The Good Hearted Woman

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Don’t Miss the Breakfast Bus!

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Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bars Recipe7:54 a.m. – The typical time that our little Princess  rolls her fanny out of bed to get ready for school.

8:03 a.m.  – The time that the bus rolls up at the corner to carry the aforementioned Princess off to middle school.  (It used to be 6:50 a.m.: things are better now.)

Seven minutes.  She has an average of seven minutes – to get dressed, check her face, comb her hair, check her face again, maybe put on a little make-up, gather her school supplies that were supposed to be together the night before, grab her clarinet, hug her Mama and run out the door…

Breakfast?  Most often, it is in her hand – because if she can’t hold it and eat it before she gets to the bus stop, it won’t get eaten.  Because, heaven forbid should anyone know that she actually eats breakfast.  (“It’s embarrassing.”)  And somehow, no matter how early she gets up, it doesn’t change the amount of time she allots for eating breakfast.  Thirteen-year old girls are weird.

Any Mama or Papa who has children who hop on a school bus has at least a few mornings when there isn’t time to sit down and eat anything.  Some of us more than others, I’m sure, but we’ve all been there.  So when you press something into their hands as they bolt out the door, you hope it’s something healthy and delicious (and NOT full of weird chemicals and preservatives) – something that will stick with them for the whole morning.  Something that might even remind them that they are loved.  A few weeks ago, I threw a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, waved my magic spatula and came up with a new favorite – a soft, healthy, hand-friendly breakfast bar full of oatmeal and yumminess.

I like to wrap these individually and freeze them in gallon-sized Ziploc bags, then take out however many I need the night before.  They’re great cold, but for a warm breakfast on the go, ten seconds in the microwave makes them even better.

5 from 1 vote

Oatmeal-Banana Breakfast Bars

Prep Time25 mins
Cook Time1 hr
Total Time1 hr 25 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings: 18 Bars

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 large banana mashed
  • ½ cup honey
  • 5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • ¼ cup ground almonds or ground flaxseed
  • 1 Tbls ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger optional: I love ginger!
  • 1 Tbls baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 cups almond milk
  • Optional additions:
  • ¼ cup coconut
  • ¼ cup golden raisins or craisins
  • ¼ cup sunflower seeds
  • ¼ cup anything else that sounds good ahem… chocolate chips, anyone?

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°.
  • Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl.
  • Add in oats, ground almonds, ginger, baking powder, salt and and “optional additions” you choose, mix well with wet ingredients.
  • Pour in almond milk and stir combine. Set on counter for 15 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken slightly.
  • Line a large jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spread mixture evenly over parchment paper.
  • Bake 1 hour, or until the top is slightly golden and it is “bouncy” to the touch. (Like a heavy quickbread.)
  • Cool and cut into 18 bars.
  • To store, wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap and then freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

Notes

I like to wrap these individually and freeze them in gallon-sized Ziploc bags, then take out however many I need the night before. They’re great cold, but for a warm breakfast on the go, ten seconds in the microwave makes them even better.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Mrs. Obinger’s Coconut Cookies

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Mom and Dad both worked when I was little, so after school I often went to the home of one of our neighbors until one of them got home. Usually I went to our across-street-neighbor Mrs. Clement’s house. Mrs. Clement was tiny and very sweet, and her house was always perfectly clean. I was sometimes nervous to go to the bathroom there because everything was so perfect.

When Mrs. Clement wasn’t available, my mother would ask Mrs. Obinger, who lived kitty-corner from us. Mrs. Obinger was a little older than Mrs. Clement, and she had grown daughter named Georgianne who lived at home. Georgianne was paralyzed from the neck down. (If I remember the story right, she was injured when she was a teenager out on the Oregon Dunes.) Anyway, Georgianne was the first person I ever knew who was intelligent and capable and also had a severe physical disability. I learned a lot from both her and her mother.

Mrs Obinger made great after-school snacks, including a couple of my all-time favorites – Garlic Cheerios and Coconut Cookies. More often than not, when I arrived, she was already getting out the ingredients for one or the other. “Roll up your sleeves,” she’d say, and them we’d spend the next half hour in the kitchen together.

I loved making Coconut Cookies with Mrs Obinger because after she put the ingredients into the bowl, I could mix them up all by myself. I can still see myself, standing on a chair and buried up to my elbows, oatmeal and shortening and all sorts of yumminess squishing between my fingers. Is there anything better when you are six than squishing things? Especially if all that squishiness ends up being delicious cookies?

Want to make some cookies with the kiddos? Mix these little coconut beauties up by hand and have some fun!

When I was in the fourth grade, I made a special trip over to Mrs. Obinger’s house and carefully wrote out the recipe on one of her special recipe cards as she dictated it to me, so that I could have it for always. I still have the card. I’ve made a few changes to the original, mostly to cut down the fat content, but they are still the same crispy-chewy coconut wonders I remember.

I encourage you to make a batch of these with your favorite child very soon. And if you don’t have a child of your own to make them with, invite the neighbor kid (and his mom) over to make some: you may even make a memory or two before you’re done – if you’re lucky.

Mrs. Obinger's Coconut Cookies

Making cookies with kids? Let them mix these cookies up by hand and have some fun!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Treats
Servings: 50
Calories: 0
Author: Edna Obinger, updated by Renée ♥

Ingredients

  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup raw sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup grated coconut
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil or very soft butter
  • 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk or 1% milk
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • Combine oats, sugar, flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add soften butter, almond milk, and vanilla and mix. (I do this with my hands.)
  • Roll into 1" balls and flatten with a fork dipped in almond milk.
  • Bake 10-12 minutes at 375°.

Weight Watchers:

  • One cookie = 2 PointsPlus.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!
Coconut Cookies Recipe 4

Roll into 1″ balls and flatten with a fork dipped in almond milk.

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