Freezer Friendly: Homemade Oatmeal Pucks

Tweet

I love oatmeal in the winter and I've posted about my homemade oatmeal before. However I don't always have time to make homemade oatmeal so I occasionally get the instant stuff.

We were walking through Costco a few weeks ago and I ran across frozen oatmeal pucks in the freezer section. A light bulb went off in my head. I can do that!!

Eggs Baked Over Sautéed Mushrooms, Leeks and Spinach

There is nothing better than eggs. They are almost a complete food, meaning they have just about all the essential nutrients that the body needs.

I have long day-dreamed of owning our own chickens and walking out to the coop to collect farm fresh eggs. I'm also pretty sure that I'm making it into some glamorous, simple job that is really hard work and very dirty. Maybe one day I'll find out for myself. For now, we purchase our delicious eggs from a local farm about 30 minutes up the road.

We cooked this recipe up for a delicious lunch/brunch but it could be used for any meal. It's vegetarian and gluten-free and it's truly delicious! I love that they call for leeks. Leeks are one of my favorite veggies this time of year. We put them in soups and meat pies all winter. When cooked properly, leeks are a beautiful thing.

Everything in this dish is savory and rich, from the butter to the egg yolks to the wine/sherry you really can't go wrong with this combination in my book.

Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake

Sunday mornings are by far my favorite morning of the week. We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon in our PJ's. We read and play online and just relax. Almost every Sunday morning I'm also treated to a fabulous brunch made by The Other Williams. Yes, I'm totally spoiled. Sometimes it's bacon and eggs; sometimes its homemade sausage gravy with biscuits but whatever it is it beats the pants off my weekday breakfast of oatmeal or egg white omelet.

This past Sunday we enjoyed a delicious Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake that The Other Williams just made up on the spot. Isn't she awesome? This is a delicious, healthy breakfast or brunch recipe that is both filling and not too shabby on the calories.

We love a good runny yolk, but you could easily just cook the eggs a little longer. The yolk creates a delicious "sauce" to mix around with the sweet potatoes. Speaking of sweet potatoes, it's really the star of this dish. If you like sweet and savory together definitely give this one a try!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

These are my current obsession! Finally a healthy, delicious, sweet snack! The bars are chewy and very peanut butter-y. You can really play around with what other things you'd like to add to it. For this one I added dried apricots, cashews, and chocolate chips!

The great things about granola bars are many. You can use them as a snack. They are great on the go and kids love them. You can carry them hiking or on a walk or just to the office. You can crumble them over yogurt. And these also make great gifts during the holidays or anytime!

These really knock out hunger. There is protein in the nuts and peanut butter and fiber in the brown rice cereal and wheat germ. The recipe is so adaptable so play with it and let me know your favorite add-in's!

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Normally, I don't style the food that shows up on this blog. The photo's of the food here are taken shortly before we eat it. However, I've been trying to work on my photograph and I believe my photo's are getting better and better with each new post.

This hummingbird cake is one of the first things I've made and went out of my way to style. I definitely think the photo's reflect that.

Now to the cake! I had a wonderful assistant in making this cake. My friend, RC, who blogs over at Bonbons & Biscotti, came over and spent the day with me. We talked, drank wine, and made this glorious and very simple bundt cake. It was so much fun and something I hope we'll do again soon. RC, makes some delicious family recipes on her blog with a focus on baking. I highly recommend you check her out!

The Hummingbird cake is a southern cake with the first known recipe published in Southern Living. Being from the south I was shocked and appalled that I had not only never made this cake before but had also never tasted it! It wasn't until I read Sarah Addison Allen's book The Girl Who Chased the Moon that I even ran across the mention of this kind of cake. In the book, which is one of my favorites, Julia Winterson is a bakery owner who makes magical cakes! It's a great read, all of Allen's books are.

The cake is normally several layers with a cream cheese frosting in between each layer but I found this version on the Bake or Break blog. I love bundt cakes. They're just so simple to make and you don't have to worry about fussing over layers.

For me, the cake itself was very banana bread-like but much lighter and not as sweet as I was expecting. I believe that is because there just isn't as much icing on this version. Little chucks of pineapple are like finding the prize at the bottom of the cracker jack box! The frosting is sweet but compliments the cake and doesn't over power it. Pecan's in this cake are key and give you a really great crunch factor!

Overall I loved this cake. I normally prefer chocolate of some form in my cakes but this is a great summer-time snack or dessert. It would be excellent for a dinner party or cook-out. I also think it makes a great breakfast or coffee cake!

Eggs & Avocado on Toast

We're back from our trip to the amazing state of Colorado! We had such a great time exploring the mountains of the Denver/Boulder area and the weather was great.

Most of our time was spent in the mountains but we did make it to Longmont for a brewery stop! You can't go to Colorado and not do a brewery stop, at least we can't. We ate and drank at Oskar Blue's Home Made Liquids and Solids. We got a beer flight and some killer BBQ off of their smoker, named Midnight Toker! However this was one of the only meals we ate out for.

I made sure to book us a hotel with a kitchen so we started our day with this amazingly healthy and delicious breakfast! I got the idea from a photo I saw in a magazine, then just made it ours. It's looks complicated but it's sooooo not!

The fresh egg can either be fried or poached (as shown) we did it both ways and we preferred it fried. The trick is to not over cook the egg. The yoke makes this amazing sauce over the toast and it's really delicious. This is also a great way to start the day, you're getting protein from the egg, healthy fats from the avocado, and fiber and carbs from the whole wheat toast! Plus it takes 10-15 min to make!

Green Machine Smoothie

Here's another detoxing recipe from our cleanse. This Green Machine Smoothie is packed with nutrients just waiting to go to work in you body. Because they are in liquid form they are absorbed easier and the body doesn't have to work as hard to digest it.

I've never been a big smoothie fan. The idea of a liquid breakfast when there are so many other perfectly good breakfast foods to enjoy just has not been one of my things. However, this was a pretty tasty smoothie AND it really filled me up!

If you don't have a fancy blender like the vita-mix, and we don't, make sure you're giving this smoothie some time to blend for a while. There's a lot of greens in here and they'll need to be broken down or you'll end up with a chunky smoothie. No one, apparently except The Other Williams, likes a chunky smoothie. Blend, people, blend.

Homemade Oatmeal - Maple Brown Sugar

My favorite season is making it's debut here in the south and the Williams Kitchen is hopping with fall recipes! My favorite Fall breakfast is warm oatmeal. For a long time I just bought the Quaker Instant stuff but this is so much better.

The flavor and texture is just awesome and there is nothing more nourishing than a warm bowl of oatmeal. There are so many good-for-you things in this bowl. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Some tips:

• This recipe is so versatile add whatever you have on hand or love.
• If you need a quick breakfast make a big batch and throw it in the fridge. Then just take out a serving at a time, add some milk to loosen it up and microwave it.
• If the oatmeal is too thick add more milk
• If sweet isn't your thing, omit the maple syrup or cut the brown sugar in half

Smoked Salmon Hash and Eggs

This is quickly becoming my new favorite breakfast. It's fast, easy and very healthy! Smoked salmon is kind of expensive so it's more of a treat for us than a regular breakfast. We found it cheaper to get the smoked salmon pieces (at Trader Joes). However the flavor of this breakfast will knock your socks off.

We like this breakfast before a big morning workout or when we need a big protein/carb boost. But it's also a perfect Sunday brunch recipe!

Poaching the egg is a little tricky and we use egg poach pods most of the time (however not in these photos), which makes it super easy to poach eggs and keep them all together. We like our eggs a little runny because it makes a good sauce for everything else. But if your not a fan of runny eggs then don't skip this recipe, just poach your egg a little longer or use a scrambled or hard boiled egg.

Give this a try and let me know what you think!

Scottish Oat Breakfast Muffins

The Other Williams loves these filling muffins for breakfast. I normally bake them in double batches and we freeze them. They are just PACKED with goodness and the flavor is really delicious.

There are a lot of ingredients in this one but that is what makes them so nutritious! I highly recommend getting your ingredients from the bulk section of your local health food store (like Whole Foods). This way you can get the exact amount you need for the recipe.

They aren't too sweet, which is why The Other Williams loves them and why they make a great breakfast. Hope you'll give these guys a try!

Power Breakfast Panini

We've been getting into panini's lately. The way the bread gets all sweet and toasted really makes me feel like I'm sitting down in a cafe somewhere. This panini is one The Other Williams made for breakfast the other day.

We call it the power breakfast Panini because its loaded with good stuff for you! We're talking lots of protein, carbs, and greens! So this is excellent for a weekend when you'll be working in the yard, or cycling, running, or hiking. This sandwich will stay with you and provide you with the energy needed for an active day.

But don't think it's just for special occasions. This would be a great lunch also!

Daddy's Cornbread

::Picture me in a beautiful southern bell flowing gown as I narrate this post::

Most southerns are very serious when it comes to grits and cornbread. We all have our own "right" way of making it. I am no exception. As a kid I watched my dad make cornbread at least once a week. I was always amazed that he never measured anything. Of course, you also never got a consistent cornbread, but that never mattered.

Many southerns also have strong strong ideas as to what goes in cornbread and what doesn't. Again, I am no exception. In my opinion, cornbread is simple, no sugar, corn kernels, flour, or other veggies are allowed in cornbread. Cornbread should not taste like cake, it should taste like cornbread. Or if you've never tasted cornbread, a dense, gritty, unsweetened bread. Cornmeal and grits are actually the same thing only cornmeal is ground down more.

I use a premix cornmeal (Martha White, to be exact) because that's what my dad used. I do measure my cornbread because I like getting a "good batch" every time. Here's my 4 ingredient simple recipe:

Daddy's Cornbread

1 egg, beaten
1 & 1/3 cup milk (or buttermilk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cup's cornmeal mix

Throw it all in a bowl and mix.

Now let's talk hardware (as Alton Brown calls it):
I prefer cast iron for two reasons. One, it cooks the cornbread evenly. Two, it's just how it's always been done. I don't care for the corn muffins or the little trays that make cornbread into different shapes. You just don't mess with tradition. A round 8-10 in cast iron pan works mighty fine.

We use grease in our house to season the cast iron, keep it conditioned, and for no sticking. So screw the doc, grab the Crisco, and grease the damn pan - you won't regret it. It gives the cornbread a wonderful crispy edge.

Now pour your mixture into the pan and cook at 450 for 20-30 minutes, depending on how crispy and brown you like yours. We normally go the full 30 around here.

Service: The Other Williams (yes, I got my yankee to like my cornbread) likes her's sliced with butter. I enjoy it that way but my favorite is in milk (or half milk, half buttermilk). I was raised that it was the best way to eat cornbread, and I have to agree. Don't gross out until you try it. It's the best cereal you'll ever eat! Enjoy!

Eggs Baked in Roasted Tomato Sauce

This might be the most scrumptious breakfast ever and it's a simple recipe! The sauce can be made the night or even day before, which is what we did, to make it even faster and easier. At the first bite, you might think, whoa-tomatoes and eggs, huh? But then you start to really get the flavor of this and it's amazing!

We thought this would make a great light, vegetarian dinner also! It's a really healthy meal for any time of the day.

The oven roasted tomatoes were the star though, sorry eggs. We're hoping to make some more of this sauce and can it. It was just delicious and would be great over pasta!


Servings: 4

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon chopped oregano
8 large eggs
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. In a roasting pan, toss the tomatoes and garlic with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the tomatoes cut side up and roast for 15 minutes; turn and roast until soft, 20 minutes. Let cool, then scrape the mixture into a blender and puree. Add the oregano.
   
   
2. Set 4 shallow ovenproof bowls on a baking sheet. Strain the pureed sauce into the bowls, pressing on the solids. Crack 2 eggs into each bowl and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs and bake the eggs for about 15 minutes, until the whites are just set. Serve hot.
   

Serve With: Toasted ciabatta bread.

One Serving 246 cal, 17 gm fat, 4.6 gm sat fat, 9 gm carb, 2 gm fiber.

Print Link

Mountain Woman Breakfast - Version 2.0

We've posted before about one of our favorite camping breakfast's, the Mountain Woman's Breakfast. Today's recipe is very similar so we're calling it Version 2.0. What makes it different from our original is the replacement of hash browns instead of cut potatoes. Also cooked in our dutch oven this breakfast is great before a big hike and very filling. Loaded with yummy goodness everything together is just delicious. This isn't an easy recipe but it's not far from it. If you have the time to sit around the fire in the morning cooking this is an excellent camping breakfast!


Servings: 2 mountain woman sized portions and a little Rascal portion

Two servings of frozen hash browns, cooked
1.5 large links of pork sausage, diced
1/2 can whole, peeled tomatoes, diced
1 small can of mushrooms
3 large eggs
Handful of cheese to top

Over charcoal bricks, cook sausage in dutch oven until cooked through. Add tomatoes, hash browns, and mushrooms. Heat through.

Pour eggs over everything and cook with the lid on until eggs are almost firm and everything is warmed through. Top with cheese and cook till cheese has melted

Amish Friendship Bread

A friend of mine gave me the starter to this amish friendship bread. I'd heard of it before but never got a starter. It's a 10 day process to make this delicious sweet bread but it's totally worth the wait. At the end of 10 days you make 4 more starters to give away (or keep) and what's leftover you make into the bread. You can add just about any ingredients to this bread and to mine I added banana's, walnuts, and raisins. It turned out so great.

My recipe made two loaves and we froze one. We've been eating it for breakfast and snacking on it.

I've found a link for the basic recipe here. And if you want to make your own starter, check here, although I'm sure it's better to receive some from a friend. You can also buy starter here.

Eggs Benedict

The first time I tried Eggs Benedict I knew I was in love. We were at a B&B in Asheville and it was served as the breakfast. I melted in my seat. The second time I had it was at a local restaurant for their Sunday Brunch. I melted again.

Sunday I wanted to make The Other Williams a yummy brunch so I did some research into Eggs Benedict because she also loves them. There's a big fuss over the hollandaise sauce because it's an emulsion and is known to break easily, but I wasn't deterred!

We poached our eggs in these totally AWESOME poach pods that my BFF gave us. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome they worked, how easier they made it to poach an egg. If you like poached eggs go and buy them now!

After I poached my eggs, I like mine a little more done and The Other Williams prefers her's to run, I started on the hollandaise sauce. It really wasn't so bad but it did help to have an extra pair of hands so I could keep the whisk going. It came together so beautifully. I was so proud of myself for having pulled it off.

How did they taste? Out of this world! No more need to go out for these anymore because I can make them at home!

Here is some recipes and resources I used to pull this off. I hope you'll give it a shot! It is well worth it!

Hollandaise Sauce
YouTube Poached Egg Video
YouTube Hollandaise Video

Breakfast Sammie

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I eat breakfast at my desk at work. This sometimes leaves me with no variety. I came up with another option for some of my breakfast's. What's great about these little breakfast sammies is that they are nutritional, filling, tasty, and easy as pie.

For me, I like to make all of them at one time, which is normally 6 because that's how many English muffins are in a box. I put them in baggies and throw them in the refrigerator. Then in the mornings I just grab one out and toss it into my purse. When I'm ready to eat at work, I'll heat them up and enjoy a great breakfast with little to no effort!

These are also great frozen. The toppings on this are endless so use your imagination. For me, I like it simple. Here's my recipe:

1 box English Muffins (I get whole wheat)
6 slices of Canadian bacon or cooked ham
3 slices of cheese, cut in half
6 large eggs
Salt & pepper, to taste

1) Cut English muffins in half and set up your assemble line. Go ahead and add 1 slice of Canadian bacon or ham and 1/2 slice of cheese to the muffin.

2) Spray a small frying pan (mine is 6 in) with non-stick cooking spray and heat up pan on med heat.

3) Meanwhile, in a small bowl scramble 1 egg. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then pour into pre-heated pan. Spread out the egg so it covers the whole pan.

4) Cook until the bottom is set but not burned. Take the pan off the burner and flip the egg pancake with a spatula. Try to keep it intact. The heat from the pan will finish cooking the other side of the egg. Don't over cook because you'll be re-heating the sammie and it will cook a little more then.

5) Fold the egg pancake in half. Then fold it in half again and place on the English muffin. Repeat steps 2-5 until all 6 sammies are done.

6) Wrap in individual bags or containers and toss into the fridge or freezer.

To re-heat:
1) Heat in microwave for 10-15 seconds, flip sammie over and heat again for 10-15 seconds. Repeat as desired. Be careful of the cheese, it melts fast!

Print Link

Soaked Oats and Granola

For breakfast lately I've been bringing this little bowl of goodness to work with me and I've really been enjoying it! It's got everything I need to start my day and it stays with me until lunch! It's easy to make and takes very little time to prepare. Delicious and nutritious!

We've been buying the extra thick oats from Bob's Red Mill at Whole Foods but I think any brand will work for this bowl-o-goodness. We use this brand a lot for our grains because they mostly offer organic and there is a cute old guy on the package. I like that these are extra thick also.

This needs to be prepared the night before to allow the soaking process to happen but Terri is telling me just a couple of hours is good also.

Here's how it works at my house. Measure out 1/4 cup of oats into a to-go container. Top that with vanilla rice milk until it covers the oats. I normally don't measure the milk, if there's still too much in the morning you can drain it. The sweetness of the vanilla really adds to the yummy factor and the rice milk is lower in fat than regular milk, but you could use cow's milk or water.

Put this in the fridge overnight.

The next morning dice up some fresh strawberries (or other fresh fruit) and stir in a bit of local honey. When your ready top with homemade granola before eating. Crunchy, fruity, sweet, healthy, nutritious, YUM!

Enjoy!

Yield:
1 servings

Ingredients
* ¼ cup Thick Rolled Oats
* ⅓ cup Vanilla Rice Milk
* 1 tsp Local honey
* 2-3 Fresh strawberries, diced
* 2-3 tbsp Homemade granola

Directions
Measure out ¼ cup of oats into a to-go container. Top that with vanilla rice milk until it covers the oats. I normally don’t measure the milk, if there’s still too much in the morning you can drain it.

Put this in the fridge overnight.

The next morning dice up some fresh strawberries (or other fresh fruit) and stir in a bit of local honey. When your ready top with homemade granola before eating.

Crunchy, fruity, sweet, healthy, nutritious, YUM!

Print Link

Pumpkin Bread

Last week I made this amazingly yummy pumpkin bread. It turned out just great and the recipe made two very large loaves. You can also turn this into muffins. I do think next time I'll add nuts and raisins both of those would do very well in the recipe. Terri loved this also and we've been eating a little here and there for breakfast on the weekday. YUM!

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
   

Veggie Sausage Strata

I LOVE strata's! They are so yummy but a little high on the fat and calorie scale for me to have it more than a couple times a year. My mother always made a strata christmas morning. We called it sausage stuff but man was it good. I didn't know then that sausage stuff was really a sausage strata. This is so easy to prepare but it does have a longer cooking time than most of our dishes. I still make my mothers sausage stuff on christmas morning. I prepare everything the night before and just pop it in the oven as soon as we wake up.


This recipe isn't my mom's but was a great find. It really adds a ton of veggies to make this much more nutritional. I cut the recipe in half for The Other Williams and I. We used local chicken sausage and only a 1/2 lb and it was plenty. This is also a FABULOUS recipe to reheat! I made this one for dinner and we had leftovers for breakfast the next morning! Love that. We really enjoyed this one, hope you guys do to!


Servings: 10

Ingredients:
2 pounds bulk Italian sausage
2 medium green peppers, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
8 eggs
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 teaspoons ground mustard
12 slices bread, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the sausage, green peppers and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper and mustard. Stir in the sausage mixture, bread, spinach, cheeses and zucchini. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 40-45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

allrecipes