Bobby Flay's Steel Cut Oatmeal with Cinnamon Cream

I love oatmeal for breakfast, and this was a great idea, and such a treat.  The boys gave this a perfect 10, and I gave it a 9, because I felt like there was a little too much orange flavor for me, but I really loved this, and the boys thought it was fun to see the sugar get hard and crunchy with my brulee torch :).  Each serving was 360 calories, for eight servings, but this was a little more than one serving.  We found this in Bobby Flay's Bar Americain cookbook, and here's what to do:

Oatmeal:
1 1/4 c steel cut oats
pinch of salt
1/2 c whole milk
2 t finely grated orange zest
1/4 c packed light brown sugar

Topping:
2 T sugar
2 T maple syrup
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1/2 c raisins
2 T unsalted butter
2 T light brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
4 T sugar
Cinnamon Cream (found in the cookbook)

Bring 5 1/2 c water to a boil over high heat.  Stir in the oats, salt, and zest and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed (I didn't nee more water), until the oats are tender, 30-40 minutes.  Stir in the milk and brown sugar and cook for 1 minute.
While the oatmeal is cooking, combine the granulated sugar, 3/4 c water, the maple syrup, and the cinnamon in a small saucepan and boil it over high heat.  Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat, stir in the raisins, and let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.
Heat the butter, add the brown sugar and salt, and cook until melted.  Add the apples and raisin mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft, about 15 minutes.
Place a little apple mixture in the bowl, then top with some oatmeal, then layer the apple mixture, then top with more oatmeal, then sprinkle some granulated sugar on top and torch with a brulee torch or broil until the sugar melts and crisps up.  Serve with some cinnamon cream or other creamy topping.

Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are ones I have made forever, and they are the ones from the back of the Craisins box/bag.  Here is a link to the recipe, I only add one thing in, 1 t vanilla or almond extract (I like almond the best), and otherwise I follow the recipe exactly.  I get about 35 cookies, and each cookie is 113 calories.  These are a perfect 10 at our house, and truthfully, they aren't that bad for you, what with the Craisins and oats, and the lower calorie count.  Try them, my kids love them!

Flour's Oatmeal Maple Scones

I received the Flour cookbook from my Mother-in-Law for Christmas this year, and I love it.  I wanted to try these scones right off, they sounded super delicious and easy, my kind of food ;).  I didn't have enough maple syrup, although I thought I did, so I used some regular pancake syrup in addition to the maple syrup, and also for the glaze I used vanilla and almond extracts, and almond milk rather than maple syrup.  We all really liked these, especially after we let them sit a little while.  Aaron gave them an 8, and the rest of us gave them a 9.  Each scone had 487 calories when made with the original recipe, a little less when made the way I made them.  Here's what I did:

Scones:
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/4 c old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
1/2 c hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
1/2 c Craisins
1/2 c unsalted butter, cut into 8-10 pieces
1/3 c cold heavy cream
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c pancake syrup
1 cold egg
Glaze:
1 c powdered sugar
2 T almond milk
1 T vanilla and almond extracts mixed, mostly vanilla
1 T water

Using a stand mixer, mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, hazelnuts, and Craisins until combined.  Scatter the butter over the top and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds, or until the butter is somewhat broken down and grape-size pieces are still visible.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, syrups, and egg until thoroughly mixed.  On low speed, pour the cream mixture and beat for 20 to 30 seconds, or just until the dough comes together.  It will be fairly wet.
Drop 1/3 c sized scones onto a cookie sheet, making 8 of them.  Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours.
Preheat the oven to 365, and bake directly from the freezer for 40-45 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes.
To make the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients until you have a smooth, pourable glaze. 
Brush or pour the glaze over the tops of the scones and then serve after allowing the glaze to soak in for a little while.

Yummy!

Oatmeal Apple Pancakes

These were some good pancakes, but the boys didn't love having the apples in it.  I found this recipe in a book where the high point is the recipes.  The author is JoAnn Fluke, and she has lots and lots of recipes.  I have lots of them I want to try, but most of them are cookies.

 

Oatmeal Apple Pancakes

1 small apple

1 T lemon juice

1/2 c flour

2 T sugar

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 t vanilla

3/4 c buttermilk or regular whole milk

2 t vegetable oil

1 egg

 

Peel and core the apple.  Cut it into very thin slices, place them in a bowl, and sprinkle them with lemon juice.  If using a sour apple, sprinkle with sugar.

Place flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a food processor.  Process together.  Add the vanilla extract, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and egg to the dry mixture in the food processor.  Scoop out 1/4 c for each pancake on griddle.  Place 5-6 apple slices on top of each pancake, then press in lightly.  Flip pancakes to continue cooking.

 

If you notice, I forgot to put the amount of oatmeal in when I wrote down the recipe, so I just put in 1/2 c oats, and the recipe worked well.  We made 9 pancakes for this and the calories per pancake were 113 per pancake.  Owen gave them an 8, Noah and I gave them a 9, and they really were good, and pretty healthy.  We enjoyed them.

Apple Cider Oatmeal

I love oatmeal for breakfast.  Maybe it's the fact that I ate it so often growing up, and compared to lumpy cream of wheat and cracked wheat mush, oatmeal was the clear winner, or maybe it's just such a treat to have something healthy and filling that tastes so good.  Either way, I could eat oatmeal every day.  We don't, but I could :).  I've wanted to try this recipe for a while, doesnt' Apple Cider Oatmeal sound delicious?  Well, it was really good, Owen and I both gave it a 7, and Noah, who only likes fruit n cream instant oatmeal, gave it a 3.  I think he liked it better than that, he ate it quite well, he just was mad at me because it wasn't the instant stuff...sigh :)  Anyway, this is a really quick recipe to put together.  I made a double serving, since three of us were eating it, and I cooked it on the stove.  I used quick oats because we were already running behind our usual get ready for school schedule, so I needed this to cook quickly.  Also, I used a fuji apple because I didn't have any granny smith, and I didn't add nuts because I don't like nuts :).  I also added 2 T brown sugar at the end.  The wheat germ added some nice density to the oatmeal, it was a really hearty breakfast.  The calories for 1 serving were 234 the way I made it, since I took two servings and divided it in 3.  If you only made it into two servings, the calories were 350. 
Tomorrow we're finally having that fish and green beans.  I promise :)

Oatmeal Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

We had some Oatmeal Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, and these were very good.  The boys gave them an 8, and I gave them a 9.  I thought the flavor, and the relative healthiness of the pancake made them something special.  I didn't make the glaze, these were sweet enough with out the extra sugar and calories, although I am sure they would be even better with it :).  I made 18 pancakes with this recipe, and each pancake was 131 calories.  The only tip I have is to make sure to not over cook this, the sugar carmelizes very quickly and if not watched closely these will burn.  Great breakfast or brunch!

Tomorrow we're having that lamb and risotto, I hope :)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Caramel Cookies

Our cookie of the week is Oatmeal Butterscotch Caramel Cookies.  These were really good!  I used homemade caramel sauce which I had leftover, and these turned out great!  We all liked them, Owen gave them an 8, Noah and I gave them a 9, and Aaron gave them a 7, but again, they aren't chocolate chip so that's a good score for him.  I made 48 cookies, which is one dozen more than the recipe said, so the calories were 128/cookie.  I like that these have oatmeal in them, I love any kind of oatmeal cookie, and these didn't disappoint.
Tomorrow we're having some muffins.