Fruity, Nutty Oatmeal Crunch
January 20th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
If you don’t like the weather stick around it’ll change. That’s the way the saying goes, but it’s really only true during Austin’s winters. Less than a week ago the cold gray skies drizzled constant rain. This was weather meant for hot soup and stews made with vegetables, dried beans, fresh rosemary, sage and bay leaves. As things happen sometime, my dream stew couldn’t be made until the weather turned nice – sunny, upper 60′s. Ok, I could adjust. This was weather meant for leisurely strolls through produce sections and bike riding.
So, that’s what I did, sort of. Until the back wheel stopped working one mile away from my house. Not realizing the problem I stepped off the bike, bent my face down next to the unknowingly over-inflated tire to investigate and suddenly found the world became a little quieter. Apparently this was how my day was going to be. The possibility of continuing on lasted about two more steps. Without the tire the wheel did more of a thwap…bump…squeak instead of a smooth roll. The whining bike got carried home where I climbed into my car and re-started my day.
What with the weather and the walk home, vegetable/stew soup wasn’t so appealing, but I’m stubborn and made it anyway. Though I’ve been told it’s good I wasn’t happy with the results and banned it from this blog. That night with my deadline hovering like last weeks clouds I longed for the cold and drizzly weather that inspired soothing, warm meals. Mentally, rummaging through my pantry I found a container of oatmeal, dried fruit and an orange.
This recipe comes partially from Quaker Oats and partially from me. The mushiest food becomes a very different dish by adding in the toasted oats and the zesty orange flavor. (I beg your eyes forgiveness for having chosen to photograph orange zest in a purple bowl.)
Oatmeal Crunch
Topping
¼ cup oatmeal Oats
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
3 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Oatmeal
½ cup oatmeal oats
1 cup milk or water (I used almond milk)
¼ cup chopped dried apricots
1 tablespoon dried blueberries
pinch more cinnamon
orange zest
For Topping: Place oats and pecans in a small pot over medium/ medium-high heat. Toast until brown. About 5-10 minutes. Pour into bowl, combine with brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
For oatmeal: In same pot bring milk or water to boil. Add in oats, fruit and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed, a couple minutes. Pour into bowl. Stir in half of the topping mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the topping over the top. Zest orange over the very top.
As a single serving this amount will fill you up for the rest of the day. Serves two for a normal day or one for a long day.
Pineapple Apricot Marmalade
December 27th, 2009 § 2 Comments
See first paragraph of Thanksgiving post. Ditto Christmas.
The end.
Was that a snort of derision I heard from you? Lazy excuse, you say?
Fine, I will try to make my brain start thinking and writing. Maybe some biscotti will give it the sugar it needs to start whirring again? Here we go.
Many years ago a trip to the bookstore led me to purchase Bread for All Seasons by Beth Hensperger. It was on clearance, the pictures were so pretty and suddenly there was this feeling that I should be baking bread. Some years later I decided that the perfect gift for my dad (and the rest of my family) would be jam. I read up on how to can, jelly and preserve and decided maybe not. Bread would be the perfect gift. Turning to my only bread-baking cookbook I finally noticed the Accompaniments section hiding out in the last pages (apparently I completely ignore the end of books). Ah-ha, marmalade was really the perfect gift. It doesn’t require wrinkling up little spoonfuls on frozen plates, or sealing, or storing for months before eating.
About now, you’re probably wondering how this relates to leftovers. Well, Christmas leftovers are often of a different sort – they result more from gift-giving then from food-eating. My shelves are currently stocked with chocolate, cookies, caramel apples and fruit spreads. The marmalade made a second appearance this year and while most went to my dad a little half jar stayed with me.
Other than switching the word order in the title there weren’t any changes made to the recipe. The cans of pineapple come in an 8 ½ ounce or 8 ¾ ounce instead of just 8 and I do put the whole can in. I’m not sure if I should measure the apricots before or after being chopped so I tend to do both and then throw in another slice.
Apricot-Piña Marmalade
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup
6 ozs dried apricot halves, chopped
1/4 frozen unsweetened orange juice concentrate, undiluted
zest of 1 orange
1/4 c honey
Drain pineapple syrup into a small saucepan. Set aside pineapple. Add apricots and juice concentrate. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and let stand 20 minutes. Add pineapple, zest and honey to apricot mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stirring occasionally, cook about 10-15 minutes, until thickened. Spoon into clean containers. Cool to room temperature, the marmalade will thicken more. Cover and refrigerate.
Supposedly this will last up to 2 months in the refrigerator, but I’m a little hesitant to try it out and with jams and such I’m never sure if the authors are giving the time frames that proper canning would allow.
This makes about 1 1/2 cups. About 1 1/2 to 2 jelly jars.
