easy recipes

Peaches & Cream Oatmeal

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Last weekend, over bland oatmeal at the hotel breakfast, Kathleen and I were waxing poetic about instant oatmeal packets. Sure, they are gluey and loaded with sugar, but in my memory they are amazing.

I wanted to make something that recreated that flavor, but with less sugar and more real food. So this morning I made easy peaches and cream oatmeal.

1 c water

1/2 c rolled oats

1/2 c frozen peach slices

1/4 t cinnamon

2 t brown sugar

1 T half and half or milk or milk substitute

Put water, oats, frozen peaches, and cinnamon in a pan and bring to a simmer. Once the peaches have softened a bit use kitchen shears to cut them into smaller pieces. I suppose you could take them out and do that with a knife, but I found it easier to cut them up in the pot as they simmered away. When the oatmeal is done (I think it is supposed to be 3 minutes, but I usually cook them until the eggs are done or the table is set and it turns out fine), stir in sugar and half and half. 20180821_1025038344897483415556342.jpg

These are as good as the oatmeal that I remember, and they contain a full serving of fruit. The sugar can be adjusted based on  your mood or the sweetness of the fruit you are using. I like that I always have these ingredients on hand, so I can whip it up whenever the mood strikes. I’ll be making it again soon, as Audrey is suddenly a big fan of oatmeal.20180821_102456(0)8158907589725980936.jpg

Dude Dinner

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Once a month we have my friend Tim over for dinner. Tim is really easy to cook for. He doesn’t cook, so everything I make impresses him. He is recently divorced and his wife didn’t cook either. I once made crock pot white chicken chili for him and he was impressed (the hardest thing about making that dish is chopping the onion). I love that the bar is low.

Today I decided to really wow him. I made Cook’s Illustrated’s version of Juicy Lucys. A juicy lucy is a cheeseburger with the cheese on the inside. You bite into the burger and cheese oozes out. It’s delicious. It’s also something so bad for us that I only make it once or twice a summer.

At 5 o’clock, as I was getting the kids their dinner I realized I had been so excited about the burgers I didn’t think about the sides. I had nothing planned. I was worried I was going to have to pull a vegetable out of the freezer and pretend it worked with burgers.

Amazingly, my refrigerator provided me with two sides! I had a salad in a bag forgotten in a drawer that somehow wasn’t spoiled (I buy a bagged salad almost every week, I also throw out a spoiled bagged salad almost every week. Will I ever learn?). 20180719_191313421691303129252299.jpg

I decided to throw together some Baja bean and cilantro salad. I have been living off of this all summer. In a shocking turn of events I had cilantro in my produce drawer. I also had 1/4 of a red onion in my fridge, the perfect amount for the salad (also the first time I’ve ever used all of a leftover onion instead of throwing it away a week later). 20180719_1913166680663210320592023.jpg

This salad is easy to throw together, and a great side to bring to a pot luck. It couldn’t be easier to make:

1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 can red beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1/4 chopped red onion
2 T chopped pickled jalapeno peppers
1/4 c chopped cilantro
Mix that stuff all up. In a measuring cup mix together 1/3 c red wine vinegar and 3 T sugar. Pour it all over the salad. Put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to meld.
It is good for a week.

The sides were well received by Tim and John, but if I was really being honest I think they would have been fine with a big burger and a few glasses of wine.

Do you ever get so excited about a main dish you forget about the rest of the dinner?

Vanilla Extract

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Are you a baker? Have you noticed how expensive vanilla extract has gotten? The vanilla crop in Madagascar failed causing a shortage of vanilla beans. The price of vanilla is now ten times what it was a few years ago.

I recently ran out of vanilla and picked some up at my local spice shop. An ingredient that I never considered the cost of now makes me gasp. I used over half of this bottle in two batches of cookies this morning.20180628_1112443852065551983353752.jpg

I am not going to switch to intimation vanilla extract. You can tell the difference in the final product. I was planning to buy the now $40 bottle of vanilla the next time I’m at Costco. It is a large bottle and should get me through a year of baking. I may still buy a bottle, but it is no longer immediately needed.

I remembered I had vanilla beans from Costco that I bought last fall. I also have vodka. Those two items are all you need to make your own vanilla extract.

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It couldn’t be easier. Slice some vanilla beans open (I also cut them in half so they would fit in a jelly jar). Put the open beans in a jar. 20180628_1111202140349684719578520.jpg

Cover the beans with vodka.

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Put a lid on the jar. Put it in your cupboard. Shake it a couple of times a day for two weeks. after that it should be ready to use. I’ll add vodka a few times, as there will be enough vanilla to infuse two or three times the amount of vodka in the jar.

After a few hours you can already see the change in the vodka.

Hopefully the vanilla crop recovers soon. Until then, I hope you find some forgotten vanilla beans in a drawer and vodka in your freezer and make some of your own extract.

Meatless Monday: Ginger Curry Pita

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Last week I got a text from my friend with the above picture and the text “I wish you were here to not order the ginger curry pita with me.” We’ve been going to lunch at Java Joe’s for years, and we used to order the same thing every time – the ginger curry pita. In the past year they have redone their menu and no longer have the ginger curry pita. That’s a shame, as it is incredibly delicious.

So she got me thinking about that tasty lunch. I was lamenting that I would never eat it again, but then I remembered that 8 years ago we raved about it so much a staff member gave me the “recipe.”

I say “recipe”not recipe because when I dug out the slip of paper I found this: a list of ingredients and no directions.

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I decided to use this as a starting point to recreate the pita for home. I wanted to make a smaller batch – we may buy chickpeas by the case at Costco, but a food service can is a bit much. There were no directions for how to prepare this, but it struck me as something that was cooked low and slow with minimal fuss, so I decided a crock pot would be good here.

I’m happy with how this turned out, and I will be making it again soon. It’s a great sandwich for lunch. Elliot and I are both big fans, and Audrey doesn’t outright hate it (that is a win when cooking for a 2 year old). It reheats well, and keeps for a few days in the fridge.

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Ginger Curry Pita

Serves 4-6

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3 T Teriyaki Sauce

1/4 red onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/4 head cabbage, chopped

1 T ginger

1 T curry powder

1 T honey  or 1 t agave

Put ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The timing on this is not critical -you just want to cook down the vegetables and have the flavors meld together.

Serve on flat bread. Pita or naan would work well.

If you don’t have a crock pot you can still cook this. Cook the onion and peppers in a dutch oven until soft in a little bit of neutral oil.  Once soft, add the spices and cooked until fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients and cook on low until slightly mushy.

 

Egg Noodle Casserole

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Last night I made a casserole just to use up random ingredients I had in my kitchen. I end up with a lot of random things when I send my husband to the grocery store. I’ve started  sending him photos of what we need and give him precise directions on where to find the items in the store (why yes, I do consider myself detail oriented, why do you ask?). But there are occasionally issues, like when he can’t find the frozen egg noodles so he buys a bag of dried egg noodles. Or when he confuses a grocery list with a Costco list and we end up with a six pack of cream cheese.

I figured I could use up some random things. If it was good we would eat it. If it was kind of gross John and Elliot would eat it (they will eat anything). It turns out it was so good John requested that I make it again in the future. That’s why I decided to blog about it, more so I could remember it more than I feel that this recipe has to be in the blogosphere.

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Bagged Parmesan does not melt. Or get brown.

Egg Noodle Casserole (Serves 8)

  • 1 bag No Yolk Egg Noodles
  • 1 8 oz brick cream cheese, softened (totally OK to do this in a microwave)
  • 1 jar marinara
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1 bag frozen veggie meatballs (OK without. Also OK to use real meatballs)
  • Pinch red pepper flakes
  • Parmesan for the top

Preheat oven to 350. Put a pot of water on to boil. While water is coming to a boil shred the zucchini on a box grater and put in a  clean kitchen towel set over a colander over a bowl. Defrost the meatballs in the microwave so the casserole doesn’t take as long to bake. Or don’t. You do you.

Boil the noodles as directed on bag. While the noodles are boiling squeeze the zucchini in the towel. Once dried, add to a mixing bowl with the brick of cream cheese. Mix them together. Add the pasta sauce and mix some more. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and the bag of frozen meatballs then stir some more. Open some wine or do some dishes or something until the noodles are done.

When pasta is done drain it and add to a greased 9 x 13 pan. Add the sauce. Mix it around so the noodles are evenly covered. Sprinkle parmesan over the top (don’t buy the bagged Kraft stuff, as it was pretty disappointing in this application). Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

We enjoyed this with red wine and an imagined salad (we didn’t have the stuff for a salad in the house, but it would have been delicious). I’m planning on giving leftovers to the kids for lunch for several days.

If you make this let me know!

 

Hot Chocolate Hack – Nutella Cocoa

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I am a big fan of hot cocoa. I like rich, decadent, coffee shop cocoa – the fancy pants stuff that is a special treat. The kind of drink that says “Hello winter! Let’s get cozy!”

It has suddenly gotten really cold in Des Moines. When it starts go get cold and I’m pulling out my winter gear I start craving cocoa. With two little kids it is hard to get out, so I am not able to pop out and get cocoa when the craving hits.  Last week I tried Nutella cocoa at Gateway Market and I decided I needed to recreate it at home. It turns out that decadent coffee shop cocoa is remarkably simple to make at home. It is so simple I took several photos just so it would seem more complicated.

This is a great recipe to break out when you have friends over and you want to impress them with your very special chocolate hazelnut cocoa that is super duper hard to make (yup, I’m advocating lying to your friends so you look like a culinary visionary). The best part is, you probably already have the 2 ingredients in your house. The only two things you need are nutella and milk.

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Step 1: Choose your mug. How big is it? I picked a 10 oz mug.

Step 2: Measure out your milk. You will want a few ounces less of milk than will fit into the mug. I measured out 8 oz for my 10 oz mug.

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Step 3: Pour your milk into a saucepan and start to heat it on medium low.dsc_0210

Step 4: Scoop out 2-3 tablespoons of Nutella. Try not flinch at the large amount of Nutella on your spoon. dsc_0216

Step 5: Stir the Nutella into the warming milk. Get so excited about the impending yummy you forget how gross your stove is (mental note: clean stove).dsc_0218

Step 6: Whisk the Nutella into the milk until it is smooth and the cocoa is hot. dsc_0224

Step 7: Pour it into a mug. Spill a little bit on your counter (optional).dsc_0227

Step 8: Drink it up. Marshmallows would be a great addition.dsc_0229

It is so delicious I almost wish it wasn’t so easy to make. With cold weather hitting most of the country this week it is probably a great time to try it. I would love to hear what you think of it.