Surprisingly Delicious [Sugar-free] Baked Oatmeal Recipe

In searching for a sugar-free recipe for baked oatmeal, I found this recipe and tweeked it a little (to make it sugar free), below is my version. I was shocked by how delicious it was! The original recipe can be found at: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Oatmeal-365069

Surprisingly Delicious Sugar-Free Baked Oatmeal

• 2 cups oatmeal (I used instant, as that's all we can get here)
• 1/2 cup almonds, sliced
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbl butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (this is much less than the recipe calls for, they are so expensive here!)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Generously butter the inside of an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, half the almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla.

Arrange the bananas in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle all the berries over the top. Cover the fruit with the oat mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Gently give the baking dish a couple thwacks on the counter to make sure the milk moves through the oats. Scatter the remaining almonds across the top.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!

Pics from Bali Vacation

Last month we had the privilege of taking a short family vacation to another island in Indonesia: Bali!  It was an amazing trip, we had a lot of fun as a family.  Here are some pictures from our time there.

The boys were SO excited to be at the airport!

Sweet brothers holding hands on the plane, they were THRILLED to be flying!

Our first stop.  Why can't they come to Papua?!?

Best part of Bali?  Being reunited with Papa after 10 days apart!

Dino in front of our hotel

Our hotel room was very nice for our family because it had 2 separate bedrooms!

The boys loved having their own special room.

Small kitchen and dining area

The hotel had 4 pools!

Main pool at the hotel

It was a treat to eat some yummy "western" style foods, as we have very few options where we live.
This was an awesome Mexican restaurant.

Catching a nap in the taxi on the way to the zoo

Bali's main religion is Buddhism,
so you see lots of idols and sacrifices everywhere.

Bali Zoo!

B got to hold a Papuan Eagle!

Looking at the scary crocodiles

Eyeing the tiger

Playing with the otter
(this was extra special, because J has a stuffed otter at home that he sleeps with!)

This guy was pretty amusing to watch

The boys insisted on sitting in the wagon...regardless if it was going anywhere.

We got to pet an elephant!

Watching a pelican get fed fish

The camel to match his shirt

Can you spot the wildlife?

B, the zookeeper

Our vacation overlapped with the World Cup.
 We saw lots of Netherlands flags all over the place!

Our flight back home left at 2 am.  Rather than pay for another night in the hotel, we hung out by the pool until 11 pm when the taxi picked us up for the airport.  It was a rough end to a wonderful time away!

Happy Independence Day!

The country of Indonesia celebrated 69 years of Independence yesterday on August 17th.  The effects from the holiday could been seen around our town leading up to this weekend.  One day we happened to drive past a parade of sorts....several groups of school kids, dressed in their school uniforms, were marching down the main street of our town.  Unlike parades that we are used to, traffic did not stop and people were not lined up along the roads to watch.  They just marched through town chanting or singing, taking up one of the 2 lanes of traffic, as cars and motorcycles slowly drove around them.

Indonesian flags can seen all over town.  We counted on the way to church yesterday and in a 1 mile stretch of road we saw over 100 flags!

The picture below doesn't have anything to do with Independence day...but it shows the mountain that is behind our house.  It is beautiful here!

Why We Are Here

Check out this great blog post by one of our co-workers here.  The post shares about a Bible dedication that took place last month on our island.  Folks, this is why we are here!

http://offthepath.wanderprone.com/2014/08/see.html

Fudge Filled Squares Recipe

This recipe has been requested multiple times, so thought it'd be a good one to post on the blog!  If you like chocolate at all, you have to try this!

Fudge Filled Squares (makes 9x13 pan)

Cookie base:

1 cup butter (I use 1/2 cup marg and 1/2 cup butter)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups oats

Beat together butter and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add dry ingredients (except oats).  Mix.  Stir in oats.  Press half of cookie mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Reserve remaining half for topping.

Fudge Filling:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in sugar, cocoa and milk.  Cook and continue stirring until smooth (and sugar granules melt down).  Careful not to burn.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Pour all of fudge over cookie base in pan, then drop/crumble remaining cookie over top.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Enjoy!