Ah life with a new born…
It’s crazy, hectic, slow, relaxing, and tiring. So basically it’s everything all rolled into one.
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All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
Ah life with a new born…
It’s crazy, hectic, slow, relaxing, and tiring. So basically it’s everything all rolled into one.
…
This Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal highlights fall flavors with pumpkin and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Hearty, healthy, and easy to make!
Enjoy a healthy, filling breakfast that will leave your satisfied all morning. Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal will help you get that pumpkin fix starting from sun up.
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You guys have you seen Daniel Radcliffe rapping?
It has made my life complete.
Seriously, I’ve watched his little performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at least a dozen times since Wednesday.
Obviously, I’ve loved the Harry Potter books and the movies. I don’t care to share how many times I’ve seen them. And we saw Daniel on Broadway in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Which was amazing. But this has taken things to a whole new level for me. It’s just so cool.
Anyway, it’s Halloween so I’m here with a Trick AND a Treat.
Normally, I post a pie recipe but I wanted to change things up, a Trick if you will, by posting this breakfast recipe. It’s flavors are based upon apple pie so that is where the Treat part comes in. Clever, no?
Well, it’s super simple and I swear that you will love it. I love that it came together in about 5 minutes and then I just had it do its thing in the fridge overnight. I’ve made overnight oats often because I love how I have breakfast ready for me in the morning. I ate plenty of oatmeal while I was on maternity leave since oats are really healthy, filling, and comforting. I was all about warm comforting goodness in the cold months while I was home… hello, Polar Vortex!!
Some days I have the chance to whip up eggs but more often than not I try to have something already prepped, like overnight oats or large batches of precooked steel cut oats, since spending $5 on a breakfast sandwich while I run into work is just annoying. And dumb. And unhealthy.
So while overnight oats are da bomb, I love how the added chia seeds really changes things up and adds a lot of fun flavor and texture to the recipe. I love how they pump up and get really creamy. Chia pudding- a fav! This breakfast pudding is just a great combo of those 2 things.
Enjoy an Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding. And go watch HP rap. I swear it will put a smile on your face.
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Process
{Friday Night} leave work early at 2.30 with Price | get take out from Crown Fried Chicken for lunch/dinner | naps | watch Scandal | Price set up the Wii & watched Breaking Bad episodes | went to bed early
{Saturday} oatmeal for breakast | lounge around | get ready for apple picking | Sonic | apple picking at Cider Hill Farm | shopping at Carter’s and Khol’s | Hannaford for grocery shopping | take out from Prince’s Pizzeria | pizza for dinner | Price made dough for beignets | blogging & picture editing | bed
{Sunday} up early | news | meet Finely (Kemper’s cousin) at Revere Beach for some puppy play time | Price made beignets | lounge and nap on and off until 4pm while watching football & NASCAR | dishes and laundry | made our first Blue Apron dinner | clean tub & upstairs bathroom while Price cleaned the rabbits’ cage | watch Grey’s | shower | bed
When I was recently doing a bit of random blog browsing on Rachel’s blog I saw this recipe for Apple Pie Squares and I knew I would have to make them this year. After I went apple picking I knew that making these was only a matter of time, finding time. Well after a crazy 2 weeks that included a surprise trip to Chicago (more on that later!) I finally had some time to stay home and bake. I’m not saying they take long, I just felt the impulse to basically unpack everything in the kitchen before hand and put it in a new cabinet/drawer/bin before doing anything cooking related.
Before making them I discussed with Rachel that I don’t have a food processor large enough to process all the base ingredients together so I would have to adapt the recipe a bit and I’d see how it works out. Well, folks if you have a food processor then follow Rachel’s instructions, you don’t have one then follow mine. These came out really well so I imagine that you can make it work out for you as well. If you can’t break down oats in something like a mini prep which I borrowed from my friend) then you just carry on. Maybe I’d add an extra egg white to help it come together easier. The important thing is that you make these apple pie squares!
Truthfully I was a bit nervous about enjoying these because I don’t like apple crisps, or any crisps for that matter, since they have an oat crumble on top. Well, it turns out I like the taste and just hate the texture. Blending the oats kept the great oaty taste but completely changed the texture. Perfect!! In regards to adapting the recipe I basically stuck with it but I used much more apples, basically because I felt like it, so I had to increase the bake time. Also, I didn’t have plain yogurt at home so I used vanilla which gave this a nice a la mode taste to it.These were a hit at work and I bet they will be a hit when you make them too.
Makes 16 squares
Ingredients
For the base and topping:
For the filling:
Process
This was the first year I noticed that M&M’s had some great holiday themed candies. I picked up a few bags of each, including mint M&M’s, which I used in my Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies. They were a hit with the contractors for my project, so I decided that I should give cookie making a try again with another kind of M&M’s. I gravitated to the cinnamon M&M’s and decided that an oatmeal cookie would work well.
I started the journey of making these cookies by pulling out several cook books looking for an oatmeal cookie base that could be used with the cinnamon M&M’s. In the end, tweeting what I was doing ending out being fruitful since Rachel (Baked by Rachel) tweeted me back saying she had some great oatmeal cookie recipes on her blog. One being a crisp oatmeal cookie and another being a softer, chewier oatmeal cookie. I was looking for a chewy cookie so I went with the recipe on her blog. Perfect choice!
The cookie is soft, chewy and has nice cinnamony, chocolately pieces that dot throughout the cookie. The cinnamon flavor in the M&M is subtle but adds a nice touch to the cookie. I think the 1 bag is enough for the batch of cookies, but I can’t help but think that adding another 1/2 bag or so could not hurt!
I really enjoyed working with these M&M’s and I imagine that other’s did too since there is a Cinnamon M&M’s facebook page! I hope that you had a chance to try these since they are so good. I just grabbed a few more bags of these at Target for 30% off since it’s post Christmas. If you can’t find these still in stores then you should do a bit of googling for them. One place I found them was on The Candyland Store. I certainly hope they bring them back next year!
*makes approximately 3 dozen*
Ingredients
Process
I recently went to a new farmer’s market, Somerville Winter Market, and I picked up a bottle of pure maple syrup from Vermont. I just needed something to do with it, besides pancakes and waffles. Luck would have it that I came across a contest that required maple syrup to be incorporated into the recipe.
I bugged Price endlessly about what I should make… something sweet? something savory? make a bread? cake? dinner entree? sandwich? what????? I feel I went a little safe with the oatmeal cookie but it just works so well. A little drizzle of maple syrup works perfectly over a bowl of steaming hot oatmeal. So I went with the “keep-it-simple-stupid” approach when I decided to make a cookie.
These cookies are soft, chewy and studded with crunchy walnuts. The maple flavor is pronounced without being ‘Hey I’m a Maple Cookie!’. The taste reminds me of fall days. It is the perfect kind of cookie to enjoy with a glass of milk or cup of tea.
yields 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
Process
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These really are my favorite cookies. Not just because I make them but because they are oatmeal, chocolate chip, and coconut macaroons rolled into one. I call them trail mix cookies because they remind me of good trail mix from trader joes. So with oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, cranberries, and walnuts you can take on what ever is ahead of you, a long trail or the sofa and a movie.
These were originally cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies off of a package of cinnamon chips but as time went on I started to mess around and bake them differently every time until reaching this. So cinnamon chips became chocolate chips, then I added in nuts, then coconut, then cranberries. Everything worked together to become a chewy oatmeal cookie packed with goodies.
Typically, I make cake for our monthly staff meetings as a way of celebrating the birthdays that month. Things have ranged from Tres Leche Cake to Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. I kinda felt bad for not making a cake this month but I was not in the mood to make cake. Just plain and simple, I wanted to make cookies. So on Thursday morning I got up when Price was getting up for work @ 5.20 and started to make cookies. Having 1 for breakfast was a great way to start the day.
I don’t think people minded having cookies instead of cake, esp when I saw some people stack up a few on a napkin as they went into the staff meeting and then grab some on the way out. After work I brought over the extras to Price’s class. True story- I got on the wrong train. I could have taken the B,C, or the D there but I got on the E line. 6+ years in Boston and I get on the wrong train! What makes it even worse is that I could have gotten off and waited for another or walked but I w as not paying attention for my last chance to fix the situation so I had to walk through the mall to get back on course. What the hell?
makes 6 dozen 2 in dia cookies
3 sticks of unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (I use dark brown) 1/2 cup of granulated sugar 3 eggs 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda 3 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats 2 1/4 cups of chocolate chips 1 1/4 cups of shredded coconut 1 cup of chopped walnuts 3/4 cup of dried cranberriesPreheat the oven to 350.
Prepare baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl, set side. Cream together the butter and sugars on high until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter in batches. On low-speed, add the oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, and cranberries until combined.
Form cookies and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Recipe produces 6 dozen 2 in diameter cookies, larger cookies will result in a lesser number and will take longer to bake.