Foodie for a Day // More Oatmeal!

Ever since going home and having the oatmeal bar at our “Christmas morning” brunch, I’ve been craving oatmeal more mornings for breakfast than usual.  Oatmeal has always been one of those breakfasts that I love but for whatever reason, I don’t generally have unless I’m on vacation and having a packet of instant I stashed as a “just-in-case.”

This sudden craving for oatmeal is a welcomed surprise as it is super delicious, healthy, and easy to make.  I prefer (Quaker) Old Fashioned oats so it does take a bit longer to cook, but I’ll make two servings at a time and stash that extra serving for tomorrow.

Another great thing about oatmeal is that it’s so easily adaptable, anyone kind find a flavor combination they enjoy and you can change it up to avoid it getting too boring or repetitive.

And with that, I bring you two new combinations for oatmeal that I call delicious! 

Chocolate Caribbean Oatmeal

So it’s not necessarily Caribbean but it seems kind of Caribbean after the toppings. :)

1 cup oats

1 cup milk (I use soy)

1 cup water

1-2 tsps cocoa powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Let all of the above cook until thick and creamy.  Then top with 1/2 chopped banana, spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkle of coconut.  

(If it seems like you put in too much cocoa powder, stir in a bit of brown sugar to balance it out.)

Gingerbread Protein Oatmeal

1 cup oats

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1 TBSP vanilla protein powder

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Let the above cook until thick and creamy.  Top with 1/2 chopped banana, spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkle of raisins.

(I’m sure you can add more protein powder but this was my first time adding it to oatmeal and I didn’t want to add too much.)

Have a great breakfast!

Foodie for a Day // Vegetarian Chili

Well after a four hour flight, I have successfully made it to Chicago.  I am currently seated in my parent’s living room watching Julie and Julia with my mom and sister, while my dad prepares dinner.

Anyway, I’m constantly on the search for (cheap) easy meals I can make for myself, especially during a busy week.  It’s always great to just be able to quickly reheat a meal after getting home from a long day at work.  

One of my favorite comfort foods has always been chili (and chili macaroni).  As a kid, my parents used to make chili and then make a side of chili mac for my sister and I.  It was as easy as a scoop of chili and then some added ketchup over macaroni noodles.  Yes, ketchup.

For whatever reason, I’ve never tried to make a vegetarian version myself after moving out and now that I have a small crock pot, this seemed as good a time as any to try. 

Vegetarian / Vegan Crockpot Chili

1/2 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes

1 brick tempeh, crumpled

Chili powder (I used a handful)

Vegetable broth (about 1/2-1 cup)

I put everything in the crock pot, gave it a quick stir and let it cook on high for about 2 hours.  When it was done, I had a delicious bowl of chili.

I decided it would be an easy lunch of leftovers so I cooked up a pot of macaroni noodles and added a scoop of chili to the top of it.  This time, I left out the ketchup.  (Sorry, Mom!)  It was a delicious, super easy and inexpensive dinner that ended up producing several meals; I couldn’t be more pleased.  I will be making this again soon.

And can I just say, I love my crockpot?

Foodie for a Day

I’m all about quick and easy meals.  Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy cooking but some nights it really takes all that I can to not just settle down with a bowl of cereal or bag of popcorn.  I’m okay with those nights on occasion, but I find once they happen, they start happening more frequently.  With that, I’m constantly on this search for quick, easy, and healthy meals that I can make - with the added bonus if I can then use them for lunch leftovers.

I was on the hunt for one the other day and decided to consult my Vegetarian 5-Ingredient cookbook for some inspiration.  And thankfully, that was exactly what I found.  There was a recipe for pasta with broccoli and sun dried tomatoes in olive oil.  I thought that sounded delicious but thought I could take the flavor up a notch while still keeping it super simple.  I decided to skip the olive oil and instead use pre-made pesto sauce.

It was so easy and delicious that I made it twice this week.  The night I made it, I ate it hot for dinner and then took 2 days of leftovers to work where I could eat it cold.  (It’s advised not to heat up broccoli in the microwave at work unless you want the entire team that works in the back of the store to not like you for the rest of the day).  It made such delicious leftovers that I was excited to eat my lunch everyday and it filled me up through most of the afternoon (just in time to have my apple as an afternoon snack).

And like I said, it’s simple: whole wheat pasta, broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, store bought pesto sauce.

I chop the broccoli while the pasta cooks and throw it in the same pot for the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain and return to pot.  Add the pesto sauce and sun dried tomatoes.  Stir.  Enjoy.  Pretty sure it couldn’t get easier.

Foodie for a Day // Comfort Food

It’s been a rough few weeks for me with all that has gone on.  I’ve done everything in my power to remain positive as I know that this will all pass soon.  But at the end of last week what I really needed was some comfort and what better way than with a recipe that has been passed down in my family for years?  A little taste of home; a little taste of comfort.

So I set out to make my (German) great grandmother’s French Coffee Cake recipe.  I remember when my cousin’s would come to town and we’d make the coffee cake and it would hardly last through breakfast.  It’s been a favorite in the family for years.  Comfort food at it’s finest.

French Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup margarine

3 cups flour

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

Mix the sugar, margarine and 2 cups of flour with your hands and take out one cup.

Blend the remaining ingredients and put into 2 buttered 8 x 1 1/2 pans.  Sprinkle the crumbs over the top.  Bake for 25 mins and 350 degrees.

I made a few changes to the recipe - swapping out some of the white flour for whole wheat flour, soy milk instead of regular milk and cut the whole recipe in half to only make 1 coffee cake vs 2.  It was so delicious and brought me the joy and comfort I was looking for.  It hardly lasted a few days in my apartment and I had no help eating it... ;)

It’s moments like these when I’m happy I’ve bothered my family for those recipes so I can recreate them at my will and want.  And this was exactly what I needed that night.

Foodie for a Day

I’m due for a trip to the grocery store.  Not because I actually need more food in this house but because I’m out of bananas.  I eat the same thing for breakfast everyday and I haven’t been able to the past couple days because I’m out of bananas.  This is usually what happens and then I leave the grocery store with $40 worth of food. (I’m working on being better about that).

But since there weren’t even any bananas in the freezer this morning, I had to get creative.  No cereal.  Didn’t really want oats.  Cold yogurt didn’t sound appealing.  

Then I remembered I had some end pieces of bread in the freezer waiting for a french toast meal.  I guess that’s what’s for breakfast.

I don’t really eat eggs (only when baked into something and even then, hardly ever) so I don’t keep them on hand.  I did a quick search for a vegan french toast recipe and found several that called for flour, non-dairy milk, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar.  Easy enough.

Whisk them all together.  (I used about a cup of soy milk, tsp vanilla, tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and less than a tbsp flour - there was to be no measuring this morning.)

I then let the bread soak in the mixture (defrosted the bread first, of course).

Cook it in a pan coated in vegan butter.

Slathered on some peanut butter, pumpkin butter and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Mmm Mmm goooooood!

While this was delicious, I’m stopping at the grocery store this afternoon because I already miss my usual breakfast.  All these other options yield too many dishes... ;)

Foodie for a Day

As part of my trying to save money / use what I have in my fridge and pantry vs. going and buying new food at the grocery store while never touching what I have (this is a bit of an overstatement of what actually happens, but it describes it well), I decided to go scrounging the internet the other day in hopes of finding a delicious sounding veggie burger recipe.  I was also in the mood for a veggie burger and sweet potato fries so it seemed like the perfect night to put my plan into action.

I ran across a few different options and ending up deciding to mostly follow Emily’s Vegan Bean Burgers.  I didn’t have a few things but the changes were easy:

-Instead of carrots, I used what remained in a bag of frozen veggies - warmed up and drained in the microwave

-Instead of pepitas, I used pine nuts

-The onion powder was replaced by garlic powder

-Cayenne pepper was replaced with a few sprinkles of red chile pepper

-When it seemed a little mushy, I added an extra sprinkle of oats

Can I tell you how delicious these were?  The first few nights, I had a burger on whole wheat toast or english muffin, topped with ketchup and served alongside sweet potato fries.  

And can we take a moment to note how much clearer this picture is - taken on my new iPhone 4S!

But then I decided I was going to take one for lunch.  Knowing the burgers were getting drier, I feared the ketchup would seep into the burger and not actually be a topper like I wanted.  So I decided to try something different - strawberry jam + spinach (just like my favorite tempeh sandwich).  It was delicious!  So delicious that I ate the last burger for dinner the same way.

Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan or just looking for a good veggie burger - I can’t recommend this enough.  This was my first homemade veggie burger experience and I was definitely nervous but I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised by how easy and delicious these turned out!  YUM!

Now I’m off to get Yogurtland with Justine... :)

Music Monday + Great Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

I know it’s not a Wednesday but after some tweets over delicious chewy pumpkin cookie recipes going around Twitter last night, I decided I had to incorporate my favorite pumpkin recipe for fall!

When I was kid, my mom would make us these cookies every year around Halloween and we would decorate them with frosting and candy to get more sugar to look like Jack-o-lanterns.  The cookies were giant, delicious and a favorite!

But as we got older, we didn’t find the need to shape the dough to look like a pumpkin and send ourselves into a complete sugar coma so we started making them the size of normal cookies.  And of course, they were still amazing!

So I had to speak up when someone needed a recommendation and therefore, I present:

Great Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour

1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats, uncooked

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin (I'm sure you can use any kind of canned pumpkin.)

1 cup semi-sweet real chocolate morsels

Assorted icing or peanut butter

Assorted candies, raisins, or nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla;  mix well.  Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in morsels.  For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet; spread into pumpkin shape, using thin metal spatula.  Add a bit more dough to form stem.  Bake 15-20 minutes (for normal sized cookies or 20-25 mins for decorating sized), until cookies are firm and lightly browned.  Remove from cookie sheets; cool on racks.  Decorate, using icing or peanut butter to affix assorted candies, raisins, or nuts.  Variation:  Substitute 1 cup raisins for morsels. 

**I believe the recipe was pulled out of some newspaper magazine when I was kid and therefore I can not (nor can my momma) take responsibility for creating this delicious recipe.**

And per the usual Music Monday fashion, I wanted to talk to you about Bon Iver (again, I think).  For anyone who has never heard of this band, look them up!  For anyone who has but isn’t familiar with their music, fill your ears with the beautiful sounds.  And for anyone who has never seen them live, GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!  

I don't care that it's blurry, gives you an idea of the lighting.  And I was sitting very high up. ;)

This was potentially one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen!  Not only was the music out of control, the lighting and stage set up just amplified what your ears were hearing.  This band knows how to build up a song to just the right point that you don’t know what’s going to happen and then BAM they climax and you’re left sitting in awe.  Truly outstanding that I wish I could find all the right words to describe it but it’s definitely something you need to witness for yourself.  I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

I went with my friends Krystle and Nathalie and the whole drive home we were all just going “oh my gosh!” and “I still can’t believe that!” and “possibly the best live show I’ve been to, at least in a really long time!”

Such an amazing band that I wold LOVE to work on their tour! LOVE to!!