Overnight Baked Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a great stick-to-your-bones meal and this recipe makes it much tastier. You can vary the size for the people you need to serve,  Customize it however you like!

One-inch tall round casserole.  It served four.  If you wish, you can prepare it the night before (or even two nights before) and bake in the morning.  It's probably best to add the nuts on top just before baking.

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

3 cups old fashioned Quaker oats

6 cups skim milk

1/8 t. salt

 

Bring milk and salt to a boil.  Stir in oats.  Cook about 5 minutes over medium heat.  Stir occasionally.  (Cook until it looks good to eat.).  

 

Meanwhile, mix crumbled topping ingredients together with fork:

 

2 T. soft butter

4 T. flour

4 T. brown sugar

 

Put hot oatmeal in flat casserole or Pyrex dish.  Crumble topping over all.  Sprinkle a little more brown sugar where the topping didn't completely cover.

 

Put dried fruit and nuts on top in any combination and pattern you wish.  Suggestions:  apricots, cherries, prunes, almonds, walnuts.

YOU CAN STOP HERE AND REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT. It may require slightly longer cooking but then you do all the legwork in advance!

 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until topping is melted and slightly hardened but be careful not to burn fruit.

 

Serve with milk.

Coconut Oatmeal

Recently I've been really into oatmeal. Today I tried a different recipe and it was delicious! No sugar added!  To make it healthier, look for lowfat coconut milk.

serves 1
Ingredients:
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk (1%)
1 banana, sliced

1. Boil milk and coconut milk
2. Add oats once boiling and reduce heat to medium
3. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes
4. Pour into a bowl and top with banana slices.  Oatmeal will be very hot.

I hope this is really filling!

Cinnamon Apple Pancake Bars

For over a week I have been wanting to make these pancake bars I saw on the Kitchn website. I thought it would be quite handy to have a grab and go breakfast. And yet all week the time to make these morsels alluded me.

Finally, today as I was whipping up some homemade chicken stock and found myself with a baby-holder I was able to make these. These take no time at all to pull together but they do take a while to bake.  The recipe said 12-15 minutes but this took 25 for me. Perhaps it was the dark pan or my overly runny batter but it was sort of a long wait when we were hungry and waiting--so plan ahead!

These are good cold but I bet they'd be great heated up too.

I revised the recipe so that the main batter had some more flavor but don't skip the streusel topping, it makes it.

For the Bars:
2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
dash of ginger
3 T sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 3/4 cups whole milk (this seemed like too much)
1 t vanilla
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 apple, diced into 1/2" pieces (or bigger depending on how chunky you want)
2 C granola (I used Bare Naked Maple Pecan, you can't really taste it though)

For the Topping: (consider making a double recipe of the topping!)
1/4 C flour
1/4 C brown sugar, firmly packed
3 T butter, melted
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg

Directions:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients through sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk and butter and mix until just combined. Add apple and granola and mix until just covered.  The batter for me was really runny with chunks in it but it still worked out!
2. Prepare a 9x13 pan by spraying with cooking spray. Add a layer of parchment, spray again. Pour prepared batter into the pan. Then heat the oven to 400 degrees and let the batter rest.
3. Make the topping by stirring it all together, it will be thick. Spatter the topping all over the bars. Bale 20-25 minutes until the bars are cooked through and are springy to touch.  Remove from pan, let rest on a wire rack and serve.  I cut these into small bars.

Yogurt Drink Waffles

Last week I wanted to use some old fruit to make a smoothie. Joey suggested we buy some Siggi's Drinkable yogurt for this because he likes that brand, it was on sale, and it seemed like it might make a good smoothie.

After tasting the drink though, I thought it was a little too bitter for a smoothie plus, making a smoothie didn't sound fun anymore--it sounded like a lot of work! When tasting the drink, however, I thought it smelled a lot like buttermilk. I suggested to Joey that we use it to make pancakes or waffles and then freeze them to eat whenever. He agreed to try it but it was risky.

We tested it out today changing Brown Eyed Baker's recipe slightly to use the yogurt drink instead of buttermilk.  The results? The batter was super thick and looked a little blue. But the results were a delicious waffle! It was maybe a little bit denser but the flavors were great, the blueberry was super subtle if there at all and the addition of the raspberries was of course fantastic.  So next time you don't know what to do with your extra yogurt drink--make waffles!

Yogurt Drink Waffles
Minorly adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

1 3/4 C flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 3/4 C yogurt drink, any flavor
2 eggs
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 C butter, melted and cooled
raspberries (optional)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until combined
3. Make a well in the dry ingredient bowl and add the wet ingredients
4. Mix until combined but don't over mix!
5. Preheat the waffle maker and spray with cooking spray. Add 1C or so of batter or according to your waffle maker instructions. Drop in raspberries. Cook according to instructions

Egg Sandwiches made at home are better

Last weekend we wanted to have some breakfast and we really had very little. So I made an egg sandwich with ham, egg, cheese and English muffins. It was fantastic.  Now that I have a favorite sandwich, I made something similar for lunch on Wednesday when I had bookend meetings to the lunch hour.  This time I omitted the cheese and added avocado.  Pure deliciousness.

This is the easiest thing to make and it takes hardly any time at all. By the time your muffin is toasted the egg is done!

Ingredients
1/2 small avocado
1 slice ham off the bone
1 egg
butter
1 whole wheat English muffin

Directions
1. Preheat pan to medium.  Break an egg into a bowl and then slide into the hot pan. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Fry the egg a few minutes until the white is opaque and the yellow looks slightly done. Be careful not to break the egg yolk on the transfer.
2. Toast the English muffin in the toaster or on the side of the pan.
3. Add ham to pan and heat til warm
4. Spread butter on the muffin, add ham, egg and avocado
5. Eat immediately and watch out for the egg which will break

Christmas Breakfast 2011 - Overnight Baked French Toast

As is our custom on Christmas morning since we got married, Joey & I hosted Christmas Breakfast for his immediate family and a few relations.  This year, I aimed for ease in preparation, aiming to please all the different palates but not spend every minute of the morning making individual portions of dishes.

So I checked online in late November and searched for recipes that might fit the bill. I was hoping for some kind of overnight sweet breakfast dish that could serve 7.  I stumbled upon overnight baked french toast--a recipe by Paula Dean with over 9,000 reviews and 5 stars.

I decided to make the "baked french toast" as a test weeks before Christmas and then ended up failing at that plan because I didn't realize it required overnight time.  So we went cold turkey on Christmas Eve/Morning with a new recipe.

I also made an error in my bread buying on the 23rd.  Paula called for French bread and I thought she meant those long thin loaves but it turned out after closer inspection that she meant the wider and flatter Italian French bread.  We decided to mix the bread choice from Giada's baked French toast recipe with the recipe for Paula's by using Challah bread that we cut into thick slices from two loaves.  We also used the Mario Batali Lasagna pan which is 9x13 but taller--3.25 instead of a traditional  9x13x(2inches?) which caused us to increase the ingredients a bit to make sure we had plenty of liquid.

The process was incredibly simple, the French Toast took about 15 minutes to assemble and slept in the refrigerator all night long. In the morning we took it out about a half hour before baking and then baked it for about 40 minutes with a topping making the FT soft in places and crispy in others--almost as perfect as the fried variety.

Paula Dean & Giada's Overnight Baked French Toast
adapted from The Food Network Recipe 1 & Recipe 2
Serves 10-12 (we served 7 and almost everyone had a second helping but there was enough for maybe 3 more)

1 1/2 loaves Challah bread, let the bread sit out for a few hours or longer so it dries out a bit in advance
9 Large Eggs
1 1/2 C Whole Milk
2 1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream
2 T sugar
2 t Cinnamon (or to taste, we liberally added cinnamon)
1 t nutmeg (or to taste, I wasn't watching the person adding this)
1 t vanilla extract
dash of salt
butter for greasing the pan

Topping:
2 T sugar
1 T cinnamon

Directions
1. Grease a 9x13 pan, preferably with higher than 2" sides, but that will work fine in a pinch (I totally missed this step and it made a difference in the clean up)
2. Slice the Challah bread into 1 inch slices and line the pan with the bread close together slices on end (like a file cabinet).  If you have holes, slice smaller pieces to fit into the holes. The bread should be tight enough not to fall over but not too tight so you can't get in between the slices with your fingers
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until all the yolks have broken.
4. Add all other ingredients and whisk to combine
5. Pour liquid evenly over the pan of bread and use a spoon to distribute in between the layers.  Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight
*The next Morning*
1. Remove the dish from the refrigerator when you get up
2. Preheat the oven to 350
3. Make the topping by combining 2 T sugar and 1 T cinnamon in a small bowl. Remove the cover on the dish and sprinkle the topping all over--this will make the top crisp
4. Bake 40 minutes or until toast is lightly golden brown and puffed and liquid is mostly set
5. Cut into squares and serve warm with syrup

Challah French Toast

I discovered last week that I have access in this great state of California to a childhood memory. Great Harvest Bread Company is that memory. Every week after my trombone lesson in Naperville, my mom would pick me up and we'd stop by the Great Harvest Bread Company for our weekly loaf of bread and free sample. The free samples were a full slice of the fresh made bread of your choice slathered with sweet, soft butter. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we also got a quarter of an oatmeal chocolate cookie--warm from the oven.

When I learned that there is a Great Harvest Bread Company right around the corner in South Pasadena, I knew I had to make it my priority to visit!

I went with my sister in law to the bread company on pretty much the cutest street in South Pas. I didn't even know such an adorable street existed! Despite all the other restaurants on the street, GHBC was packed. The line was almost out the door at noon when we arrived. This GHBC offers sandwiches and salads in addition to selling fresh bread and cookies. You can read my review of the restaurant here.

The bread. The bread is dense and fresh and delicious. GHBC makes a few breads every day and then some variety breads that are different each day. Every customer is offered a sample of bread and either butter or jam. They also have samples of the cookies sometimes. I tasted the Challah. I was thrilled to see that they have challah on Fridays because that and brioche is the bread that is always called for in French Toast recipes--and I can never find it. GHBC was offering both plain challah loaves and cinnamon chip raisin loaves. The challah was delicious, the loaf was a little expensive for the size--$5, but it was worth it!

I used Betty Crocker's recipe for French Toast. We only made 6 slices of toast and had about half of the loaf leftover. The French Toast was good but I didn't think it was that much better than using French Toast bread that you can get for $2 at the regular grocery store. I would rather just eat the bread, warmed in the microwave with a little butter.

Hash Browns with Sausages and Roasted Tomatoes

As with any good bed and breakfast, a hot breakfast is provided to their guests each morning. My parent's departure was today and I wanted to send them off with something filling and hot.

We received a cookbook from Joey's Aunt Trisha for our wedding entitled Easy Breakfast and Brunch and I was excited to have a chance to use it. I looked through the recipes until something caught my fancy and landed on Hash Browns with Sausages and Roasted Tomatoes. This breakfast turns out to take a lot of time but luckily I did a little planning ahead. Leave at least 40 minutes to make this unless you have either a helper or prep early.

I served this breakfast with fried eggs which were a pretty good accompaniment. I recommend serving this with some kind of egg.

Hash Browns with Sausages and Roasted Tomatoes
Serves 4 barely
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs potatoes, diced
4 T butter
1 L onion, finely chopped
12 premium breakfast sausages
2 T olive oil
20 cherry tomatoes, on the vine (or a whole basket from the farmer's market)
1 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:
NIGHT BEFORE:
While making dinner, boil potatoes for 10-12 minutes until just tender. Store in a tupperware container in the refrigerator until morning.
Finely chop onion and place in a bag or tupperware in the refrigerator
MORNING OF:
Preheat oven to 400
1. Melt 4 T butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Add onions and saute 15 minutes until soft and golden.
2. While the onions are cooking, place the sausages on a roasting pan (although I just used a jellyroll pan). Toss with 1 T olive oil.
3. Spray another jellyroll pan with cooking spray. Toss the tomatoes on the prepared pan with the remaining olive oil
4. Mash potatoes slightly and season with salt and pepper. Add potatoes to the onions and cook 15-20 minutes until crispy
5. Meanwhile, put the sausages in the oven on the bottom shelf, cook 20 minutes, turning once.
6. After 5 minutes of cooking the sausages, place the tomatoes on the top shelf and roast 15 minutes.
7. Remove sausages from oven and let rest.
8. Remove tomatoes from oven and toss with balsamic vinegar. Put the tomatoes back in the oven and roast 5 minutes more.
9. Serve potatoes, sausages and tomatoes with their juices together with eggs.


(don't you love that spoon wearing the ladle hat? I wonder if my parents did that on purpose)

German Apple Pancake

This month's cooking light came in the mail and made my mouth water at first glance. On the cover was a German Apple Pancake, and "light" to boot! I immediately bought the ingredients to make it. And then I didn't. But yesterday, I woke up unusually early, and decided it was time.

So, I bought the ingredients but I refuse to buy things that I can only use for the one recipe. This recipe, in an effort to make it "light" I guess, called for egg substitute. I bought regular eggs--I planned to use the remaining eggs in an ice cream recipe. The problem that I ran into was my failure to look up how many eggs = 1 cup of egg substitute. Well actually, I did look it up, but then I didn't follow the directions based on what I learned. I learned that 1/4 cup of egg substitute equals 1 egg. Then I continued to use only 2 eggs. I'm not sure what was going through my head except for maybe "4 eggs is a whole lot of eggs." So I used 2. This caused my German pancake to be really thin and not quite as custardy as promised. However, it was still delicious and I would make it again in second (and I would likely try it with 4 eggs).

Recipe below found in the Cooking Light August 2008 as well as online here.

Ingredients

Batter:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup egg substitute (or 4 eggs)
1 cup milk (low-fat if you want to be 'healthy')
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apple mixture:
Cooking spray
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup thinly sliced Granny Smith apple

Remaining ingredient:
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Mix together the dry batter ingredients in a large bowl using a whisk. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a whisk until just combined. Let sit 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, spray ovenproof pan with cooking spray on the bottom and the sides. Mix together 1/4 sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture over the sides and bottom of prepared pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Slice apples into thin slices and place in a windmill single layer over the sugar mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 of sugar over the apples. Heat over medium heat until mixture bubbles (they say 8 minutes, I say 4-5). Remove from heat and pour the batter over the top.

4. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 for 13 minutes more (don't take the pancake out). Remove pan from oven and transfer to plate (or just cut it from the pan). Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and enjoy.

I think this pancake could be used for dessert but I enjoyed it for breakfast. I realize it has apples in it, but I think it would be delicious served with some fresh raspberries.