1/2 c pecans if desired

Pour into greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Let cool and serve with whipped cream.

Squash Brownies

from Old Fashioned Zucchini and Squash Recipes published by Bear Wallow Books

This of course is MY version.

Squash Brownies for any summer squash

Cream
1/2 c butter
1/2 c oil
3/4 c turbinado
1/4 c brown sugar

Beat in
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk (or soured milk)

In a separate bowl, combine
2 1/2 c soft wheat flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.

Stir in
2 c grated summer squash

Pour batter into prepared 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle with
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 c chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.

*That is what I am calling my home milled flour made from soft white wheat berries. It would be similar to whole wheat pastry flour. Unbleached flour could be substituted, too

Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies-Updated

This is from my beloved allrecipes again. I think it was originally called like Martian Cookies or something. They aren't green at all, but do have the green skin of the zucchini in them. I guess you could peel the zucchini if you were truly trying to camouflage that, but here at our house we embrace our weird zucchini recipes! I haven't made these since I have been using alternative sweeteners. I think that is on the agenda for tomorrow so I'll update this recipe then!

I did bake these today, and though they are not pretty, they are pretty tasty! I used home milled flours and more natural sweeteners. I wanted to use half applesauce and half butter, but apparently the kids have eaten all the applesauce. So they are heavy on the fat side, but not as processed as typical oatmeal cookies. I am putting the updated version under the original in italics. Choose if you want familiar looking oatmeal cookies with green flecks in them or if you want to be adventurous and try the second version. With alternative sweeteners, I use much less than the refined counterparts and I am also trying to get my kids' palate adjusted to less sweet.

Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies

Cream:
1/2 c butter
3/4 c sugar

1/2 c butter
1/4 c turbinado
1/4 c sucanat

Stir in
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

same

Add
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

same, but today I used a little yellow squash since I had frozen the rest of the grated zucchini

In a separate bowl, sift together
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

1 c whole wheat pastry flour*
1/2 c whole wheat flour
other dry ingredients are the same

Add flour mixture to zucchini mixture

Stir in
2 cups quick cook oats

today I used rolled oats since that's what I had

1 cup chocolate chips (also YUMMY with butterscotch chips)

today's version was a mix of chocolate and butterscotch chips

Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

*this is the flour I mill at home from soft white wheat berries.