Baked Oatmeal

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Momzoo

When I am pregnant, I tend to get really lazy about food, especially at the first. Mostly because food, all food, makes me want to vomit. This pregnancy, I thought I had been doing pretty good, I made sure that there was a home cooked meal on the table every night, I still made breakfast and made an effort at eating a good lunch everyday. My morning sickness has been pretty manageable, mostly staying away until after dinner. Until, the week before Christmas, and the lovely sickness reared its ugly head! One night as I was laying in bed, trying not to move an inch, or I would have to make a run for the bathroom, it occurred to me that my nutrition was slipping. We were starting to eat a little more fast food, a little more pre-packaged foods, I had purchased cereal for the Christmas break and our (my) eating was slowly slipping. I was tired, I felt lazy and because of that I was cutting corners food wise that were mostly likely exacerbating my morning sickness and low energy.

So,

I cracked open my Nourishing Traditions book and refreshed my mind, and made a new commitment to feed my family and my pregnant body with nutrient dense traditional foods.

This morning I made one of my favorite breakfast recipes, it is so very good and chock full of ingredients that are very good for you. In fact, there isn’t one “empty” ingredient in the whole dish. It take a little time to make and bake, so we don’t have it often, but when we do it is always a hit. The left overs can be kept in the refrigerator and served cold as a quick snack.

Baked Oatmeal

Buttermilk Syrup

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Momzoo

As promised

here is my Buttermilk Syrup recipe

(although I can’t really call it my own, I got it from my sister, and she got it from her sister-in-law)

anyway…

This syrup is super sweet, super buttery and down right yummy! It is very simple to make and usually I whip it up while frying pancakes in the morning, however it can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

First, melt the butter.

Then add sugar and milk, whisk together and bring to a boil.

It will be creamy and frothy

Once the butter mixture is boiling, take it off the heat and add vanilla and baking soda.

The baking soda will make the mixture very foamy and big (for lack of a better word), so make sure you watch it so it won’t bubble over the sides of the pan (using a big pan helps)

Serve nice and hot

(my kids fight over the frothy stuff at the top!)

(isn’t this the cutest jar! I have an obsession with cute jars)

If you aren’t going to use it right away, or if by some odd chance you have leftovers (really this shouldn’t happen) keep it in the refrigerator. It will going solid because of all the yummy butter, just heat it up before serving.

Enjoy!

Grapefruit Goodness

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Momzoo

I wanted to share with all of you my most favorite way to eat a grapefruit.

I am not a huge grapefruit fan,

I really never ate them, until I started to buy grapefruit for Dadzoo who is trying to eat more fruits. Then I discovered this little method and now I am hooked.

I love it!

First I peel the grapefruit, just like I would an orange.

Then using a sharp knife I cut out the sections.

Aren’t they so pretty sitting there in a bowl.

Then I sprinkle dehydrated coconut flakes over the top. Using the coconut gives it just a little bit of a coconut flavor and adds fat. Fat is good, in moderation. I add it for a couple of reasons, the fat keeps me satisfied all morning long and it also makes the fat soluble vitamins in the grapefruit available to me.

Then of coarse, a nice sprinkling of sugar.

This makes for a yummy satisfying, low calorie, nutrient dense snack or breakfast.

How do you eat grapefruit?

Granola Goodness

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Momzoo

Here is my recipe for granola. This is a wonderful breakfast or snack. This can be made out of food storage items. If you are unable to get butter you can use shortening, which can be easily stored. Butter can be bought in bulk when on sale and stored in a freezer. I serve this as a breakfast cereal, to make the whole batch (aprox. 12 cups) for about $3.50 depending on the price of butter, and if you use shortening the cost goes down even more. This is a lot cheaper than comercial cereals, and while there is a lot of sugar in this recipe there are no preservatives or dyes. You can also make it organic depending on the ingredients used, however that will make the cost go up. I like this on top of ice cream, or with plain yogurt. I put it in PIC’s lunch often with yogurt.

Here are our ingredients

1 1/2 cup butter

4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup water

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

12 cups oatmeal (old fashioned, DO NOT use quick oat)

First you melt the butter over medium heat in a big pot.

Once the butter is all melted add the brown sugar,

and water

When the sugar melts and the water mixes in add the salt,

add cinnamon (I put way more than 2 tsp, I really like the flavor of a lot of cinnamon)

and the nutmeg

Let is simmer, stirring constantly so it won’t burn, until the spices and sugar are all mixed and melted. (this is where husbands and kids start wandering into the kitchen wanting to know what smells so good)

Then you add the oats

and stir it until all the oats are coated, like you do with rice crispy treats

Pour it all into a greased baking pan or cookies sheet with sides

Put it into a 400 degree oven and set the timer for 10 minutes

Every ten minutes open the oven, see how it is getting brown?

stir the granola so it will toast evenly

Once it looks like this, you know you are done, it takes between 30 to 40 minuets. You want it to be a even golden brown.

When it is done you take it out of the oven, it will take a few hours to cool all the way. While it is cooling you will need to stir it to keep it sticking too much to the pan. You could also pour it out onto some wax paper to cool. Once it has cooled, I usually let it cool over night, you can store it in plastic zip-locks or a tupperware canister. It will keep a couple of weeks, but it is usually eaten way before that.

Once it has cooled you can add fun things. Rasins, nuts, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips. You can also experiment with the ingredients a little, try diffrent amounts of spices, or diffrent spices. Experiment with the amount of sugar you add, or use honey instead of brown sugar. Once you get the basics down you can taylor this recipe to the tastes of your family.

Enjoy!