Savory Oatmeal with Soft-Cooked Egg and Cheddar

I have so many, many things to say about this recipe.

First, I think oatmeal is one of the more under-appreciated things in life.  Somehow it has gotten a bad rap over the years...as a matter of fact, the teenager said to me just this morning, "Mom, you and Dad are the only people in the world that actually LIKE oatmeal."  I don't think this is completely true, but I also think the world doesn't fully understand and appreciate the wonder that is oatmeal.

First of all, it is actually good for you.  Unlike some of my other favorite food groups, oatmeal is full of fiber and not full of other less-good stuff, so there's that.  But I think that folks have gotten stuck in the usual ordinary ways of making oatmeal, which is basically boiling it up in some water, or milk if they go really crazy.  Maybe tossing some brown sugar on top.  But people!  There is so much more to be done!  And one of my favorite, favorite approaches to oatmeal is the savory approach - going cheesy and a little salty instead of sweet and sugary.  (Yes, I know, I am messing a little bit with the whole healthy part, but really, it's just a little bit.  There's no butter or cream or even bacon involved, I promise.)

So here's the drill.  Cook up the oatmeal the way you usually do, but at the end, toss in a handful of shredded cheddar cheese and stir it up.  Taste it to see if it needs a little more salt - it might not with the cheese going on.  Now sprinkle a little more cheese on top and then (brace yourself for happiness) place a soft-cooked egg on top.  Poached, soft-boiled, over-easy...it's your choice, just so long as the yolk is still nice and creamy.  Because now you are going to break the egg up just a little so the yolk melts into your cheesy oatmeal.  Scatter a few scallions on top, and then a grinding of fresh pepper.  

You'll never look at your box of Quaker Oats the same way again now, will you?  We usually have this for a light supper, but it would, of course, be an AMAZING breakfast as well.

Go give your oatmeal some love and respect now, okay?

Savory Oatmeal with  Soft-Cooked Egg and Cheddar, adapted from Everyday Food

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
• 1 tablespoon sliced scallions

1. Bring 1 cup water to boil in small saucepan.  Add oats and pinch of salt and simmer until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add 1/4 cup cheddar and stir.

2. Meanwhile, soft-cook the egg in whatever way you like best.  Soft-boiled, poached or over easy will all work, so long as the egg yolk is still a little liquid and creamy.

3. Ladle oatmeal into bowl.  Sprinkle with remaining cheddar and top with cooked egg.  Scatter scallions on top and eat at once.

Click here for printable recipe

Overnight Oatmeal

I think I am overdue in terms of singing the praises of one of my very favorite kitchen appliances, which is my beloved, faithful, trustworthy slow cooker. I've had the same slow cooker for years and years now - it's a basic Rival Crockpot model - and I've made everything from the best beef barley soup in the world to a really incredible chocolate pudding cake and a lot of stuff in between. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you toss a bunch of stuff in the crockpot in the morning, go out to work, and then come home hours later to a house that smells like heaven and the glorious knowledge that dinner is already made!

Most of my crockpot recipes are dinner-oriented (well, except for that cake. Which I would happily eat for dinner, but that's just me.) This oatmeal recipe also makes a fantastic comfort food dinner recipe, but it's my only crockpot recipe that is perfection for breakfast. Here's how it works, and why I adore it so much.

First of all, you must use steel-cut oats - none of those regular rolled Quaker Oats for this recipe. Steel cut oats are those hard little round oats - they look like teeny little pebbles and you will wonder how on earth they are going to turn into anything edible, but have faith. You toss them into your trusty slow cooker with some water, a little half and half and some dried fruit. I used dried cranberries and chopped up dried figs, but I think probably anything you have around will work just fine - raisins, dates, etc. Set the slow cooker for 8 hours on low, and go to bed. The next morning you will wake up to an unbelievably amazing aroma of sweet and creamy oatmeal. It has slowly cooked away all night long, and the fruit has somehow broken down and blended into the oats, giving the whole thing a wildly delicious, comforting, sweetly creamy texture. No additional sweetener is needed - just warm up a little milk and grab your favorite bowl.

Take hold of a spoon, close your eyes and dig in. It's comfort food extraordinaire, and you may never go back to those little oatmeal packets ever again.

Overnight Oatmeal, from Alton Brown

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup dried figs, cut in quarters
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup half and half

1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and set on low. Cover and cook for 8 hours.

2. Stir and scoop into bowls. Pour warm milk over each serving.

Click here for printable recipe

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

I love granola bars. I especially love those ones that come two to a pack - the crunchy oats and honey ones? I always try and tell myself that I am being so healthy, but I know in my heart of hearts that I am really just eating a couple of nice crunchy cookies. Just keeping it real.

However, that doesn't keep me from eating them, and so I was happy to discover this recipe for homemade granola bars on CHOW (and if you don't know this very fun foodie website, you should check it out). Not only does this recipe make pretty great granola bars, but it is a great way to use up those odds and ends of nuts and raisins and seeds and perhaps even chocolate chips that are hanging around in almost-empty bags in your cupboard. If you are anything like me.

The trick with this recipe is to cut up them up into bars while they are still warm, so they don't harden into crunchiness and then break into a million pieces when you try to slice them up. I learned this lesson the hard way when I made my cashew brittle chunks. Give the tray about 10 or 15 minutes on the cooling rack once you take it out of the oven and then cut them into bars or squares or whatever you like. (I like bars, but that's just me.)

Here's the super-easy recipe.

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars, adapted from CHOW

Combine 3 cups rolled oats, 4 cups assorted mix-ins (nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, dried coconut, wheat germ, or whatever similar ingredients you have on hand), , 1/8 cup of molasses, and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Press into a greased pan and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. Cool on a rack and cut after about 10-15 minutes.

Click here for printable recipe

Applesauce Cookies

Yes yes, it is no longer cookie-baking season, I know, I know. But I just can't go cold turkey. I have to ease my way into healthiness...and so here is what I consider a nice, heathy....cookie. It has applesauce. It has oatmeal. It has raisins. It is a one-cookie healthy eating program. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

One little word of caution about these delicious little numbers. I'm not sure why, but they are VERY sticky on the bottom. You will be a-okay if you use parchment paper like the recipe says, but if you throw caution to the wind and just use a naked cookie sheet, it might end in tears. I used my faithful Silpat and they even tried to stick to that. Tried and failed, because the Silpat is invincible. But consider yourself warned.

Aside from that, these were easy and cooperative little cookies, right down to the maple frosting. I used a little squeeze bottle to frost mine, but you could also use my favorite make-shift-frosting trick, which is to put the frosting into a zipper sandwich bag, close the zipper (very important), snip one of the corners off -- just a tiny snip -- and voila! instant pastry bag!

So there you have them, the healthiest cookie on the block. I think you owe it to yourself to go make some, don't you think?

APPLESAUCE COOKIES, from Everyday Foods

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup chunky-style applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1. Make cookies: Preheat oven to 350. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined. Add egg and applesauce, mix until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in raisins.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper; let cool completely.
3. Make icing: Whisk confectioners' sugar, syrup, and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

Cowboy Cookies

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I'm not exactly sure why these are called cowboy cookies. Maybe because they are hearty, robust cookies, with a mix of oatmeal and coconut and chocolate chips and walnuts? No nonsense, crunchy, chewy cookies with nothing fragile or delicate about them? I really have no idea. If I knew any cowboys I would ask them. The closest I ever come to a cowboy is when the Southern husband wears his cowboy boots.

I do love it when he wears those boots...

Where was I?

Oh yes, the cowboy cookies. I made these mainly because I loved the name of them, but as it turned out, I love the actual cookie just as much. These are a perfect marriage of oatmeal walnut cookies and your classic chocolate chip with some coconut thrown in, so every bite is filled with something good. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart, and hers called for pecans, but walnuts were what I had in my pantry so walnuts is what I made 'em with. Feel free to swap back to pecans if you are a pecan sort of person.

Can't you just picture them cooling on your kitchen table? Cowboy Cookies...go make them!

COWBOY COOKIES, adapted from Martha Stewart

• 3/4 cup walnuts
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick-cooking)
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks
  
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven, tossing occasionally, until darkened and fragrant, 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Into a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and coconut until just combined.
4. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray; line with parchment, and spray parchment or use a Silpat. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto prepared sheets, about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies begin to brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
   

Click here for printable recipe

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies with Rum Raisin Filling

My brother and his lovely wife host Thanksgiving dinner for our noisy lovable family -- God bless him -- and every year I beg him for a little assignment, just so I can hold my head up. I mean, what self-respecting food blogger would sail through Thanksgiving without, um...cooking something? So this year he asked me to bring a dessert, which aside from bacon is my favorite thing to make in the kitchen. I knew my sister-in-law would be making her scrumptious and classic pumpkin pie, so I wanted to make something that would be a little different, but still sort of holiday-ish.

Then as luck would have it, my Southern husband brought home a copy of the 2009 edition of CHRISTMAS WITH SOUTHERN LIVING. And along with a variety of other recipes that I just might try over the holidays, it included this recipe for oatmeal sandwich cookies that are held together with a rum raisin cream filling. Now, I know my dad is a serious rum raisin fan, and the Southern husband is a big oatmeal cookie fan, and so it all seemed like fate to me.

Now I should warn you that these cookies are serious cookies. They are LARGE cookies. They are actually TWO large cookies stuffed with 3 tablespoons each of rum raisin filling. You could eat one today and not be hungry again until next Tuesday. But man! they are good. And Thanksgiving...heck, the whole holiday season...is when you are supposed to cut loose and eat giant rum-stuffed cookies? Right? Right. So go make them...you know you want to.

OATMEAL SANDWICH COOKIES WITH RUM RAISIN FILLING, adapted from 2009 Christmas with Southern Living

Cookies:

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups regular uncooked oats
• 3/4 cups chopped pecans

Filling:

• 1 3 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1pound package confectioner's sugar
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Beat butter, shortening, corn syrup and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg and almond extract and beat until blended
3. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cloves and gradually add to butter mixture. Stir in oats and pecans.
4. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Press down on each ball to flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes, then remove to wire rack and cool completely.
6. While cookies are cooling, make rum raisin filling. Beat cream cheese at medium speed until creamy Add milk, rum, vanilla and salt and beat until blended
7. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until completely combined. Stir in raisins.
8. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of filling on cookie bottom and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat until all cookies are used.
9. Close your eyes, take a bite and smile a really, really big smile.

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Tis the season for pumpkin - pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins. I heart pumpkin. And so whenever a new recipe for pumpkin anything comes my way I will give it a try, especially in these early fall days when the frost is on the...pumpkin.

This recipe comes via my favorite baking site, Joy The Baker, and tastes like a cross between an oatmeal cookie and a slice of really great pumpkin pie. She says you can use either butterscotch or chocolate chips on the top - I made mine with butterscotch because them seemed more pumpkin-ish to me, but since I will definitely be making these another thousand times or so, I will try them with chocolate as well. As with most bar cookies, these are best if you cut them into pretty small squares (an inch or so). Plus that way you can eat ten of them at one time and still feel like you are having just a small bite. Right?

Happy autumn everyone, and bring on the pumpkin...

PUMPKIN PIE BARS, adapted from Joy The Baker

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 15oz can pumpkin

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips

1. Preheat oer to 350. Line 13x9 inch pan with foil, with ends extending over sides, and grease with cooking spray.

2. Combine flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar and all the brown sugar in medium bowl. Add butter and mix with 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also do this by pulsing in the food processor. Stir in oats and nuts

3. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture and press the rest into the baking pan. Bake 15 minutes.

4. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and spice until well blended and pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture and chips. Bake 25 minutes at 350.

5. Cool 10 minutes and use foil ends to transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely and then cut into squares.

6. Store in refrigerator.

Click here for Printable Recipe!

Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Bars

Last week when we were at our friends' lake house, the teenager NEEDED to use the internet, and asked for the password to get online. I don't remember the whole thing, but part of the password involved the word "cake." Which is just perfect, because my dear friend and I always have a very important meeting before our annual Labor Day trip to her beautiful house, during which we map out pretty much each and every thing we are planning to cook, from the moment we walk in the door to the moment we leave. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert -- we cover the waterfront. The grilled pizza is essential (see earlier post for details). There are always pancakes and waffles on the breakfast menu, and there are always s'mores around the campfire.
But once those basics are covered, we can get creative, and as you might expect from her password, DESSERT is always an extremely important agenda item at our planning meeting. We originally discussed brownies for one of the desserts, but then I remembered this recipe for these babies, which are kind of a cross between brownies and oatmeal cookies. A soft layer of caramel and chocolate is held between two layers of oatmeal cookie dough, and the whole thing is cut into brownie-like squares. Rich and sweet and decadent, and you can still convince yourself that the oatmeal makes this a health food. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, and my Cake-Loving Friend will back me up on this. Because that's the kind of friends we are -- the devoted, loyal, dessert-enabling, kind. Right, C-L-F?

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL OATMEAL BARS, from Everyday Food

• Cooking spray
• 48 soft caramel-candy cubes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13- inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line with a 9-by-21-inch sheet of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each short side.

2. Put caramels and cream in a small saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until caramels are melted, about 5 minutes. Let cool.

3. Stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and the salt in a large bowl. Blend in butter with a fork or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal; press half of mixture onto bottom of lined pan.

4. Bake until just set and starting to color around edges, about 20 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes.

5. Sprinkle crust with chocolate chips; drizzle with caramel mixture. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake until pale golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

Every once in a while I get a pancake craving, and interestingly it is usually at dinnertime. I am not a big breakfast eater (although I will never ever turn down poached eggs with corned beef hash at the local diner), but the whole concept of breakfast for dinner is appeals to the simple comfort food way that my brain is wired. I don't go for the whole "stuff in your pancakes" approach -- no blueberries or bananas or chocolate chips for me, thank you very much. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I know my dear friend Lynne enjoys a good blueberry pancake for lunch every now and again. But I do like experimenting with the basic pancake itself, and so I have recipes for sourdough pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, and of course there is the good old Bisquick variety. (ah, Bisquick. I heart you.) So when I saw this recipe in a recent edition of EVERYDAY FOOD I knew I had to give it a shot.

First of all, it features two of my favorite taste sensations: cinnamon and oatmeal. Good and good for you. Second, it calls for making the pancakes in nice little rounds - only 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake, which is SO much easier to deal with on the griddle and nicer on the plate as well. So we broke out the griddle and
gave it a try.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Is all I have to say.

Except for this: pancakes must always be anointed with Vermont maple syrup. None of this Canadian stuff, please. Vermont. If you happen to be running low on it, which never happens to me thanks to the fact that my Vermont relatives keep us happily supplied, here is a place you can get it.

Maple Syrup from Middletown Springs, Vermont

If I catch you with Mrs. Butterworth on your table...well, don't let me catch you. Anyway, here's how you make some great pancakes, and don't skimp on the maple syrup:

CINNAMON OAT PANCAKES

Makes 20 pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ONE cup of the oats. Pulse to coarsely grind oats.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, eggs and oil. Add flour mixture and remaining oats and whisk until moistened.

3. Heat nonstick skillet or griddle over medium. Oil skillet. Using 2-3 tablespoons batter per pancake, ladle batter onto skillet and cook 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 1-2 minutes until golden.

4. Serve with butter and Vermont maple syrup. From Vermont. The Green Mountain State.