Crockpot Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal

Again Pinterest has really come through.  I am addicted.  I think Pinterest is a place to find unique things.  I have found some of the coolest things on there.  This recipe is one of them and I plan on using this recipe lots and making minor changes based on my mood.  I have a feeling you can make just about anything with a just the main staples in this recipe: oatmeal and water.  I like how easy this recipe is.  You just do the prep work, throw it in the crock pot, then let it go overnight.  The next morning you just dish up.

Ingredients:

2 chopped apples

1/3 C brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 C oatmeal

4 C water

Directions:

Throw in a crock pot the night before.  Turn on low.  It will need 6-8 hours in the crock pot.

In the morning, add some milk or cream and enjoy!

*What about substituting any fruit for apples?  I think replacing peaches with apples will make a nice peach cobbler style oatmeal.  I plan on trying that next time.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

For most people who know me, they know that I have a big sweet tooth.  I was craving jelly beans this weekend but I knew that I was going to be making some chocolate goodies so I had to stay away.  The Dairy Queen is also my addiction.  I honestly believe that I am addicted to sugar.  For one or two weeks this spring I decided to go on a low sugar diet.  I didn’t want anything with refined sugar like cupcakes, doughnuts or candy.  I was very good during this time frame, but I still just craved the goodies.  I knew that if I was to break down I would go on a chocolate/candy binge. This was right before vacation, so let me tell you it didn’t last long.  I haven’t tried the low sugar diet since then, but I do know that it will require lots of determination.

One of the chocolate treats I made this weekend was chocolate syrup.  There is nothing like a good chocolate drizzle on your favorite fruit, or ice cream.  This was quite easy for the amount that it made.  And pretty cheap.  This is also a great gift for all of your foodie friends.

Ingredients

1 + 1/2 C water

1 C sugar

1/3 C cocoa powder

1/2 C chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Directions

1.  In a saucepan on medium low heat, add cocoa powder to water and whisk together.

2.  Stir in sugar and mix until dissolved.

3.  Add chocolate chips and salt and stir until chocolate chips are melted.  Add in vanilla extract.

4.  Bring mixture to low boil and stir frequently.  Boil down for approximately 30 minutes.

5.  Store in the fridge.

If you store it in a cute glass container like in the photo, you have an instant gift.  Just attach a gift card to the metal clasp and you are done.

Cranberry Infused Vodka

I am realizing that Christmas is going to be upon us before we know it.  It feels like I was just staying awake until midnight watching the new year start.  Now 2012 is about 66.67% over.

I am one of those people who starts thinking about Christmas shopping in July, but usually ends up buying the presents the week before Christmas stressed out of my mind.  I want to change that this year for sure.  We have 4 months to go and I want to start making my homemade gift lists now.

I had this bag of frozen cranberries in my freezer from last year that I wanted to use.  Our freezer is stuffed with food I want to start using before it goes bad.  I HATE wasting food.  I don’t want to know if rotten food is being thrown away.  I’d rather not know.

I figured, around Christmas, who doesn’t have a holiday party with family or friends at least once?  Why not bring the host a gift of infused vodka?  It is SO easy to make.

Ingredients:

12 oz of whole cranberries

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 cup stevia

800 mL of vodka

1 lime

funnel

Before I give the directions let me explain these weird measurements.  I had a 1.75 L of vodka and I just used the rest of it.  It was about half full.  It also meant I could store the infused vodka in the vodka bottle.  Nice reuse.

I put the cranberries and sugar on the stove in a pot on about medium.  I started them off frozen, right out of the freezer and it worked fine.  It will develop a liquid on the bottom of the pot.  Once all of the sugar is blended well into the cranberries, and the cranberries are not mush (but whole, for the most part), you can remove them from the heat and add them to the vodka via funnel.  My funnel had a hole too small to fit the cranberries through so I just spooned them in.

Chop up the lime in thin circles and squeeze them into the bottle.  I shook the bottle up a bit just to blend the syrup into the vodka (with the cap on).

Store in a cool dark place.  Let me tell you that cranberries and lime marry very well together.  My friend at Recipe Diaries told me that and it’s true.

Fifty Shades of Bacon

We decided to make a cookbook, but not just any cookbook.  A bacon parody of the Fifty Shades of Grey.  All 50 recipes in this cookbook feature bacon of some sort.  We spent a month cooking up all of these recipes to make sure they were good, then went back and made them even better.

We just received our cookbooks yesterday and I LOVE THEM.  They turned out much better than I expected.  If you need a goofy Christmas gift I suggest you consider this.  Who wouldn’t get a kick out of this bacon themed cookbook?

You can check out our createspace store here.

We also have it listed on Amazon here.

For a little more information you can check out our website at Fifty Shades of Bacon.

If you are considering buying this cookbook but have questions first, please let me know.  I’d love to hear your comments.

Refrigerator Pickles

Growing up, during the summer months we always had a large bowl of refrigerator pickles in our fridge.  One of my parents favorite veggies to garden was the cucumber.  The nice thing about these pickles are that you do not need to can them in a hot water bath.  Thus you save lots and lots of time from canning and cleaning your kitchen afterward.

My husband and I made these once for a couples dinner night and it was reviewed very well.  This recipe I made says you only need 24 hours before you serve.  In the past, I always thought it took about a week.  In any case, they do not as long as preserving pickles.  Plus, if you have very large cucumbers, like we did…see below…they make very good refrigerator pickles.

*Update – I just tried my pickles that I made 2 days ago and they need a little extra time.  They do taste good, but I think they taste better when the edges get all curled.  That’s when you know they are done.

My husband bought this massive Ball jar that I thought was a joke.  I had no idea he intended on using this for these pickles.  But, it works just fine.  Otherwise you can just use a big bowl and plastic wrap the top.  That is what we have done in the past, but the sugary liquid, when spilled, get’s sticky.

Recipe

6 cups cucumbers, sliced

1 cup raw onion rings

2 cups sugar

1 cup vinegar

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp celery seed

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and celery seed.  Heat to the boiling point.

Pour over the sliced onions and cucumbers.

These keep well in the refrigerator for weeks.  You can replace the onions and cucumbers as they are used.  The liquid mixture may not appear to come close to covering the cucumbers and onions but the vegetables will extract liquid so over night they will be covered.  Make sure to keep them covered.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pesto

I could eat something covered in pesto any day of the week.  And it is so easy to make.  You can easily add pesto to pasta or on top of toast, and it is so yummy.  Yesterday, my hubby and I were very busy in the kitchen.  We received lots of organic basil from our CSA and used it all for pesto.  Pesto also freezes really well.  We froze 12 servings for the winter months.

Other than making pesto, we also made refrigerator pickles and canned 5 jars of spicy dill pickles.  This was our first year making canned pickles so I look forward to tasting them.  I hate doing all of this preserving on an already hot day, but we had no choice.

Here is my favorite pesto recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano Cheese (Do not add pesto you plan to freeze.  You will add it after you thaw it.)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts

2 medium sized garlic cloves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lime juice

Food Processor

1.  Wash basil well and remove as much water as possible and place in food processor.  Add pine nuts and pulse a few times in the food processor.  Add garlic, pulse a few more times.

2.  Slowly drizzle the olive oil while the food processor is on.  Turn off the processor, and scrape down the sides with a spatula.  Add the grated cheese and pulse until blended.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

3.  If you won’t be using the pesto right away, stir in a few drops of lime juice.

4.  Serve as you wish.

 

Easy Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup

I hate cooking meals.  I would rather bake something sweet.  But I came across this easy recipe that even I could make.  It didn’t require making a huge mess or a lot of ingredients.  It is gluten free and vegetarian.  If you like squash soup you will probably like this one too.  It has the same consistency as mashed cauliflower.

 

Ingredients

3 medium sized sweet potatoes

1 head cauliflower

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

7 cups of water

Cut the cauliflower into smallish pieces, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven at 400 for 20 – 30 minutes.  Roast until light brown and but not mushy.

Chop the sweet potatoes, onion and garlic and put in water to soften.  When the cauliflower is done put this in the veggie mixture.  Once the potatoes are soften allow to cool before you blend.  I took mine off the burner and went for a walk.  Once I returned I took the hand blender to it and blended it to a lumpy texture.   Reheat on the stove until hot.  Season with salt and pepper.

My husband and I had enough for 2 full meals each.  We at it again the next day, but we added some diced ham to it.  We are by no means vegetarians and we had ham left over in the fridge.  It did add a little salt to it and it tasted like scalloped potatoes.   It was yummy and easy.

 

DIY Almond Butter

I eat a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich almost every day.  It’s quick to make and somewhat fulfilling.  I suppose not as satisfying as a pizza or Fettuccine Alfredo.  In trying to eat healthier I found that almond butter has less fat than regular peanut butter.  I love Trader Joe’s almond butter specifically.  Unfortunately, here in Fargo, we are 3 hours away from the closest Trader Joe’s.  Yes, we have it here in the grocery stores, but it’s double the price.    Plus, I had no idea how easy it would be to make it myself.   It’s easy AND it tastes delicious.  Here are the easiest steps.

Ingredients

Almonds

Honey (optional)

Salt (optional)

Really, that is it.  However, I found a recipe that adds a bit of raw honey (which I had) and salt.

I bought a bag that was 2 and a half cups of chopped almonds.  I toasted them on a skillet on medium until it browned a bit.  Popped the almonds in the food processor, added a couple of teaspoons of raw honey and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  It blended for about 5 minutes until it turned into a butter consistency.

Have you looked at the ingredients on a peanut butter jar?  Molasses, Hydrogenated Oil, Sugar…Why are these things needed?  Peanuts and almonds are tasty all by themselves.  And I know that hydrogenated oils are NOT healthy.

I suppose the bag of almonds cost about $4.50.  I could have saved some money but I didn’t want to spend time shopping.  So for less than $5 I have good, raw and tasty almond butter.  You have to really try this yourself!