Baked Oatmeal!! Nom! Nom!

Y'all, I may be starting to figure out this whole domestic housewife thing. I mean, the past few posts I've done on here (though few and far between) have all been recipes! #WhoAmI?

I know, right?

God still performs miracles.

Anyway....

I saw a friend of mine (thanks, Katie!) post this recipe on FB not too long ago. Bryant loves oatmeal and I figured I needed to expand my cooking repertoire, so I went for it this morning. I have to admit, I will eat oatmeal, but it's definitely not my first choice of things to eat, though I really liked this!

I wasn't sure what the consistency was supposed to be for this once it was done, but mine turned out (while still warm) to be slightly gooey and I needed a spoon to eat it. The longer it sat out and cooled, the "harder" it got and less it fell apart. Despite my lack of love for oatmeal, I really liked this and plan on making it again!

What I really like is there are really only a couple "non-healthy" ingredients... like the maple syrup and butter spread. Though the spread I use is slightly healthier than most butters, being that it is dairy (and gluten) free. The original recipe has 1 egg in it, but I replaced that with flaxseed for a healthier option.

Anyway, this was really easy and YUMMY! Bryant is wanting me to make another batch, cool it (or freeze) so it hardens and he can use as ride fuel on his long cycling rides.

Adapted by ME! ;-)
from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson
via Annie's Eats
makes 6 servings
nutritional value will vary depending on the fruit and ingredients you use

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds, divided (I used sliced almonds)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup (I used sugar free)
1 cup almond/soy/regular milk (I used almond milk)
1 tbsp of ground flaxseed, 3 tbsp of water combined (whisked to create consistency of 1 egg)
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (I used *vegan* Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
1 to 1.5 cups blueberries or raspberries, fresh or frozen, divided (I used slightly more than 1 cup of fruit total - blueberries and strawberries)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix the oats, half of the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine. Whisk the 3 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed for a couple minutes in a small bowl, then allow to sit another couple minutes while you spread the sliced bananas in a single layer over the bottom of the baking dish. 

3. Top the bananas with half of the berries. Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the fruit in an even layer. 

4. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the syrup, milk, flaxseed (once it has the gelatin consistency of an egg), butter, and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats.

5. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and berries over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the oats have set. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Mama's Rice & Beans

Y'all, the heavens rained down on my kitchen a couple weeks ago. My mom was in town and made an amazing lunch for us.

After it was gone, I made her make it for dinner too.

It rocked, was easy, and keeps well as leftovers (if there are any).  She wrote down the recipe for me and I knew I had to share it with you. So with out further adieu...


Texas Rice & Beans
(For the record, the name of it is a tad misleading... it's nothing like the Texas rice & beans I've had before.)

Mix the following together:

• 1 can of black-eyed peas or garbanzo beans, drained (I didn't have either, so I used light red kidney beans instead)
• 2 cans of black beans, drained
• 1/3 - 2/3 cup of roasted red bell peppers 
• 1/4 chopped poblano pepper (I didn't have poblano, so I used an anaheim pepper... and I chopped the whole thing and threw it in, so we ended up with more than the recipe called for. Hey, we like our peppers around here...)

Stir all of the above with 1/4 cup of Texas Vinaigrette (below) and let sit for a few. I recommend adding maybe even 1/3 cup cause this stuff is so good!

Toss the above with however much brown rice you want.
(I used quinoa because when I opened up a bag of rice, I became confused and didn't know what to do with my hands. So I went with ole faithful that is familiar to me.)

(I hope y'all got the Anchorman reference above and don't think I literally didn't know what to do with my hands.... okay, maybe I sort of didn't, but whatever...)

Texas Vinaigrette 

Texas Vinaigrette (All praise Jesus for this compilation of tantalizing flavors!)

• salt/pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of lime juice
• 2 tbsp of cilantro
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

So the above can be, and has been, eaten a few different ways. I like to scoop mine with tortilla chips, but it can be rolled in tortilla to make a burrito, or just scooped as is with a spoon.

Finished product

AHHH!
You know what else would be good in this??

AVOCADO!

(My husband just suggested it, hence the last second mention of it.)

If I had avocado, I would totally cut one of those bad boys up and throw it in!

Let me know if you try this and what you think about it!
Word to my mama for introducing it to me! :-)

Gasp! Another Recipe!

I must be butter. Because I'm on a roll.

Da-Da-Ching!

Okay - that was a completely lame joke. (That's the best I've got).

But I DID cook again. This time I tried to copy a recipe of my mother-in-law's because it was amazing when she made it. It was some sort of rice, tomato, soy sauced up tofu thingy. I really don't know the name of it, but it rocked.

Except the recipe never was written down. So I had to wing it. This is what I think the recipe was. But it may not have been? I don't know...

(Disclaimer: Since I don't know the best way to write a recipe - because, let's be real, I never read them - the way this is written may be annoying. Sorry ahead of time. But this dish had four parts, so that's how I'm splitting it up because that's how it makes sense to me.)

(Also - there aren't any specific measurements in this. We do everything "to taste"... meaning "a lot." Bryant likes to have leftovers, so I always try to make a ton of everything.)

Tomato/Soy Sauce Mixture of Goodness Part:

• tomatoes chopped/diced
• red onion
• cucumber sliced
• cilantro
• small sweet peppers (red, orange, & yellow)
• soy sauce (we use low sodium)
• (You could add other peppers too... like jalepenos or thai chili peppers or something if you like heat.)

Nothing in this part was cooked. Everything was diced/chopped into relatively small pieces and then drowned in soy sauce. Once done, I set aside to let the flavors settle and marinade for a while.

(Did that last sentence make it sound like I know what I'm doing??) 

(Because I don't.)

Quinoa Part:

(My MIL's original recipe used rice instead)

• however many cups you want to make (I used 3 cups so we had leftovers)
• double the cups of water, so 6 for you non-math folks

Throw quinoa and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower temperature to low-medium for 15-ish minutes, or until the quinoa is fluffy and not watery anymore. Get that simmer going.

I mix regular and red quinoa together, hence the red in this

Green Part: 

• coconut oil
• an entire extra large container of fresh spinach
• one bushel of kale (or more... whatever works! Remember, we love our kale around here)
• minced garlic
• garlic powder
• pepper
• 1 lime

I heated the oil on low-medium and then threw all the greens in together, tossed some garlic in, peppered and powdered it (to taste, I guess). Then I squeezed a whole lime over it.  I cooked it like this until the greens were soft and bright green. 

(This portion of the recipe almost didn't make it to the end because I kept eating it from the pan. Oops!)

Tofu Part:

*Alright people, I know most of you probably don't like tofu. BUT this fabulously vegan and uber-healthy meal could be made a little less fabulously vegan and uber-healthy if you substituted chicken or something here.... if, of course, you didn't want to be fabulously vegan and uber-healthy.  BUT... for those who have issues with the texture of tofu - because honestly, it doesn't have much flavor, so I don't buy that excuse - I cooked this tofu more crispy. More like a little tofu-y chicken nugget, if you will. Anyway, I encourage you to give it a try. This is my absolute FAVORITE way to eat tofu. :-)

• extra firm block of tofu
• chili powder
• pepper
• salt
• vegetable oil

The tofu needs to be drained and then squished with a paper towel to get any extra moisture out. From there I sliced it up into bite size pieces. Then I brushed a little bit of oil on them and seasoned with salt, pepper and chili powder. I stuck them on parchment paper (since cleaning pans suck) in the oven (400 degrees) for 10-12 minutes. I then flipped them over (with a little more seasoning on the other side) for another 10-12 minutes. 

Once everything was finished, the last thing to do was combine and enjoy!! I think we've added sunflower seeds to the top before, as well.

Let me know if any of y'all try this and what you think! My mama (who is NOT a tofu-y type person) loved it!

Thanks MIL for the recipe!!

1. Quinoa
2. Greens

3. Spoon tomato concoction with soy sauce over greens 

4. Add tofu

Kale Jenga

Are you sitting down? You'd better do it, if not.

I cooked dinner again the other night. But this time, for real. 

I know... good thing you took a seat.

So, as I was saying, I got a wild hair up the rear and decided to throw some veggies in a skillet to see what happened.

Here's what met its final destination in my belly.

• Big ole scoop of coconut oil to lather up the pan (mainly because I love the smell)
• Roughly 3/4 of a large, but sort-of small onion
• A few cloves of garlic.... I think I used 3? Maybe? I don't remember.
• A bunch of small sweet peppers
• 4-6 baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 extra large, honkin' zucchini 
• pepper
• salt
• rosemary 

Because I lack creativity in the culinary arts, I wasn't quite sure what to do with all the veggies once they were done, so in another pot went, what else? Spaghetti noodles.

After the noddles started cooking, at the last minute I chopped up a tomato and a little, some, quite a bit, colossal load of kale to go in, as well.
(Three bushels, to be exact. Not a Costco sized bushel, though. We're Kroger stock holders around here, so whatever size Kroger bushels tend to be are the size we used.)
(I'm pretty good at this whole measurement thing, aren't I?)

(PS - Don't you need to go pick up some extra sugar or something at Kroger after you read this? Just a friendly and totally non-biased reminder.)

If you aren't able to tell from the above picture, the cooking adventure became quite the strategic game of Kale Jenga. That's a 13 1/4 inch cast iron skillet, people. We don't play game when it comes to kale around here.

Though no worries, I won.

(What can I say? We love our kale.)

So once it all cooked, I put a tiny bit of marina sauce (to make it taste more like spaghetti, of course) and voilà! 

Our dinner of kale and a side of veggies and noodles was served. 

And everybody liked it...

(I think...)

And everybody lived.... 

(Despite a couple times where the smell of burning noodles and kale overtook the kitchen and emergency personnel were almost dialed. But don't worry - I can count on only one hand the number of times I had to reach for my phone to almost call in reinforcements. No big deal.)

And the best part? I didn't have to clean after.

Booyah.

Recipe Alert! (Non) Homemade (Mostly) Vegan Pizza

A few days ago, I posted a picture of our vegan dinner on Instagram and FB and got a lot of positive feedback on it. So I wanted to share the recipe. (If you're lucky, maybe I'll make it a habit to post some vegan recipes now and again like this one? Only time and my laziness will tell.)

Non-Homemade Vegan Pizza

1) Visit the Papa Johns website. (Or any pizza delivery website, really.)
2) Click special offers. (Because we're cheap around here.)
3) Pick a special offer where you can customize your own pizza.
4) Customize your pizza.
     - Add any of the veggies listed on the right side of the page.

      - Select "NO CHEESE" at the bottom under "Special Instructions."

5) Pay & Order. (Sometimes they will call you to double check the "no cheese" option was correct. This is normal in the life of a (mostly) vegan pizza ordering person.)
6) Sit back and wait for pizza to arrive. Enjoy an appetizer of Pinot Noir or something while you wait.

And Voila! A yummy, (mostly) vegan, (non) homemade pizza. And it only takes 2-5 minutes to make (not including delivery time) and doesn't cause a mess in the kitchen.

Here's a picture of what mine looked liked from the other night.

Enjoy!

(*This is considered a "mostly" vegan meal because I am not sure if there are any animal products used while making the crust. We will go into this meal assuming there is not.)

Cast Iron Annoyingness

Recently, the husby and I decided to switch out our trusty Calphalon cook wear for something newer. After over seven years of use, it was time for them to go. Bryant was convinced the exterior coloring that was wiping off on our hands was going to cause us to grow three heads or something.  (It turns out the non-stick pots and pans we had are NOT dishwasher safe. Oops. It only took seven years to figure it out.)

So anyway, we decided to not only replace our set, but also cut down on the number of them we owned. 

We went from six or seven pieces to only three. (We kept an extra large stainless steel pot). Because let's be real. Bryant only uses one pot to cook Quinoa and one other to saute veggies.... and me? Well, I don't cook. 

So without any research or anything, we jumped on Amazon and ordered these two cast-iron pieces.

 

Now, remember when I mentioned above that we have been putting our non-stick items in the dishwasher for the past seven years? Well, I'll be honest with you - it was due to sheer laziness and not a lack of knowing how to properly care for them. But don't judge me. Who likes to HANDWASH anything these days?

Not me.

Well...

I'm here to inform you.

These items above? Well, they are not dishwasher safe either.

NOR can you just wash them and put them away.

Oh, no...

You must "treat" them after every use.

SERIOUSLY????

After HANDwashing them, they must be dried immediately, and then "seasoned" with a light coat of vegetable oil.

SERIOUSLY.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that these things are heavier than a dead preacher. The label should come with a warning sign that reads: 

Not a joke.

I almost broke myself last night lifting the Dutch Oven one into the sink. Water and soap was everywhere.

However, with all that being said, they cook great!! So if you are interested in pre and post treating all your cookware and throwing out your back on a daily basis, I recommend investing in this bad boy and this bad boy!

They Call Me Dean....Paula Dean.

Well, it happened.  And everyone lived through it.  Myself.  McKenna.  Bryant.  The dogs.  The house.  The neighboorhood.  Wow.  A miracle.  A sign from God that his time for us is not up yet.  Yes.  I'm talking about Thanksgiving Dinner 2009.  What was different about this Thanksgiving meal verse years' past?  Well, let's just say that the cooks in my family (a.k.a Bryant, my mom, my aunt, my Grandma, my M.I.L, or anybody else's Thanksgiving dinner I've devoured!) passed the apron, so to speak....to me!  Oh Jesus.  This could have been bad.  Real bad.  Let me preface by saying that I have royally messed up all of the following while attempting to do what they call "cook:"  hard boiled eggs, chicken noodle soup (Campbell's....only to be heated up), Easy Mac, & cheese quesadilla's.  These are all validated.  No lie.  Ask the unfortunate members of my family.  They can, and will, verify. 

I decided to document my Turkey Day adventures in the kitchen with a few photos.  This way there were photos available for insurance purposes after the fact. 

Rather than frying, roasting, basting (what does that even mean?), plucking, or whatever else you can do to a turkey, Bryant & I decided to use the good 'ole crockpot & slowly cook that bad boy to a crisp.  I might have let Bryant take care of decapitating it so that it would fit in the pot.....that weird feeling of mushy, fleshy, dead meat gives me the heebie jeebies & quite frankly makes me want to vomit.  Once it was small enough to fit, we threw a smorgasbord of random crap in there and let it sit for 8 hours.  Nice.  My kind of cooking.

This is what we like to call Obbessive Compulsive Disorder.... I might have HAD to put each items in the container that it would be served in before they were even cooked.  Doing this made everything right in my life. :-)

While the turkey was basting, baking, or whatever it is that turkey's do in crockpots, I decided to make a scrumptcious cheesecake....from scratch of course. 

So to make cheesecake (from scratch), all you have to add is butter....wish I would have seen how easy it was to measure butter before I started scooping it. Damn.

 Regardless, the ending product was in the words of my girl, Rachel Ray, delish.  :-)

Lucy enjoyed the cheesecake too....while Cami just thought she was in trouble for some reason.  Pansie.

Then it was nap & wine break time!!  :-)  World's best baby sitter right here!  Cheers!

I busted out the fine china for the occassion.  Booyah! 

Our feast!  And despite the couple "bumps in the road," like the first round of stuffing burning & almost running out of wine.....it was delicious.  A day for the record books! 

  And then the smell of turkey left-overs & dog food almost made me ralph.  Awesome.