Memories of Great Meals - A Breakfast from "Used to Be"

A breakfast from the past. A waffle with fruit - cherries?, two eggs, and yellow summer squash. I can't eat many eggs and no wheat flour any more. Ah, well. Good memories. :-)

Eggnog Oatmeal - Recipe Link

Here is a recipe for eggnog flavored oatmeal over at Simple Inspirations. I haven't tried it yet because I have sadly had to limit my consumption of oatmeal because it really does seem to make me hurt more (how weird is that?). I have not idea why. But, I still would like to eat it regularly if I could, so I'll share this tasty looking recipe with you. :-)  Since it has egg and milk it has more nutrition than plain oatmeal, and the sugar is really quite low in it. Enjoy!

Photo property of Simple Inspirations.

Eggnog Oatmeal Recipe

Loquat Jam

My family got ahold of some loquats when we lived in Arizona years back and we made some jam with them. I remember them smelling something like Fruit Stripe gum when they were fresh, but the jam had a different taste to it. Most boxes of pectin in the U.S. will probably not include instruction for loquat jam, so here is a recipe to help you make it if you happen to have a source for them. Follow the canning instruction that comes with your pectin. I do not remember where this recipe came from.

Loquat Jam

5 cups loquats
1 box fruit pectin
7 cups sugar

Wash fruit well. Cut off both ends and remove seeds if desired. Place fruit in a saucepan with a small amount of water. Cook slowly and mash with a potato masher occasionally until well done. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Add the pectin to the fruit and stir well. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add sugar and boil to a rolling boil for 1 minute.

At this point you will be putting it into jars or containers for storage. If you are canning be sure to have your hot, sterilized jars and lids ready before the jam reaches this stage and then can it according to the usual procedure. 

Crock Pot Apple Butter

As autumn is rapidly approaching in the northern hemisphere, maybe this recipe will be handy to someone. I don't remember where it came from.

Crock Pot Apple Butter 

Peel and core apples, cut in quarters, enough to fill a 4 quart crock pot to about 1 1/2 inches from the top: 

ADD: 

4 tsp. Cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Cloves 

1/2 tsp Salt 

3 Cups Sugar 

Start on high with about 4 TBL. water, till it gets hot, then turn on low and cook all day. When it is done and apples are fully cooked down put small amounts into food processor and zap quickly till smooth. 

For long term storage you will need to freeze or can this.

NOTE: If you are canning this, reheat the apple butter to boiling after it is pureed and it put into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot, sterilized lids. It may need to be put through a period of hot water bath in a canner as well. Look it up to find out. I know some people believe that home canning apple butter is not safe, however, my mom made it for years and we never had an issue. Ours was not super thick.

Worth Repeating - Breakfast Bars

A recipe "Worth Repeating." This was originally published here in Oct. 2010. I would make them now with the GF flour since I learned I have a gluten intolerance. I would like to try making them again with add-ins that I can eat now. It would look a little different, but I'm sure they would still be good. :-)

I got this recipe for breakfast bars from my friend, Beth. I thought they were so delicious I could hardly stop eating them!

 
She made them with the Gluten Free flour as the recipe calls for. I didn’t have any, so I made them with whole wheat, oats and oat flour. I also used a different mixture of nuts and dried fruit. I have included her (slightly altered) recipe and my version as well. Make them to your own taste and family needs. The choice is up to you. :-)
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Gluten Free Breakfast Bars

1 ¼ cup GF flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey (or agave nectar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup peanuts
¼ cup raisins

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda.

In a large bowl, combine oil, agave and vanilla. Stir dry ingredients into wet. Mix in nuts and raisins. Grease an 8x8 baking dish with oil. Press the dough into the baking dish, wetting your hands with oil to help pat the dough down evenly if necessary.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes (or till golden brown). Cool and Serve. Note: They are also good warm (with milk over them if desired), but will be crumbly when served this way.

My version (use same instructions as above):
1/2 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. oat flour
1/4 C. old fashioned oats
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 C. oil (grape seed)
1/4 C. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 C. sliced almonds
1/2 C. peanuts (salted)
1/4 C. raisins
1/3 C. dried cranberries
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It will look something like this in the pan before you bake it.

These turned out really well, though I got mine just a bit too dark. I loved the nutty looking texture with the bits of red cranberry peaking out.

I ate some of it with milk on it like cereal. It was very good this way too! :-)

Berry Fun - Berries and Chocolate for Breakfast

Early summer or late spring is the time for fresh berries. How about making something simple like pancakes or a bowl of oatmeal into something special by adding chocolate chips and fresh berries on top? These are so good you could practically serve them for dessert, but no one will complain of an extra special breakfast. :-) Make sure the pancakes or cereal are very hot when you put the chocolate chips on in order to get that yummy melted chocolate effect. Besides tasting delicious, this is also a very pretty breakfast!

Looking Back - Favorite Kitchen Things – Electric Egg Cooker

I am going to try cutting back on my posts here at least for awhile. Because of that I will be trying to post my mid-week posts all on Wednesday and they will vary widely. There will still be photo posts but not every week any more, but they will be interspersed with other things. We have had a lot of thunder storm days this spring when I am off the computer entirely. This may not continue, but at present responsibilities with my parents and other things we desire to do means that I have more things to think about and juggle. For today I'm reposting a review of a kitchen gadget. :-)

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Five years on and I'm still using this same cooker. I have looked at buying a stainless steel model for health purposes (no plastic leaching), but so far have not done that. It is perhaps not quite as accurate as it used to be, but I can still guess on the water amounts close enough. :-)
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This little electric egg cooker was given to me by my Texas sister-in-law.  This one is called an EggGenie™.  It is very handy and since it uses a minimal amount of water for cooking boiled eggs (really steamed), it also does not waste water – something we think about quite a bit in Texas these days (and should think of more).

Although I’m not exactly thrilled to cook my eggs in a plastic cooker, this is still one of my favorite kitchen appliances.  The electric egg cookers my mom had when I was growing up all involved aluminum in their construction – something I want to avoid.  This one is plastic and stainless steel.  I don’t make boiled eggs terribly often, so it isn’t like I use it all the time.

It can cook up to 7 eggs at once.  The measuring cup that came with it gives exact amounts of water for the level of done-ness for various numbers of eggs.  It’s pretty accurate if you don’t leave the eggs sitting in the cooker too long after turning it off.  Ahem! :-)



Also, before cooking the eggs, you have to poke a little hole in the large end of each egg.  There is a sharp pin inside the cooker for this purpose.  It usually works fine, but occasionally there is that weak shelled egg or something goes wrong and then there’s an clean up job to deal with. :-/  The purpose in the hole is to allow the air to escape from the little sealed chamber at the large end of the egg.  If you don’t do this the egg can crack and even leak during cooking.  Apparently this is more of a problem when steaming eggs.

One complaint with this model is that it doesn’t have an on/off switch.  When you plug it in, it’s on.  So, I have to remember not to plug it in before it’s ready to go – something I forget regularly.  It also doesn’t have a very loud buzzer to let you know when it’s done, and it does not go off till you come and unplug it – really Not Good!

Nevertheless, I’ve used it and found it very handy since I can get the eggs cooking and then tend to other things without giving them much more thought – except to turn them off and rather promptly remove them. :-)

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First published in March 2014.

Food Memories - Mixed Berry Muffins

My husband is a good baker.  Several years ago he was making whole wheat muffins, and instead of the usual frozen blueberries he substituted mixed frozen berries at my request.  They were really delicious!  We shared them at a family breakfast and they were enjoyed by all. Please do try this at home!  :-)

Food Memories - Homegrown Orangeade

Several years ago my Texas sister-in-law had an orange tree in a pot.  It produced a few oranges for them, and she wanted to share them with the family, so she juiced them and made this "orange-ade" for a family breakfast.  It was really good, but it was a once only delight because the tree didn't produce well again and later died.  It is still beautiful to look at, though. :-)

It was a gooood morning!

Some cinnamon rolls made by my mom years ago. :-)

Biscuit Cinnamon Sticky Buns

 

Some time ago my husband made these cinnamon sticky rolls at my request.  He used his usual biscuit recipe, made them into cinnamon rolls and we put them in a pan that had melted butter, brown sugar and pecans in the bottom to bake.  (We used a 9X9 pan, but a 9X13 would have worked much better.  More below on that.)  We used them for a brunch, but they would be great for breakfast, tea or coffee time.

First he rolled the biscuit dough out in a rectangle.  (I suppose you could do this with canned biscuits too.)

He buttered the top surface, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, rolled it up and cut it into enough biscuits to fit into the pan. 

We put them in a pan which had melted butter, brown sugar and nuts sprinkled in the bottom (which becomes the topping when you take them out of the pan).  You could do some variations on this.  Add some dried fruits of your choice.  Add coconut or use it instead of the nuts.  It might even be possible to use some apple pie filling mixed into the topping!  Yum.

NOTE:  We had them too thick because we used a 9X9 pan.  He should have cut them thinner and we should have put them in a 9X13 pan because the outsides got done before the insides, so we couldn’t get them fully done.

I don’t know how long we baked them as we were having a little trouble getting them done.  When you remove them from the oven invert the pan onto a heat proof plate or platter.

They were delicious!  Sometime we need to try them again in a larger pan. :-)

Random Recipe Links

 

I’ve been working on scheduling blog posts for the upcoming week at least, and since I’m still sick at the time of this writing, I’m making it easier on myself by using items that were previously written or that require less work. In this post I’m giving you a smattering of links that I saved for the blog or that I stumbled across. :-)

Enjoy!

These chocolate waffles were made by my husband. Here’s the recipe, only he made some changes, and we ate them with real whipped cream, peanut butter and real maple syrup (among other things).  YUM!  Our family breakfasts….words fail me. :-)

Handheld Blackberry Pies – (Gotta love the pun, people!)

Fresh Ricotta – Someday I want to try this, really….I think…maybe…

Chocolate Molten Cakes – I do want to try this one!

Chocolate-Coconut Angel Cupcakes – These sound really good too.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies – With special regard to my grain-free and gluten free friends. :-)

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – And another.

Runnemede Remembered Recipes – from my friend Judi.

Boudin Meat Balls – “Boudin, the king of Cajun food...”  I’ve heard this is really good and would like to try it sometime, but it’s probably not something I would make. 

And just to throw in something really odd for you all to ponder, in the category of strange ingredients we have -

Corn Smut – not your usual fungus.

Cooked Oatmeal Cake

[After I’d created this post I looked at the calendar and discovered that today is National Cereal Day.  How appropriate is that?! :-) ]
I hate wasting leftovers.  I always feel like I’m throwing away money!  Here’s a great way to use leftover cooked oatmeal.  If you don’t usually have leftovers and would like to make this cake, then make some extra next time! :-)

Cooked Oatmeal Cake

1 1/2 C. cooked oatmeal
1 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 stick butter (1/2 C.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1 1/3 C. flour
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat.  Mix in oatmeal.  Add and mix in soda, cinnamon and flour.  Pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan.  Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes.
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Mom and I made this together recently with some leftover oatmeal that my husband had cooked.  He’d put in dried cherries, so we reduced to the sugar (to the amount given above) and it came out really well.  We also omitted the cinnamon and put some almond flavoring in instead.  Then at the last minute we added chocolate chips!  It was really good, and not too sweet.  We substituted white whole wheat for part of the flour as well, but I don’t remember the proportions we used.
Anyway, this is a quick and easy cake, a nice way to eat leftover oatmeal, and quite versatile!  Use it for breakfast, for coffee cake, for dessert, tea, lunches, or just for a healthier sweet snack.  Try your own variations too.  As you can see in the picture, the batch I’d made there had raisins or cranberries in the oatmeal.

Baked Oatmeal: Breakfast or Dessert? You decide.

I made this last Saturday and we really enjoyed it.  It's like eating a crumbled up oatmeal cookie! Delicious with milk/cream or without!  I altered the recipe since I don't have quick oats on hand, but I'll include both recipes. I think mine tasted better, personally. ;-) It's gotta be better with chocolate!

Baked Oatmeal

1 1/2 C. old fashioned oats

1 Tbl. whole wheat flour

1/4 C. white sugar

1/4 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. + 1 Tbl. milk

1/4 C. butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 chocolate chips

Pecan or walnut pieces

Combine the all ingredients except the nuts and chocolate chips. Mix well. (I suggest stirring in the melted butter before adding the milk, if the milk is cold.)  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread evenly in a greased 9x13x2 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with nuts.  Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or till edges are golden brown. Serve immediately in bowls. Top with warm milk. Add fresh fruit and brown sugar if desired. (Makes 6 smallish servings, or 4 larger ones.)

Other changes you could make to this recipe - swap out the chocolate chips for dried cranberries, blueberries or raisins. If they are very dry I'd recommend soaking them in warm water for 5 minutes before mixing them into the batter. Also, you could add cinnamon, especially with raisins.

The Original recipe was something like this....

1 1/2 C. quick-cooking oats

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. milk

1/4 C. butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine the all ingredients. Mix well. Spread evenly in a greased 9x13x2 inch baking pan.  Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or till edges are golden brown. Serve immediately in bowls. Top with warm milk.  Add fresh fruit and brown sugar if desired.  (Makes 6 smallish servings, or 4 larger ones.)