Apple “Pie” Oatmeal

 

Today is National Pie Day….so I should really be posting about this pie:

But to be honest, the recipe needs a little tweaking before I share it with you. 

So, instead let me tell you about this Apple “Pie” Oatmeal. 

I rarely eat breakfast.  I know, Most Important Meal of the Day….blah blah blah.  I often find myself starving at 1pm realizing that I haven’t had anything in my belly all day.  Growls heard for miles.  So I decided that I need to make it easy, and quick, if I am going to give breakfast a go in the mornings.  On colder winter days, I really like something warm.  Cold cereal and milk on a WA rainy morning isn’t going to cut it.  And I don’t have time in the morning to make a hot delicious breakfast.  So I am taking a short cut.  I can pre-make this Apple Pie topping for my oatmeal, and then in the morning it just takes about 5 minutes to make some hot oatmeal.  I have time for this.  And it is so delicious…..and kinda healthy.  All that fiber from the apple and oatmeal.  I keep telling myself this…..it’s working. 

Apple “Pie” Oatmeal Topping

Makes enough for four servings

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and diced small (I like G.Smith because they hold their crunch after cooking)

1 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Cinnamon (depending on how much you like cinnamon)

Directions:

Melt the butter in a skillet.  When melted, add diced apple to the pan.  Let the apple “sweat” and soften a little (not too much).  Then add brown sugar and cinnamon, stir to combine.  Continue to cook the apples for about another 5 minutes to give the sugar a chance to caramelize a little.

Put the warm apple mixture into a heat proof container that can be sealed and put into the fridge.  Allow the mixture to cool before closing and refrigerated.

Use within 5 – 7 days.

It’s simple.  Cook up your oatmeal, either on the stove or in the microwave.  Take a 1/4 of the mixture and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, and top your hot oatmeal with it.  Delicious and good for you.  And I will admit, when I eat it it gives me an extra boost of energy…..and the neighbors don’t complain about the growling my stomach makes. 

Well….happy National Pie Day!  Hope you are enjoying some yummy pie today!

 

Old Fashioned Recipes

I love recipes that get handed down from other generations.  I have several that I have been lucky enough to receive from my mother and Omi.  But this one isn’t from my family.  My amazing friend, Laurie (aka @SuperSlush) was kind enough to share her Grandmother’s Pound Cake recipe with me….and told me it would be ok if I posted it here to share with you all.   This recipe is very basic, but absolutely delicious.  There are so many different things you can add to this recipe to make it even more delicious depending on your mood….on my first attempt to make this recipe I was in the mood for a Cherry Lemonade….a la Sonic.  So I added these…

Maraschino Cherries!! Oh, and some lemon.  I love these cherries…I really don’t care how they are made, or what goes in them…they are yummy. 

Old Fashioned Pound Cake   Recipe Graciously Given by Laurie

Preheat to 350. Grease a 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup shortening
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup milk

Cream sugar, butter and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides in between additions. Alternate flour and milk, starting and ending with flour. Pour into greased bundt/tube pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

To make this a Cherry Lemonade Pound Cake zest and juice two lemons and add to the sugar, shortening and butter while creaming.  Drain a jar of maraschino cherries (save the juice to make a powdered sugar glaze), and fold in cherries before putting batter in pan.

To make the cherry glaze mix the juice from the jar of cherries with powdered sugar until you achieve the desired consistency.  Pour over cooled pound cake.

Look at this cake….but look quick, it wont last long….

Thank you, Laurie for sharing your Grandmother’s recipe with me…and for letting me pass it on to all of you.

xo

Gone in 21 hours….

And 10 of those Aiden was sleeping!  Aiden has devoured 75% of this yummy cake:

Aiden is my baked goods fiend.  He will try my creations and ask for them over and over again.  Jakob likes certain things I make; chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, sugar cookies, and chocolate cake.  But when it comes to new things like scones, biscuits, or this ah-mazing Strawberry Cake, he hesitates.  Not sure if he will like it he immediately says “No, Thank You” rather than taking a bite to see if he likes it.  Quite frustrating as this goes with ALL food, if he isn’t sure he will like it he refuses to try it.  Makes for a very limited diet for him.   But I digress.

Aiden makes it easy for me to consider if a recipe is a success or not, usually by how quickly he devours it.  And I will guarantee that this recipe from Maria, Two Peas and Their Pod, is a KEEPER.  With strawberries about to come into season here, I can picture this being made many times over.  And will make it with other berries as the seasonal fruit comes in. I look forward to making it again and adding a little bit of lime to it….maybe a glaze?  Not that it needs it.  It is light, a delicate crumb, with the burst of berry slices peeking out.  It is called a cake, but I had no problem serving and eating this for breakfast….Aiden inhaled his piece! (I also recommend eating this with a little dollop of whipped cream….just saying!)

You can find the recipe HERE.  And while you are there, check out Maria’s recipes for cookies….she always has great cookies going on!

Tuesdays With Dorie….MY choice!

 

I have been trying to write this post for over two weeks.  Seriously, two weeks.  And I had hoped to have something clever, something inspiring, but alas….my writer’s block continues.  I was hoping to get my mojo back once Jason got back from Iraq.  Having him home on vacation this past month has sent me into a bit of a tizzie….my routine was pretty much turned upside down.  Not that I am complaining (well, maybe a little), we are SUPER happy to have him home.  It has been nice to have someone to cook for, and to bake for….especially breakfast treats on the weekend, which brings me to this week’s Tuesday With Dorie goody….Devilish Shortcakes! 

I was perusing the TWD website the other month looking for my name to see when I would be making my choice and noticed that my name was NOT on the list.  I tweeted Mrs. Laurie lickity split and she quickly rectified the situation and let me know that my turn would be in November!  WHOO HOO….then came the challenge of choosing the right recipe, a daunting task.  And after choosing a couple of recipes that had already been done (before my time, and coming up the next week – duh) I chose the amazing, chocolatey goodness of the DEVILISH SHORTCAKES!

These shortcakes are fantastic.  They are light and airy, and have JUST the right amount of chocolate in them….enough to call it a dessert….but not too much that you can’t indulge and have them for breakfast – which is what we did.  I whipped up some cream, defrosted some mixed berries….and voila…breakfast.  All three of my “boys” were delighted.  They were quite the treat.

Thank you Dorie for providing me with a recipe that I can use as a weekend indulgence!

Devilish Shortcakes, from Baking; From My House to Yours  by Dorie Greenspan

For the Biscuits:

1 1/3 cups Whole Milk

1 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Large Egg

3 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour

2/3 cups Cocoa

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Sugar

1 1/2 Sticks (12 tablespoons) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

To Make the Biscuits:

Whisk the milk, vanilla and egg together.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a large bowl.  Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour.  Quickly, working with your fingertips (Dorie’s favorite method), or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.  You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces in between – and that’s just right.

Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and toss and gently turn the ingredients with a fork until you’ve got a very soft dough.  When the dough comes together, you’ll probably still have dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl – just use a spatula or your hands to mix and knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. Don’t overdo it; it’s better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. Even with all the flour mixed in, the dough will be soft and sticky.

Spoon out about 1/3 cup of dough for each shortcake onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the mounds. Pat each mound down until it is between 3/4 and 1 inch high. (The shortcakes can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add at least 5 more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back at the midway point, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a bit when prodded.  Pull the sheet from the oven and transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack.

Then you can do with them what you please….we chose to cut them open and fill them with mixed berries and LOTS of whipped cream….see?  like this:

They are light, airy and oh so delicious.  Plain and simple.  We ate them later in the day plain, with large glasses of milk.  Thumbs up from the WHOLE family.

I hope you all enjoyed making them.  Everyone needs to check out all the others on the Tuesdays with Dorie Blogroll. 

Thank you all for your patience.  I will be doing my best to get back my blogging mojo….and have fun things starting in the new year.  2011 is going to be MY year.  I can feel it.  Do you have anything planned for 2011?  Tell me…maybe we can inspire each other.

Family Readiness Group aka FRG

So I am happy to say that I am back involved with an actual functioning FRG. For those of you not familiar with the term, it is a program to help keep the wives of soldiers informed of the goings on of their husband's units while they are home, and most importantly while they are deployed. I was a co-leader for Jason's unit in Colorado, and I really enjoyed it. Lots of fun. But then we moved to CT, and there wasn't an FRG at all. There didn't really need to be one, but it would have been nice to get to know the wives of the guys Jason was working with.

Now, thank goodness, I am a part of a FRG that works. Jason's Commander's wife, Nikki, is running the FRG. I know she reads this, and I am glad that she does, because I want her to know that I think she is going to be a great leader for this group. She had a meeting at her house a few weeks ago and I was sad that more of the wives didn't come. I thought it was very generous of her to have us to her house, provide yummy snacks, and let us bring our kiddos. The few wives that showed up seemed interested in the FRG and what was going on with the group and with the unit. I hope that the next few meetings or events get better turn outs.

I have been asked to help out with the FRG if I can. Of course I said yes. And so I am Treasurer (no laughing, I am allowed to use a calculator), as well as Point of Contact for Jason's platoon. Lots of fun.

So...looking for some recipes and advice. We are going to be rotating out and making breakfast for the whole unit, all 75 (approx) of them! My turn is coming up in a couple of weeks. So what would you make/bring to feed 75 hungry soldiers....who just finished physical training?? Needs to be easy to make, easy to serve, and easy to deliver...at 7:00 AM!!! Leave me a comment with any ideas you may have! Please and thanks!

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Cornbread - Breakfast for Dinner

As most families, every once in awhile I like to cook/make breakfast for dinner. Tonight was one of those nights. And what our family likes to have is eggs and cornbread. Love it. I decided to make omelets with some brown sugar ham and cheddar cheese. And then I searched online for some cornbread recipes. The one cornbread recipe I really want is one that my friend Janet makes. I can't remember the name of the book she uses, something with a moose. I will have to get in touch with her soon to get it.
Anyway... I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and tweaked it a little. I didn't think it needed as much sugar, and I added some shredded cheddar.

Here is the recipe with the tweaks.

Sweet Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar - I used 1/2 a cup
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

I added 1/3 cup of shredded cheese - but in hindsight I should have added more, and maybe something like pepperjack for some bite. But then again maybe not for the kiddos.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

It was yummy - still a little sweet, so maybe next time I will lessen the sugar even more. Jason loved it and would have eaten the whole thing if I had let him (so would I, it was great). Jakob ate most of his piece. And Aiden ate most of his small piece before sharing it with Toby (our dog!).