Oatmeal-Nutmeg Breakfast Cookies

OK cookies for breakfast...come on. But that is the title on the recipe card so that is what I'll go with.

1 1/2 c. oats
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. each salt and baking soda
1/2 c. butter (one stick) (room temperature)
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. (or more) chopped walnuts

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut in butter. Stir in yogurt, raisins and walnuts. Batter will be stiff. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. Remove to rack to cool.

Makes 2 dozen.

Savory Scallion Scones

This recipe is from Moosewood. The cookbook calls it "dependable." I totally concur.

2 c. flour (can use up to 1/2 c. whole wheat flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
1 c. yogurt
1/2 c. minced scallions
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In separate bowl, combine oil, yogurt, scallions, dill and pepper. Blend yogurt mixture into flour mixture quickly and thoroughly to form a soft dough.

2. On floured board or countertop, pat dough into 3/4" thick circle and cut it into 8 wedges. Separate wedges and place on oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Yogurt

How to Make Yogurt without a Yogurt Maker :)

Ingredients

1 qt whole milk (my preference is whole, but you could probably use whatever kind you have)

2 Tbsp. plain yogurt

Equipment

Candy thermometer (with range from 115 - 180)

Heating Pad

Glass quart jar with lid (like a canning jar, or you could use 2 smaller jars)

Huge soup pot

Kitchen towel

Wire whisk

Pyrex glass measuring cup

2 qt (ish) saucepan

Method

1. Measure milk and pour into a medium saucepan. Start it heating up over medium heat. Rig your candy thermometer so its tip is in the middle of the milk. I do this by sort of threading it through the wires of a wire whisk. Stir occasionally with said whisk.

2. In your now-empty pyrex measuring cup, measure out 2 Tbsp. yogurt to start hanging out at room temperature.

3. When your milk gets to 180 degrees, remove from heat. Let it cool down to 115 degrees. This takes a while...but exactly how long depends on how warm your kitchen is, among other things.

4. Pour a little cooled milk (115) into the Pyrex holding the (now room-temp) yogurt. Using that same old whisk, whisk it together real good. Then pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the saucepan holding the rest of the cooled milk. Whisk it all together real good, again, some more.

5. Pour into glass jar, set jar on top of heating pad set to low, cover with kitchen towel and then put huge giant soup pot on top. Leave it for 8 hours (or a little more is fine too). Then put it in your fridge and call it a day. It keeps for about 5 days.

Note: For you working women, you could feasibly start this yogurt when you get up in the AM and have it be done when you come home. But I would try it the first time on a Saturday so you'll have an idea of how much time it takes at the beginning.

Another note: You can "chain" the yogurt once you make some. When you get down to your last 2 tablespoons (or almost) you will want to make some more. You can also freeze it in 2 Tbsp. amounts; it will just require a little more forethought with thawing and all that.

Suggestion: If you want to substitute this yogurt in a recipe that calls for sour cream, you should make it into "yogurt cheese" first, by straining it for a while in your fridge. The name is kind of misleading, it isn't really like cheese. It becomes a very similar consistency to sour cream.

Final note: If you don't have a big enough soup pot to keep your yogurt incubating on the heating pad, you can try putting your heating pad on an oven rack, the yogurt on top and then just a towel snugly around it. There are different creative ways you can incubate it. It just has to stay warm for 8 (ish) hours.

Apple Muffins and other fine flavors too

I've been shamelessly posting recipes from Moosewood on this blog for a long time, so why stop now? They have THE most amazing muffin recipe. They're super easy, and scrumptious.

Apple Muffins - makes 12
from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
(my favorite cookbook ever, if you hadn't noticed)
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated Granny Smith or other tart apples
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl mix together eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and apple. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Stir dry into wet until just combined.

3. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Variations
* Banana - sub 1 1/2 c. mashed ripe banana for the apple; omit cinnamon. Optional - add in 1 c. chopped nuts and/or 1/2 c. chocolate chips
* Blueberry - sub 1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries for the apple; omit cinnamon
* Zucchini - sub 2 c. grated zucchini for the apple; increase cinnamon to 1 tsp. and add 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom. Optional - add in 1/2 c. raisins and/or 3/4 c. chopped nuts

(The only one of the variations I've tried is the zucchini and it is fabulous too)

Coffee Punch

I can't take credit for this lovely recipe, I was instructed how to do it. But I am writing it down so I will remember for next time :)

Coffee Punch
a lovely brunch beverage for a hot nasty day from Hades (like today)
1 pot decaf coffee (12 cups, brew it strong)
Between 1/2 and 1 c. sugar, to taste
1/2 gallon milk
1 quart vanilla ice cream (I used a little more than half of a 1.5 qt container)
whipped cream (unsweetened)

Dissolve the sugar in the hot coffee. Let cool. Refrigerate. Before serving, combine coffee with milk and ice cream. There will be globs, that's OK, they will melt. They are serving as the ice cubes, dontcha know :) Top with whipped cream and prepare to amaze your friends and family. This makes a huge amount - I put it in my punch bowl.

Maple-Pecan Granola

Thanks to this chick for inspiration on how to make crunchy pecan granola. That's the kind I always want from Trader Joe's ya know.

Maple-Pecan Granola
4 c. rolled oats
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds...)
1/4 c. Butter (half a stick)
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. real maple syrup
1/4 tsp (a couple dashes?) each cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Stir up the oats and nuts in big mixing bowl.

2. Melt butter in microwave in glass measuring cup. Add honey and syrup and microwave for 30 seconds more. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Pour butter-honey mixture over oat mixture and stir up the whole thing really well.

3. Spread evenly on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 300. Don't stir. Turn oven off and leave granola in there for another 20 minutes (or even longer. If you forget about it, it's fine). Remove, let cool completely, and transfer to storage container.

Granola Bars

Deana over at the Scratch and Sniff shared these granola bars while we were in Nashville a couple weeks ago, and they were AMAZING. I haven't tried to make them yet, but I will shortly...

Pumpkin Pudding

In an attempt to create gluten- and dairy-free pumpkin pie, I came up with this pumpkin dessert which is really more like pudding, but still really good (even Ken said so). The only disappointment we had was that it is really nothing like a pie. So bear that in mind and don't try to carve this up - approach it with a spoon.

Ingredients
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 15 oz. can coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 eggs
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger and a dash of cloves)
1/4 tsp. salt

Method
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into greased baking dish and bake 45-50 minutes at 375. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.

Crisp

It's not quite apple season, so today I made peach-blueberry crisp. It was lovely.

I assume you know how to do crisp, and if you don't you could very easily ask Betty Crocker. But... since I'm here I'll just jot it down, in case someone out there isn't aware that a brilliant fruit dessert is well within the grasp of the most novice cook.

Ingredients
about 3 c. of fruit - sliced apples (4-5 Granny Smith), peaches, blueberries, rhubarb, to name a few
1/2 c. each of rolled oats, flour and brown sugar
1 T. (?) cinnamon
nutmeg (go easy)
1/3 c. butter (softened)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Arrange fruit in 8x8 or pie dish (no need to grease, I should think)
3. In medium bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles crumbs. Pour/sprinkle mixture over fruit. Bake for 30 minutes.
4. Please try eating this for breakfast topped with yogurt. You will not be sorry.

Gabe's Granola

Here you go, Joe Gay!

8 c. rolled oats
4 c. nuts or seeds (I like pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, or a combination thereof)
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. oil
cinnamon and vanilla

Mix above ingredients in a large bowl (warm the honey and oil in the microwave first). Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-45 minutes at 325, checking/stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven when golden brown. While still warm, stir in:

1 c. dried fruit (I do raisins, cranberries, or apricots)

Iowa Butterhorn Rolls

I haven't tried making these rolls yet so I don't know how easy they are. They kind of sound like they might be a pain to make, but they taste amazing. I am pretty sure they will be in heaven.

1 pkg. yeast
1 T. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
1 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/4 t. salt
3 eggs. slightly beaten
4 1/2 c. flour
Additional melted butter

1. Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in a small bowl.

2. Scald milk (heat on the stove until it bubbles). Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, butter and salt. Cool milk mixture completely.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the yeast mixture, the cooled milk mixture and the eggs and flour. Mix well; put in greased bowl. Brush with melted butter. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

4. Put 1/4 of dough at a time on lightly floured board and roll into 8 inch circle. Brush with melted butter. Cut like a pie into 8 triangle pieces. Roll up wide end to point.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Makes 32 rolls.

Spanikopita Bake

I know that practically every recipe on here uses spinach and cheese, but I just can't help myself.

So here you go... no phyllo dough to mess with and so, so, so easy.

-----------------
a little olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped (about a cup?)
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
10 oz. fresh spinach, roughly chopped
6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt (use less if you decide to go overboard on the feta)
dash of dill (optional)

1. Saute onions in large non-stick skillet in a teeny bit of olive oil over medium low heat for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute 5-7 minutes more, or until onions are starting to look a little caramelized. Add spinach and cook until just wilted. Transfer mixture to 8x8 pan. Cover with crumbled feta cheese.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg and add milk, flour, salt and dill if desired. Pour this mixture over spinach/cheese.

3. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 or until set.

Apple Puff Pancake

I find myself with an abundance of apples of all different varieties. Of course, this forces one to get creative in finding uses for them all! Here is a recipe that absolutely must be shared with the world... it is amazing. This is the small recipe which Ken and I can easily polish off by ourselves. You can also triple this and bake it in a 9x13.

2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. flour
1 Tbsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. butter
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. In blender, mix eggs, milk, flour, white sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon (it may be a little lumpy).

3. Melt butter in 8x8x2 baking dish in oven. Add apple slices to butter and return to oven until you hear sizzling (do not brown apples). Remove from oven and pour batter over apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar (optional). Bake in middle of oven 20 minutes until puffy and brown.

All you need to serve this with is a tiny drizzle of real maple syrup. It's sooooooo good.

Potato-Spinach-Sausage-Cheese Casserole

Before I forget, here's the link to the potato, spinach, sausage and cheese casserole that Christa brought us when Claire was brand-new. It was SUPER good and I even ate some for breakfast (that's how good it was!). I highly recommend this one next time you have to take a meal to somebody or to a church potluck, or whatever. I think it's my new favorite casserole.

English Scones

for Christa - hope you enjoy!

2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. currants or raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Sift dry ingredients together into mixing bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles crumbs. Make a hollow in the center; add egg, milk and currants/raisins. Mix into a stiff dough, kneading well.

3. Place dough on ungreased baking sheet. Shape into a flat circle about 1" thick. Using a sharp knife, score the circle with 4 cuts making 8 triangle-shaped scones. Do not cut all the way through.

4. Bake 15-18 minutes. Serve with butter and jam or clotted cream if you are feeling really British. Makes 8 scones.

Dave Elliott's Mom's Pancakes

These are the best pancakes. Dave Elliott was a dude who used to live with my mom and dad, whose mom made the best pancakes. Legend has it that although she passed away, her pancake recipe lives on because it rocks. I made these for Ken this morning for Valentine's day. His favorite way to eat them is topped with plain yogurt, seasonal fruit and real maple syrup.

2 eggs, separated
1 c. buttermilk, plain yogurt, or milk with a little lemon juice added
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
some vanilla flavoring (about 1/2 tsp - eyeball it like Rachel Ray)
some almond flavoring (1/4 tsp?) (special for valentine's day)
1-2 T. melted butter

1. Add a pinch of salt to egg whites and beat until stiff but not dry. Set aside.

2. Beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Add buttermilk; beat together. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Add flavoring and melted butter; stir to combine. Fold in egg whites.

3. Pour batter by the half-cup (approx) onto a pre-heated griddle, at around 275 degrees (or if your stovetop temperature is actually manageable, unlike mine, a large frying pan over medium heat should work).

Makes about 12 - 4" pancakes.

Mom's Granola

I hope you all know that I never compliment myself, but my friends say I make brilliant food. But I must confess... sometimes I hate Martha. So here's a recipe from MY MOM, the ultimate un-Martha. (Love her!!!)

LOW-FAT GRANOLA
8 c. oats
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. olive oil
dried fruits - raisins, apples, dates, berries and/or cranberries
chopped nuts (Mom says go easy on these - they add lots of fat!)

Spread the oats evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300 until lightly toasted. Meanwhile combine honey and olive oil (no need to mix) and warm in microwave or toaster oven (if you are boycotting microwaves like I am).

Dump oats into large bowl. Mix with fruits and nuts. Drizzle honey-oil mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine. Enjoy warm (yummy!) or store in a cool dry place for later use.

(Note: this morning I just used up all the oats I had. Poor Ken was probably tired of oatmeal anyway. I didn't measure it but it covered the cookie sheet about an inch thick with oats. Then I halved the amount of honey and oil - I did 1/2 c. honey and 1/8 c. oil... which now that I think about it is not exactly halving. Oh well.)