Baked Oatmeal

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"  I LOVE Christmas!  There is so much joy, happiness, and excitement in the air.  I love knowing I will get to see all my family, especially those I don't see enough throughout the year.  

The other fun part of this time of year is everyone announcing they are having babies...including US!  Alex and I are expecting our first child around June 28, 2012!  We are beyond excited.  We feel so blessed that things happened so quickly for us after the miscarriage.  

With the celebration of babies coming we have also been celebrating those who have recently been born.  I recently had the pleasure of visiting Andrew Thompson Heller and his mommy, Holly.  

Precious quilt that Molly made for Mr. Andrew!

I wanted to bring something healthy and different from all the dinner casseroles most bring.  I found this great breakfast recipe that can be eaten any time of day.  Holly is health conscious anyways, but even more so after the baby so this was perfect for her and her new family!  I hope you enjoy!

Caledon Baked Oatmeal
Source:  The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of old fashioned oats
• 2 cups low fat or skim milk or soy milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit of your choice
• 1 large unpeeled Macintosh apple, grated
• 4 Tbsp. maple syrup
• cooking spray
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• a pinch of nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a 3 quart casserole dish or baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  If you are preparing this the night before don't add the liquid ingredients such as milk or grated apple until morning.

Place mixture in a casserole dish.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.  (My oven cooks quick so this was too long, just keep an eye on it!)

Migas

This is my Father's Day blog. (Finally.)

I am so grateful to have an amazing father and father-in-law.

My dad has always been the person to give me words of encouragement when I am down.  He is my biggest fan in any new task I choose to accomplish.  He has a golden heart.  He always looks for the best in everyone and will lend a helping hand whenever physically possible.

We have had a few health scares with him over the past few years which makes this day even more special for me.  I never take for granted the time I have with him.

Dad, Cari (step-mom), Me, and Alex

Being introduced at the reception

Singing to me at the Father-Daughter dance

Dakin, my father-in-law, has been in my life for 10 years now (Alex and I started dating 10 years ago yesterday!!!)  He has been an amazing role model of patience, kindness, and support.  He has shown us unconditional love even when we are making crazy decisions.  I feel so blessed to have him as part of my family now!

Dakin, Me, Alex, and Susan

Susan and Dakin being introduced at the reception

So, this one is for you, dad and Dakin, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  Hope you had the best one yet!

I am sure you were dying to know what I made for Father's day:)  We settled on doing brunch which consisted for Migas, fresh fruit, and zucchini muffins.  It was a crowd pleaser!

Migas are a tex-mex dish that takes your traditional scrambled eggs to the next level.  You add some corn tortillas, cilantro, and other yummy ingredients.

Migas
Source:  The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 red bell pepper (I omitted because I don't like peppers)
• 1 green bell pepper (above)
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 or 2 jalapenos (I did two since I didn't use bell peppers)
• 10 to 12 large eggs (we used 12)
• 1/4 cup half and half
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 corn tortillas
• canola oil for frying tortillas
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 cups grated Mexican cotija, Monterrey jack, or pepper jack cheese (we used pepper jack)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

Roughly chop the onion, bell peppers, and tomatoes.  Finely dice the fresh jalapeno, removing the white membranes and seeds (this is where the heat is).

In a bowl lightly beat (with a mixer) the eggs and half and half. Season with salt and pepper.

In a small skillet, fry the corn tortillas in canola oil until they are barely crisp.  Remove from pan onto a paper towel to drain oil.  Cut tortillas into strips then large squares.  Set aside.

In a skillet over medium high heat, cook the onion and bell peppers in the olive oil and butter until they begin browning (you don't want then soggy and soft).

Next, add the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute.

Add tortilla squares and jalapenos.  Stir and reduce the heat to low.

Next pour in the egg mixture.  With a spatula,  very gently fold the mixture together, allowing the eggs to cook slowly.  Do not stir the mixture; just turn it lightly.  

When the eggs are cooked, throw in the cheese and chopped cilantro.

Add more cheese, salt, and pepper to taste.  Top with sour cream and serve with fresh fruit.

Basic Overnight Oats

The beaches in Mexico are beautiful.  I grew up going down to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida so I am spoiled by the white, beautiful  beaches.  I don't love vacationing to the east coast because the beach just isn't as pretty.  Mexico did not disappoint.

Here are a few pics of us enjoying the beautiful weather we had.

 Alex (A.K.A picky husband) laying out trying to get some color.

 The view back up towards the resort.

 Alex and I about to head down to the beach.

 BEAUTIFUL.  Alex wanted to wind surf and/or ocean kayak the whole time we were down there, but the water was too rough.

 My amazing husband of almost 5 years!

He knows how to make me smile.

I have been seeing overnight oats all over the blogging world lately.  I finally had a chance to make my own this weekend.  Unfortunately we were completely out of groceries so my ingredients were limited.  I wish I had some fresh fruit to add in.

I used steel cut oats instead of the regular rolled oats.  You get in a 1/4 of a cup of steel cut oats what you would get in 1/2 cup of rolled oats.  They tasted great.  A little chewier than regular oatmeal.  Definitely give these guys a try even if you don't normally like oatmeal.

You can make overnight oats into whatever you like.  The options are endless.  I first read about them on Kath Eats Real Food.  You can see there is so much you can add.  Have fun with this one.  Also try it with regular rolled oats.

Here are some of my future ideas of things to add:  greek yogurt instead of protein powder, cocoa, strawberries, bananas, blue berries, any fruit, peanut butter or other nut butter, nutmeg, honey, etc.

Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup quick cook steel cut oats (Trader Joe's has the quick cook)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed

Place oats and almond milk in a container to sit in refrigerator overnight.  In the morning add all other ingredients.  Mix and eat!

Breakfast Smoothie

I realized the other morning that I have never blogged on my breakfast smoothie.  I drink this EVERY morning except Sunday's when Alex and I cook breakfast.

It is super quick and easy + very healthy.  Alex is now drinking it too!

You can play around and make it your own depending on what fruits and veggies (yes, spinach and kale can be added without changing the taste).

I buy my protein powder from Progressive Medical Center.  It is the perfect flavor.  It doesn't taste like nasty, chalky powder.  Alex uses RAW protein which I think tastes disgusting.  Maybe I am becoming the picky one in the relationship:)  Regardless of what you use just be very conscious of the ingredients.  Some are packed full of things your body doesn't need.  Both of our choices are vegan.  I limit my dairy intake where I can (protein powder, almond milk, and coconut creamer) so this was an easy choice for me.  Let me know if you have any other questions on protein powder.

Breakfast Smoothie (or anytime of day meal)

I have been using regular frozen blueberries, but after reading an article on pesticides I figured this might be an area to step up and buy organic since I consume it daily.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 scoops of protein powder
• 1 banana
• 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries
• 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

Put it all in the blender and turn it on.  We have a vitamix which gets everything nice and smooth, but when I used a regular blender I often had some blueberry chunks that would not blend up.  

Tutterrow Breakfast Scramble

I love cooking our Sunday morning breakfast together!  I get to enjoy more than one cup of coffee, listen to music, and hang out with my favorite person first thing in the morning.  I like it because we can clean out the refrigerator and use the left over veggies from the week in an egg scramble.

The weather was awesome so we followed up this breakfast with a fun walk at the park, with all three dogs.  That is always an adventure!

Feel free to throw in whatever you have in your fridge.  We served this with some hash browns.

Egg scramble
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach, chopped
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

You have to splurge with a little bacon every once in a while!

Chop the spinach first, if you put it in like this then it will take forever for it to break up.

Cook onion, garlic, and spinach over medium heat until spinach is defrosted and onion is transparent.  Add egg, bacon, and cheese and cook until done.  Serve with yummy fruit or side of your choice.

I sautee some onions first in olive oil, add a little more olive oil, add hash browns.  Serve with Trader Joe's organic ketchup.  Yum!