Overnight Slow Cooker Pumpkin Oatmeal

I think the only thing better than a warm, delicious-smelling breakfast on a cold Fall morning is one that's all ready to eat as soon as you wake up! I put all of the ingredients for this oatmeal into my slow cooker before I went to bed one night, and the next morning all I had to do was stir it all up and scoop some into my bowl. Doesn't get any easier than that!

I followed a recipe from The Yummy Life and she gave two different methods to cook this - you could either put the ingredients directly into your slow cooker and let it cook for 5 hours, or you can put it into a heat-proof bowl inside your slow cooker, and have 8 hours of cooking time. Since I wanted this to cook overnight, and since I made it on a weekend and knew I'd be in bed for well over 5 hours, I opted for the bowl method. This makes for a softer oatmeal, whereas cooking it directly in the slow cooker would make a bit of a crusty edge more like a baked oatmeal. I'd like to try it that way at some point, but for now, the bowl method worked better with my schedule.

After I had eaten my first serving, I scooped the rest into small containers to have a ready-to-go breakfast throughout the week. I drizzled a little bit of maple syrup over each one before putting it in the fridge, and then each morning I just added a splash of milk to the container, heated it for one minute, stirred it up, and heated it for one minute more. So easy, and just as yummy on the last day I ate it as it was on the first.

Overnight Slow Cooker Pumpkin Oatmeal
Adapted from The Yummy Life

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups milk 
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used some with cinnamon added)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

Directions:
Place a heat-proof bowl inside your slow cooker (I used a large Pyrex bowl); coat inside of bowl with cooking spray. Add all ingredients to the bowl and stir to completely combine. Pour water into the slow cooker on the outside of the bowl so that the water goes about halfway up the sides of the bowl. Cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for up to 8 hours. 

I slept for a long time that night, so my oatmeal cooked for 8 hours, and then was on the warm setting for 2 hours, and it was perfectly hot and delicious when I woke up. You can top your oatmeal with any number of toppings (walnuts, raisins, chopped apples, etc.) but I chose to keep it simple and just drizzle a little additional maple syrup on top.

Peanut Butter Bacon Provolone Pizza

 

In my post about the Big E a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned one of the items that has become a staple for us every time we go - the Peanut Butter Bacon Provolone Pizza. It's sold by Wooster Street Pizza, which has a few locations in Connecticut, and they call it Skippy's Dare. Apparently the pizza weirds people out, and they keep a tally at the Big E of how many brave souls give it a try. I was intrigued at first sight. I already knew peanut butter and bacon make for a combo from the heavens, and to have them combined with bubbly brown cheese and pizza crust was too hard to resist.

I've replicated it on my own a couple of times now. I don't really keep track of my ingredient measurements, so this isn't much of a recipe, just a guide for your own inspiration. Let me know if you try it!

Peanut Butter Bacon Provolone Pizza

Ingredients:

Cornmeal 

Pizza dough (homemade would be great - I usually am too lazy and use Trader Joe's dough) 

Creamy peanut butter (Skippy is my preferred brand)

Bacon, cooked until crispy, then broken into pieces

Provolone slices

Directions:

Preheat your oven according to your dough package or recipe instructions. If using refrigerated pizza dough, let it sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes. This will help relax the gluten in the dough and make it easier to shape and stretch.

Sprinkle cornmeal on your baking sheet. This helps prevent the dough from sticking, and also helps give the crust a bit of a crunch. Spread the dough out on the baking sheet (or toss it in the air if you're fancy and more talented than me) until it's at your desired thickness and diameter. If your dough is stubborn and is resisting being spread out or is snapping back after being spread, allow it to sit at room temperature a little longer.

Add some peanut butter to a bowl and microwave in 10 second increments until it can be stirred. This will make it MUCH easier to spread the peanut butter on the dough - trust me, I've learned from experience! Spread the peanut butter onto the dough, leaving an inch or so around the edge to allow for the crust to rise a bit. The amount of peanut butter you use is entirely up to you. I just make sure there's a good coating on there.

Then spread the bacon pieces across the peanut butter, evenly distributing them. Again, the amount of bacon you use is completely up to you. I like bacon in every bite, so I pretty much cover the peanut butter.

Finally, lay the provolone slices over the bacon, overlapping them slightly and tearing them if necessary to make sure the whole pizza is covered. Put the pizza in the oven and bake according to your dough package or recipe instructions. After that, I usually turn the broiler on for a minute or two to help get that beautifully browned cheese like you see in the photos.

Slice and enjoy!

One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

This super easy pasta is all over the blog world and Pinterest lately. It originated with Martha Stewart over the summer and adapted versions have been popping up all over the place ever since. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try myself, using a version from Apron Strings as my inspiration. It's a perfect weeknight dish because, as the name of the recipe suggests, everything is cooked in one pot. Instead of cooking pasta in water and draining it when done, you allow the pasta to absorb all of the liquid and cook right along with the vegetables added. So quick and easy to make, with very little clean-up!

The cast of characters:

One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta
Adapted slightly from Apron Strings

Ingredients:
12 oz. linguine (I had to break it in half to fit in the pot)
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes with liquid
1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips*
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes (this definitely gave it a kick - decrease to 1/2 tsp if you don't love spicy food)
2 tsp dried oregano 
15 - 18 basil leaves, cut in a chiffonade (stack the leaves, roll them up, and slice into thin ribbons)
32 oz. carton of chicken broth (regular broth - don't go low sodium with this one)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese for garnish

*I've julienned a number of other foods before, but never an onion, so I watched this video to learn how.

Directions:
Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Pour in chicken broth. Add the basil, pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.

Here is the "Before" shot:

Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a low simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. Cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, leaving just a little bit still in the pot to allow for a little bit of sauce. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir the pasta several times to distribute the seasoning and the liquid remaining in the bottom of the pot. 

And here is the "After" shot:

Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Makes four very generous servings or six "regular" size portions. If you want to make this vegetarian, you can substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

Thursday Thoughts

1. I might have found my soulmate. A man who built a bacon-based empire? Yes, please.

2. Did you know I’m a dork and I keep a spreadsheet of all the books I read, movies I see in theaters, and new recipes I try? This started a few years ago when I was keeping track of these things for my 30 by 30 list, and I decided to keep it up. I love comparing how much I’ve done year to year. And it’s fun, especially with the recipes, to look back over the list and remember what occasion I made each dish for and how completely delicious some (most?) of them were.

3. What does your favorite Disney princess say about you? My favorite Disney movie/princess is Sleeping Beauty, and that description of Aurora is pretty spot on for me. I LOVE to sleep. A lot, and late into the day. I just need to find out how to get me a prince with a trust fund.

4. I love Christmas. Love it. But Christmas displays in September?? I’m ok with the decorations starting to go up around Halloween, but this year, on September 28th, I saw my first Christmas display of the year. WHO is already buying any Christmas decorations? Are the stores getting any business from setting stuff up so early?

5. I have seen that Bud Light commercial with the quinoa about a dozen times and it still makes me laugh every single time. What is that, a loofah? It’s a queeno.

6. And speaking of commercials, Hump Day will never not be funny.

7. I did a bad thing and bought these boots. I shouldn’t have, but I don’t care.

8. I would really love to go on vacation. Work has been ridiculously insane lately and I just want to get the hell out of dodge. But I can’t, because I spend my money on boots. See point #3 above about needing to find a prince with a trust fund.

9. But, no matter how crazy work is, I’m still pretty lucky because of the people surrounding me. Yesterday I had lunch with my brother and then a great happy hour with my friends. Life is good.

Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Relish and Brown Rice Pilaf

 

I first made this meal about four years ago (which is actually when I took the photo above) and it was so delicious, especially the pork tenderloin. I actually made it again this year, for Mother's Day, and my mom really loved it. The cherry relish seems like a slightly bizarre concept at first, but it's just SO good! The recipe was from Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking magazine, so on top of being delicious, it's pretty healthy too!

Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Relish

Pork
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. each dried oregano, tarragon, and crushed dried rosemary (I did not have tarragon and don't particularly care for it, so I substituted dried thyme instead)
2 pork tenderloins (1 lb. each), trimmed of extra fat

Relish
1 large red onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. dried cherries
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. crushed dried rosemary
 

In a small bowl, combine garlic powder and herbs; rub over pork. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For relish, in a large saucepan, saute onion in oil until tender. Add sugar; cook and stir over medium heat for 10 minutes or until onion is browned. Add the cherries, vinegar, and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
 

Place pork on a rack in a shallow roasting pan lined with foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 145 degrees*. Let stand for 10 minutes, with a piece of foil tented over it, before slicing. Serve with relish.

*The original recipe, as written a few years ago, called for the pork to be cooked to 160 degrees. I was never able to get the pork that hot, though it was clearly done. In 2011, the USDA changed its policy to say that pork tenderloin is actually safe to eat at 145 degrees. Depending on the thickness of your tenderloin, it may take longer than 30 minutes to get to this temp. I generally just try to get pork to at least 140 before I take it out of the oven, and then it cooks a little more while resting.

Brown Rice Pilaf
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/4 c. uncooked brown rice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c. water
1 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a large saucepan, saute onion and green pepper in oil until tender. Add rice and garlic; cook and stir for 3 - 4 minutes or until rice is lightly browned. Add the water, broth, thyme, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 35 - 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Fluff with a fork.

S'more Cake

This cake was far more awesome than you might think based on the photo alone. What you don't see is the warm, rich chocolate cake underneath, or how melty and gorgeous the toasted marshmallows were after coming out from under the broiler. It's a S'more Cake, which was one of two cakes I made for my friend Colleen's 30th birthday celebrations. She loves s'mores just as much as (maybe more than?) she loves mint chocolate chip ice cream, so they were the perfect two cakes to make. In case you missed it, check out the other cake here.

Now, I have no intention of turning this blog into a constant plug for my Pampered Chef business, but when I encounter a product that I love or that changes my cooking life, I need to rave about it, no matter who makes it. This cake was made in my new Pampered Chef Rockcrok, which is an amazing product that can be used in the microwave, on the stove, on the grill, in the oven, and under the broiler. You'll see below that this cake, made in this pot alone, started in the microwave and finished under the broiler. I don't know of many cooking vessels that can handle that, and that's why I'm so excited about this! Clean up was a breeze too, which is always a bonus!

S'more Cake
Recipe from Pampered Chef

Ingredients: 
3 milk chocolate Hershey bars (1.55 oz each), broken into squares
1 small package (9 oz) devil’s food cake or 1 and 2/3 cups from a regular-size package
1 egg
8 oz. sour cream
1 bag regular-size marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
3 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces

Directions: 
Place oven rack in middle of oven; preheat broiler.  

Combine cake mix, egg and sour cream in large bowl; mix until blended. Pour batter into Rockcrok™  Everyday Pan or Rockcrok™ Dutch Oven. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until center of cake is firm and springs back when pressed. (It took 5 minutes in my microwave.) Remove pan from microwave; arrange marshmallows in an even layer over cake. Broil 30-60 seconds or until marshmallows are golden brown.  

Meanwhile, microwave chocolate in small bowl on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until mostly melted. Stir until smooth.

Remove cake from under broiler; sprinkle with graham crackers and drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve warm.

The cake seriously taste like a ginormous s'more, just as I hoped. And I can't hate a cake that comes together from start to finish in less than 10 minutes!

Big Eating at the Big E

On Monday, three of my friends and I ventured up to the Big E, the biggest and best fair in New England. Sure, they have rides there. And livestock. And crafty things for sale. But what we really go for is the food. The glorious, deep-fried, salty, sugary food. I took pictures of some of the things we ate throughout the day and thought I'd share them here with you.

First up, my most favorite thing of all. The fried cheese curds. These are the first thing I have to have when I go there, and this year, they were the last thing too. Yes, we ate them twice. And got called out on it by the girl at the cheese curd stand. Poor form, lady. Don't judge your customers for loving your food so much that they order it twice.

Now we have some kettle corn from the New Hampshire house. It's just so freakin good. Even better when you manage to get a bag of still-warm, freshly made corn. YUM.

Confession time: for the first two and a half decades of my life, I didn't eat maple syrup. I have no earthly idea why. It is one of the four main food groups, after all. I just thought I didn't like it. Then I think at some point I suspected that I probably did like it, but figured I eat enough crap already that I didn't need another sugary delight added to my list of personal kryptonites. Then, maybe three years ago, I gave in. I tried it and I loved it. Now I can't get enough of maple anything. Not just maple syrup, but maple bacon. Maple porter. Maple candy. And this, maple cotton candy. It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!

 

Connecticut has the best house at the Big E. All the most magical stuff is there, although this year it was lacking the place with all the chocolate-covered things, including bacon. Major fail. But it did have this, maple bacon ice cream. Sooo good. I also had a sample of their pumpkin pie ice cream and that was pretty incredible too.

Also in Connecticut is this amazing pizza, which I had for the first time at the Big E two years ago. This peanut butter bacon provolone pizza has been added to our annual list of must-haves. It's so different, and so good, that I've recreated it twice at home. Stay tuned for a post on that in the next few weeks!

At this point, I was getting pretty thirsty, and right outside the Connecticut house was a stand with freshly made cherry limeade! I LOVE Sonic's cherry limeades, and while this wasn't carbonated like Sonic's version, it was pretty darn good.

 

I freakin love donuts. Love them. The Vermont house has apple cider donuts. Other years, we've gotten lucky and gotten a bag of donuts when they're just freshly made and still hot. This year, they weren't as fresh, but they were still tasty.

 

Next up is something we only had a sample of, but it was awesome. A pulled pork parfait. Normally, it would definitely be an item I would want to buy and eat a lot of, but I already had my eye on another pork item, which is coming up shortly. As delicious as this was, I'm glad I didn't fill up on it so early in my eating day.

A staple at any fair is the corn dog and at the Big E, there are two options - the 6 inch and the footlong. My lovely corn dog models:

We needed a quick break from all the fried food, so it was time to stop at the Pickle Barrel. Giant half sour pickles, with lots of garlicky goodness. So delicious. And zero WW points!

I didn't try this next thing because I don't like bananas, but the Baconana was one of the new items this year and one of my friends was really excited to try it - a frozen banana coated in chocolate and rolled in bacon. Unfortunately, she said it was underwhelming and not what she was expecting.

Another new item was the deep fried strawberry shortcake. This stuff was Good. I would love some right now, actually. I can't really tell you how it was made, but whatever they did, they did it well.

My final picture is of the new item I was most looking forward to - the Three Little Pigs: spicy pork sausage, pulled pork, and bacon on a six-inch grinder. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I washed it down with a cold Hofbrau Hefeweizen and couldn't have been happier.

It was another successful year at the Big E. I managed to eat my fill, but without overdoing it TOO much. It's probably a good thing that the Big E only happens once a year, but I'm already looking forward to next year's adventure!