Baked Oatmeal Breakfast Cake =)

I've been wanting to make Chocolate Covered Katie's single-serving baked oatmeal recipes, but hadn't had a good morning to try them out until today.

I had bought ramekins for this very purpose......but unfortunately I forgot to check the recipe first to see what size I would need (1 c.) and instead got 6 oz. ramekins. Oh well.

I wasn't sure what to bake the oatmeal in, since my ramekins were too small. Then, I had a genius I idea:

I could still make it, but using four ramekins instead of two. THEN, I could even layer them, like a cake!

So, I did!

Doubling the recipe (since it is for just one serving), I divided the batter equally between four greased (with coconut oil) ramekins, and it came out to just about 1/4 c. + 1 Tbsp batter per ramekin. Bake them for 20 min. at 380 degrees, then broil for 3 more min. at the end.

Note: for this batch I used CCK's Boatmeal For One recipe, using applesauce rather than pumpkin, and no extra sweetener.

The nice thing is, once you mix up the batter and put them in the oven, you can hop back in bed for another 20 minutes while they bake!

They should look like this, pulling away from the edges a bit.

Then I popped them out, put them top-down on little plates...

"frosted" them with a mixture of Greek yogurt, honey, and vanilla (which I happened to have all mixed up in the fridge from last weekend)...

And then topped them with the remaining two mini baked oatmeals, more "frosting", and cinnamon.

Yum! I love Saturday morning breakfasts....a lot.

And of course it wouldn't have been complete without some delicious coffee =)

Valentine's Date Night (Nutella Ravioli & Homemade Veggie Burgers)!

Having Valentine's Day on a Tuesday this year was a bummer, because that's our residential coverage night at Landmark (read: that's the night we're at school til 10:00pm), so we didn't get to properly celebrate. Fortunately, however, Mike didn't have worship team practice on Thursday, and I didn't have my usual tutoring, so we finally had a chance to celebrate!

I had in mind a way of using some of the things that we had already in our fridge, and I hoped they turned out well. Luckily they did.

We had white beans and leftover beet/cheese mixture from the raviolis, so I made up a veggie burger recipe with those as the main ingredients. Everything else I eyeballed.

I called them "HeartBeet" Burgers....har har.

"HeartBeet Burgers"

• 2 c. white beans (cooked)
• 1 c. shredded roasted beets (mine also had ricotta cheese mixed in)
• 1/4-1/2 c. oat flour
• 2 T. chopped fresh parsley
• 2 T. sunflower seeds
• 1/2 tsp. grated ginger (or more to taste)
• 1 egg (or 1/4 c. egg white)
• salt & pepper to taste

Honestly, I can't remember if there was anything else!
(however, if I had a lemon, I would have added lemon juice and zest. Also, come to think of it, soy sauce would have been good too.)

Basically, I pulsed the beans in my food processor until they were about half-mushed, then in a bowl I mixed them up with the beets, and all other ingredients, seasoning to taste. Then I formed the mixture into four equal balls and shaped each ball into a patty. Finally, I heated up some olive oil in a skillet and cooked them for 4 minutes on each side. For extra creaminess, I topped each one with a dollop of ricotta.

We served them with a little salad, and roasted cauliflower and sweet potato slices (hearts). Yum! 

For dessert, I decided to make a special treat that I knew Mike would love: Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli!

I happened upon this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis the other day, and I figured I had to make it, because
a) it looked delicious,
b) it looked super easy, and
c) I had all the ingredients, including egg roll wrappers that needed to be used!

All you need is: Nutella, wonton or egg roll wrappers (wonton size would be easiest), egg, neutral-flavored oil, and powdered sugar.

 For our date night, I only took pictures of the finished product:

But since they were so good, and I still had more egg roll wrappers, I just made a big batch to freeze for later. This time I took pictures of the whole process.

I folded my egg roll wrappers in half, then in half again to get four little squares.

On each little square, I put a (heaping) teaspoon of Nutella.

Next, wet the edges of the squares with egg white (water would probably work too), and carefully fold into a triangle, pressing the edges together to seal in the filling.

I'm going to freeze these and then just thaw them out before I want to make them.

To cook the ravioli, I heated up a couple tablespoons of coconut oil (Giada's recipe says 2 inches of vegetable oil) over medium heat, and cooked them for about 45 seconds on each side. Once they're all cooked, sift a little powdered sugar over them!

Enjoy!

Family Valentine Weekend

As I was browsing Pinterest for Valentine's Day ideas, I came across these adorable little heart-shaped raviolis that were red and super cute! I really wanted to make them for Valentine's Day dinner, but when my parents decided to visit last weekend, I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity (especially since they like beets)!

First, though, we went to Salem for their "Salem's So Sweet" events. We rode the trolley, looked at ice sculptures, sampled chocolate & wines, treated ourselves to lattes and hot chocolates, and learned about the history of Salem.

My parents at Jaho Coffee & Tea with their hot chocolates =)

At Pamplemousse for chocolate & wine tastings 

(and Valentine's fashion, Salem-style!)

 

Back at home, we played Ticket to Ride while the beets baked (400 degrees for an hour), then got to work!

1. Peel and slice the roasted beets

2. Shred them in a food processor

3. dump shredded beets into a cheesecloth over a bowl

4. Squeeze the juice out of the beets--this part looks like you're squeezing a human heart! Gruesome!

5. To 2 1/2 c. of water, add 1/2 c. water and three egg yolks. Stir well, then knead until smooth.

6. Roll the dough into a thin rectangular sheet. This step is tough, because the dough is very stiff and elastic. It is quite a workout!

7. a. Meanwhile, mix the squeezed shredded beets with goat cheese (we actually used ricotta) and season with salt & pepper (we also added fresh thyme since we had some on hand).

7. b. Once you have a large, relatively rectangular shape, arrange the filling in heart-shaped lumps on one half of the rectangle. Make sure that your filling lumps are smaller than the cookie cutter that you plan on using to cut the ravioli.

9. Dip your finger in water, and moisten the dough around the filling.
10. Fold the second half of the dough over the filling
11. Cut out the hearts, then crimp the edges to seal in the filling.

12. Boil the raviolis just until they float to the surface, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.

13. Top with whatever topping you want. We topped ours with olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, salt & pepper, and fresh thyme.

The raviolis were quite a process, but they were so worth it! Next time, I'll make them on a lazy afternoon, and then freeze about half the batch for later. Mmmm...

New adventure: Homemade Donuts!

Not long ago I came across this recipe (on Pinterest) for homemade pumpkin donuts, which claimed to be "The Best", and they were made with almond flour, pumpkin, and were baked, so they were healthier.

I was intrigued. 

I bought a donut pan.

I seized my first opportunity to make them. (The end of a sick day, once I was feeling better)

First, I blended up a bunch of almonds in my food processor to make the necessary 1 1/2 c. of almond flour (you can find instructions for this process here). Almond flour is expensive otherwise. This process took a while, but eventually I had blended and sifted enough almonds to start the recipe.

The main ingredients were things that I had on hand anyway: almonds, pumpkin, agave/honey, cinnamon, coconut oil, etc. The only thing I had to buy specifically was Arrowroot Powder, which I found at Market Basket for $3.99.

Once you mix all the ingredients together, you scoop the batter into a plastic bag, cut off one corner, then pipe the mixture into the donut pan, and roughly smooth the surfaces. Bake for at least 20 min. at 325.

Dip the tops in your glaze of choice (recipes found on above website), and then let them dry for at least 15 minutes, so they're no longer goopy.

The batter was more than enough for the six donuts in the pan, so I squirted the rest of it into "donut hole" shapes onto parchment paper, and baked them too. I hoped that they would puff up a little, but they basically stayed looking like little piles of...well, you can see for yourself.

They turned out to be really delicious -- I recommend them fresh, but they were also good re-heated in the toaster oven so they got all warm and crispy again. 

Conclusion: Delicious, but a little crumbly. That might have been from making the almond flour from scratch, however.

P.S. Pics of yummy treats (and some comments)

In the last post I mentioned that I had tried some new recipes. Rather than updating that post, I figured I'd just add a new post highlighting them.

Here are the recipes I've tried that don't already have pictures on the previous post:

Healthy Chocolate Chip Blondies 
Into a food processor goes:

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• heaping 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I used 1/2 c. and I thought that was plenty--I might even use less next time, or maple syrup/agave)
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup ground flax 
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter, or even oil)

Once it's very smooth, you mix in 1/3 cup chocolate chips, then spread into a greased (or foil-lined) 8x8 pan and bake at 350 for 38-40 min. They will look dry on tip, but that's ok. They are delish!

Homemade Oatmeal-Raisin Larabars

The original recipes says that it makes about 3 bars.

I made a double batch of these, but it was tricky to figure out how to make 6 equally-sized bars, so I formed the mixture into balls instead.

(For a double batch) In a food processor add:

1 c. raisins

1 c. walnuts

12 Tbsp. oats (next time I'll figure out how many cups that is!)

heaping 1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used a little more)

Blend until uniformly pulverized, then press together into bars or balls (chocolatecoveredkatie recommends forming the bars inside a sandwich bag or saran wrap).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I also tried out some recipes on my community group, which came out really well.

These were:
"Pick-a Fruit Crisp", which was a yummy combination of various fruits that I had available (pears, apples, fresh cranberries, and frozen berries), topped with an oat-nut crumble mixture. The recipe called for butter to cut into the oat-nut topping, but I used coconut oil instead and it was perfect. It was especially good, however, topped with creamy and delicious:

 **drumroll**

 Vegan Cool Whip!!! (coconut milk instead of heavy cream! mmm!) I am going to put this on everything!!!

The Fruit Crisp, since it has no added sugar, made a really great breakfast this morning, to, topped with almond milk, a couple spoonfuls of oats, and some fresh blackberries. Yum!

Finally, I had been really wanting to try out Vanilla Avocado Banana "ice cream", so I made that too... =)

shown here topped with the Coconut Cool Whip (so hard to stop eating!)

 

The consensus: YUM! I also think it would be really good with a squeeze of lime, and maybe light coconut milk instead of almond milk.

I know it's good, too, because Mike liked it, and her would tell me if he didn't. =)
Note: Once you take it out of the freezer, you need to let it thaw for at least 20 minutes, and it's best when it's a little melty, so you get the nice creamy texture back (otherwise it can be a little icy, more like sorbet).