Simple Steel Cut Oatmeal

I just had a baby girl 2.5 weeks ago and my mom was here with us for a couple of weeks. She cooked like a mad-woman: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We got pretty spoiled. Every morning she made me the most wonderful bowl of steel cut oatmeal and it is so easy that I have continued making it without her here. It's easy, simple, and maybe unworthy of going on this blog - but I have so enjoyed it that I thought I would share it anyway. :)

1 cup of steel cut oats
4 cups of water
1/4 tsp of salt
A handful of fresh or frozen fruit (blueberries or raspberries are what I have been using)
A pinch of brown sugar
Chopped walnuts
Ground flax seeds**
Milk

Bring the water to a boil and add the salt. Then add the oats and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dish up and add your fruit, brown sugar (if you like), chopped walnuts, flax seeds, and as much milk as you like.

So healthy and easy! Enjoy!
**(Note about using flax seeds... remember that in order to benefit from the goodness and nutrition that flax seeds have to offer you must grind them up. If you don't grind them up your body digests them whole and you don't absorb their nutrients. You can buy them already ground, or buy them whole and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder)

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I had some leftover ricotta I wanted to use up so I made these yesterday for my husband who a) doesn't like pancakes and b) does not like lemon. But he LOVED these! They taste almost crepe-like, light with a wonderful lemon flavor. I used both orange and lemon zest which tasted fabulous.

From Sunset Magazine

Yield: Makes about 8 pancakes; 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
Salad oil

Preparation:
1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, egg yolks, and lemon peel to blend. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until evenly moistened. Gently stir in ricotta cheese.
2. In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. With a flexible spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter just until they are incorporated.
3. Place a nonstick griddle or a 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat (350°); when hot, coat lightly with oil and adjust heat to maintain temperature. Drop batter in 1/2-cup portions onto the griddle and cook until pancakes are browned on the bottom and edges begin to look dry, about 2 minutes; turn cakes with a wide spatula and brown other sides, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes longer. Coat pan with more oil as necessary to cook remaining pancakes.
4. Serve pancakes as cooked, or keep warm in a single layer on baking sheets in a 200° oven for up to 15 minutes.

German Pancakes

This morning I attempted to make German Pancakes (also known as Dutch Babies) and I think they turned out well! I'm looking forward to making them again now that I figured some things out. Here's the recipe, I think you will find that this is really easy. This works best with a 10" iron skillet or a pie pan. Any pan about 3 inches deep will work perfect.

3 eggs

1/2 C milk

1/2 C flour

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light & frothy; add milk, flour, vanilla & cinnamon; beat for 5 minutes. Place pan in the oven to heat until oven is preheated (about 7-10 min).

Remove pan from oven and add butter to coat the pan.

Pour the batter into the hot pan all at once and return to the oven. Bake about 15-20 min or until the pancake is golden brown and puffy.

Dust with powdered sugar and a spritz of lemon juice.

Makes about 2 servings.

German pancakes are also good when served with various fruit toppings or maple syrup.

Creamy Pumpkin Oatmeal

I got this recipe from an old friend of mine, Brittany, that I used to play soccer with in high school. She got it from Weight Watchers and it is SUPER yummy. It is extremely easy to prepare and makes a large batch of oatmeal that you can refrigerate then heat up in the morning and eat throughout the week. The recipe does not call for brown sugar and uses less pumpkin pie spice but it didn't have enough flavor so I added more. It is really up to you and your taste buds, feel free to add more depending on what you like. I also sprinkled cinnamon on top and that made it way better.

Also, this is made in a slow cooker and takes about 4 hours to make. I woke up at 5:30am on a Saturday, put it all in the crock pot, then went back to sleep and it was ready to eat by 9:30. But you can also make it ahead of time and just heat it up in the morning. Also, if it doesn't seem to be thickening up well, turn the slow cooker to high. I cooked mine for 3 hours on low and 1 hour on high and it was perfect.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups steel cut oats (make sure they are steal cut oats, do not use regular oats)

- 1 12 oz. can fat-free evaporated milk

- 1 15 oz. can pumpkin

- 5 1/2 cups water

- 3 T. pumpkin pie spice

- 2 T. brown sugar

- 1 T. cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Put it all the ingredients in a crock pot and mix until combined. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add additional spice and sugar to taste. Sprinkle with cinnamon when served. And that's it!

2. For an apple version: substitute 2 cups applesauce for the pumpkin. Add one large chopped apple. Substitute 2 tablespoons cinnamon for the pumpkin pie spice.