Porridge for Biz

This past weekend I met up with Biz from My Bizzy Kitchen and a few of her blog readers. (Read about our day on her August 24 blog post.)   I mentioned to Biz that I've been making a quinoa porridge for breakfast, so I thought I would share the recipe here for everyone else as well.  I use quinoa because I want more protein so I stay full all morning.  It's working pretty well but occasionally I add some nuts or seeds, like pumpkin or sunflower seeds. 

• 1 c. quinoa 
• 1/2 c. buckwheat or any other grain/legume
• 1/3 c. hemp seeds    
• 1/4 c. ground flax seed
• 3 Tb. chia seeds
• 5 cups water
• seasoning - couple tablespoons of cocoa powder, heavy sprinkle of cinnamon, etc.

I put everything in my small slow cooker (6 qt) and let it cook overnight.  In the morning I divide it up into 6 portions.  It makes large portions, which I love.  I typically add some fruit, lately it has been a couple of plums diced up. 
   
I really don't like the flavor of quinoa, so I prefer to cover it with a strong seasoning.  Cocoa powder is a good way to do that.  I've also tried adding red lentils, but it ends up too "bean-y".  Bleh.

A Good Long Soak: Soaked & Fermented Oatmeal

The whole reason I created a sourdough starter was to use it to ferment my oatmeal rather than using a dairy product like yogurt since I've found that I really don't care for milk/dairy.  Some say soaking grains increases nutrient content and makes whole grains more digestible.  I figured I would give it a shot to see if I noticed a difference. And the sourdough starter has been a fun experiment and a reason to make some new things like sourdough crackers and pizza dough. 

It took a while for my sourdough starter to actually be a full-grown starter and then it took me even longer to actually feel comfortable enough to try it out on my oatmeal.  I'm not sure what I was afraid of, but I was generally hesitant.

The Process

I typically cook up a 5-serving batch of my oatmeal overnight in my small slow cooker so I can have oatmeal for a few days.  The day before I want to cook my oatmeal, I measure out the amount of rolled oats and steel-cut oats and put them in the in the slow cooker with the right amount of water.  My current recipe is 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup steel-cut oats, and 3 cups of water.  Then I pull Billy Jean (sourdough starter) out of the fridge to add a spoonful and let the batch sit out on the counter until I'm ready to cook it.

It doesn't really look much different than a normal batch, you wouldn't be able to tell it was different other than a milky look to the water from the flour. There's a slight smell from the fermented sourness, but it's pretty similar to the smell of fresh bread dough.  Kinda yeasty and warm.

Adding a spoonful of gloppy sourdough starter.

Spoonful of oats. 

Let it soak for the desired amount of time. And this is where things can get different.  The first time I tried it, I soaked it for about two days, mainly because I wasn't paying attention and I didn't think it would be a big deal. Well, it totally was a big deal, the resulting oatmeal was so sour! It was as if I had made it with a huge dose of tangy buttermilk. Not enjoyable. I still ate it, but I made a note to never soak it that long again. Bleh.

The next time I soaked it for about 24 hours.  That was fine, a tiny bit sour but barely noticeable after I add fruit and cinnamon and whatever else to my bowl of oatmeal. 

I think I've finally got it adjusted down to where I like it.  I soak it for about 12 hours before cooking, so the morning that I finish up my last serving of oatmeal from the fridge, I set up a batch to soak and then cook it that night. 

Verdict

Is it worth it?  I don't know.  I don't think I feel any different after eating it.  I'll keep soaking/fermenting my oatmeal for a while and then if I feel lazy I'll skip the soaking for a batch to see if I feel a difference.

Am I Responsible Enough To Take Care Of A Sourdough Starter?

After attending the Fermented Breakfast Cereal session at Food Camp, I decided to grow a wild yeast sourdough starter from scratch.  I'll use a couple tablespoons of it to ferment my oats for oatmeal/porridge because fermenting supposedly reduces the phytic acid that prevents your body from absorbing the vitamins and minerals that are naturally in the grains.  I figure if I'm eating all these good healthy foods that I'd like to help my body get the most out of them.  You can also use cultured dairy products (whey, yogurt, kefir, etc.) to ferment grains, but I prefer to not use dairy products, plus I don't like the flavor of them.  I figure why not give it a shot with a sourdough starter instead. It's only a bit of work and a small commitment to try it out. Plus the starter can be used in place of commercial yeast to make awesome things like sourdough bread, pancakes, waffles, brownies, cakes, etc.  And fermented foods have probiotics, which are good for your digestion, and since I don't like yogurt, this is a good way to get them.  Plus it's just plain neat to gather wild yeast and make sourdough bread completely from scratch!

Inspiration

• I looked up some recipes but the easiest to follow was TheKitchn How to make your own sourdough starter but it's missing the step of ditching out half of your starter each day, otherwise it's going to be way too much yeasty glop in the container after feeding it for at least 7+ days in a row.  I don't know if she missed that step or doesn't do it. But the basic concept is there.
• And the King Arthur Flour website has good sourdough starter instructions.
• And the reader comments for the Wild Yeast flour + water = starter blog post are great because everybody else's issues/problems/worries help you figure out if you're on the right track.

And of course now that I'm onto this sourdough starter kick, I'm reading all sorts of other websites for tips, tricks, and troubleshooting since I have no idea what I'm doing.

From what I've read it would be good to get some rye flour since the yeast like that food the best, but I don't have any and don't have time to go to a store that would have it.  Sonny D and I are going to Trader Joe's this weekend, so if we can find it there I'll buy some.   But I do have a food scale, that's the most important thing with baking bread.  Ratios really matter. 

The Process

Day 1

The recipe is equal parts BY WEIGHT of water and whole wheat flour.  I even wrote that down in my notes at the Fermented Cereal class on Saturday, but you'll see in my picture here that I've got my measuring cup out with 4 ounces of water next to the scale with 4 ounces of whole wheat flour.  It's not the same!  I realized after I mixed it together that the texture shouldn't be like thick bread dough but rather thinner like pancake batter, so I pulled the scale out and added more water until I had 8 total ounces in my container. 

A lot of people use big jars for their starters, but I didn't have one tall enough.  And I didn't want to use a plastic container, so I used a big 1.75 qt Pyrex glass bowl, the same type Jeff did when he made his sourdough starter a couple years ago. I guess eventually it should triple in size, so you've got to give it a lot of room to grow. 

Water in the beaker and flour on the scale.

See that blue on my scale?  That's the protective film that you're supposed to take off once you start using the item.  Is anybody else a weirdo/superstitious/overprotective like me and leave the coating on their devices?  My mom's stove still has the plastic on the digital display and buttons for the oven controls and they've had the stove for years.  I was tempted to rip it off when we were there for Easter because it's totally separating from the display and gets in the way when you set the oven temperature, but I didn't want her to freak out.  :)

Day 1 top view. The bubbles are only from my vigorous stirring.

Day 1 side view.  Not a lot in this container.

I mixed it up and lightly set the lid on top and put it on top of the fridge since that's a pretty warm spot without any drafts.  Hopefully it'll develop and also hopefully I don't forget it up there since I'm so short I can't see it!  According to the directions, I've got to feed and maintain it every day for at least seven days until the yeast are truly maintained. I found out that while you're starting out in these intro days it's called a "culture", it won't be a true starter until at the end of that process, then it's ready to use.  

Day 2

I checked on it and it looked like some of the water had separated out.  It was so boring I didn't even take a picture.  But I dumped out approximately half of the mixture into the sink to make room for the new batch of flour and water to feed the yeast I'm trying to cultivate.

I added another 4 ounces of flour and 4 ounces of water, but this time I figured the water from our refrigerator water dispenser is probably too cold, so I heated it up a tiny bit in the microwave so it wasn't so chilled, felt a little less than body temperature.  Makes sense that cold wouldn't create a hospitable environment for the yeast.  

The end result again is a goopy, floury mixture with the texture of pancake batter.  Back on top of the fridge it goes. 

Day 3

Wow!  Lots of bubbly action and a sticky texture like the inside of a a toasted marshmallow (gluten maybe?).  From what I understand, the activity I'm seeing right now is not the yeast that I'm looking for, but a harmless bacteria called leuconostoc.  But we're on the right path.  I guess these bacteria are short-lived or weak, because I'm supposed to keep feeding and the good yeast will eventually take over. 

Top view of day 3.

Side view of day 3.

Day 4

Not much activity today but I expected that.  I think the really-active leuconostoc bacteria are dying off since not much is going on.  If the mixture smells like alcohol or acetone I'm supposed to feed more (increase the amounts but keep the equal weights) because that means the yeast don't have enough to eat and they're feeding on their dead siblings.  Sounds so very primal.  My starter culture didn't smell.

After scooping off some spoonfuls into the compost bin, I proceeded with adding equal parts flour and water.  My hand wasn't too steady and I accidentally poured in 5 ounces of water instead of 4, so I accordingly bumped up the amount of flour to match.  Hopefully the yeast are hungry today!It also seemed too thick (really stiff to stir) so I added an extra splash of water.  I know, I know, that's not keeping equal weights!  I'll try better tonight. 

At the previous feeding I put a piece of tape to mark the top of the mixture so I can gauge how much it had risen.  As you can see, there wasn't a whole lot going on.  When it's a full-running starter, it's eventually supposed to double or triple in size a bit after feeding.  And when it gets to the maximum size but right before it falls (when the yeast run out of food), that's when you're supposed to use it in recipes. 

 Day 4. Not much rising activity, maybe 1/4 inch over the tape.

Day 4 top view, a few bubbles.

Some Interesting Bits 

• It's not really the wild yeast sourdough starter that will make bread sour, but rather the flour you use and how you manipulate the dough with time and temperature. A long rise is one way for your dough to develop a sour flavor.
• Whole wheat sourdough starters are more sour than those maintained with white flour.  That's nice to know, I want a sour bread.
• Some people think the yeast is coming in from the air, but actually it's already in the flour.  Neat! So each time to add more flour, you're adding more yeasty beasties and at the same time giving them food to eat.  

After reading more materials, I'm worried about what I need to do to properly feed the starter so it's ready to make bread.  I completely admit I have no idea what I'm doing!   But I'm going to keep going and see if I can figure it out. I'll give more progress in a second post. 

Savory Flavor Enhancer: Miso Butter

I've read about miso butter a few times and originally thought it was some sort of special sauce, but I got really curious so I researched it and found it's literally just miso and butter mixed together.  Miso is salty fermented soybean paste, it's usually made into miso soup that you might have at a sushi restaurant or it's mixed into Asian dishes.  I finally decided to try it by having toast with butter and smear of miso paste. 

When I went to get my miso it was all dried out after sitting in the fridge with the lid off.  Oops.  Totally not my fault, the lid was really flimsy and I thought it was covered.  I still scraped some out of the least dried-up area and tried it.  Wow!  It's an amazing savory taste that I found myself really enjoying.  Actually, a few days later my mouth was watering over the idea of more miso butter on a crumpet for lunch.  So good!

Last week Sonny D and I went grocery shopping and I decided to buy a new container of miso.  I picked up a 13-ounce tub of Westbrae Natural unpasteurized white miso.

The tub of miso I bought.

Then I figured I should probably look up a more official recipe than just "a bit of miso with some butter".  I found a recipe that gave a ratio of 2 parts butter to 1 part miso, so I grabbed a small Tupperware container and combined 2 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon miso since I figured that amount would probably last me quite a while but wouldn't stick around so long it would go bad.  The only thing is that I keep it in the refrigerator, which means the butter is pretty much unspreadable.  I need to remember to pull it out of the fridge a little early to give it time to soften.

Easy recipe.  Miso + butter = miso butter.

Verdict 

I love this and it's nice to have a pre-made batch so I can quickly spread it on my morning toast or throw some on veggies.  But this probably isn't for everyone since miso is salty with  'umami' (savory) flavor.  It kind of reminds me of fish without being fishy; that's probably the fermentation.  If you're interested in trying a new neat flavor, I recommend giving it a shot.  I want to try it on corn, seems like it would be a great combo.  Can't wait to see what else I can add it to.

The neat thing is that since my miso is unpasteurized, I'm also getting the benefits of probiotics.   Yay, happy digestion!

I Double-Dog Dare You To Try It: Savory Oatmeal

I've been thinking about this concept for a while and yesterday I finally took the plunge and had my first bowl of savory oatmeal.  I grew up eating sweet oatmeal, topped with brown sugar and milk floating on top.  Since my re-discovery of oatmeal about 4-5 years ago, I've stayed with sweet oatmeal for breakfast and the occasional lunch. I do a lot more experimenting with fruits and seasonings though and it's always made completely from scratch, no instant packets here.  And a lot of the time what I make could be called porridge since it's not solely rolled oats, usually I mix it up with steel-cut oats, millet, bran, wheat germ, flax seed meal, buckwheat, quinoa, etc. 

But back to savory oatmeal.  I had never thought about eating savory oatmeal, the concept just never crossed my mind. But there's nothing inherent with oatmeal that makes it a sweet dish, it's neutral.  In my fanaticism for oatmeal, I check out any recipe I can find for oatmeal/porridge and I follow a few blogs (Oatgasm, Oatmeal Artist, etc.) that are solely about oatmeal.  Yep, I'm totally obsessed.   And in my explorations, I found mention of savory oatmeal.  Hmm... interesting idea.  And this Serious Eats post by Mark Bittman about savory oatmeal with scallions and soy sauce caused a big kefluffle.  Some people were absolutely disgusted, while others reminisced about the savory oatmeal dishes of their childhood.  And others, like me, were intrigued and willing to give it a shot.

Cooking It Up

For a few months I've thought about the concept and looked up recipes for inspiration, but yesterday I finally mustered up the courage to try it. I had several batches of pre-made plain oatmeal in the fridge, so if it was disgusting I had a fallback plan to throw out the gross experiment and try again with a sweet oatmeal or something from the pantry.  I didn't want to try this on a weekday morning for breakfast since it would take longer to make, so I whipped it up at home over my regular lunch hour at home.
 
My plan was to go with Asian flavors since we've got a lot of Asian ingredients (seasonings, sauces, etc.) and few other fresh ingredients.  I sauteed some sliced mushrooms, added some spinach, garlic and onion powder.  While that was cooking, I added soy sauce to the pre-cooked oatmeal until it tasted like the right amount and heated it up in the microwave.  I used a flat bowl (we call them pasta bowls) because I was going to add a soft-cooked egg on top. 

Mixing in soy sauce

I went back to the skillet and slid the mushrooms and spinach out of the way and cracked an egg in the middle.  I cooked it in my typical way, medium heat with the lid on for two minutes for a soft-cooked egg.  I slid all of that on top of the warmed up oatmeal and added some fresh black pepper and a sprinkle of salt since there wasn't much other seasoning.

I swear there's an egg under all that!

Verdict

I liked it well enough, but my first attempt wasn't thrilling.  I had to add several more drizzles of soy sauce on top because I hadn't seasoned it much.  I was busy browsing Pinterest while eating so I wasn't paying too much attention, but I should have added some spicy Korean bean paste, miso, or sriracha for an additional layer of flavor.  I'd like to take another shot at savory oatmeal but try making it completely from scratch so I can season the oatmeal when it's cooking and adding more flavorful toppings. 

I do have to say that it was really filling.  I had only a little something else with lunch (don't remember what, but it wasn't much) and I was satisfied for the entire afternoon.

So I dare you to try savory oatmeal and let me know how it goes.  Here are some inspiring links from my bookmarks.

• Martha Stewart savory oatmeal with a soft-cooked egg
• St Louis Post-Dispach The secret side of savory oatmeal
• Tea & Cookies Curried oatmeal with caramelized onions
• Penny De Los Santos sexed up savory oatmeal
• Serious Eats Mark Bittman's savory oatmeal with scallions and soy sauce

I could see a Mexican version working out really well with a bit of taco leftovers. I'm also in love with the simple combo of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and soft-cooked egg.   

Another Edition of "Put It In the Waffle Maker": Waffle Omelets

This recipe for waffle iron omelets has been on my radar for a while.  I loved how it turned out making French toast in the waffle iron and thought this might be good as well.  I've put it on several of our weekly menus but have skipped over it for various reasons.  Last night I made pancakes (blueberry and plain) while the guys made the waffle iron omelets. It turned out so awesome that I had to make sure to tell you guys about it immediately. 

Inspiration

The Gracious Pantry Clean Eating Mexican-Style Waffle Omelets

We didn't have the olives called for in the recipe and I don't like corn in dishes, so this was just eggs and seasoning, but you could add anything that is small pieces, such as sauteed diced veggies, ground meat or meatless crumbles, etc. 

Ingredients

Makes 4 omelets in our waffle iron

• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Heat up your waffle iron while you combine the ingredients.   Our waffle iron doesn't have any settings, just plug it in and it's on. The light turns off when it's at maximum temperature.

Sonny D using the whisk, his favorite kitchen implement!

Mix up the eggs and seasoning. Spray your waffle iron with baking spray (I use Trader Joe's olive oil spray but also like their coconut version) and pour in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the egg mixture and close the lid.  

Puffy egg.

The egg will puff up from the steam and push the lid up, so you'll have to use this first one as a test to see how much egg your waffle iron will hold. As you can see from this photo, we had extra egg come out the back on our first one. 

They were cooked in about 1 minute, but of course your iron will probably be different. Using a fork, delicately pull out the omelet and put it on a plate.  Husband Jeff put shredded cheese on top and folded them in half to melt the cheese.

Adding shredded cheese and then folding in half

Husband Jeff and I put salsa on ours. 

I elegantly dumped salsa on top.

Verdict

Sonny D had a great time making the eggs, he absolutely loves using a whisk.  It's always the first thing he wants to pull out to help me cook, so I have to explain that sometimes a different tool works better like the hand mixer.

The brown color was deceiving, it looked like a waffle but you had to remind yourself that you were eating eggs instead. I liked that the texture was solid.  Light and fluffy eggs are great too, but this turned it into something different.

Sonny D ate his with just cheese inside, it was solid so it was pretty easy for him to pick up like a sandwich.  I don't know if he catches on to the novelty of making eggs in the waffle iron, but he really seemed to like it. We had one extra folded egg omelet with cheese inside left over, so I put that aside for Sonny D's lunch today.

The only thing is that it might have been a lot of garlic powder and onion powder in the mixture, so you might want to go a little light on that, but even as written it's great.  I can't wait to try this with other ingredients.  You could keep the Mexican theme by adding a bit of leftover taco meat and similar things, or take it into classic omelet territory with ham and peppers and onions. 

The only drawback to using only eggs is that it deflates down to be quite flat, it just cosmetic though.  Adding ingredients to the omelet itself would remedy that. 

Sneaky Chef: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I purposely bought zucchini because I wanted to make muffins. Actually, I really wanted to make muffins AND mock-apple pie using zucchini, but I totally chickened out and only made the muffins. And I was too busy to make them right away while the zucchini was fresh, so I ended up shredding and freezing the zucchini so I could use it later.  Frozen zucchini is really watery, but I love having it around to unobtrusively throw into dishes.   

My ingredients lineup,
that's shredded zucchini in the bag in the back left.

Inspiration

Cooking Light Kathie's zucchini muffins

I originally had a different recipe selected, but after I read several unfavorable reviews, I switched to this one, which had lots of great reviews and a lower calorie count.  

Sonny D said he wanted chocolate muffins, so I added 2/3 cup cocoa powder based on this King Arthur Flour chocolate breakfast muffins recipe.  And since I was making them into chocolate muffins, I skipped the cinnamon-sugar topping.

I think I used more zucchini than the recipe called for, I just used everything I had in the bag.  

Ingredients

makes 12 muffins

• 7.75 ounces whole-wheat flour 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/3 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk milk 
• 2 tablespoons canola oil 
• 2 tablespoons honey 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium-size bowl mix the dry ingredients -- flour through cocoa powder.  In a large bowl mix the wet ingredients -- zucchini through the egg.  Then add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and gently stir only until just combined.  

Chocolate-y batter

Look closely for the green zucchini shreds hiding in there.

Divide the batter into a standard muffin pan and bake for 15 minutes.

beautiful chocolate muffin

Verdict 

Chocolatey goodness with surprise vegetables to nourish you. 

I ended up being the only one who ate these.  Sonny D was excited to try a muffin, but that excitement didn't last long and he didn't finish it.  Husband Jeff said there was too much cinnamon, that was all he could taste, so maybe that's what turned Sonny D off.  My cinnamon is quite strong (Penzey's Tung Hing), and I always forget that.  Maybe I should have also let the cocoa powder bloom a bit longer to hydrate and develop a more chocolatey flavor.

I was really hoping Sonny D would like these so I could kind of "trick" him into eating vegetables because he doesn't really like to eat them.  But it wasn't much of a "trick" since he helped me make these and saw me add the zucchini. He was still excited to eat the muffin, I think he doesn't connect the vegetables with the finished product.  It's the same as when we make a smoothie in the morning and he adds the spinach to the cup.  It's super green but he'll eat it. 

I took one of these to work each day for my morning snack and loved them.  I had to freeze the last few because I wasn't eating them fast enough before they would spoil. When I brought the frozen ones to work, they were perfectly defrosted in time to eat at 10 a.m. 

I liked the base recipe and would love to try it as written instead of adding cocoa.  And of course reduce the cinnamon. 

Breakfast Variety: Cornmeal Pancakes

I'm going to be right up front with you about this recipe for cornmeal pancakes, they didn't turn out very good.  I think it was because my cornmeal was coarse ground, not fine ground.  So the pancakes were gritty and not very appealing.  I wish I had thought to check our cornmeal beforehand because I wouldn't have tried this recipe with it and would have made regular pancakes instead. 

Inspiration

Slender Kitchen Polenta Berry Pancakes

I made ours without berries since we didn't have any and I'm not the hugest berry fan. I was glad because I had buttermilk in the freezer, that's something I highly recommend freezing if you have extras from making a recipe.

I used two full eggs because I hate using only part of an egg and then either needing to find a use for it or throwing it away.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup polenta (corn meal)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 Tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoon Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients (polenta through salt) in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, blend the wet ingredients (buttermilk through oil).  Add the dry to the wet and mix only until just combined.

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray or grease with butter if you're into that.  Pour out 1/4 cup measurements of batter and cook until the bubbles stay open. Flip and finish cooking the other side.

Pancake batter on the griddle.

Verdict 

Gritty and not very good.  

Sonny D is normally a fan of pancakes, but he only had one or two bites of these.  It was understandable, they were pretty gritty and just not enjoyable.  Husband Jeff commented that the later pancakes were better, probably because the cornmeal had time to hydrate. The only good thing about how these turned out was since they weren't very good, I didn't eat much.  Normally it's pretty easy to eat a lot of pancakes and not realize it. 

We had some left over, so we'll see if they're better after being frozen. If they're not, they were bad enough that I wouldn't feel bad throwing them away.  I would like to try this recipe again once I get fine-grain cornmeal because I've had cornmeal pancakes and thought they were great. 

Slow Cooker Fabulous! Chocolate Steel-Cut Oats

Following my success of making steel-cut oats in the slow cooker overnight, I decided to give it a whirl with the ultimate comfort breakfast, chocolate. 

Inspiration

My own recipes of cranberry-orange steel-cut oats and ginger-pear-apple steel-cut oats

Ingredients

5 servings, 152 calories

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 1/3 cups water
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• Heavy shake cinnamon

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low overnight (6-8 hours). 

Before cooking.

In the morning you'll have thick, tasty, hearty chocolate steel-cut oats.

The next morning.

Verdict

I sometimes make chocolate oats as a single bowl, but I've never made a whole batch like this. I was a little afraid that I wouldn't have enough ideas for what to mix in and I'd get bored with the flavor, but I totally loved it.  My favorite mix-in was raisins, it like a bowl full of Raisinets candy!  The pear was a little overwhelmed by the powerful chocolate flavor, so next time I'll stick with raisins and maybe some diced apple and peanut butter.  Banana would also be good.  I also love spicy Mayan oatmeal, with a dash or two of cayenne and a heavy dash of cinnamon.

I think steel-cut oats in the slow cooker is going to be my go-to oatmeal/porridge recipe for the fall and winter.  Making a large batch for several days and waking up to the scent of breakfast is so comforting.

Ginger-Pear-Apple Steel-Cut Oats

I used the same basic formula as the slow cooker cranberry-orange steel-cut oats I made previously (1 cup steel-cut oats: 3 1/3 cups liquid).  I had only a single pear to use up but I figured it wouldn't be enough fruit for the 5 servings this recipe makes since I typically use half a pear in a single bowl of oatmeal, so I added a cup of applesauce for some additional fall flavor.

Ingredients

5 servings, 163 calories each (not small servings, either!)

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 1/3 cups liquid (I used water b/c I didn't think pears went well with almond milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pear, diced
• 1 4 oz cup unsweetened applesauce (one of those little individual cups like you might put in a kids lunch)
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

Directions

Starting out - raw oats and diced pear.

Put all in ingredients in the slow cooker (I used my small 5-quart one) and stir.  Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.  

More pear and steel-cut oats.

I started mine in the slow cooker at 9 p.m.and it was ready at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. 

Cooked porridge.

Verdict 

This breakfast ushers in fall!

The base recipe is totally my go-to breakfast these days.  Previously I wasn't a fan of steel-cut oats because my cooking method didn't make them very "porridge-y", but making it in the slow cooker overnight works so well.

I didn't use enough ginger, you could barely taste it, but it wasn't bad either.  I would increase that to a full teaspoon of dried ginger or use fresh ginger from a tube (get some, it's totally worth it!).  And I don't think it was enough unsweetened applesauce to really add much apple flavor, next time I would add the cup of applesauce plus a chopped apple. 

Since I added fresh fruit, I felt there was enough liquid since the fruit gives off moisture, but for any recipes where you're not adding fresh fruit, I would increase the liquid to 3 1/2 cups. 

Another Canning Project: Pear Butter

I'm not sure where I got this idea, but I decided I HAD to make pear butter and can it, so I started to do research.  First of all, I wasn't really sure what pear butter really was.  I had heard of apple butter, it's a preserves-type product that you spread on toast, but I didn't know what made it a "butter".  I still don't know the real answer, but my guess is that it's thicker than applesauce, and that's about it. 

I bought the pears from the Sunday morning farmers' market, they came from Healthy Ridge Farm in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  The farmer recommended using Bartlett pears rather than any other variety since those are cheaper and since you cook it down, you would lose a lot of the finer qualities found in other pears.

It was a relief to make pear butter since it doesn't involve pectin and jelling like my pepper-lime jelly and wine jelly canning projects.  

Inspiration

The recipe I used is a cross between two recipes, the one for the low-sugar content and the other for the cooking method and spices.

Farmgirl Fare low-sugar pear butter 
Crockpot Ladies crock-pot vanilla spiced pear butter

about 7 pounds of pears.

As I finished prepping my pears and adding my spices to the slow cooker, I was checking back to the recipes and had a panicked moment when I realized I hadn't peeled my pears and ALL of the other recipes called for peeled pears.  This was at the point when all of my pears were in the slow cooker in small chunks, which would be kind of difficult to go back and peel them all now!  I had originally planned to leave the peel on mine so they would have the healthy fiber included, but I didn't realize every single recipe used peeled pears or ran the pears through a food mill, which I didn't have.   I decided to put on a brave face and go with it, and it turned out fine.

Ingredients

makes about 8 half-pint jars

• 7 pounds Bartlett pears, cored and diced (I didn't peel and it was fine)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

I cored my pears with my melon ball scoop, which worked great, totally recommended. 

Cut up pears, cinnamon, and vanilla in the slow cooker.

I knew this needed to cook for a long time, so I prepped my pears before bed and cooked them from about 9 p.m. on Friday until about 10 a.m. on Saturday. Then I mashed the pears with a potato masher.

Cooked pears the next morning, before mashing. 

For the next few hours I left the lid cocked to the side to allow the moisture to evaporate so it could thicken.  Then I used an immersion blender to whiz it up to smoother texture.

Mashed with a potato masher and pureed with an immersion blender.

By the afternoon I figured it had been cooked down long enough, so I tasted it, added the brown sugar, and proceeded with canning it.  One reminder, it will thicken as it cools, so you might want to stop a little before the final thickness you want. 

Final product, finished pear sauce.

I won't bore you with the canning details, but it went smoothly using my pressure cooker as my canning vessel since I used half-pint jars, which are too tall for the pot I used for canning jelly.

Filling jars with my "new" canning funnel my mom got at an auction.  So handy!

I also used my new canning funnel, which helped me make less of a mess than the last couple times.  I only had to clean off the rim of one jar before adding the lids. 

Lids soaking in the hot water.

Verdict

I still don't know what pear butter truly is, but whatever this stuff is, it's fabulous!

I forgot that my cinnamon is the Tung Hing cinnamon from Penzey's, which is quite strong.  This was more cinnamon-y than I expected when I tasted it, but I had no way of fixing it.  It ended up being ok in the end because after being refrigerated, the flavor is more muted and it's excellent.

We tasted it warm from the slow cooker and it mainly seemed like applesauce, but later we had a spoonful on some vanilla ice cream and it was like apple pie ala mode, soooo good!  This made me wonder if applesauce would be good on ice cream, haven't ever tried anything like that, but it makes sense. 

Cranberry-Orange Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker

Check out the neat inside of a cranberry!

I think about oats a lot and I love new oatmeal ideas.  I even follow a blog called The Oatmeal Artist.  Lauren blogs great ideas about new oatmeal flavor combos, and she's definitely more daring than I am since she eats savory oatmeal.  This oatmeal recipe doesn't come from Lauren's blog, but I think this is one she might be interested in.

I liked this multi-serving of steel-cut oats made in the slow cooker, typically how I roll when I'm making oatmeal, several servings in one big batch.  
I've tried to make overnight steel-cut oats in the slow cooker once before, but it didn't work out.  That was my fault, I didn't know the right setting for cooking and they were raw still when I woke up.  So I was a little hesitant to try the concept again, but it was great!

 Inspiration

Jennifer's Kitchen Cock-pot Cranberry Oatmeal

The original recipe used orange juice concentrate, but I needed to use up a carton of orange juice, so I replaced both the water and concentrate with orange juice.  And it only called for 1/3 cup chopped cranberries, but that didn't look like enough to me since I really like tart cranberries in my oatmeal.  So I kept pouring out more cranberries and chopping them until it looked like the amount I wanted. 

Measuring out some OJ.

Ingredients

serves 4-5

• 1 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
• about 3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries (I would use even more next time)
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Check out that curdled almond milk! 

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours.  I started mine before bed and it was certainly ready in the morning.  I would actually look into adding a little more water next time because I wouldn't have wanted to cook it any more, it was quite thick.   

Divide the cooked oatmeal out into five bowls or containers. 

I eat my oatmeal with a "float" of 1 Tablespoon of non-dairy creamer and 2 Tablespoons of almond milk poured on top.

Verdict

Deliciously tart and creamy! Need more now!

I was a little uncertain about mixing orange juice and almond milk since the acid in orange juice will curdle even non-dairy milk, but the taste was great.  The orange juice and almond milk mix was similar to orange sherbet, so it was super yummy.  I would even make this again without the cranberries, and maybe add some canned mandarin oranges.  Or both!

The tart cranberries were the perfect balance between the sweetness of the orange juice.  I'm glad I increased the cranberries, I would go with even more the next time I make this, and I will definitely make it again soon.  I think my next batch of steel-cut oats in the slow cooker will be apple-cinnamon with chopped almonds or maybe a creamy orange-pineapple using crushed canned pineapple.

I was originally planning this would only be 4 servings and I was afraid that this wouldn't be a large enough to keep me full, but once I saw it cooked, I decided it was actually going to be big enough to make 5 servings, and I was happy with that decision.

Wrap It Up: Breakfast Fajita Enchiladas

This recipe doesn't come from any website, I made it up as I went along.  I called them breakfast fajita enchiladas -- "breakfast" because they've got scrambled eggs and "fajita" because there are peppers and onions. 

Make them dairy-free by leaving out the cheese.  If you want to add meat, add shredded chicken or ground beef.  Or breakfast sausage to keep the breakfast theme.  

Ingredients

• 7 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, optional
• 1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
• 1/2 cup frozen pepper stir fry (peppers and onions)
• hefty handful of spinach, sauteed
• 20 oz (two 10 oz cans) green chile enchilada sauce (you can use red if you prefer)
• 13 corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheese

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whip up your eggs and scramble them over medium-low heat until just barely done.  You'll finish cooking them in the oven, it'll be fine. 

Colorful enchilada filling.

Put the scrambled eggs through spinach (and any other veggies you want) and half of the shredded cheese to a large bowl and stir in a couple tablespoons of enchilada sauce to keep it moist. 

Add a couple of tablespoons of enchilada sauce to the bottom of your baking dish.  I went with three smaller baking dishes so I could freeze one after it was done cooking. In another one of the baking dishes, dump most of the rest of the enchilada sauce, you'll use this to dip each your tortillas before filling them. 

Tortillas filled and rolled.

Dip each tortilla into the enchilada sauce on both sides, place a moderate amount of filling into the tortilla, roll it up, and lay it seam-side-down in the baking dish with enchilada sauce on the bottom. Repeat dipping, filling, and rolling the tortillas until all the filling is gone. 

Drizzle the remaining enchilada sauce on the tortillas to ensure there are no dry spot.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the enchiladas.  If your baking dish has a glass lid, use that, otherwise cover with aluminum foil. 

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and everything is hot.  Remove from the oven let them sit for 5-7 minutes to cool down.  By waiting a bit, you prevent them from being super sloppy when you take them out of the pan. 

Top with sliced black olives and taco sauce.

Finished enchiladas.

Verdict

Tasty Mexican-inspired dish, I would love to start my day with these!  

These were so good!  Husband Jeff and I love Mexican food and could eat it several times a week, but Sonny D doesn't go for it.  I couldn't even tell you what Sonny D even ate for dinner when we had this, I only remember eating these and enjoying them a lot.  I was excited to have the leftovers for lunch and I quite possibly might have not pointed them out to Husband Jeff so he wouldn't take them. 

Tangy Ancho-Jalapeño Lime Jelly

My scribbled recipe that I refined as I worked. 

After my first jelly-making and canning success, I was so excited to make more!  I wasn't sure what my next project would be until Husband Jeff mentioned we have a ton of peppers in the garden that we needed to harvest.  In the past we've grown peppers, but then we end up without any plans to use them, and they go bad, so I felt particularly guilty until I realized a spicy pepper jelly would be a great way to take advantage of the surplus of peppers.

He picked all the good peppers and brought them inside, we had so many that they overflowed the cake container I put them into.  Unfortunately this recipe only used four big ancho peppers and four small jalapeños, but I made another batch later to use up another eight peppers.

This was my first low-sugar pectin recipe.  After tasting it, going the low-sugar route is totally my preference since it's not as tooth-achingly sweet as when you use regular pectin, which needs a lot of sugar to gel up. 

Inspiration

Ball canning pepper jelly
You Grow Girl zippy mixed pepper and lime jelly

Ingredients

• 4 big, non-spicy peppers, about 2 cups chopped (I used Ancho San Martin since that's what we grew but standard bell peppers would be fine too.)
• 1/4 c chopped onion
• 4 spicy peppers, chopped  (I used jalapeños)
• 1 c cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup lime juice (2 limes)
• 1 c sugar 
• 1/2 c honey
• 1 1/2 tablespoons low-sugar pectin

Directions

Jars in boiling water to sterilize.

Wash and sterilize jars.

Chopped peppers and onions.

Chop peppers and onion in food processor.  Since I didn't know what our peppers were like, I tasted each one as I cut it up so I knew what I was working with.  I was glad I tried them because I added another jalapeño since a couple of the others weren't too spicy.  

Vintage citrus juicer and limes.

Add the chopped peppers and onions to a large sauce pan and add cider vinegar and lime juice.  Add pectin and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar and honey and return to fill boil.  Boil hard for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Skim off any foam if necessary.  

Peppers, onions, cider vinegar, lime juice. 

Put jelly in jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim and add lids.  Screw on bands to finger tight. 

Tangy jelly mixture, ready to go in the jars.

Process jars for 10 minutes in the boiling water.  After the 10 minutes are up, turn off heat and let the jars sit in water for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and place on two kitchen towels on the countertop.

Verdict

So cool! I've been so excited to make jelly and then can it.  Unfortunately this jelly wasn't spicy, but I like the tangy flavor.  It's not extremely green pepper flavored, which is nice because that can be too assertive of a flavor.  It's good on buttered toast.  I tried it on a roast beef sandwich but it was a little too sweet.  But it's certainly not as sweet as my wine jelly recipe, which is good.  I'm going to continue with making jellies with  low-sugar pectin since there's no reason to use all that sugar. 

Roll It Up In Bread Dough: Pizza Pockets

This is a non-recipe for pizza pockets that I'm going to display in pictures.  I'll give you some vague amounts and you can make it be whatever you want.

Ingredients and Directions

I defrosted a loaf of frozen bread dough overnight in the refrigerator and cut it into four pieces. 

Then I emptied a jar of pizza sauce into a bowl and added our favorite pizza toppings -- chopped pepperoni, a pizza brat, peppers & onion mix, shredded cheese, chopped sauteed spinach, shredded zucchini, etc. I even added some chopped cauliflower mixture that I had leftover from the cauliflower crust mini pizzas.  I wanted to add chopped mushrooms, but Sonny D and Husband Jeff are not fans.

I rolled each piece of dough out and spooned on some filling, then folded the edge over and rolled and pinched it shut.  I placed them onto a sprayed cookie sheet and baked them until they were golden brown.  I think it was about 20-30 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees. 

Chopped turkey pepperoni with an artistic shot of the pizza sauce can.

Cooking up a pizza brat from the local meat market.

Chopped peppers & onions from a bag.

Shredded cheese.  I think it's a co-jack blend. 

Cutting up the brat into bits.

Spinach in the sauce.

A not-quite-circular "round" of dough with a quarter of the filling.

Pockets in the oven.

Half of a pocket with half an ear of corn.

Cross-section.

Verdict

The dough of the pizza pockets was a little softer than I expected, but the filling was so good! Husband Jeff and I shoveled ours down our gullets, but Sonny D didn't touch his.  He had every right to be suspicious, I was attempting to sneak in all sorts of veggies on him.  He had no idea what he was missing out on though.  Later I reheated a leftover end for Sonny D to have for lunch and he ate all of it, so it still ended up that he ate it and enjoyed it.

I wish I had cooked them a little longer, but I was impatient for dinner.  The dough was done, but I would have liked it a little browner.  

It would be fun to make these into a breakfast version with scrambled egg, sausage, veggies, etc.  You could also make these smaller with other ingredients like ham and cheese and broccoli to make your own "hot pockets".