There are a lot of people that strongly dislike oatmeal, and I completely understand. I’ve had my fair share of crappy oatmeal, when the oats haven’t cooked enough and it’s a hot bland watery tasteless mess.
Well, now you can forget all that nonsense and have a really good bowl of oatmeal.
It’s rich and creamy and the perfect thing to start out the day. It reminds me a little bit of the instant flavored oatmeal packets that we all secretly love but have to eat 2 of just to get full. This stuff is almost as easy and it’s just sweet enough to make you want it to eat it straight out of the fridge, cold, for dessert, with bananas.
Not that I did that.
It keeps well in the fridge too, so you can make a batch and have breakfast warm and ready from the microwave in just a few seconds throughout the week. And with a few extra ingredients, you could make a great flavored oatmeal, like peaches or strawberries. Maybe make the best move and throw some peanut butter and cinnamon in at the end instead of the butter. Whoa Baby.
Oats are extremely healthy, helping lower cholesterol and getting a good amount of our daily fiber needs. They are also extremely inexpensive, if you buy them in the bulk section of the grocery store – 58 cents a pound – go ahead and stock up.
This recipe makes enough to serve 2 and is easy to double with the measurements included below. I originally got the recipe off of allrecipes for butterscotch oatmeal. There was way more sugar than necessary. I suggest 3-4 T, I kind of sway towards the 4 T amount but people may like less sweet oatmeal.
One tip that I have, to cut down on dishes is to measure out the liquids in the measuring cup, one at a time, and then use the same measuring cup to beat the egg in.
Make this tomorrow for breakfast, it beats the pants off of any instant packet with the addition of fruit and/or spices.
1 c milk, I used 1%
1/4 c water
1 egg, lightly beaten
3-4 T brown sugar
1 c oatmeal
pinch of salt
1 T butter
1 t vanilla
In a 2 qt pot, mix all ingredients, minus the butter and vanilla, together over medium heat until the oatmeal becomes thick and creamy. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Let cool a little bit, it will thicken as it does this, and serve with whatever you feel necessary.
Optional flavors
Some chopped fresh peaches or strawberries when you add the vanilla and butter to make peaches or strawberries and cream
2 T peanut butter and some cinnamon instead of the butter to make a peanut butter cookie flavor. Decrease brown sugar to 3 T if you do this, or it will be a little too sweet.
Want to make a double batch?
Serves 4
2 c milk
1/2 c water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3-1/2 c brown sugar
2 c oatmeal
pinch of salt
2 T butter
2 t vanilla
There are a lot of people that strongly dislike oatmeal, and I completely understand. I’ve had my fair share of crappy oatmeal, when the oats haven’t cooked enough and it’s a hot bland watery tasteless mess.
Well, now you can forget all that nonsense and have a really good bowl of oatmeal.
It’s rich and creamy and the perfect thing to start out the day. It reminds me a little bit of the instant flavored oatmeal packets that we all secretly love but have to eat 2 of just to get full. This stuff is almost as easy and it’s just sweet enough to make you want it to eat it straight out of the fridge, cold, for dessert, with bananas.
Not that I did that.
It keeps well in the fridge too, so you can make a batch and have breakfast warm and ready from the microwave in just a few seconds throughout the week. And with a few extra ingredients, you could make a great flavored oatmeal, like peaches or strawberries. Maybe make the best move and throw some peanut butter and cinnamon in at the end instead of the butter. Whoa Baby.
Oats are extremely healthy, helping lower cholesterol and getting a good amount of our daily fiber needs. This recipe makes enough to serve 2 and is easy to double, just in case your in hurry I included the 4 person batch. I originally got the recipe off of allrecipes for butterscotch oatmeal. There was way more sugar and liquid than necessary so took some out and made something awesome
1 c milk, I used 1%
1/4 c water
1 egg, lightly beaten
3-4 T brown sugar
1 c oatmeal
pinch of salt
1 T butter
1 t vanilla
In a 2 qt pot, mix all ingredients, minus the butter and vanilla, together over medium heat until the oatmeal becomes thick and creamy. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Let cool a little bit, it will thicken as it does this, and serve with whatever you feel necessary.
Optional flavors
Some chopped fresh peaches or strawberries when you add the vanilla and butter to make peaches or strawberries and cream
2 T peanut butter and some cinnamon instead of the butter to make a peanut butter cookie flavor. Decrease brown sugar to 3 T if you do this, or it will be a little too sweet.
Want to make a double batch?
Serves 4
2 c milk
1/2 c water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3-1/2 c brown sugar
2 c oatmeal
pinch of salt
2 T butter
2 t vanilla
I’ve been craving lemonade for a while now, and I’m a little bummed I never got around to it when I had hot dogs and macaroni salad the other night. These things scream summer and when the weather warms up, which it’s finally starting to do in Humboldt, you need to jump on the summer food bandwagon and enjoy them.
Now.
Lemonade is available in all kinds of forms. I won’t judge if you use the powder. I myself have a little Country Time hiding in my pantry for when I want a single glass. It also comes in frozen concentrate form, and then it’s available mixed with all kinds of flavors, and it’s available ready made. All kinds of lemonade out there. Problem is they sort of taste, artificial. There’s probably only one or two products that don’t use high fructose corn syrup and use real lemon juice, but they’re crazy expensive, so the obvious solution is to make your own. from scratch. with freshly squeezed lemons.
Right Now.
You can taste the difference when fresh lemons are used, along with plain old white sugar. Fresh lemonade is easy to make and easy to customize using different fresh fruits or juices or herbs like basil or mint. Fresh ginger seems to be a popular addition as well, but until my taste buds recognize it as ginger and not a bar a soap, that option is off the table. Today’s lemonade is actually a lemon-limeade using half lemons and half limes, and it’s awesome.
When making lemonade, it’s ok for your finished product to look more like water and less like the chemically colored lemonade you find in the stores. This is what real lemonade looks like.
If you’re going to be making a lot of lemonade, invest in some sort of inexpensive juicer, you’re hands will thank you. If you don’t want to buy a juicer and go he-man on the citrus, then try rolling the fruit on the cutting board before you juice it, and grab a fork to twist around and help release the juices. Just don’t go he-man with the fork hand because you will stab the hand that juices.
You could also go Hot Dog on a Stick on your lemonade and muddle everything together in a giant container, possibly with mint?, without the ridiculous hat, leaving everything in there when adding the simple syrup and water.
Man, I really want a corn dog now.
If you’re not 100% on board with lemonade, shame on you, try using some to make an Arnold Palmer, which is half iced tea, half lemonade, it has a little bit of sweetness and somehow makes the iced tea flavor a little stronger.
You can also replace the water with some sparkling water for a fizzy drink that’s a nice alternative to soda.
And the last tip, double this recipe to make a gallon and take it to a BBQ with some friends, and that macaroni and/or potato salad so you can make even better friends.
1 c lemon juice or for lemon-limeade 1/2 c of each
3/4 – 1 c sugar, depending on how sweet you like lemonade
Make a simple syrup by bringing 1/2 c water and the sugar to a boil while stirring so the sugar dissolves. Set aside and let it cool. Mix the citrus juice and the simple syrup in large container, adding enough cold water to make 2 quarts.
Drink it all, and repeat. for the rest of the summer. and probably part of the fall too.
The idea of Macaroni Salad in general isn’t attractive.
I know this.
It’s made up of mayo and pasta. In my mind I know I should say no thank you, but when made correctly, macaroni salad is the perfect partner for a hot dog. I am aware of the no factor of a hot dog as well, but nothing beats them when they’re burnt and slightly crispy. I’m really racking up healthy points in this post.
Back to the attractiveness of macaroni salad.
You know when you go to a BBQ and the person responsible for the salad irresponsibly pulls out a bucket or one of those milk cartons full of a sugary mayonnaise based potato or macaroni salad? Not attractive. No matter how good looking the person is they just lost hot points for bringing the bucket of mayo soup, with bits of dehydrated red pepper and macaroni. Homemade macaroni or potato salad though, that’s pretty attractive, and insanely easy to make.
For me there are some must haves when it comes to macaroni salad:
black olives
celery and
hard boiled eggs
These things are necessary. Trust me. I’m a specialist.
just kidding
But seriously, this is some good macaroni salad.
What’s that? you don’t like macaroni salad, and you’d prefer potato? Well then, head over here.
This macaroni salad is easy and a little on the lighter side with a mostly sour cream base. I used light sour cream, and olive oil mayo, and it tastes fresh and zesty, thanks to a secret ingredient.
And this all comes at the perfect time for 4th of July. This weekend everybody. You’re Welcome. I’m not a huge fan of the fourth. or fireworks. I need to see some fierce in your face fireworks. As I’ve mentioned several times, I live in Humboldt county so most likely the fireworks will just end up being color changing fog with sound effects. For some reason the city sees it necessary to spend the $15,000 on it every year. It’s all donations, but still that 15 grand could go towards so much more than a 15 min display of glowing fog.
I haven’t always lived in Humboldt. I used to live in the “foothills of Yosemite”, down by Fresno and every year we’d go see a Grizzlies game and watch fireworks afterward. What’s more American than that? Overpriced hot dogs, Baseball, and a pretty schnazzy fireworks display that used the same soundtrack every year. I actually kind of miss it. Minus the heat.
Back to the fourth and these salads. Make one of them, or both… to take to your freedom shindig, and you’ll be pretty popular. They both make a ton of salad, and should be made the day before to get the best flavor. If they seem a little dry when you go to serve them, then add a little more mayo or make a little extra dressing.
When it comes to both of the salads hard boiled eggs are in order. To cook em perfectly cover the eggs in a small saucepan with cold water by an inch and bring to full rolling, intense boil. Remove from the heat, cover and let them sit for 20 min.
When it comes to cooking the pasta cool it completely with cold running water, this is one of the only times you should run water over pasta, and then let it drain for 5 or 10 min in the colander to make sure you dont have a watery salad. If the pasta’s warm when it goes in it’ll absorb all the dressing and you’ll just have to add more, and then you’re left with mayo logged pasta. no bueno.
Also, besides the absolute necessities for the macaroni salad, any of the other veggies can be improvised. I used an ear of sweet corn and it was amazing, so much better than relish. you could also add some raw zucchini or broccoli or spicy radishes might also be a nice addition.
Go out right now and buy the ingredients for this salad along with some hot pants or shorts, depending how you roll in the summer, and be extra attractive at the BBQ.
And I would like everyone to know the color scheme for the 2 dishes was not planned, believe me, I’m not that cheesy.
just in case you missed the link earlier, POTATO SALAD!
Want macaroni salad?
Macaroni Salad
Makes a Megatron sized bowl
1 lb elbow macaroni
4 eggs, hard-boiled
1 ear sweet corn, kernels removed*
1 red bell pepper chopped finely, not necessarily diced.
3 stalks celery, chopped finely
1/2 of a 14 oz can black olives, chopped finely
2 green onions, sliced thinly
1/2 c sour cream
1/3 c mayo
3 T pepperoncini juice or pickle juice, but you really should get some pepperoncinis
around 1 t of yellow mustard
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
optional – a few dashes of hot sauce
Cook the pasta, according to the time on the box. I always use the smaller time on the box and set a timer when I throw the pasta in to the water. When you put the water on to boil, start cooking the eggs by placing them in a small saucepan and covering them by an inch with cold water. Bring the water to a full rolling boil, then remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 20 min.
While the eggs and pasta are doing their thing, prepare the veggies. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl.
When the pasta is cooked drain it in a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking and cool it down so it doesn’t get mayo logged.
When the eggs are done run them under cold water or put them in an ice bath. This not only cools them down but helps with the peeling process by making the shell easier to separate from the egg itself.
Chop the eggs roughly and combine all the ingredients in a bowl, taste to season further, cover and store in the fridge. If the salad is too dry, make some more dressing and add it right before you serve it.
This whole thing is way better if made at least 1 day ahead.
*when removing corn from the cob, husk the corn and break off remaining part of the stem, place this flat part where the stem was in the bowl and cut the kernels off the cob with a decent sized knife, this will insure that you wont have kernels flying everywhere.
See this cake?
It’s a carrot streusel cake.
It’s pretty much an awesome cake.
When I tried to find a carrot cake recipe a while back I found a lot of oil, raisins, and cream cheese frosting. Hell yes to the frosting – thanks but no thanks to the oil and the ridiculous invention of raisins.
I looked through some old recipes and found a carrot cake that used 1/4 oil and a substitute of 1/2 c applesauce. I remembered it wasn’t the best carrot cake but it was decent. In a few of the recipes, there was a nice addition of crushed pineapple and I decided to use that instead of the applesauce, and replaced the oil with some melted butter. I tweaked (a creepy/equally funny word) some other ingredients and impressed myself.
I know I said hell yes to the frosting, but I wanted something different, and I decided to go with a streusel topping. Usually there’s a bunch of butter and sugar. Now there’s still quite a bit of sugar but instead of butter, there’s cream cheese, old fashioned oats, and flour added. It’s a nice change of pace and it makes it ok to eat a slice of cake for breakfast, although frosting wouldn’t stop me.
The great things about this cake?
6 T melted butter
1 1/2 c sugar, including the sugar for the streusel
3 heaping cups of carrots go into this, and I’m guessing zucchini would also work. And come fall time, there will be an attempt with apples and possibly some more spices, so, watch out for that.
Some helpful tips
When making a cake that has add-ins like carrots, zucchini, or chocolate chips, toss it with the dry ingredients before the wet are added. This acts as insurance, helping the add-ins stay mixed in the cake and not sinking to the bottom.
When mixing the wet ingredients don’t stand over the bowl. The combination of buttermilk, pineapple, and melted butter will most likely make you drool, and that would be gross if it ended up in the cake.
This cake is moist and dense, as you can see in the picture, very much like a muffin, so it is important you don’t get super excited and take it out of the oven before it cooks completely. It takes at least 40 min, probably closer to 50 and the knife test works well.
Speaking of muffin, somebody should make these into muffins and let me know how it all went down.
When making the streusel in a food processor use the pulse button, it is your best friend. If you’re awesome like me and just blast the on button and then space out, you’ll get more of a clump that you have to break up instead of a lighter streusel that can cover a little easier.
If you do want some frosting and you want the fastest frosting imaginable mix one container marshmallow fluff and 8oz cream cheese until light and fluffy. No measuring, but there are a few no no ingredients.
and lastly – make sure you have people to share it with. If not you will devour the entire thing almost all by yourself in a little over 24 hours. tastes bueno, it’s just the giant cake boulder in your stomach that’s no bueno.
No more procrastinating, let’s make some cake.
Carrot Streusel Cake
makes a 9×13 cake
2 c all-purpose unbleached flour
1/3 c cornstarch*
1 T baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 T cinnamon
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
3 c shredded carrots, about 3 regular size or 2 megatron
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 c buttermilk
2 t vanilla
6 T melted, and slightly cooled, butter
1/2 c crushed pineapple
Streusel topping:
3 oz cream cheese, straight from the fridge or, better yet, the freezer
1/4 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c old fashioned oats
2 T all-purpose unbleached flour
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Add in the carrots and walnuts.
In another bowl mix together all of the wet ingredients.
Before you combine the wet and dry in all their glory, use a food processor – pulsing – to combine all of the streusel ingredients until the cream cheese is about the size of peas – think pie crust.
Combine the wet and dry and mix just until combined, pour into a greased 9×13 inch pan and evenly distribute the streusel on the top.
Bake for 40-50 min or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
* the cornstarch flour mixture is sort of a quazi cake flour. It’s a good substitute when there’s enough spice or flavor in the cake, but if the cake is just a plain yellow, sometimes there’s a slight corn flavor that comes through.
