I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

oatmeal

Strawberry Overnight Oats

Ah life with a new born…

It’s crazy, hectic, slow, relaxing, and tiring. So basically it’s everything all rolled into one.

It’s amazing how fast one day can go by and then how 1 hour can take forever. Time is never on your side when you have a new born. I think that’s a fact.

To make mornings easier, I prepped by making a TON of banana bread muffins the weekend before having Hunter. Like 60+ muffins, that are currently stuffed into our freezer. I love them and so does Autumn, which makes the morning a lot easier since she basically announces she wants to watch Paw Patrol/ Shimmer and Shine and that she is HUNGRY the exact moment she gets up. So, by being able to microwave a muffin for about 20 seconds means that we can have some peace in the morning. And the name of the game right now is ‘do anything to have peace and quiet’.

Similarly, I have been prepping by making overnight oats.

Autumn doesn’t like that so more for me! Finally, something that is all MINE!!!!

Rumor has it that oatmeal helps milk production when you are breastfeeding. While there is no scientific proof, there are a lot of people that say it helps them. And probably as many people that say it doesn’t do anything for them. Here’s the thing, I will do and try anything to keep production up so what’s the harm in eating some delicious oatmeal.

I swear it worked for me last time so I am chowing down on oatmeal and overnight oats again. I love how quick overnight oats are to make, the soft texture, and how delicious they are too. Just reaching into the fridge and having breakfast at the ready makes life so much easier too.

These Strawberry Overnight Oats are going to rock your world. They are naturally sweet from the strawberries and honey. The flax seed meal is loaded up with fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. The chia seeds  are also packed with omega-3 fatty acids, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, antioxidants, and calcium.

I find the best storage option for them are wide mouth pint jars with plastic lids. The 2 piece metal lids work fine but I prefer the plastic lids so I know the seal is secure. More of an issue when I would take overnight oats to- do to work. Def didn’t want milk to spill in a bag! Eww!

Strawberry Overnight Oats

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 Cups old fashion oats
  • 3 1/2 Cups milk
  • 1 pound strawberries, diced
  • 1 Cup flax seed meal
  • 1 Cup vanilla yogurt, preferably whole milk yogurt
  • 1/2 Cup Chia seeds
  • 1/3 Cup honey

Process

  1. Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
  2. Equally portion out the oatmeal into 6 containers.
  3. Refrigerated overnight prior to enjoying.

Post contains affiliate links

____________________

PRODUCTS USED

      

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal- SRC

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal

Before we go any further, I just want to say that I still can’t believe it’s been 15 years since 9/11. It’s still unbelievable to me. I will never forget where I was, what I felt like, and how everything changed after that.

We watched a lot of specials and services yesterday. It always gets to me and makes me cry. It also makes me thankful for everything that police and firefighters do for us. It makes me thankful for everything.

I can’t believe it’s already been 15 years and at the same time that it’s only been 15 years. I’m sure I will be thinking the same thing at 20 years.

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_01

Okay, now I can share with you something that will put you in a good mood.

Food!

Food brings everyone together so it felt right that I spent most of yesterday cooking. I made 5 recipes for the blog. I love getting to make food to share with people on the blog. Plus, I get to share them directly with friends and my family.

Today, I share with you a wonderful recipe from Julie of Little Bit of Everything for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post.

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_05 baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_06

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_07 baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_08

I was looking at baking something up delicious so I hopped over to her desserts to check out her goodies. I was looking at her Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars, 3-Ingredient No Bake Toffee Bars, and her Banana Zucchini Crumble Cake. At the last minute, I checked out her breakfast dishes. Julie’s Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal just jumped out at me so I knew that I needed to make it.

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_02

It’s just perfect that for eating a delicious, healthy breakfast on busy days. And for pumpkin lovers! I love the crunch from the pecans too. It’s an all around great breakfast!

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_03

The baked oatmeal has great texture and awesome flavor. It’s such a wonderful fall breakfast.

baked-pumpkin-oatmeal_04

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 Cups old-fashioned oats
  • 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
  • 1 Cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 Cup maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 Cups milk
  • 2 large egg
  • 1/4 Cup pecans, chopped

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 8×8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, and raisins.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, maple syrup, butter, milk and eggs.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine well.
  5. Pour into the prepared dish. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts
  6. Bake for 40 minutes. The middle should be set to your touch. (Alternately, you could use 1/2 Cup ramekins and bake 25-28 minutes.)

Sourced from Little Bit of Everything

____________________

newsrcbanner

 

Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts HERE this month!

And be sure to check out my 4+ years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding

OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING

You guys have you seen Daniel Radcliffe rapping?

It has made my life complete.

OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_01

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!!

OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_04 OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_05

OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_06 OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_07

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.

OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_02

Enjoy an Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding. And go watch HP rap. I swear it will put a smile on your face.

 OVERNIGHT APPLE PIE BREAKFAST PUDDING_03

Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 Cup chia seeds
  • 2 1/2 Cups almond milk
  • 2 apples, diced (I used Macon apples)
  • 1/3 Cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.
  2. Divide the mixture between 2 vessels. Cover and store in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. Stir prior to enjoying. Warm in the microwave, if you prefer it warm. Can be stored for up to 3 days.

10.4-6: Weekend Recap

{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

fried chicken kemper in bed

bob's mill oatmeal

sonic limeade

 apple picking_01 apple picking_02

apple picking_03 pumpkins

sitting with pumpkins apple cider donuts

pizza

blue apron box

making beignets

 Kemper Kemper and Finley

kemper tired

frying beignets beignets_01

beignets_02 lazy sunday

making dinner steak salad

Apple Pie Squares

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.

Apple Pie Squares

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients

For the base and topping:

  • 1 1/2 C flour
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 C oats
  • 1/2 C butter, cubed
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling:

  • 6 oz of vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 C diced, peeled apple

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 8×8 pan by lining with foil or parchment.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the peeled, diced apples together with the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Once evenly coated, add the yogurt and mix to coat all pieces. Set aside.
  3. In a food processor,  blend the oats until a fine meal is created.  Add the oats to a large bowl containing flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add the butter incorporate with your hands/forks/pastry blender until the dough is crumbly. Remove 1 cup of the mix, set aside. Add 1 egg white, blend until mixture is just combined.
  4. Evenly press moist mixture into the baking pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.
  5. Spoon filling over the pare-baked crust spreading out as evenly as possible. Sprinkle reserved topping mixture over apples. Press down to flatten just slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.
  6. Cool in the pan then transfer to the fridge to chill for at least one hour. Remove from pan carefully and slice into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.