Baked Oatmeal

Last summer our family traveled to the East Coast to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of my parents.  It was also a joyous family reunion with my two brothers, whom I do not see very often.  We spent a few days in Lancaster PA together.  We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast that was run by a Mennonite family.  One of their breakfast dishes was baked oatmeal.  I had never had it in this form before and really liked it a lot.  I recently found a recipe for baked oatmeal at a Bed and Breakfast site that also has recipes submitted by various bed and breakfast establishments around the country. This one is adapted from Blue Rock Bed and Breakfast.  I halved the recipe and then added a chopped honey crisp apple.  Next time I will also add raisins or dried cranberries and chopped pecans.

 

Baked Oatmeal

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp canola oil
• 6 Tbsp honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup milk (or coconut milk)
• 1 sweet apple, peeled, cored and chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, combine the oil, honey, and egg and beat together.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir to incorporate.

Spray a 8 x 8 inch Pyrex baking dish with cooking spray.  Pour the oatmeal mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with milk.

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Autumn Squash Soup

I love the Autumn Squash Soup they serve at Panera.  I love it so much in fact, that I had to see if there was a good copy of it on the internet that I could adapt and use at home.  I did! The copy comes from here.  I think they did a really nice job of it.  I omitted the sugar as I thought the apple cider and honey added plenty of good sweetness to the soup.  I also increased the chicken broth to make it less thick.

Autumn Squash Soup

a Panera Bread copy cat recipe adapted from blog.chron.com

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 (11 oz- 14 oz) package of frozen butternut squash, thawed
• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup apple cider
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 tsp salt, or more to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Heat a heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and cook the minced onion until it is translucent, about 5 minutes.

If the butternut squash is not completely thawed, place it in a microwavable bowl with a little water and microwave on high for about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the squash, pumpkin puree, cider, chicken broth, curry, honey, and salt to the sauce pan and heat through to boiling.  Blend the soup mixture in a blender or with an immersion blender.  Add the heavy cream to the blended soup and stir to combine.  Serve.

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Pulled Pork

There is something about shredded pork that is very comforting, but sometimes finding the right recipe is key.  I have made pulled pork in the past and it ended up greasy and bland.  I discovered this recipe on CHOW.  I was very happy with the results of this one.  We enjoy pulled pork on soft hamburger rolls with a good barbecue sauce (such as Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory and Brown Sugar).  This one is easy as it cooks in a crock pot.  I don’t know why I have not used the liners you can buy to line your crock pot before, because it makes clean up a snap!  In the original recipe they reduced the sauce and served it with the shredded pork.  I found the pork plenty tender and moist and adding barbecue sauce to it also adds flavor, but my husband did also enjoy it just by itself.

Pulled Pork

Serves 6-8 adapted from Chow.com

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet onions, sliced (like Maui, Walla Walla or other)
• 6 cloves of garlic sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth

FOR THE RUB:

• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 (4 1/2- 5 lb) Pork Shoulder (also called Pork Butt)

additional ingredients:

• 2 cups barbecue sauce or as needed

Instructions:

Place a crock pot liner inside your crock pot.  Place the sliced onions and garlic in the bottom of the crock pot.  This will help season the meat as well as keep the meat from sitting in excessive moisture.  Pour the chicken broth over the onions.

Combine the ingredients for the rub and rub all sides of the pork shoulder (pork butt).  Place the pork roast on the bed of onions.  Cover with the lid and cook on high heat for 6 to 8 hours.

Remove the roast after it is cooked and shred the meat using two forks and pulling in opposite directions, removing any excessive fat from the meat.  I had a lot of seasoning on the fat cap, which had a lot of flavor that I did not want to lose.  I rubbed the seasoned side of the fat into the shredded pork to get as much flavor back into the meat and then discarded the fat cap.  I am glad I did this step. It added the flavor that was needed.

Serve the pulled pork with your favorite barbecue sauce and on soft hamburger buns.  Top the pulled pork with coleslaw if you desire.

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Pumpkin Soup

I recently had oral surgery to remove, what was believed to be a tumor, and have been limited to soft foods for the past 3 weeks.  Thankfully is was not a tumor.  It was scar tissue from the last time I had oral surgery to remove the tumor I had 14 years ago.  The first time my pain levels were through the roof.  This time, despite it being a bone graft and fairly invasive, it was minimal in comparison.  I even ran my first 5 k in my recovery period.  I digress.  I  made a few amazing soups.  Pumpkin Soup being one of them.  I found this gem of a recipe on Pioneer Woman’s website.  I have followed her blog for several years, and am glad she now has a spot on the food network line up. I increased the broth because that was the size of the broth I bought.

You can find her original recipe here (link)

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 6 adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 2 small pumpkins (the ones used for cooking- I use Sugar pumpkins)
• 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup Maple syrup
• 1/2 a nutmeg grated
• salt to taste
• extra cream for serving

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut the pumpkins tops off.  Scoop out the guts.  Save the seeds for roasting if desired, but you do not need them for this recipe.  Cut the pumpkins into quarters and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper (unless you are roasting them for pie).  Place the pumpkin pieces on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until the flesh of the pumpkin is tender when you piece it with a fork.  Allow to cool some.  Scrape the pumpkin flesh off the skin using a large serving spoon and set aside for the soup.

Combine the pumpkin flesh, chicken broth, and maple syrup in a large stock pot.  Season with salt and nutmeg.  When it is heated through, blend the soup either in a blender or with an immersion blender (my favorite kitchen tool).  Add the cream and stir through.  Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Ladle the soup in individual bowls and drizzle additional cream in each bowl if desired.  Enjoy!

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