Baked Blueberry and Toasted Almond Oatmeal {Recipe}
I am not an oatmeal eater, but this recipe has made me one. I didn't think I'd like the nuts, but they are delicious. I can't stop making this or eating it, and the rest of the family is just as bad as I am. It has a wonderful consistency, not mushy because the oats are just baked in place and not stirred around with water. My boys who love oatmeal the 'regular' way commented on how I "should make it this way everyday"- so yes it is a hit in our house and I hope it will be in yours as well. It is addictive and that is okay- because it is good for you!
Baked Oatmeal
Amended from Super Natural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swanson.
2 cups / 7 oz / 200 g rolled oats
1/2 cup / 2 oz / 60 g toasted almonds/cashews or other nuts of your choice (even add dried fruits if you choose)
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon aluminium-free baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 cups / 475 ml milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups / 6.5 oz / 185 g huckleberries, blueberries, or mixed berries
Preheat the oven to 375F / 190C with a rack in the top third of the oven. Generously butter the inside of an 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
In a bowl, mix together the oats, the sugar, if using, the baking powder, half of the toasted almonds, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, if using, the milk, egg, the butter, and the vanilla.
Sprinkle half of the berries over the bottom of the baking dish. Cover the fruit with the dry oat mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Gently give the baking dish a couple thwacks on the countertop to make sure the milk moves through the oats. Scatter the remaining berries and half of the toasted almonds across the top.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar or drizzle with maple syrup if you want it a bit sweeter.
Serves 5 generously, or 8 as part of a larger brunch spread
My Notes:
You will/may have to fiddle with how sweet you want your oatmeal to be. When I made this the first time I made it with 1/3 cup sugar and it was just not quite sweet enough for me, then the second time I upped the sugar to 1/2 cup and that seemed like too much. You can also add it after it is baked to individual portions if some like is more or less sweeatened.
This recipe would work with endless fruit and nut combos. I think as long as you keep the proportions of cups pretty similar you will be fine. I have also lined the bottom of the baking dish with apple slices or bananas depending on what I felt like eating (or mainly what I had around that needed to be used up!)
How do you like your oatmeal??
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Indian Spiced Butternut Squash Soup by Becky {Recipe}
A couple of weeks ago one of my favourite friends brought me a container full of a new recipe she had come up with. She gave me enough to share with my family, but I ate the whole thing myself and it made my tummy extremely happy. I then begged her to do a guest post on my blog and so she agreed to share this delightful recipe on my blog. It is a lovely comfort-style soup, that can be dressed up or dressed down depending on your company and the occasion. I am now heading out the door to buy some squash and sweet potatoes---so I will leave it to Becky to explain the rest to you:
Take it away Becky! (Now just watch her GO!!!)
This past year I have been on a culinary adventure. It began when my husband and I
agreed on some dietary changes to improve our family’s heath. We have never been a
fast food family, we just wanted to simplify our diet, eat less grains and pasta and more
healthy fats, veggies and protein. What do you do when you cut out your go to staple
recipes? What do I make for dinner? It’s time to get creative!
These changes have led me to be open to buying vegetables at the farmers market or
grocery store that I have never cooked before. We have had no overwhelming failures
and lots of delicious success in finding new dishes to replace old standards that weren’t
the best for us. It has actually been fun to bring foreign (to us) produce home and scour
the internet for delicious looking recipes to try.
Kohlrabi in brown butter sauce...Sweet Potato Gratin....So many more we have
devoured...and have completely forgotten the old way we were eating.
I’m also much more adventurous when we dine out. A few weeks back, the hubs and I
were on a date day in Portland. We stopped at the Bijou Cafe (one of our very favorite
breakfast/lunch joints) to grab some lunch. I ordered the Winter Squash Soup and was
immediately transported to memories of adventures on other continents. It was so
delicious I knew I had to eat it again! With every bite I racked my brain for flavor profiles
so I could attempt this for my home eating pleasure.
This is my loose interpretation of the soup I had that day.
Indian Spiced Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash (peeled and cubed)
1 Sweet Potato (peeled and cubed)
1 Onion (chopped)
5 Cloves of Garlic (diced)
1-2 Cups of Chicken Stock (to your desired consistency)
4 Tablespoons of Butter
1 teaspoon of Garam Masala
1/4 teaspoon of Cardamom
Salt to taste
Cilantro
Directions:
Sauté 1 tablespoon butter, garlic and onions until tender.
Add remaining butter, squash, potatoes and a generous pinch of salt.
Stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
Cover mixture with broth and bring to a simmer.
Put a lid on and keep at simmer until softened or for about 20 minutes.
Puree using your favourite puree method, I chose to use the Vita-mix Santa brought us
for Christmas this year, but there are many options and you are sure to have a favourite of your own.
Add the cooking liquid in as needed to keep a smooth consistency.
Pour puree into a pot. Add Garam Masala and Cardamom. The measurements are my
suggestion. I’m always heavy handed when it comes to Indian Seasoning.
Adjust soup consistency with stock if desired.
Garnish with Cilantro and enjoy with some crusty bread!
Thank you, My friend Becky for sharing this recipe with me, and taking the time to take the picture and type it all up!
Seafood Lasagna {Recipe}
I love traditions for many things Christmas related and Christmas meals is part of that, but I love many different traditional Christmas foodie delights so we rotate. Last year, or even the last couple we have done the traditional Latin American Christmas Eve meal of Tamales, which I love. This year my mom sent me a recipe for Seafood Lasagna and I knew immediately that I was going to eat that on Christmas. This is the first ever meal for which I received a round of applause, so I think it is worthy of a try. It isn't hard to do. I hope to lead you effortlessly through the steps- I had to majority edit the recipe because I spent so much time trying to figure out what went where that it took longer than it really needed to. So here it is for you, a Christmas gift from our family to yours- a new wonderful recipe for you to try. I'd say it would be good all year, really who doesn't love a good pasta dish!?!
Seafood Lasagna
Edited and amended from this recipe.
5 Tablespoons of Butter
1 Lb. of Wild Alaskan Salmon/Wild Alaskan Halibut (or 1 lb of seafood of choice)
4 Cloves of Garlic (chopped)
1/4 Cup white wine (or chicken stock)
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
5 Tablespoons of Unbleached White Flour
3 Cups of Milk
1 Cup of Whole Cream (You may omit this and add an extra cup of Milk instead)
2 Cups of Parmesan Cheese (grated)
1 1/2 Cups of Mozzarella (grated)
16 oz. Ricotta Cheese
10 oz. Spinach (frozen works as well thawed and drained)
1 egg
1 box Lasagna Noodles (cooked or use the no-boil variety)
2 Teaspoons salt (to taste)
1 Teaspoon of Pepper (to taste)
Directions:
1. Heat 1 Tablespoon of the butter in a pan and about 1 clove of chopped garlic for few minutes or until tender. Add your seafood of choice into the pan and sauté until cooked. Careful not to burn. Remove the seafood from the pan onto a plate and set it aside.
2. Into the pan where the seafood was cooked add the white wine and lemon juice to deglaze the pan, and simmer to reduce by half.
3. Return the seafood to the pan and toss to coat evenly when coated remove pan from heat and set aside.
4. In a large sauce pan melt 4 Tablespoons of butter. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, or for about 1 minute. Stir in flour and and allow to cook for a few minutes.
5.Very slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk and pour so you don't get a clumpy white sauce. Once milk is added simmer until it thickens, for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in 1 cup of the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
6.In separate bowl add in the ricotta, spinach, egg, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella and a cup of the white sauce. Combine.
Assembly:
7. Pour 1 Cup of the white sauce into the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish. Cover the sauce with a layer of noodles in the baking dish.
8. Pour half of the cheese/spinach mixture over the noodle layer. Then cover with a layer of noodles.
9. Layer in all of your seafood from the pan, pour 1 cup of the white sauce over the seafood. Place a layer of noodles over this seafood layer.
10. Add a layer of the remaining cheese/spinach mixture. Add a final layer of noodles on top of that.
11. Pour the remaining white sauce over the noodles. Top with 1/2 cup of Mozzarella and 1/2 cup of parmesan sprinkled as the final topping layer.
12. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 45-60 minutes.
Seafood
Cheese/Spinach Mixture
White Sauce
Notes: I used 1lb of fish Brad's uncle gave us a couple of days ago, this recipe works well if you have left over salmon or other fish you want to use up, as it freshens it up and doesn't promote any of the dryness common to re-heating fish.
What is a traditional dish you enjoy? Do you make it or does someone else in your family? Lets talk traditions, new ones and old.
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Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups {Recipe}
Most of us like candy, right? However, because we don't buy candy I get to make it. And because I get to make it then I make MY faves. I haven't made any candy treats in a long time, so in order for visions of treats and candy to be dancing in the boy's heads I knew I needed to get to work. Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups--YUM.
The recipe for these is so easy, so easy in fact it could be a crime to pass it about. A sweet crime though. Enjoy.
Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
This recipe is of my own creation, based on an adaptation of this recipe, and this recipe.
Yield: 35 Peanut Butter Cups
15 oz. of Semi Sweet Chocolate
3/4 C. Peanut Butter (I like crunchy, but smooth would work fine)
1 Graham Crackers Ground into little crumbs
1 Pinches of Salt (or more to taste)
3 oz. White Chocolate
35 Mini Baking Cups
There are pictures for many of these steps below the recipe. Scroll down to clarify, I wrote this and it could be confusing. Please let me know if you have any questions or issues with the recipe, however I followed it yesterday and they turned out perfectly.
1.) Slowly melt the Semi Sweet Chocolate in a microwave safe bowl- heating for 30 seconds at a time and then stirring. Chocolate will scorch very quickly, so be sure to keep an eye on it.
2.)In the meantime boil a tea pot of water, this will be used to keep the chocolate soft a little longer, I think it helps- but you can choose not to do this step if you don't want to. (See picture below- I set the melted ingredients in a 9 by 13 inch pyrex filled with boiling water)
3.) In another microwave safe bowl combine the White Chocolate and the Peanut Butter. Place in microwave and melt and stir at the same intervals as the previous chocolate. Once the White chocolate is melted and the Peanut Butter combined add the Salt and Graham Cracker crumbs. Mix until combined.
4.) Place the Mini Baking Cups onto a cookie sheet. Layer equal amounts in each cup: Semi-Sweet Chocolate, then Peanut Butter Filling, then top off with another layer of melted Semi-Sweet Chocolate.
5.) Lick your fingers and place in the fridge for about 45 min. or until hardened. I put mine out in the garage because it is pretty cold out there right now. If you need them done quicker you could place them in the freezer for 15 min and then take them out and let them warm up a tad before serving.
6.) Store in an airtight container, preferably in a cooler place. It is best to store them in the fridge. The Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups will keep for about 2 weeks. ENJOY!!
Do you have a favourite candy you make? Share the recipe with me, either through email or in the comments section.
Rosemary Sea Salt Recipe
I checked for recipes for Rosemary Sea Salt all over since I wanted to make some of my own. I really couldn't find much, I did find one by Martha Stewart, and another one that had ground up the rosemary in the sea salt, but that wasn't what I was looking for. So, I did like I usually do, I just read the stuff and do it on my own. I hope you'll do the same!
Rosemary Sea Salt Recipe:
*48 oz. of Sea Salt
*6 Decent Sized Branches of fFesh Rosemary (depending on your love or Rosemary)
That's it for ingredients. Yeah, you did read that right...nada mas, nothing more.
Squeeze the Rosemary and pull your fingers down the branch, in order to pull off all the rosemary leaves. Repeat on all but 2 branches (those are for the rosemary garnish at the end). Dump all the sea salt into a pan or pot and then add the rosemary. Turn heat on to medium heat and keep watch, stirring for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, dump contents into a large bowl. Let sit to cool, without a cover for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, then pour into an air tight container (I used a large Ball Jar) and let sit with the lid sealed for 24 hours. Then the Rosemary Sea Salt is ready for its pretty little containers. Use a colander with a large bowl underneath, dump the contents into the colander and shake so as to sift the salt out the bottom and keep the rosemary to discard (it is completely used up and dried at this point, however you can keep it in if you would like). Put sifted Rosemary Sea Salt into containers and slide sprigs of fresh rosemary down the sides, 2 or 4 would be great. Screw on an air tight lid and you are done.
Rosemary Sea Salt is great anywhere you'd use regular salt, meats, soups, stews, whatever. My personal favourite is to sprinkle it on top of a sunny side up egg. Oh, my tummy grumbles.
Give yourself a good pat on the back, your peeps will love getting these gifts from you for Christmas! They look completely wintery anyway, it looks like snow and pine. Doesn't it? A great gift for anyone who likes to cook or likes to eat....I don't think that leaves anyone out, at least not in my family.
Re-posted from dreadlockgirl.com on November 5th 2009. I have loved this recipe and wanted to be sure you had it for the holidays if you wanted it. Enjoy! I still have a couple of these jars left and this stuff is incredible on top of an egg or steak...YUM!
A Handmade Christmas: I will keep posting ideas for a non-tacky handmade christmas. This is the first so far, I am a little slower this year as my babybelly is making me tired. I will still try and get quite a few ideas up before Christmas that you can make for family and friends I will re-post from the years gone by as well.
Previous Ideas from my Handmade Christmas Craft Series: Pretty Dress Book Page Origami Ornament * Jesse Tree Advent Ornaments *Kid Friendly Stained Glass Craft * Homemade Heat Pack or Cold Compress (Rice Socks)* Knit Granny Washcloth (or Dishcloth) Pattern * Reading Pillow for the Bookaholic(s) in Your Life * True Love Heart Ornaments * Bath Salts Soak Recipe
Above all, enjoy this season- and remember what it really is all about: the birth of Christ.
Pizza Just How You Like It {Recipe}
There are so many decent pizza recipes out there, and some that are half way good- but I can't do half way when it comes to PIZZA!! I used to work at a pizza place, and I was the daytime manager and in charge of making the dough in an enormous mixer thing. I thought several times about snagging the recipe because it was so good--but that wouldn't be right, right? So I didn't. In the years since dreaming of that dough I have made several very bad pizza doughs, doughs that make you want to not eat the crust. But several months ago I came across this recipe in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Wow, this dough is what you can make a good pizza on, and remember a good pizza is all about the dough, and quality toppings. EAT UP!
From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Makes 4-1 lb loaves. (This recipe can easily be doubled or halved.)
Ingredients
2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast (2 packets)
1-1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Directions
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large (5 quart) bowl working with a wooden spoon, mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water.
2. Mix in the flour without kneading. I found this process to be incredible simple with my stand mixer, but it will certainly come together the old fashioned way. If you are not using a machine, you may need to wet your hands in order to incorporate the bit of flour.
2. Transfer dough to large (5 quart) bowl or lidded food container. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
3. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.
Yields about 4 pizza doughs depending on thickness.
How do you like your pizza thin or thick?? For me it depends on my mood and how hungry I am!!
Cold Brewed Iced Coffee {Recipe}
Yesterday was the first day of summer, so we should celebrate by making a brew, yes?
What if you could make better iced coffee than most coffee shops? Today I am posting a recipe that makes a concentrate that will keep in your fridge for up to a month with no change in flavor or quality. I have to sneak coffee from The Husband's stash for this recipe, but it is well worth any groans or moans, when I use up the last bit of his coffee and forget to tell him. Cold brewed coffee made at home rivals, if not exceedes store bought iced coffees- for pennies of the cost of those silly drinks.
Cold Brewed Iced Coffee Concentrate
1 Cup Ground Coffee (medium-coarse grind works best)
32 oz. Glass Jar
1. Add the coffee to the jar, fill with water to capacity and stir. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 12 to 15 hours.
2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth.
Regular coffee: place equal parts coffee concentrate and water in cup and heat.
Iced coffee: Place equal parts concentrate and milk in glass. Add ice, sweetened as desired.
Notes: I make several jars at a time, for more brew. Store in the fridge and like I said above, this will keep much longer than you'll need it to- for about a month.
The amazing thing about this coffee is that it tastes the way coffee smells and cuts back on the acidity by 65% while not slacking on any of the boldness or rich flavour.
Bring it on, and have your ice ready!!
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