Oatmeal

I am pretty proud of my newest off the top of my head cooking experiment. It was a pretty simple revelation nothing majorly complicated, but I was pretty darn proud of myself none the less! We always seem to have an abundance of fruit in our house and usually it all gets eaten, especially blackberries and strawberries in that case I can't buy them fast enough because my little berry eating monster can't get enough. Any how on rare occasions we don't eat all the fruit in enough time leaving us with wasted food and money. The other day we had one apple left and it was about time it got eaten same situation this morning with two peaches, any longer and they would have been wasted. So with Sophie's declaration that she wanted oatmeal for breakfast on these two particular days I whipped up some homemade Apples n' Cinnamon oatmeal one day and then today, my favorite, Peaches n' Cream!!! I have to say the Peaches n' Cream came out AWESOME it definitely took me back to my oatmeal lovin' days except with out all the partially hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, colors and variety of other genetically modified ingredients! It was fairly simple to make and took no more time than it would to make regular oatmeal (not the package kind but the rolled oats in the big huge container).

Apples n' Cinnamon Oatmeal

• 1 apple cored, peeled and cut to desired size pieces
• 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
• Cinnamon to taste
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 3/4 cups water

Bring water to boil. Add oats cook about 5 minutes or until water is mostly absorbed then add apples, brown sugar and desired amount of cinnamon. Cook 5 or 10 minutes longer or until you have the desired consistency of your oatmeal.

Peaches n' Cream Oatmeal

• 2 Peaches pits removed, peeled and cut to desired size pieces (our two peaches probably ended up being about 1.5 peaches before they were added to the recipe since I have a little fruit bandit who invaded my kitchen!)
  
• 2-3 Tablespoons brown sugar depending on how sweet you want it, but the peaches make it pretty sweet.
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 3/4 cups milk

Bring milk to boil. Add oats and cook until most of the milk is absorbed then add peaches and brown sugar. Continue to cook until the oats are cooked through and you have the desired consistency. ENJOY! And feel good knowing that you can pronounce every single ingredient in this wholesome healthy breakfast and can list them all on one hand!

Please excuse my picture quality I definitely did not check the settings on the camera before I started snapping away and I was not re taking the pics, so I did what I could to edit them and make them look semi-decent!

Delicious!

Yesterday I tested out a new recipe that I adapted ever so slightly from another Mama's site which you can check out here. The recipe turned out great and was a crowd pleaser, although next time I may shred the zucchini so Sophie won't protest as much, although she did eat it (the zucchini), but it took some coaxing.

Homemade Hamburger Helper

• 1 lb ground meat of your choice (I used turkey)
• 1 medium onion chopped/diced
• 1 can crushed tomatoes or 1/2 to 3/4 of a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 box whole wheat spiral noodles
• 1/2 can of vegetable broth (preferably one without MSG...YUCK!)
• 1 8oz package of shredded cheese (I used Colby Jack)
• Veggies of your choice chopped, shredded or however your fam will eat them some good choices are bell peppers, kale, spinach, yellow squash the possibilities are endless. I opted for :

• chopped mushrooms
• 1 zucchini diced (however next time I will shred)
• 2 carrots shredded

In a large skillet saute the onion in a little bit of olive oil once they are tender and to your liking add and brown your meat. While meat is browning, boil water and cook noodles. Once meat is browned add your veggies of choice and cook a little longer to soften veggies(about 5 minutes). Add your crushed tomatoes or pasta sauce cook for about 10 minutes or so stirring every so often. Drain noodles and add to mixture. Add the vegetable broth be careful when adding this, the recipe calls for a whole can but I stopped at about a 1/2 a can because I did not want it to get too soupy, so use your judgement. Cook about 10 minutes longer stirring often. Add the cheese mix well, let it cool ever so slightly so your family doesn't scald themselves on this piping hot goodness! Enjoy!

Rolling With The Punches

Things are progressively moving forward here at the Slimick household. We are doing what we can to stay busy and thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has sent stuff, and dropped stuff by the house to help keep Sophie entertained and busy, which is a hard feat for a 2.5 year old since most things only hold her attention for about 15 minutes! So you can imagine the multitude of activities that we are running through and how the wheels are turning in my head with new ideas of things to do. I can't begin to express what it means to receive all the cards, emails, packages and get well wishes from everyone, I am overwhelmed with how many people care about my Sweet Sophie!

Sophie had her follow up appointment with her orthopedist today and he said that she is healing well and that the half cast will do and he sees no need to put her into a full on leg cast up to her thigh! YAY!!! Our prayers were answered with that one, since she is just feeling confident enough to crawl around and be semi mobile with out bearing weight on her leg, having her in a full cast would have presented a whole new set of challenges for her and us! So that was good news. We go back in 3 more weeks for the removal of both her leg and wrist cast at which time he will x-ray with the casts off and see how the healing has gone. From there the doc will decide if she can remain cast free or if she needs to be re-casted for an additional few weeks. Please continue to keep Sophie (and me) in your prayers, pray for swift healing for her and patience and strength for me. I never realized how much I relied on her walking around and following me around until she could no longer do it. I am nervous to leave her alone for too long in the play room for fear that she will try and stand on her leg, however she has been really good about that and seems grasp that she can not under no circumstances stand on her "pink thing" as she calls it. It really is almost like having an infant again (better get used to that one....hehe) only it is a 30 pound infant who wants to get up and run and do things! We are definitely taking things one day at a time and things are getting done (laundry, dishes, cooking, ironing etc.) just a lot slower. She really is handling this remarkably well and it is so amazing to me how resilient my sweet girl is, she just keeps rolling with the punches, bless her little heart.

Today, in an effort to keep some semblance of normalcy and pass some time, we baked some cookies. A favorite activity of both mine and Sophie's, I love to have them in the house and she loves to help and lick the batter! I had to make a modification in how she she helped since she usually stands on a chair at the counter, but it all worked out well and the cookies turned out fab. The recipe is a little out of season, but I happened upon it when thumbing through an old Parenting magazine when looking for words that start with 'C' for Sophie's alphabet book. It is a good fall cookie recipe, Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies. I love using pumpkin in recipes because it packs a good nutritional punch of Vitamins A & C and Potassium, plus I just love those fall spice smells, nutmeg and cinnamon mmmmmm.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pureed fresh or canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnammon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugars. Add pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla; beat. Mix in combined flours, baking soda and spices, then stir in oats. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

Below are just some cute pics that I have been meaning to post of Sophie before the big break(s). I just had not gotten around to it yet. It makes me a little sad to see her cast free, smiling, happy and free to run around. We'll be there again running around though in a couple weeks, right now I will take the casted smiles knowing that things could have turned out worse.

Happy Birthday Neal!

Friday (May 22nd), was Neal's 28th Birthday! Happy Birthday baby! He took the day off to stay home and celebrate with Sophie and I and we were so glad to have him here. Sophie has been uber obsessed with Daddy lately so it was an extra treat Friday morning when she said, "Daddy's going to work" and Neal chimed in, "No, Daddy's staying home today because it's his birthday!"

Sophie came bounding into our rooming bright and early and awoke Neal with a, "Happy Birthday Daddy", she has been waiting all week for it to be his birthday and has been singing "Happy Birthday to Daddy" all week and all day today. We made him a cake yesterday of which she helped make, I also made a Blueberry Oatmeal Cake for breakfast this morning (baked and chilled overnight so it was all ready for us this morning), so when I told her we were having blueberry cake for breakfast she got super excited and thought we were having the actual birthday cake for breakfast, a two year old can dream can't she?

We had a pretty lazy day, took our time getting showered and dressed and then headed off to downtown Belmont to walk around and grab some lunch. We had a good ole' Southern Style lunch at a little cafe, Cherubs, operated by the Holy Angels. They also have a Candy Bouquet next door and both establishments provide vocational training and meaningful supported employment options for individuals with mental retardation. It was a good lunch for a good cause.

I was really impressed with the way my cake turned out so I thought I would share the recipe with anyone who might want to try a good made from scratch cake instead of those preservative filled, all around bad for you boxed cake mixes.

Yellow Cake

Preheat oven to 375

3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl or mixer beat butter on high for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture.

Bake in 375 oven in greased and flour pan(s). 20-25 minutes for 9 inch pans, 30-35 minutes for 8 inch pans, 25-30 minutes for a 13x9x2 inch pan.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 stick of butter
1 box of powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons of milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Cream butter until fluffy. Sift in sugar and continue to cream until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla and blend completely.

***Tip**** Use very, very soft butter or allow your frosting to sit out at room temp for a while before frosting, this will ensure that you will get the smoothest, easiest frosting application.

I had the best result with this cake this time around when, after frosting the completely cooled cakes, I placed the cake on cake stand, covered, in the fridge over night. My result a very moist, dense delicious cake!

Also wanted to share the fabulous blueberry cake recipe I found on one of my favorite blogger sites, Sarah's Cucina Bella.

Blueberry Oatmeal Cake
serves 6

1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup non-fat milk
1 egg
1 3/4 cups frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in to a medium mixing bowl. Stir in oatmeal.

In a separate bowl, combine milk and egg and whisk until well combined. Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until combined, then add the blueberries, stirring to incorporate.

Pour mixture into a 9-inch round non-stick baking dish.

Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden and the cake is cooked through. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. Chill in the fridge, until ready to eat. I recommend chilling overnight.

Cut into wedges to serve.

Dancing with Daddy after breakfast.

Strategically placing the candles.

Patiently waiting for her piece of cake.

Bread Anyone?

Always up for a challenge in the kitchen, I decided to make my own bread today. Not only were we two slices away from no bread in the house, but I figured I had all the ingredients so, why not? I had tried a while ago to make my own bread at home with Neal's bread maker that he used in college and after several failed attempts I just quit. This time I used a recipe for whole wheat bread out of my trusty "can't live without it" Better Homes and Gardens cook book. I have to say I am very proud of myself and will definitely be doing this again, not only to I feel accomplished, but the smell of fresh baked bread throughout the house can't be beat! The loaves are a little on the small side, we can mow through some bread in this house, but homemade bread tends to spoil faster than store bought since there are no preservatives in homemade, which I feel good about! So I thought I would share my success and how easy it really was!