baked berry oatmeal

So, I said I'd share... and here it is! This delicious breakfast went fast over Thanksgiving, when I introduced it to my family, and I'm looking forward to trying lots of different berries over this winter. So far we've just had blackberries and raspberries {both absolutely delicious, but we were partial to the raspberry.} Adds a nice spark of color, don't 'ya think?

Yum. Mouth watering just looking at this picture... re-living the taste over here! So, I hope you try this one! It's a great cozy morning breakfast. Enjoy!

Baked Berry & Banana Oatmeal

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pecans chopped (I used Trader Joe's slightly sweetened and salted)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving
1 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 bananas, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
3/4 cup fresh berries (any kind)

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease or spray an 8x8inch pan with either butter or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, toss together the oats, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, milk, egg, and half of the melted butter, and the vanilla.

Place the sliced banana pieces in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared pan.  Sprinkle about two-thirds of the fresh berries over the top of the bananas.

Cover the fruit with the oat mixture, then drizzle the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the milk as evenly as possible.  Lastly, sprinkle the remaining berries over the top of the oats.

Bake the oatmeal for 35-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the oats have set.
Remove the oatmeal from the oven.  Drizzle remaining butter over pan, plate, and serve with additional maple syrup if desired.
________

Now, we were first served this by our friends the Kramers with good bacon (makes a difference) and cinnamon applesauce. It's a great combo, so throw some eggs in there and make it a meal! It's completely worth it. Happy breakfast-ing!

oh, rhubarb

I stumbled across this delightful recipie from another blogger, and after the easy baking process and the delicious result, I needed to share. Despite being pretty low in sugar, and with the whole wheat modifications, there is no shortage of taste! So behold, our current obsession. Thank you Joy for ALL of this!

Stir together the wet and dry ingredients until just blended.

Now, I use what's called a potica pan instead of your classic loaf pan {for a few reasons, #1 being that my mom does, and #2 being that we find the bread bakes more evenly when the pan is not as thick. We always had trouble getting the center of the bread done without the edges getting overdone.} Enter the potica pan. A longer, shallower version of the loaf pan. You can either use 2 loaf pans, with the batter divided evenly, or a muffin pan. I assume there would be no difference.

Grease your "pan of choice" and sprink with a cinnamon sugar topping {a mixture of 1 Tbsp. melted butter, 1/3 cup of sugar (half white, half brown) and 1 tsp. cinnamon.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or so. {yields 2 loaves or 18 - 24 muffins}

This is a delightful addition to our repotoire of breads, and now I have a springtime favorite! Thanks Joy for sharing your recipie!

summer eats

Summer food is here! My windows are open, and although it's dinner for one tonight... (Bethel baseball made the playoffs - good - that means no hubby for me - bad) I am so enjoying this fresh and summery food.

It's a pretty basic combo, but I haven't been able to get enough of it lately. Ok, so maybe it's just the avacado I can't get enough of... but the whole thing is really top notch. Spinach + shredded chicken + sunflower seeds + little bit of feta + grape tomatoes + avacado! + Brianna's blush wine vinagarette. It's full of light summery-ness, Mmmmm. Throw in some fresh green beans, peppers, apples, and I'm set!

So there. I'm sure you all have been on pins and needles to know what I'm eating tonight, (ahem, not.) but I just had to document the freshness. Until the hubby gets home, I plan on enjoying the breeze, looking at the lush trees in the backyard, munching on my apple, and effectively choosing to ignore the piles of laundry that taunt me in our closet. Hey, I cleaned the kitchen when I got home. Take that, laundry.

Happy "summer" night!

Quesas

We love quesadillas! I found this recipie and had to try it. Relatively healthy... easy.... that's a recipie for sucess if you ask me. I highly recommend putting this one in your meal queue this week! We paired it with a strawberry spinanch salad and some salsa. My favorite part about these is that if you put enough avacado on (yes, please) and much less cheese than you would think, you a) don't get the greasy drippings like most quesadillas, and b) the avacado is "dressing" or moisture in and of itself, so you don't need the calories that come from ranch, or any dressing! Love.

Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Quesadillas

4 medium-sized flour tortilla shells
1 lb chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 cup scallions, diced
8 strips of bacon, cooked & crumbled

*side note on the bacon. I have recently discovered making bacon in the oven on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet. MUCH less grease! And spatter too. Lay them on a cooling rack in a cookie sheet, oven at 400 degrees, 15 minutes per side. (or until your desired doneness. I dig the fryed crunch.)

1or 2 avocado, diced
Sharp cheddar and fresh Mozzerella cheese
2 tbsp butter

Add a small amount of butter to a skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and saute about 2-3 mins until softened. Add the chicken in a single layer, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 mins or until chicken is golden and cooked through, flipping just once during cooking. Remove the chicken and scallions to a plate and rinse out the skillet.

Add about 1/2 tbsp butter to the skillet over medium heat. When foamy, add a tortilla and swirl it around to get it nice and buttery. Layer one side of the tortilla with chicken, bacon, avocado, scallions and a little cheese. Use tongs or spatula to flip the other half of the tortilla over and press down. Cook the tortilla for about 1-2 mins on each side or until golden brown and crispy.
Turn the heat down, repeat with the rest of the tortillas, adding butter to the skillet as needed.
Enjoy!

It's a blogothon week... I'm quite behind and Jared is "gone" all weekend through tuesday. So be prepared! Have a wonderful weekend! :)

How women measure success

Funny isn't it.....

Women and our kitchens. MY kitchen. No one else's. Which... inevitably means MY mess.
Jared has games tonight, so I've been an "athletic widow" and decided to make meals for the weekend. I do get him tomorrow and for tidbits of sunday and monday... so I decided not to waste my precious time with him cooking. I felt good about this disaster that now overrides my kitchen.  But now I made the mistake of sitting down to blog about it. Hence it's slowly turning into a hideous beast that I'm desperately wanting to avoid. Sitting down is always a bad choice....

But anyways, it's success nonetheless!! Housewifery feels nice. And special thanks to the wonderful Chardonnay I treated myself to while my kitchen cried. It's the "spoonful of sugar" I need to create this type of disaster in my life. (Also a shout out to my feeble little candle who flickered steadfastly with everything it had to mask the evidence that any sort of invasion of smells happened here).

Right about now I wish I had magic powers.... Alas, up and at 'em! Thank you Lord for dishwashers.... and another glass of wine.

How we did Valentine's

It was the best love day we have ever had! On top of it being all nice and spring-like outside, both Jared and I were really excited to spend a special day set apart for the specific purpose of celebrating each other and how much we love each other! And I think we would both agree, the day was definitely set apart! You know how sometimes everything you want/had planned to happen just kind of falls into place perfectly, (even though you were preparing for it not to) and at the end of the day you reflect and think, "wow, that all couldn't have gone better!" Well, that's how our Valentine's day was for us. I know it won't always happen, and I'd be foolish to live under that high standard mindset, but for one day, I am so thankful it happened.

We had decided to spend the first part of the evening in. Both of us simply love our "home time" together, and I wanted to do some cooking for my husband on our first Valentine's day! I spent the day in the kitchen, loving every minute of it! That joy just encompassed our whole day - even in the preparation time for me. I kept thinking about how thankful I am for Jared and how much I wanted to celebrate that. When that kind of JOY really hits you - you take it all in. Our menu for the night was a baked chicken penne in a tomato cream sauce, fresh roasted asparagus, and a new decadent favorite... jumbo chocolate caramel salted cupcakes! Say that 5 times fast! The cupcakes took up a good chunk of my morning, but they were SO worth it. Jared and I have never tasted homeade frosting like this before. It was the softest, fluffiest, melt in your mouth, goodness ever. One of those "never lose" recipies!

Did I lick every beater and spatula I used? Yes. Was it a good idea? Not really. Was it totally worth it? Heck Yes.

Add a pastry bag...



Then a little caramel & sea salt and.......
Taaadaaa! I made these!

When Jared got home, dinner was ready to roll, it all smelled marvelous, and I had another beautiful decoration to add to the table! There is just something about red roses on Valentines day, istn't there?

And our dinner was absolutely delicious! Both Jared and I are Italian fanatics, so a classic cheese chicken pasta made us both happy! It's comfort food. :) We added some healthy sides and a small dose of champagne, and celebrated!

And... the gift I wasn't sure when it would happen.... CAME TONIGHT! Probably the cutest, most thoughtful present I've received. (no, it's not a dog. hehe) This takes the (cup)cake!! Check out my  husband - before and after!

So, why did we break his "streak" you ask? (In case you weren't aware, this is the first - yes, first - time Jared has ever gotten his hair cut at a salon. I felt like a mom of a 1 year old at their first hair cut taking all these cute pictures of him!! :) Before I came into the picture, Chris (his mom) would cut his hair, and now I do.) So breaking the streak - Since his hair was so long, he figured it would be a much cleaner affair to have someone else do all the cleanup rather than us in our kitchen. A-GREED. It was such a fun, spontaneous trip, and a huge treat! I did like his long hair, but it was just time. A truly sacrificial Valentine's day gift, and one that created such a fun memory for us!!

Post-haircut, we decided to drive as far north as it would take to look at the stars outside the city lights. It was a clear night, and so fun to just spend time in the car driving, talking, driving, just the two of us, to cap off our night. A very late night picture was in order when we got home - I wish we would have taken one earlier when we were both more awake/looked more awake(!), but I guess we were just having too much fun! I hope you had a blessed Valentines Day! We are so fortunate to love - and only because HE first loved us!

Italy & banana pancakes

This weekend, Jared and I played dinner party hosts! We're doing this funny thing with our Minneapolis group of friends (ironically all my old high school friends who have returned to MN!) where we take turns hosting dinner parties themed of different countries around the world. And the best part - eating its food. Italy was the destination we chose to attempt, and I decided the menu for the evening would be bruschetta, chicken & spinach lasagna, topped off with tiramisu. (All homeade, might I add.) It was tasty!!

We've already tasted Mexico at Steve & Annie's, and now Itlay, I hear our next stop is Germany at Kelly's! I'll eat the Saurkraut and Jared will have the brats....
After dinner, in traditional fashion, we played an awesome game of Whoonu. It'll get us laughing everytime! We are so grateful for close, fun friends! The kind that have been around to know your past, laugh with about your childhood, high school quirks, etc. Some of us have even been together since kindergarten. It's really special and I'm so grateful that Jared has gotten to be just as close with them as I have. And only as you guys would understand, this night was "legend...wait for it...dary." Love you guys! (missed you Annie, Tim, and Kristen!)

Well, once the kitchen was cleaned, and Jared and I had slept soundly after a day in the kitchen, we both decided a big special breakfast was in order. Jared was lucky enough to get today off for MLK day, so this morning we made.......

And the final result... banana pancakes for my hubby! (and me) :)

It was a wonderful day off - not only did we indulge in a wonderful breakfast together, but we worked it all off when we joined a gym. :) It was a great, great day. I hope however your MLK day was spent, that it was spent well; enjoying the freedoms we've been given, and the joys of our life! Happy Monday!