Baked Bloomin' Onion

Let's talk about onions.

These are great because they're way easier than a deep-fried blooming onion, and also a smidge or two healthier.
To make your blooming onion, you will start with the obvious. An onion.  

I was looking for a big sweet onion like a Vidalia, but I couldn't find one. This is a yellow onion and it worked fine.

First slice off the top. In case you are as easily disoriented as myself, this is the end opposite the roots.

Peel off all that skin and then flip him over. Carefully slice off some of those roots with a sharp knife.

That way your onion can stand up easier without rolling over which makes it easier to slice it into wedges.

Just make sure you don't slice all the way through. Then you'll just have a bunch of onion pieces instead of a big beautiful onion flower.

Now drench it in some eggs and stuff. Make sure you get in between all the petals.

Next is the crumb coating. You'll have some crushed corn chex or gluten free cornflakes, some seasonings, and to bind it all together you can either use Parmesan cheese or corn starch if you're trying to do dairy free. Thankfully Parmesan doesn't bother me, but the corn starch works great too.

After it gets a good coating, make sure you give it one more dunk in the eggs and then a final coat in the crumbs. That's TWO coats of crumbs people. Very important.

Now drizzle it in some butter or oil. Again, depending on whether or not you're eating dairy. Both work great.

You don't want any dry, white crumbs showing, so if you didn't manage to get it by drizzling, give it a little spritz of cooking spray.

After it comes out of the oven, the rest is history.

Baked Bloomin' Onion

1 large onion (I wanted Vidalia, but yellow was the biggest one they had)

3 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

3/4 cup gluten free cornflake crumbs (Corn Chex would probably also work)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese or corn starch

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

Cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste
A couple tablespoons of melted butter and/or oil

Remoulade sauce (my recipe here)

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. 

In one bowl, beat together the eggs, water, paprika, garlic powder, and mustard. In another bowl mix together the cornflakes, parmesan or corn starch, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Set aside. 

Cut about 1/2 inch off the top of the onion and peel the skin off. Cut the tip of the root off so the onion can stand on it. Cut the onion into about eight wedges being very careful not to cut all the way through (leave about 1/2 inch).

Dip the onion in the egg mixture, spooning it between each "petal". Once it's completely coated toss it in the crumbs, once again spooning it between each petal. Repeat this process, coating the onion once more in the egg mixture and then a final time again in the crumbs (use every bit of the crumbs you can). 

Place on a well greased baking sheet. Drizzle with melted butter and/or oil. Then you can give it a final spritz of cooking spray (PAM or something) to make sure the whole thing is coated. Bake at 425ºF for about 45 minutes. Serve with remoulade.

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Secretly Healthy Banana Bread {With Chocolate Chips}

Seems too good to be true, I know. So does the fact that I'm actually posting. HA.

Seriously though, I do want to post more. It's just, I'm on vacation right now. And there is no stand mixer here. And no food processor. And the gluten free flour aisle is pathetic. And I really just want to sit on the beach and think about chocolate chips all day anyways.

Seriously, I found my new favorite chocolate chips. I even dug the package out of the trash can so I could remember to tell you what kind they were. I guess they're called Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels. They're just... so big and beautiful. And they melt really well and are just overall delicious. I know, they probably have some dairy in them, but it won't hurt to have one or two, eh?

....or fifty. 

Okay, so let me tell you about this banana bread.

I love it because it's really moist and... sticky? Does that sound weird? Well, I like it. And it's healthy! You can keep it even healthier by skipping the chocolate chips and maybe adding some chopped nuts and dried fruit if you want.

Or just add nuts, fruit, and chocolate chips. That works too. 



Now, if it isn't your goal to make a healthy snack that you won't feel too guilty about when you down half a loaf for breakfast, you could always try my Nutella swirled banana bread. You could even try it with gluten-free flour! It's full of butter and sugar and all the goods, and since it is Fat Tuesday after all, I wouldn't blame you.

Seriously though, the one day I post something healthy-ish, it's Fat Tuesday. What is wrong with me.

Okay, so wanna hear the big secrets to this bread? Well, first of all there is no butter or oil. Instead there are bananas (um... duh) and unsweetened applesauce.

 Seriously, I don't know why they usually sweeten it. I can hardly tell the difference.

The other secret is adding honey instead of sugar. I mean, supposedly that supposed to be better for you. You could also use maple syrup or something. Orrr.... you could just use the sugar. You'll probably survive.

Obviously, the final secret is using gluten free flour. I used white rice, but what I really wanted was oat flour. Like I say, this grocery store down here has no selection and there's not even a food processor to grind my own oats. It's a tough life my friends.

Anywho. You should definitely make this. And if you use oat flour, please leave a note in the comments to let me know how it turned out!!

 

Secretly Healthy Banana Bread 
Makes 2 8-inch loaves or 1 10-inch loaf

2 large eggs
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup, sugar, or other sweetener)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup oat flour (or any other type of flour; gluten-free, all-purpose, or whole wheat. I actually used white rice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (more or less as you prefer)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (the ones pictured are not quite ripe enough, I used four smallish brown speckled bananas, mashed well)

Optional mix-ins (chocolate chips, dried cherries or cranberries, pecans, walnuts, etc.)

Grease two 8 inch loaf pans or a 10 inch loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Mix together the eggs, honey, applesauce, and vanilla. Mix together the flour, salt, soda, powder, and cinnamon and add to the wet ingredients. Stir in the mashed bananas and mix well. Add in any mix-ins. Divide even in the pans and bake about 45 minutes for two loaves or an hour for one (until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs attatched). I cut each 8 inch loaf into about 12 pieces.

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