Gluten-free banana chocolate chip oat muffins

Hey friends!

Here's a quick and easy treat for you, complete with the option to try the muffins dairy and gluten-free if you so desire!  I whipped these up in less than 20 min with about a 25 min bake time, so no major fuss. I've decided that I will try to cook gluten-free when I can, but not spend an inordinate amount of time or money trying to do it. These muffins can be made by quickly grinding oats into flour, without having to buy expensive and hard-to-find flours. Cooking and meal planning need to be enjoyable and not too demanding or it is easy to just give up and go back to bad habits. Better to make a few healthy improvements, stay within budget, and enjoy food that your family won't total reject :) I've tried the vegetarian, gluten-free, and organic eating habits, and being too legalistic about it doesn't really help the healthy living cause in our home :)

So enough chatter.... here's the original recipe from A Mama's Story with my notes below. 

To make your own oat flour.... It's as easy as measuring about a 1/4 cup more oats than the recipe calls for in oat flour, and blend away in your blender! Wa-la, your have your own oat flour. Be sure to measure the flour again, because it's not an exact science. You also want to check that you are using gluten-free oats if you have a major gluten allergy, but I've read good sources that say oats really don't have that much, if any, gluten. Do your research. I used the olive oil the recipe calls for, but I might try coconut oil next time for a change and a little added flavor. I didn't have chocolate chips, but a chocolate bar chopped up worked just as well. My muffins were a tad gooey at a 24 min bake time, so depending on your oven and your preferences, you might want to consider that.

Enjoy your treat!

Ruth