Warm Winter Breakfast

Yesterday we got more snow than we expected. Although it was beautiful when it was coming down, I have to say I'm so ready for spring. In fact as I write this post this morning.... I looked outside and it's snowing again! OMG!

This was the lane to my drive way on my way home from the grocery store yesterday.

Anyway, last night I decided I wanted a nice warm comforting breakfast this morning when I woke up. I kept seeing this recipe for slow cooker oatmeal popup on Facebook, Pinterest, and Melissa's blog post. So I decided to give it a try. I made Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal from YummyLife.com.

It was very simple to put together. I didn't have steel-cut oatmeal, but after reading some other slow cooker recipes online I found you can use old fashioned oats as well, which is what I had. The only other thing I did a little differently was that I didn't peel the apples. I figured I would keep the extra fiber in the oatmeal.

Well, this morning I woke up to check it out. It did make the kitchen smell nice so early in the morning.

This is what it looked like when I opened the slow cooker.

This is a small portion I tried. I added some chopped pecans on top.

The consistency was very mushy. Maybe that was due to the fact that I used old fashioned oats rather than steel-cut oats. Not sure. It was a little bland for my taste. I added some extra cinnamon which did make it taste better.

Not sure this is my favorite recipe, but we'll see how it is as the week goes on. I have plenty for the next few days and I'm going to freeze some as well. I will say it was great not to have to put any effort into making breakfast this morning! :)

If you try it let me know what you think. Also, any additional tips you might use.

In case you need a little more info on flaxseed (like I did) check out this article on WebMD.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/benefits-of-flaxseed

Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

I've been trying to get myself to bake these muffins for a while. Well, today was the day! They were delicious! And I'd say fairly healthy..... 

I would suggest that you leave them in the muffin pan a bit before you take them out. I took them out after a few minutes and found the middle could have been just a little bit more cooked. The recipe doesn't provide any type of timing or suggestions around cool down.

Check out the recipe.... Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

I didn't use the muffins foil liners they suggested. Just a little baking spray.

Yummy with a cup of tea in the morning.

Overnight Oatmeal

My new obsession is overnight oatmeal. I've tried it with regular milk and yogurt, just milk, and just almond milk. All are good, it just depends on what you're in the mood for. The version with yogurt is richer and also higher in calories, but also with the added protein from the yogurt. The unsweetened almond milk version is definitely lower in calories. I go for the unsweetened, plain almond milk to avoid added sugars and additives. It actually tastes good and I don't really like very sweet oatmeal anyway.

The yogurt recipes on this site -The Yummy Life -were recommended to me and they're great. Also, at the top of the  article, click the link to more versions. I've made the version with apricots (with almond milk) and the apple cinnamon one with milk and yogurt. I've added frozen berries and fresh apples other times, and I've used both chia seeds and ground flax seeds.

Chia seeds

The first time I tried chia seeds I followed a recipe without reading about them. 2 tbsp of chia seeds caused some serious stomach bloating and gas (sorry) that lasted about two days. I've since cut back to about 1 tsp per serving and make sure to drink a lot of water. There's a lot of info online about chia. The health benefits are great. From WebMD, "Enjoy chia seeds for their flavor and to boost the fiber, protein, calcium, antioxidants, and omega-3s in your diet."

The nice thing about soaking them overnight is they absorb all that liquid and then they don't expand as much in your stomach. I recommends starting off with a small amount. The recipes at The yummy life above  are pretty reasonable.

Apricots and add-ins

Chopped dried apricots soaked overnight turn a nice soft consistency and are very flavorful. They're pretty sweet so there's not much need for additional sweetener. I tend to skip the sweetener and get that from ten added fruit. The one time this failed was with a pumpkin oatmeal recipe. That one really needed some sugar.

Does anyone have  any other suggestions for oatmeal mix-ins?

Fruit Salad, Kale Salad, Green Smoothie

These are the two things I made for Thanksgiving.

Kale and Orange Salad with Mustard Dressing
I didn't bother blanching the kale. I washed it, and julienned it, basically, and then let it sit in the dressing for a few hours. I didn't put much salt on it, and it definitely needed it. You can skip salt and let people salt their own, of course.

Winter Fruit Salad
This was just delicious! The only complaint I have is it really takes a long time to segment the fruit and send the peels down the disposal.

We also had a green smoothie for breakfast: 1 banana, 1 avocado, a bunch of curly kale, and some milk. I think there was some ice too.

Amazing Apple Bread!

A couple of weeks ago we bought a big bag of apples at an orchard. I've been trying to find different ways to use them up (other than apple sauce - my usual). Last week I made apple crisp. This week's adventure... apple bread.

I've never made apple bread before, so I had to do a little research to find a recipe. I came across this Apple Bread recipe on allrecipes.com. Based on some of the reviews I changed it up a little. I used 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, along with a teaspoon of vanilla. I also baked it at 350 degrees for 1 hour rather than 300 degrees for 90 minutes.

It makes the house smell amazing when it's baking! I wish I could bottle that smell! :)

We finally cut into it this morning... so yummy! Moist and reminds me of apple pie. I highly recommend this recipe (with the changes). Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!