Morning Musings

Good Morning!

I was sitting eating my oatmeal thinking about how long it had been since I posted.

We had one of my most favorite breakfasts.  It's not so glamorous in that it's 'just oatmeal;' oatmeal is served frequently in this house!

But today was different. Blueberry oatmeal with real, heavy whipping cream and almonds. Oh my.  The richness of the cream in the oatmeal is decadent.  It is one of my most favorite things.

...

Some other things to ponder this morning.

• John really likes oatmeal, especially if you let him eat it himself.
• Sam has been eating double or triple what he usually eats.  Last night he had THIRDS. This coming from the kid we used to have to wait an hour or more for him to eat even two tablespoons of food. 
• It's 8:25am and Sam is still asleep! 
• It's snowing.  :-) 

...

Have a great snowy day! 

Baked Oatmeal

I know awhile ago I posted my baked oatmeal recipe that I was using.

Recently, I have switched to this one, found at allrecipes.com.

I change it up a bit; I put 1/4 cup sugar in it this morning, and Chris and I both agreed it was a bit too sweet.  I would go with 2-3 TBS next time.

Plus, I always have different add-ins.  The recipe calls for dried cranberries. This morning I put in one cut up apple and one cut up pear, no cranberries.  I have put in apple and blueberries, just blueberries, apple and raisins or currants, or actually cranberries, as the recipe states.

We eat a lot of oatmeal in our house, and baked oatmeal is a special way I dress it up every once in awhile.  :-)

Other recipes I have posted using oatmeal:
oatmeal soother
using up leftover oatmeal
banana pudding with oatmeal

Leftover Oatmeal Cookies

As some of you may already know, I have quite a history with oatmeal and breakfast. :-)

Well, it happened again that I had two separate days of leftover oatmeal in my fridge-- totaling about three cups of cooked oatmeal.  I wanted to serve the leftover oatmeal and make it a little more exciting for the kids.  (Also, Sam requested cookies for breakfast.)

It wasn't perfect, but the cookies turned out well. I will give the recipe that I would use again in the future if I choose to make oatmeal cookies for breakfast again. Which, I can say that I will probably do.  Who doesn't like cookies?  Even Ellie woke up asking about the cookies we were promised for breakfast.

Only two left from the first 17 that came out of the oven...

Leftover Oatmeal Cookies
3 cups leftover oatmeal (mine had all the fixin's and sugar in that I usually apply to oatmeal)
1 1/2 cups flour (mine was sprouted wheat)
1/4 cup sugar (more if your oatmeal isn't pre-sweetened like mine)
1 egg
6 TBS butter or coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla (I used Laura's homemade vanilla that someone made me for Christmas!)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
other things like raisins, coconut, chocolate chips, hemp seeds,... (use your imagination!)

melt the butter and mix with the sugar.  add everything else and stir until combined.  drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie trays.  bake until golden brown at peaks, 10-15 minutes.

Mommy's Leftover Surprise.... For Breakfast?

Okay, well, you know how my kids love oatmeal.  :-)

Recently, I have been making TOO MUCH oatmeal in the morning!  I don't know if they just had a growth spurt and it is slowing down, or if the change in weather has affected them... but we have had leftover oatmeal in our fridge! So this evening, while doing the dishes, I came up with the brilliant plan to make "Mommy's Leftover Surprise" Breakfast casserole.

Aaaaannnnd, you're about to see how and why my recipes don't always turn out so great at first.  :-)  I would usually test them a bunch of times before sharing them with you, but since this is a special occasion-- I've never made leftover breakfast casserole before-- I thought I would just share it and tell you the results tomorrow! (Or, maybe sometime next week-- I'm going to the women's retreat at my church this weekend! Yay!)

I started out with:

• 1.5 cups cooked peach oatmeal
• 3/4 cup soaked raw oats

I added:

• 1/2 cup rye flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar (I use sucanat)
• vanilla
• salt
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 2-3 TBS yogurt
• 1-2 TBS chia seeds (I have been adding these to everything lately!)
•  cinnamon
• enough water to make it 'batter-like'
• frozen peaches on top
• cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top

I stirred everything together, adding the water last (a little bit at a time, until it was 'batter-like'....) Then I put it in an 8x8 and baked it for 40 minutes. It still looks jiggly in the center. So, I will have to report back about how this all turns out! I thought it might be like a coffee cake, but now it seems that we might just have to pour milk over it and eat it like oatmeal!  I guess next time, I'll have to add more flour!  But the true results will not be known until tomorrow!

Will this be as brilliant as I had hoped?  A giant FAIL? Should I just use the oatmeal to make pancakes? .....

You'll just have to keep wondering!  :-) Have a great weekend!