Uh-Hmmmmm

There's nothing quite like Cream of Wheat for a cold winter's day. It satisfies your cravings for something hot AND mushy. I love the chef that looks like he's making a bowl special just for me! Apple Cinnamon especially reminds me of childhood when we used to eat it all the time (that and Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, which, if you were really lucky, would sometimes have a little glob of brown sugar that didn't quite mix in.). Lately, I've been really wanting Cream of Wheat, and today I finally bought some. Well, add it to the list of things that are just not the same as they used to be. They changed the taste, added more spice or something. Actually, yeah, it tastes like maybe nutmeg or perhaps allspice. It's a much stronger flavor than I remember. Maybe kids today need flavors kicked up a notch? Bam? Whatever the reason, I say "Boooooo Mr. Cream O. Wheat!" I liked your mild hint of apples and cinnamon. Just wait till I try the Maple Brown Sugar, we'll see what thats about!

I stole this image.

Success!

Marshmallows again. Much better this time. I went with Alton Brown's recipe from Food Network (he's usually got pretty good recipes and doesn't let me down). The process was actually pretty simple, just took some time. No egg whites this time to mess everything up!


I wanted to take a pic with snow around it, as I made these on Wednesday's snow day, but realized it would become an icy puddle really fast.

A cup of cocoa was delicious with breakfast this morning, a Dutch Baby. It's a baked eggy pancake, sort of like a souffle. I do not like eggs, but this tastes like eggs the way French Toast tastes like eggs...sort of, but not really. Below is the recipe, which is based on another version but added more flour and milk.

Terrible photos? We've got those!

3 Eggs
3/4 cup Milk
3/4 cup Flour
Pinch of Salt
3-4 tbsp Unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400°, place on a low rack in the oven a 9" pie plate, casserole, or whatever you've got handy (different sizes will just vary the thickness).

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend well, or whisk together in a bowl. Melt butter directly in the pan in the oven. When it is melted, pour in batter. Bake 15-20 mins. The sides will puff up a lot. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. It's good with fruit, applesauce, syrup, etc.

I Has a Pomegranate

I made juice!

Now what? I'm not sure I like the crunchy seeds; that surprised me, I was prepared to enjoy the pomegranate unconditionally. Most recipes I've found use the seeds whole; baked goods have them mixed in, and pies and parfaits have them sprinkled on top. I actually tried some in a parfait of Crispix cereal (DO Crispix stay crispy in milk? Stay tuned to find out!) and Greek yogurt. The yogurt was honey-flavored, so mixed with the pomegranate it wasn't the best combination. The little bursts of flavor from the seeds popping was fun though.

Eventually I decided to just juice the whole thing. I did this by putting the seeds in a blender a couple handfuls at a time, then straining them into a cup. To get every last bit of flavor out, I put the strained mess back in the blender with some water and repeated the process. This actually worked pretty well. The juice is strong so adding water really helps it.

Grand-ola!

Ha! I wrote a pun!

Courtesy of Sugar Plum (again), I made granola! It's not the first time I made it either, and I'm pleased to say it was not a baking total failure.

This grand-ola (ha!) was different because it has mashed banana right in it with peanut butter, brown sugar, cocoa, and honey. The original also had banana chips and chocolate chips added in at the end, but I thought those would have been too sweet for me (never thought I'd say those words, but since I've hit the big 3-0 some odd things have come out of my mouth, such as "I'll just have iced tea" and "11:30? I'm going to bed."). I might have overbaked it just a bit, because my oven sucks and everything overbakes, but it's still pretty good.

Apple Jack Muffins

And now back to our regularly-scheduled blogging...

I really wanted muffins yesterday. It's this library book's fault:

Specifically, this chapter:

All those delicious recipes, what was I supposed to do? So I had to make muffins, but did not have time to go to the store and get ingredients, and also had limited extras to use in them (the Cranberry Upside-down ones will have to wait). So I adapted the Applesauce Bran Muffins to be Apple Jacks Muffins.

I've learned to keep applesauce in the house for baking purposes, so I had that; then it was just a matter of using Apple Jacks instead of the bran cereal required in the recipe. I realized that there was NO added sugar in the recipe, but figured the sweetness of the cereal would be enough, since I crushed them slightly before adding them. Well, it wasn't. These are just not sweet. The flavor is good, but needs to be kicked up with sugar a bit. However, now, after sitting in a sealed tupperware container for a day, they actually taste a bit like pancakes. Weird, huh?

And yes, burnt Apple Jacks taste just like you think they would.

Dangerous Muffins

These muffins are pop-able. They are tiny morsels of yummy that are very addicting.

Sugar Donut Muffins
Credit goes to vanilla kitchen. I think I will take her advice next time and add jelly in the middle, they need just a bit of flair.




Just look at that yummy sugar on top!

For size comparison...a quarter.

Grape Nuts

Here is a nice article on the slow decline of Grape Nuts cereal. I mix it in with yogurt and fruit for parfaits. Or eat it warm with a little sugar. Or cold with a little sugar. I do enjoy the Grape Nuts.

No Grapes, No Nuts, No Market Share: A Venerable Cereal Faces Crunchtime

Cracklin' Good Time

Hi there. Have you met my friend, Cracklin' Oat Bran? He is most delicious. Slightly sweet, with hints of brown sugar and cinnamon. The taste of this cereal has not changed at all since I was a kid, and that can't be said about many cereals.

The apostrophe at the end is a vital part of Cracklin' Oat Bran marketing. It cannot simply Crackle...it has to BE Cracklin'! I must have taken 20 pics of these babies..they are so photogenic. And delicious.

Pictured is my favorite way to eat them too...straight up. See that weight? Seventeen ounces yet its one of the smallest boxes in the cabinet. This stuff is FORTIFYING. If I am really hungry but want cereal, I go for these.

Earlier today I blended them into a blueberry smoothie. They hold up to milk and retain crunch really well, so it was like a crunchy smoothie. Most of the bits settled to the bottom, making it like a bowl of cereal. And they got stuck in the straw. In lieu of an actual photo, here is a photo-realistic representation:

To sum up:
Go get Cracklin' Oat Bran. You'll thank me later.

Munching on Scones

I love baked goods. All kinds, but ones that come in portable sizes are the best. It's so easy to grab a cookie or biscuit or cupcake and just munch on it, and not feel too bad about eating it, unlike when you make banana bread and eat half the loaf in one sitting, but only cut it once so you can still say you had "a slice." I'm not even that picky...I gladly use Bisquick mix on a regular basis to make pancakes and one biscuit at a time; I have even used it to make scones (a recipe I made up myself, and turned out reasonably well). Scones pretend to be both a biscuit and muffin, so they are great for breakfast, or snack, or dessert, or all three if you are me.

These are easily the best scones I ever made (not that I have made too many as yet, but I'm trying to make a point). Cherry-oatmeal, slightly modified because the original recipe was for cranberry. They are moist and hearty, with just the right amount of crunch on the outside. You can taste every bit of the oats too, but it is not overpowering. I think I will try other variations of add-ins such as peanut butter and chocolate chips. These are now my favorite treat that is not what it is pretending to be (that position was formerly held by the bastard child of English muffins, the crumpet - hey crumpet, you know what you did!).

This recipe can be found at Joy of Baking.

Egg-cellent

For someone who doesn't like eggs, I sure have become reliant on them lately. I used my last one the other day to make The Pioneer Woman's Baked Fudge, and now I'm out and want to make cookies. Boooo. Turns out, when you have a yen to bake something, you pretty much HAVE to have eggs. I usually get the six-pack, but maybe will upgrade to the full dozen to prevent such atrocities in the future.

Here is a dish that uses LOTS of eggs (recipe to come at a later date. I lost it). Crepes, just like mom used to make! (No really, my mom made these for special occasions...such as, when we felt like doing all the work and eating crepes for dinner.) The greatness about making these is that I currently use the same blender she did for like, my entire life! It works great but I think the blades could be sharpened. Oh and because you must be dying to know what is inside these cute little packages, here it is (not all in one crepe, btw): Sugar, apricot jam, grape jelly, cream cheese and blueberries, maple syrup.

Mmmmm delicious!


(*Footnote: In writing this post, I realized...That Guy and I had these for brunch one day, making that the ONLY time I EVER had crepes at home for anything other than dinner. Wow, what a legacy!)