Oatmeal Waffles

So my daughter is into oatmeal here lately - she wants to add oats to everything.  After a couple days of her requests for oatmeal pancakes - i told her no more, she countered with a request for oatmeal waffles.  Why not?  A couple of tweaks to my basic waffle recipe and we had beautiful hearty golden waffles.  A little denser than your regular waffles, but that's perfect for a cold snowy wintery morning.

We "snowed" on our waffles with powdered sugar for a little extra fun.

Oatmeal Waffles

Makes 4 round belgian waffles 5 minutes prep

1 egg

3 TBSP buttr, melted

1 1/4 cup milk

4 TBSP sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups bisquick

3/4 cup oatmeal 

Mix the liquid ingredients and sugar together. Add the bisquick.  Grind the oatmeal through a food processor to form a flour and then add to the mix.  

Follow the instructions for making waffles as directed for your waffle iron.

Warm Black Bean Soup

I found the Whole Foods 28 day challenge to healthier eating the other day and decided to give it a whirl.  So I've been busy this morning cooking up my lunches for the rest of the week and prepping my veggies for some quick dinners.  Meal number 1 is a black bean soup, whole foods provided a recommended recipe, but since I'm not good at following directions I took my own spin on it.  And, oh my was I ever rewarded, I think I might have just found my new go to food for those chilly winter days yet to come this year..

15 min prep 1 hour cook

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups water

1 tbsp chicken bouillon

2 or 3 cloves garlic (I used the mini cloves I had lying around in my garlic bin so I'm not sure how much I used)

1 medium onion diced

1/2 red bell pepper diced

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp cumin

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 tbsp sherry

1 tsp lime juice

Saute the onions, garlic, and peppers in the olive oil until translucent and tender, around 5 minutes.  Add the beans, water, boullion, cumin, coriander, and chili powder and stir.  Heat to boiling and let simmer covered fro 45 minutes to meld flavors.  Add the sherry and lime juice and let it cool for a few minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender/food processor.   Return to the pot to reheat before serving.

Its fabulous as is for a great lunch or get fancy by adding a little sour cream and cilantro.

Apple Crisp in a Jiffy

Had a craving for something sweet and I'm trying to avoid the hoards of Halloween candy left in my house. Halloween candy is such a tempting treat - full of chocolate, readily available, and nice "bite size" pieces that make me think its ok if I just eat one, and then one more and one more.  So after some deliberation  between the Halloween candy and the apples that I purchased at noon thinking I'll eat healthier tonight if I have fruit lying around.  Since in the dual between the apple versus the candy I know the apple would loose, I decided to give it a boost and make an individual sized apple crisp instead.  Apple Crisp versus Halloween Candy - Apple Crisp wins!  And if you are my husband you can have your Halloween Candy and Apple Crisp too.

~ 10 min to prep ~ 25 min to bake

The filling:

1 medium apple diced

2 tbsp sugar

splash of orange juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Mix the diced apple, sugar, splash of orange juice, cinnamon, and salt and then divide into 2 custard cups.  

The topping:

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp pecan pieces

2 tbsp oatmeal

1 tsp butter melted

Add the sugar, flour, nuts, and oats to the melted butter.  Mix until it becomes crumbly.  Divide and sprinkle on top of the apple filling.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for ~ 25 min or until apples are tender.

Enjoy one crisp now and have one for later

Chicken with Caper Sauce

So nice to be back home in my kitchen after a week in Seattle.  I felt like we heard about all these wonderful restaurants to try there, but since my two beautiful daughters were usually in a unsavory mood at dinner time we survived on take out and dinner in a hotel room.  Being the first day back we got to go to the grocery today and restock the pantry for the week- beans, diced tomatoes, chard, bell peppers, chicken.... and then tonight comes and I look at my pantry shelves, I use exactly none of them :). Hey I just wasn't in the mood.  I opted instead to go with a classic from one of my favorite cookbooks - Dining for Two - its a Weight Watchers cookbook from one of my many attempts to loose last 10 lbs.  Its actually and incredibly good cookbook with lots of easy, healthy items that taste gourmet.  Tonight's chicken with capers can be fixed in about 50 min assuming you've done no prep and have a 18 month old who wants to be held throughout it. If you don't have clinging children you could probably make it in 35 easy.

I chose to serve it with Rice a Roni's Long Grain and Wild Rice combo. I started the rice before starting the meal and it was finished just before the chicken ~ 35 minutes later.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1.5 tsp chicken bouillon

.5 tsp sherry

4 cloves garlic

5 whole peppercorns

1 bay leaf

2 5 ounce skinless boneless chicken breasts

salt

pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp capers, rinsed and drained

1 tsp butter softened

1 tsp flour

Directions:

Bring the broth, wine, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaf to boil in a small saucepan.    Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced and garlic tender ~ 8 minutes.  Discard the peppercorns and bay leaf. Puree the garlic mixture (I like to use my little Magic Bullet).  

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts.  Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned ~ 5 min on each side. Add the garlic mixture and capers and cook partially covered for ~ 3 minutes, flipping chicken once.

In a small bowl mix the flour and butter until they form a paste. Stir the paste into the caper sauce until blended and smooth.  Simmer the sauce for ~ 1 minute to thicken.

Enjoy

Fingerling Potatoes and Green Beans

Its a blustery day so we decided to warm up with a warm comfort food.  This adaptation of boiled potatoes and green beans was quick and easy, with just simply things I had on stock in the pantry (I'm in desperate need to go to the grocery now).  The girls and I had 2 helpings each and are now feeling warm again and ready to have fun on this fall afternoon.

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 1/2 pound frozen green beans

1 pound fingerling potatoes cut into ~ 2 inch slices

1/2 pound mushrooms sliced

6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

1/4-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt to taste (if using sodium-free broth)

In a large Dutch oven or saucepan, cook the mushrooms and onion until tender, adding a splash of water when necessary to keep it from sticking. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the green beans and the potatoes and then add enough broth to barely cover the potatoes. Add black pepper to taste, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

As a note: I added some diced ham to the girls since they are such meat lovers.

Chocolate Chip Marbled Bundt Cake

I sat down the other day with every intention to make chocolate cake with white chocolate chips.  Thought I'd quickly see if I could find a nice recipe for one online, and after pursuing blogs for about 30 minutes...well, we ended up with a Chocolate Chip Marble Bundt Cake.  The cake turned out to be quite pretty with beautiful chocolate swirls.  It has a dense almost velvety texture, and is not overly sweet surprisingly.  I actually think it would work as a Sunday morning coffee cake after mass just as well as an after dinner delight.  And just like wine this cake needs to aerate a bit. The texture improves as it cools, so wait until it cools to take it out of the pan.  My husband and I found we thought it was actually better the second day than the first.  Which makes this perfect for those dinner parties and work birthdays when you want to bake ahead of time.

I found this recipe off of the blog a Piece of Cake http://shaunasever.com/2010/02/stupid-delicious.html -

Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour Serves: 12 to 16

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup  semisweet chocolate chips, divided

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided

2 2/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

Mix 1/2 cup semi sweet chocoalte chips, 1/2 cup water, and corn syrup.  Heat in microwave until chocolatechips are melted.  Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Set aside.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl cream the butter with the remaining sugar until light in color and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat in the remaining vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low, and beat in a third of the flour mixture just until the flour begins to disappear into the batter. Beat in half the milk. Beat in another third of the flour, then the rest of the milk, and finish with the remaining flour until the batter is smooth. Stop the mixer and gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop out a third of the batter into a medium bowl, whisk in the chocolate syrup and set aside. Pour another third of the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth it with a spatula. Pour the chocolate batter into the pan evenly over the first layer. Finish by pouring the last third of the vanilla batter over the top. Lightly swirl the batters with a wooden skewer or knife to give a “marble” effect–a continuous figure-8 motion while going around the pan works well.

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the cake springs back lightly when touched, about 60-70 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack. Invert the cooled cake onto a serving platter and dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving if desired. Store any leftovers in a cake dome at room temperature for 4-5 days, maybe more.

Summer Squash, Bacon, Mozzarella Quiche

Quiche is something I think I spent my childhood disliking, and now I spend my adult years feeding my children.  Luckily for me they love anything with eggs, bacon, and cheese in it - so tonight I whisked together this recipe to utilize the summer squash I had in the fridge.  I altered the recipe here and there since I didn't have all the ingredients.  So the original recipe called for zucchini which is something neither my husband nor I can tolerate so I would have eliminated it anyway.  We try zucchini once a year to confirm its still not for us, and since we tried it this summer already we didn't need a repeat.  So here is my yellow squash only adaptation.

Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 60 minutes Serves: 8 

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust - I'm too lazy to make my own!

1 tablespoon olive oil

1.5 cups yellow squash, sliced thin

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup whole milk

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 large eggs

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place pie dough in a pie pan and press into pan gently. To prepare the filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add squash, onion and garlic; saute for 5 minutes or until veggies are tender, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool slightly. Whisk together milk, salt, pepper, thyme, bacon and eggs in a medium bowl.

Arrange squash mixture evenly over crust and sprinkle with cheese. Pour the egg mixture over cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until filling is set. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Before Baking

After Baking

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine