oatmeal-carrot-date-bread.jpg

Here is my O Foods recipe. If you have not heard about the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness month contest, please check the details on my last post!

Quick breads are like cake to me. I am not a big fan of icing and so for me the subtle sweetness that quick breads offer is perfect for me. I love the idea of banana bread and there are variations on banana bread wherever you turn, but I am not a lover of bananas. For some reason I just never really got into them. I find that their taste overpowers everything and for me they mess up and overwhelm and ruin the flavor of smoothies to quick breads. I understand that they add sweetness and bulk, and are great for binding ingredients together. But I am still plagued by childhood memories of the banana in my lunch box that made my turkey sandwich taste like bananas, and my chips too!

So when I came across a recipe for oatmeal date carrot mini muffins, I knew that I wanted to experiment with making it a quick breakfast bread. It is chock full of great ingredients that are healthy and delicious! I changed it up a bit using what I had and it turned out moist, flavorful and filling. This is a great bread for breakfast or snacking and perfect for an afternoon spot of tea (or coffee).

This is adapted from floridagirlinsydney‘s blog Deviously Delicious
Don’t forget to start coming up with your O Foods recipe! :)

oatmeal-carrot-date-bread_2.jpg

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats or rolled oats
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup hazelnut oil (or rice bran oil)
1 carrot finely grated
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of chopped dates and raisins mixed
3/4 cup white chocolate chips (leftover from a DB challenge – figured they wouldn’t be as offensive in a bread)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

METHOD:

Combine oats and milk in a large bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F . Grease the bread pan. Into oat & milk mixture bowl, add egg, oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, chopped dates, raisins, white chocolate chips, pine nuts and coconut.

In a separate bowl combine regular flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix to combine.

Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the large bowl of wet ingredients and stir only until everything is moist (do not over stir). Pour batter into bread pan.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 55-65 minutes . Stick a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean- it is done. Remove from oven and let cool – remove from the pan.

Cook times for other types of breads/muffins:
(this is floridagirlinsydney’s standard guideline chart she use for all bread/muffins)

10-12 minutes for mini muffins
30-40 minutes for mini-loaves
55-65 minutes for regular loaves
10-15 minutes for mini-muffins
25-35 minutes for regular size muffins

(Stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean, they are done).