Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

This weekend I visited Serendipity Bed and Breakfast upstate. The owner made us baked oatmeal which was amazing! I decided to try to make my own the next day. I added apples, cinnamon, and pecans. It was delicious! A word of warning, this recipe does have eggs in it. Hey, it was the weekend. Sometimes I am not completely vegan on the weekend (in fact this weekend I was definitely not vegan). I will try to make a vegan version in the future. In the meantime, this recipe was sweet, crunchy, and it made a filling breakfast.



Recipe

3 cups oatmeal

2 tsps cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

2 eggs

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup raisins

½ cup pecans

2 granny smith apples 

Method

1. Combine oatmeal, cinnamon, cloves, and baking powder in large bowl.

2. In a small bowl combine milk, whisked eggs, and sugar. 

3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until combined. 

4. Mix in raisins, pecans, and granny smith apples. 

5. Place in a greased 9 in square baking dish (I like to use Earth Balance). 

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. 

7. Serve warm!

8. Mix in raisins

New Year's Desserts

For New Year's Eve this year I was in charge of dessert. After looking through loads of recipes, I found the perfect one: White Cake with Mincemeat Filling. I love mincemeat cookies at Christmas time and I thought this would be an old fashioned, unique, and challenging recipe. While I was buying the ingredients I sent a text to my friend. She was naturally a little concerned about the mincemeat idea (in college my vegetarian friend loved the mincemeat cookies my mom sent us. When I told her the name of that particular cookie, she looked at me with alarm thinking she had just broken her years of vegetarianism). As a result, I decided to also make my all time favorite, Flourless Chocolate Cake. I also made some Chocolate Expresso Cookies. Mincemeat actually does not have any meat at all, it is essentially a jam made with raisins, currents, dates, and brandy. For this recipe, I made the mincemeat from scratch. I also cut open a vanilla bean to flavor the cake. It was definitely a lot of work but it was worth it. I really liked it and will do it again. The recipe is above.

Cod-Potato Soup

Last night I made a tasty cod-potato soup. It was a great warm and filling winter meal. The only problem is, it was so good I forgot to take a picture before I ate it! The recipe is below.

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 potatoes
2 cups of veggie broth
1 cup soy milk
12 oz Cod
2 stalks of celery
1 TBS mixed dried herbs
1 tsp dry dill

Method

1. Sauté onions for 2 minutes in a little olive oil.
2. Add chopped potatoes.
3. Add veggie broth and a little water, enough to submerge the potatoes.
4. Cover and boil until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
5. Mash potatoes with an immersion blend or a hand held masher.
6. Add mixed herbs, garlic, soy milk, and celery. Let cook on medium-high for 10 minutes.
7. Add cod and continue to cook for another 7 minutes.
8. Add dried or fresh dill and serve warm!