Monthly Archives: January 2014

Banana Baked Oatmeal

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Banana Bread baked oatmeal

I made this baked oatmeal on Tuesday morning for my trio to have for breakfast before school.  We had several very ripe bananas that needed to be used after spending the long weekend in the Wisconsin Dells.  The trio love to help me cook and both Clara and Bo helped to mash the bananas and combine the ingredients, which helped them to think that breakfast was extra wonderful since they helped make it.  Anna was still asleep (by some miracle) and they were sure to encourage her to thank them for making breakfast. 😉

This recipe is a great weekday morning breakfast — it’s healthier than many breakfast options and tastes great with a smear of peanut butter on top.  I served it to the kids with glasses of milk – and enjoyed a cup of coffee with mine.

This makes 12 servings, but it is very good leftover and can be frozen in squares for an extra quick “on the go” breakfast option.

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Banana Baked Oatmeal
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 5 overly ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup brown sugar (you can use an alternative sweetener)
  • 3 cups quick cook oatmeal
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup almond milk (any milk you have on hand will work fine)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with PAM. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the eggs and brown sugar and continue mashing until it is well combined. Stir in the oatmeal, baking soda, salt, and milk. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares and serve. Great topped with a smear of peanut butter.

 

Homemade Breadsticks

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Breadsticks

Dislocated Olneans — this post is for you.  Growing up in Olney, Illinois, one of my most favorite places to eat is Joe’s Pizza.  The number of memories I have of eating Joe’s Pizza is a bit ridiculous — extra cheese, extra sauce pizza on Jenna’s 16th Birthday, countless orders of breadsticks with Mandy, and Sunday night pizza night at home. Joe’s Pizza is an Olney staple and one of the places that requires a visit each time I return to my hometown.

Now that I live in North-Central Illinois, I’m still shocked that the pizza places here don’t have breadsticks.  The “thing” in the Illinois Valley is garlic nuggets — which are okay — but I still crave and miss the traditional breadsticks from Joe’s.  Amazingly, I’ve figured out how to make them at home — and they are delicious.  Easy to make and oh, so good.  Now if I can just figure out Joe’s pizza sauce…
These breadsticks are great served with pizza sauce and cheddar cheese sauce (mixed together — it sounds odd, but trust me) for dipping.

I made these breadsticks twice this week.  The kids had friends over on Tuesday so I made a batch to have with our spaghetti dinner — and then I made them again last night — just to be able to eat more of them!  So much for that low-carb diet…  Last night, Bo came into the kitchen when they were almost done baking and exclaimed, “What is that amazing smell!?!”  (Yes, he’s 6…) These breadsticks were a huge hit with the trio.

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Homemade Breadsticks
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup warm water
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • 3 cups white flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2½ tsp. dry active yeast
Instructions
  1. Using a bread machine, combine all ingredients in the order listed. Turn the machine on the dough cycle setting. When the dough cycle is complete, roll out the dough and cut into 20ish slices and place on baking sheets lined with parchment. Let rise for at least an hour (I let mine rise for nearly 2 hours as it was pretty chilly in my kitchen).
  2. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes until just beginning to brown. They are great plain or you can brush with a bit of butter for some extra flavor. Serve with pizza sauce and cheese sauce for dipping.
  3. *If you don't have a bread machine, I think you could use the dough hook on a mixer to make the dough -- just make sure you let the dough rise twice -- once before cutting into breadsticks and again after*

 

Homemade Sugar Cookies

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Sugar Cookies

While we were all home for Christmas break, we made sugar cookies with the trio.  Of course, decorating them was completely messy, but it’s become a Christmas tradition at our house.  This cookie recipe is my favorite because the dough doesn’t have to be chilled, it’s easy to work with, and the taste is delicious (the secret ingredient is the almond extract!).  These are perfect for any type of cutout cookies — they don’t have to only be made at Christmas.

I made yellow, blue, green, red, and white icing (just add food coloring) and the trio had a lot of fun decorating them.  I had several different types of sprinkles, squeeze bottles, and bowls of icing that they shared.  Santa was left three of their masterpieces and there were two carrots for the reindeer.

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Homemade Sugar Cookies
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Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 3 cups flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add extracts and eggs. Add the baking powder and then add the flour a bit at a time. The dough does not need to be chilled. Divide into several batches and roll onto a floured surface to cut. They should be ⅛ to ¼th of an inch thick. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 6 to 8 minutes.
  2. Decorate however you choose -- the trio used royal icing and sprinkles.

 

Clara sugar cookies Sugar Cookies 2 Anna making sugar cookies Christmas cookies 3 Bo sugar cookies

Bolognese Sauce

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Bolognese

On Christmas Eve, Mike made bolognese sauce.  This recipe is originally from Mike’s dad, Jim, but has become one of Mike’s speciality recipes when he has a hankering to cook. We had this for lunch on Christmas Eve and everyone enjoyed it.  Bo has deemed it the best sauce ever.  I think it helped that Daddy made it!

If you’re looking for a special pasta sauce with lots of flavor, this one is perfect.  I served it with Pioneer Woman’s Garlic Cheese Bread Sticks.  Bo and I enjoy watching Pioneer Woman’s show on Food Network and she made these in one of the episodes we watched the day before.  They were a great accompaniment!

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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • ½ lb. ground beef
  • 3 Tbsp. butter
  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion, pureed
  • 1 stalk of celery, pureed
  • 1 large carrot, pureed
  • ⅛ tsp. minced garlic
  • ½ cup pancetta, diced
  • ¼ lb. mild Italian sausage
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 28 oz. can Italian tomatoes
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • dash of cloves
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Saute ground beef in a heavy skillet or dutch oven until color is no longer red. Remove meat, set aside, and drain fat. Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in butter and olive oil until softened (if you prefer to have minimal chunks in your sauce like my family, then puree these ingredients -- if you don't mind chunks, finely chopped is fine). Add Italian sausage, pancetta, and garlic and cook until color of the meat is no longer red. Be sure to chop up the meat as it cooks.
  2. Return beef to the pan and add white wine. Turn up the heat to high and cook until wine is cooked off. Add whole milk and continue cooking. Add chopped tomatoes, dash of cloves, black pepper, and tomatoes sauce. Slow simmer for a minimum of 2 hours.
  3. Just before serving, add heavy cream. Add salt if needed.
  4. Serve over freshly cooked pasta.