I spotted this Oat Cake recipe for a fun snack that looked pretty darned healthy. There is no added sugar, flour, or eggs and I had to try it out.

These no sugar oat drops come from a site Blueberry Girl (funny name – great dish), and immediately knew I would update it with my favorite things. I used chopped pecans instead of mixed nuts, because well I love pecans and I had them on hand. Also one of my favorite dried fruits is dried cranberries, so I couldn’t wait to use them in these cake-like snacks.

One thing I did have to buy (kind of pricey) was Almond meal, but I know that I’ll get lots of uses out of it, so it’s worth the cost. In case you aren’t familiar with almond meal, it’s simply blanched olives that have been ground up. That’s it.

Instead of eggs, these cakes are held together with mashed bananas, some canola oil, and vanilla. That means that these treats have a lovely hint of banana in every bite that works really well with all of the flavors. Oh and I used shredded coconut that is unsweetened and wow did my kitchen smell delightful along with the cinnamon and allspice flavors.

All that is required is to mix the dry and wet ingredients together, combine well, and then spoon the mixture into cookie cutters and press to form them on a cookie sheet and bake. Ta-da! Then you get to enjoy. I made these with fairly large cookie cutters so I got 9 no sugar oat drops out of the recipe but next time to stretch it a bit further, I might use a smaller cookie cutter as the mold.

Overall these snacks look like they would be cruncy but they are actually lighter and chewy. Also they have so many great flavors with the banana, cranberries, cinnamon, coconut, and allspice that it just works really well. Yum!!

Click here for the recipe and step by step instructions so you can enjoy these lovely treats for yourself. Easy, health, and yummy – can’t beat that trifecta!

What I was cooking up a year ago: Cooking with Zucchini – Part 2

Zucchini Fritters and a pasta dish with a Zucchini-Parmesan Sauce were the stars of my blog a year ago and for good reason. Both dishes were delicious, and it gave me another opportunity to highlight the versatility of my favorite type of squash (sorry Acorn and Spaghetti Squash, Zucchini does top my list). Be sure to check these out!!