Apple Cranberry Baked Oatmeal



 

 

I've been eating a lot of oatmeal lately to keep my milk supply strong while nursing my little girl.  I've tried several new oatmeal recipes and variations, but this one is my favorite so far.  I love being able to bake a batch of it and always have some ready to warm up.  Sometimes I don't even warm it up.  I like to just break it up with a spoon and pour a little milk over it.  It's delicious hot or cold.  The frozen cranberries can be pretty tart, so you could easily used dried ones for a sweeter flavor. 

 

I made several modifications to the original recipe, which is linked below.  The original recipe suggests letting the oatmeal sit in the fridge overnight before baking, but I usually skip that step.  I do bake it covered and I increase the baking time to one hour because I put frozen berries in it.

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite kitchen tools, despite the fact that it's a uni-tasker!  It's an apple peeler/corer/slicer.  I use it almost any time I cook with apples.  When I make apple butter, I can process 15 pounds of apples in less than half an hour. 

 

Apple Cranberry Baked Oatmeal

adapted from Finding Joy in My Kitchen

 

3 c. Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 egg
1/2 c. applesauce {unsweetened}
1 tsp. vanilla
2 medium apples, chopped
1 c. cranberries

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt.  Add milk, egg, applesauce and vanilla and stir well.  Combine with apples and cranberries.  Place in an 8x8 baking dish and bake, covered, for one hour.  Yields 6-8 servings.

Snow Day!



On New Year's Eve, we received a decent amount of snow, around 3 inches.  It was the first real snow of the season and Clara was so excited to go play in it.  Ever since we started reading a book about snow (last summer!), she has been talking about how when it snows, she will build a snowman, throw snowballs, and make a snow angel.  When I told her that morning that it had snowed, she was so excited to build the snowman first.  After she thought about it a moment, though, she got sad and said, "But he'll melt!"  I reassured her that "Frosty" would be back again some day, as the song implies. 

 

The snow was nice and wet, perfect for building a snowman.  While the baby was napping, we went out to make our snowman.  I did the heavy lifting and sculpting.  She did the "decorating."  We used whole nuts for his eyes and mouth and, of course, a carrot for the nose.  I love the picture of her putting the carrot in!

 

 

Making a snow angel!

We discovered that it's very difficult to make a proper snowball while wearing mittens.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Sounds decadent, right?  Actually, it was a Cooking Light recipe!  There were fewer than 500 calories per serving but it definitely tasted decadent.  Be warned, though, this is not an easy weeknight meal.  It involves several steps and a lot of dirty pans to wash.  Still, it was worth it.  The whole family loved it.  The combination of sweet butternut squash with smoky bacon and the velvety provolone cheese sauce was outstanding!  I will definitely make this again.  I modified the recipe by mixing all of the ingredients together at the end rather than topping with the squash/bacon/shallot mixture.  I actually didn't have shallots, so I used a small yellow onion. 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta
adapted from Cooking Light

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash

Cooking spray

6 sweet hickory-smoked bacon slices (raw)

1 cup thinly sliced shallots (I used an onion)

8 ounces uncooked mini penne (tube-shaped pasta)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp provolone cheese

1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

 

Preheat oven to 425°.

 

Combine 1/4 t. salt, rosemary and pepper.  Place squash on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt mixture. (I also drizzled with a little olive oil at this point) Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. (This was too long for me.  I flipped them after 15 minutes and then roasted them for another 10 minutes) Increase oven temperature to 450°.

 

Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 1/2 teaspoons drippings in pan; crumble bacon. Increase heat to medium-high. Add shallots to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender. Combine squash mixture, bacon, and shallots; set aside.

 

Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.

 

Combine flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. (I made a roux with a little of the bacon grease and only 3T. flour) Gradually add milk, stirring constantly with a whisk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add provolone, stirring until cheese melts. Add pasta to cheese mixture, tossing well to combine. Spoon pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish lightly coated with cooking spray; top with squash mixture. (I combined the squash mixture with the pasta and cheese sauce) Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until cheese melts and begins to brown.

 

The roasted butternut squash was delicious as is.  I think it would make an excellent side dish for pork.

 

Beef and Broccoli

Beef and Broccoli is one of my favorite Chinese dishes, but I don't typically order it when we go out.  I like the homemade version so much better.  The sauce isn't gelatinous and I can add as much broccoli as I want.  I like to keep my broccoli pretty crisp, so the cooking time in this recipe is dead on.  If you like your broccoli softer, just saute a little longer or add a bit of water to the pan and steam it for a couple of minutes.  The original recipe called for flank steak, which I couldn't find, so I replaced with sirloin.  I think that as long as you slice the meat against the grain, you could use a number of different cuts of beef.  The only other changes I made were to substitute apple juice for the sherry (I didn't have sherry) and to replace one of the tablespoons of vegetable oil with sesame oil.  I love the flavor a little bit of sesame oil gives a Chinese dish. 

I prepped everything a couple of hours before dinner so that once it was time to cook, it only took about 15 minutes.  This would be a great meal for a busy week night!

Beef with Broccoli
Adapted from Rainy Day Gal Blog

First, marinate the meat:

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb sirloin, sliced thinly

1. Whisk together the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Toss the steak with the marinade to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, then proceed below.

• 1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp sherry (I substituted apple juice)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used 2 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tbsp sesame oil)
• 2 heads broccoli, crowns only

1. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, flour and juice until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a large wok or saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over high heat until shimmering. Add broccoli and saute 3 minutes, stirring often. Transfer broccoli to a plate.
3. Carefully add the tablespoon of sesame oil to the hot pan. Add the marinated meat and half of the sauce mixture and saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Stir in the broccoli and remaining sauce. Saute 1 minute more. Serve over rice.