Delicious Oatmeal: Take II

Oatmeal

Brown Sugar

Milk

Cinnamon

Frozen Blueberries

(Stirred into the hot oatmeal to soften)

Walnuts

Delicious Oatmeal: Take I

Oatmeal

Brown Sugar

Milk

Poppyseeds

Crasins

Banana Slices

Shredded Cocoanut

Slivered Almonds

Wholesome Honey-Baked Granola

This recipe comes from a deeeelectable cookbook which my mom and I have been enjoying lately. It's called Bite Me, by Julie Albert & Lisa Gnat.

Every single recipe we pull from it has been easy to prepare and very tasty, not to mention that the recipes are comprised of lots of awesome (sometimes quirky!) ingredients. Sometimes I find recipes that only have simple items can be missing a certain je ne sais quoi, but these recipes make up for it! (Coco powder in chili!? Awesome.)

The book's brunch chapter features this delicious homemade granola, which is not only good on your digestive tract, but also good on your pocket book. Prepared granola in the grocery stores can run for $10 or more, depending on the brand. And for HALF of the portion you get here.

That's a no brainer if you ask me.

Granola is such a light yet hearty, crunchy yet soft, food. Yummy served over yogurt, ice cream, with milk and bananas (as seen above), as a muffin/crisp topping, or just on it's own. It's a huge money saver for lunches: Pack 1/2 cup in a re-sealable dish and pour it over fruit and yogurt when you are ready to eat.

Fun to prepare, and oh-so satisfying, I know you will love it.

Ingredients:

4 c old-fashioned large flake oats (not quick cooking)

1 c slivered almonds

small handful of ground flax seed (this was my addition--just because I try to add flax seed to everything possible)

1 tsp kosher salt (I found this to be slightly salty for my taste)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 c melted butter (I used canola oil instead)

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c dried cranberries

1/2 c raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F--Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, flaxseed, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a small bowl, combine melted butter (or oil), brown sugar, honey, and vanilla. Whisk well and pour over oat mixture. Toss to combine and spread granola over prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake 20 minutes, stir carefully and then continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to large bowl. Add dried cranberries and raisins, mixing to combine. Cool completely and store at room temp. in an air tight container for up to 1 week.

Yield: 7 cups

Cookbook photo courtesy of http://www.torontolife.com/daily/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/BiteMeCookbook.jpg

Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream

For those of you who know me you may know that I have a vice or two, one of them being ice cream. My favourite flavors are: mint chocolate chip, maple walnut, plan ol' vanilla bean, rich chocolate fudge (with peanut butter), raspberry bugaboo, AND cookie dough!

My room mate Jenny and my Don Mitch decided to have a belated birthday celebration in honor of mine and Mitch's 20th birthdays! But mainly we wanted a reason to make cookie dough ice cream. Not gonna lie.

Now Jenny and Mitch seem to think I am a 'grandma' because I suggested rolling the cookie dough into little balls and freezing it (creating mixable--not squishable--cookie pieces), and because I told Mitch to leave the ice cream out to melt slightly a bit before we mixed in the cookie pieces.

That's just common sense and good advice if you ask me!

Apparently it is complete hilarity to some, and causes side stitching laughter. Very well.
Oh and they might have also made fun of me for telling Jenny not to 'aggravate the gluten' in the cookie dough by mixing it too long.

Pft. So I'm full of random cooking tips; sue me! This is why I'm the one with the blog.

Anyway, the final product was reaaaaaly yummy and I took some pictures for you all to enjoy. (Causing further outbursts of howling laughter and red faces.)

At least my hilarity causes people to smile. And so I laugh along, because if I'm laughing too, they are laughing with me, not at me. Silly common folk.

Luv you guys!

Note to the disclaimer: This recipie does permit eating raw eggs- it's raw cookie dough. So, you've been warned! However I have been eating cookie dough my whole life, and I'm just dandy.

Ingredients:

1 tub vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

a few almonds

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened3/4 c. granulated [white] sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 c. (12-ounce package) milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla

in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture.

3. When everything is combined, allow the dough to sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes so that the butter hardens slightly. (This will make the next step a bit easier)

4. Remove dough from the fridge and form small bite size morsels of dough, placing them (seperated) on a tray. Assemble enough for your servings of ice cream. Place tray in the freezer for 20 minutes.

5. Scoop softened (but not melted) ice cream into a bowl and mix in cookie dough. Top with almonds, (take a pretty picture of your creation), and enjoy!

Apple Gingerbread Sweet Potatoes

This recipe brings warmth to any meal. I bring it forth as a nomination for the category of "yummy creative side dish made in under 30 minutes", in the food Oscars. Do they have those? They should.

The combination of smooth and creamy sweet potatoes, gingerbread tea which can be cooked directly into the potato, honey, tart and crunchy apples, topped with nuts, dried fruit, and sugar, makes for a satisfying side dish.

I might add that I made these potatoes right after class and in-between homework sessions, so they are pretty easy if you have the right ingredients in your pantry. I literally kept throwing matching flavors into this dish because sweet potatoes are a very versatile vegetable. Sweet, but not too much, so you can add a seasonal flare to them like I did here. Crumbled up gingerbread cookies on top would be a nice addition as well.

You can use any type of gingerbread or cinnamon tea to infuse the potatoes that you can find. I bought mine at the grocery store and have had it sitting around for 2 years, and thought, It's about time to put this tea to some use! So I did. When the water with the potatoes in it comes to a boil, I let one of these seasonal tea bags and 3 black peppercorns steep for about 2 minutes, and the potatoes took on a great flavor!

You can use this same trick when making potato salad. Put a few garlic cloves in the water while the potatoes cook, and they will taste like garlic!

Combine some fresh apples into the cooked and mashed potatoes, cinnamon, and honey or brown sugar.

I didn't cook mine for too long because I didn't want the nuts to potentially burn, but you could leave yours in longer if you left the nuts off until a bit later into the cooking process. Maybe your sugar will caramelize more than mine did.

Ingredients:

(For one portion)

1 medium size sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1'' pieces

1 gingerbread tea bag (or chai/cinnamon/etc.)

3 black peppercorns

1/2 medium size apple, chopped (I used an Empire apple)

1 tsp. butter (optional)

1 tsp. honey or brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

a few pinches of large crystal sugar (like turbanado)

a handful of mixed nuts/dried fruit

Directions:

1. Cook peeled and cut potatoes into a pot full of cold water on high. When water comes to a boil, place tea bag and peppercorns into the pot (steep for 2 minutes) and allow the potatoes to cook another 8 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender enough to be be cut with a fork. Drain.

2. Mash potatoes, cinnamon, honey, and butter in a bowl with a fork until smooth. Stir chopped apples in gently.

3. Spoon mixture into a oven safe dish, and top with mixed nuts/fruit and sugar of choice.

4. Cook on broil for approx. 5 minutes. (You can cook it longer if you want the sugar to melt further, but watch so that it doesn't burn.)