I should tell you how carefully I planned this recipe.

I should tell you how I planned for substituting Wheaties for half the oats in an effort to enhance the texture, flavor, and nutrition of the recipe.

I should also tell you that the truth is I ran out of oats.

Ahem.

Regardless of how I arrived at this [...]]]>

I should tell you how carefully I planned this recipe.

I should tell you how I planned for substituting Wheaties for half the oats in an effort to enhance the texture, flavor, and nutrition of the recipe.

I should also tell you that the truth is I ran out of oats.

Ahem.

Regardless of how I arrived at this version, I do make it this way on purpose now and I eat it with my lazy yogurt every single morning. And even the Kiddo loves it. That’s kind of a miracle, folks. It’s based on the recipe from Creative Kitchen because she didn’t use seeds in her recipe; she’s speaking my language.

You will need:

• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (the real stuff, not “pancake syrup”)
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups Wheaties cereal
• 1 cup Craisins or raisins (optional, obviously)

To make:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F
2. Melt butter and honey or maple syrup in a saucepan, then stir in remaining ingredients, making sure everything is well coated with the butter mixture
3. Spread on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the oats are golden brown
4. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then scrape in long strokes with a spatula to aid clumping. Store in a jar or zip top bag in the fridge

This is based on a muffin recipe by Mark Bittman; I tweaked it to use some orange juice and — shocker — some Crasins. These are so good for breakfast, brunch, or even a snack! The Mickey Mouse muffin pan is not required, but certainly adds some cuteness. It does not, however, convince the Kiddo [...]]]>

This is based on a muffin recipe by Mark Bittman; I tweaked it to use some orange juice and — shocker — some Crasins. These are so good for breakfast, brunch, or even a snack! The Mickey Mouse muffin pan is not required, but certainly adds some cuteness. It does not, however, convince the Kiddo to eat any; your mileage may vary. Recipe made one dozen Mickey muffins.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups  flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk, plus a little more if needed
• 1 cup Crasins, fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries (no need to defrost first)

To make the muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Mix dry ingredients together, then either mix egg  through milk separately or in a well in the middle of the dry ingredients (my preferred method). Add in berries and gently fold everything together till it’s just barely incorporated; lumps are your friends
3. Bake in a well greased or paper lined muffin pan for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. Cool in a metal or glass pan pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack, longer for a silicone pan (wait for silicone to be cool to the touch for best results)

These. Are. Amazing. I can say that without bragging because it’s not my recipe; I just made ‘em.

This is a Mark Bittman (I love him) recipe that I scribbled down on a piece of paper without much documentation; I’ll assume it’s either from one of his NYT articles or from How to Cook Everything. These [...]]]>

These. Are. Amazing. I can say that without bragging because it’s not my recipe; I just made ‘em.

This is a Mark Bittman (I love him) recipe that I scribbled down on a piece of paper without much documentation; I’ll assume it’s either from one of his NYT articles or from How to Cook Everything. These top every single homemade tortilla I’ve ever made or eaten, and they’re quick and easy to boot. NO BRAINER.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups (7 oz) AP flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. lard (yes, lard, people — don’t be afraid)
• 1/2 cup warm water

To make:

1. Dust off your food processor and dump in the flour, salt and lard; pulse about ten times to cut in the fat
2. With the machine running, add the water till the dough kind of all the sudden comes together in a ball
3. Dump it on the counter and knead by hand for about one minute, then wrap in plastic wrap to rest for at least 15 minutes, but up to all day at room temperature
4. Cut the dough into six pieces and heat a large (cast iron if you have it) skillet for 4-5 minutes on medium; roll out or press the tortillas till they’re quite thin, then cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, till little browned spots appear. Eat immediately (duh), or keep warm by wrapping in a towel, or cool then keep in the fridge in a large zip top bag.

I used these to make quesadillas with some leftover steak and cheese, but they’re also heavenly for veggie wraps, or slathered in butter and cinnamon sugar and rolled up for breakfast. Enjoy!

It’s been at least a week since I posted a recipe with Nutella! What am I thinking? I can stop anytime I want. Ahem.

ANYWAY!

This will shock you, but this is a ridiculously easy recipe; a riff on the also ridiculously easy shortbread two ways.

You will need:

Apples. Oats. Chocolate chips. How can this possibly go wrong?

It CAN’T.

My friend Vanessa came over while I was in the middle of winging these today, and they turned out to be the perfect dessert after our lunch of chicken and dumplings.  They’re based on Rick Bayless’ recipe for Grandma’s Moist Apple Cake from Rick and [...]]]>

Apples. Oats. Chocolate chips. How can this possibly go wrong?

It CAN’T.

My friend Vanessa came over while I was in the middle of winging these today, and they turned out to be the perfect dessert after our lunch of chicken and dumplings.  They’re based on Rick Bayless’ recipe for Grandma’s Moist Apple Cake from Rick and Lanie’s Excellent Kitchen Adventures. I tweaked and added and subtracted and adjusted and came up with these. And I’m not sorry.

You can add a chocolate glaze or a dusting of powdered sugar over the top of this, but I think they’re pretty great just as is. Let me know what you think!

These were so much fun! Now, they’re complicated so take a minute to prepare yourself for the giant shopping list. I kid! Obviously. My awesome sister rocks a lower carb diet, but we felt the need to have a chips and salsa night so I made these as a chip [...]]]>

These were so much fun! Now, they’re complicated so take a minute to prepare yourself for the giant shopping list. I kid! Obviously. My awesome sister rocks a lower carb diet, but we felt the need to have a chips and salsa night so I made these as a chip alternative. As with most things I make, they’re ridiculously easy.

You will need:

• 8 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat
2. Put 1 Tbsp. cheese on the mat and tap a little with the back of the spoon to flatten it out a bit; repeat, leaving a couple inches between your little piles of cheese
3. Bake at 350F for 4 to 5 minutes, watching for the edges to start browning; this will happen quickly so don’t go anywhere. Either pull them when the edges are brown, or let them go a little bit longer for even crispier, um, crisps
4. At this point you can either leave them to cool on the tray or you can drape them over an overturned glass or a rolling pin (as above) to give them a little shape (the better to hold your salsa with, obviously). If you go the draping route, let them cool on the tray for a minute or two till they start to harden up a bit; when you can get a spatula cleanly under them then you can move them without turning them into a ball of cheese

Enjoy!

You will need:

What, like that’s not a descriptive name?

Kiddo’s Aunt Myrtle (hands seen above) made this for me this weekend. We may or may not have eaten it sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace and a chick flick. Ahem.

You will need:

The first time I tried hummus? Not. A. Fan. I couldn’t even tell you now what I didn’t like about it (it was years and years ago) but I can for sure tell you I didn’t like it. Fast forward to this month when Kiddo’s BFF’s mom made it at her house. Seeing as how [...]]]>

The first time I tried hummus? Not. A. Fan. I couldn’t even tell you now what I didn’t like about it (it was years and years ago) but I can for sure tell you I didn’t like it. Fast forward to this month when Kiddo’s BFF’s mom made it at her house. Seeing as how it’d been years and years I wanted to try it again, so I sort of held my breath and took a bite. YUM! I don’t know what the difference is, but now I can’t get enough of the stuff.

Vanessa sent me her recipe so I made a big batch of this for last night. Halloween night at our place is hanging out with the neighbors on the front porch with food and wine while we hand out candy; we don’t go trick or treating because Kiddo doesn’t like candy (of course) so we just make it into a party (and I LOVE it!). In the three and a half seconds I spent looking in the grocery store I couldn’t find the tahini Vanessa’s recipe called for so I used natural peanut butter instead, a la Alton Brown.

Gather up:

• 1 can chick peas (drain, keep 1/3 c of liquid)
• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (or tahini)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled or a couple spoonfuls of jarred minced garlic
• Healthy pinch of salt
• Cayenne pepper to taste

1. Put everything but the chickpeas in a food processor and process till garlic is well chopped; add in chickpeas and process till smooth and give it a taste — adjust salt and cayenne as desired
2. Chill; eat with pita chips and/or baby carrots

The Yankee and I love to have snacky suppers every so often; just some crackers, some cheese, maybe some salami or dried fruit or nuts. Browsing through How to Cook Everything today I came across a recipe for crackers. Did y’all have any idea how fast it is to make crackers? I certainly did not. [...]]]>

The Yankee and I love to have snacky suppers every so often; just some crackers, some cheese, maybe some salami or dried fruit or nuts. Browsing through How to Cook Everything today I came across a recipe for crackers. Did y’all have any idea how fast it is to make crackers? I certainly did not. I gathered:

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup whole milk

That’s IT! Now:

1. Combine the flour and salt, then cut in the butter like you’re making biscuits or pie dough (a few pulses in a food processor will do this nicely; I used a pastry blender this time), then add in milk; either pulse till combined* in the food processor or stir in with a fork or dough whisk in a bowl
2. Roll out 1/8 inch thick and cut out into shapes, or just score it with a knife if you want to simply break them apart later
3. Bake at 400F on a lightly floured baking sheet or on a pizza stone for about ten minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or save for later

*Note: this is very similar to pie crust, so you’re not looking for something that looks like bread dough; it will look like this when it’s ready:

I holds together just fine when squeezed into a ball and then rolled out; I didn’t add any more milk after this picture.

With limitless shape options, these crackers also make a very fun kid snack:

Have fun!