Steel cut oats in the rice cooker!

I've been hearing about this method of cooking your steel cut oats in the rice cooker for a while now and I finally remembered to try it last night! I say that because even though this recipe is super, super easy ... you do have to remember to put your oatmeal and water into the rice cooker the night before so the oats can soak. If you can remember to do that, you'll enjoy this so-simple-it's-crazy breakfast TOMORROW!

Night before:

Add one cup of oats (this recipe is specifically for steel cut Irish oats. If you are trying another kind, please google ANOTHER recipe, ha ha!) and 2 cups plus 3 oz. water to your rice cooker.

Morning of:

Plug in/turn on your rice cooker. Foil the baby in her attempts to climb the bookcase and pound on your Macbook.

15 minutes later ... EAT!

I topped my oats with a tablespoon of brown sugar, a handful of blueberries, a few sliced almonds, and some fat free half-and-half. And I have leftovers to microwave for tomorrow! This recipe is going into heavy rotation at our house. It's a lot better than eating leftover Halloween candy for breakfast!

The hippie strikes again: Composting

The other day I walked out in our backyard to get the hose and I stumbled across this:

No, we don't suddenly have chickens roosting in our backyard. My husband has taken to "composting" egg shells in what's left of his tomato patch back there. Being the sweet wife I am, I informed him that his little experiment wouldn't work unless he actually worked the egg shells into the soil. My husband is an experienced gardener, and HE KNOWS THIS. But time is of the essence lately and we don't have no stinkin' time.

It did get me thinking, though. And as I peeled apples over the kitchen sink today it occurred to me that they were compostable and would probably really help replenish the soil in the garden.

When I was a kid my grandmother always had a little container with a lid set out on the counter next to the sink. She would save and reuse produce bags from the grocery store to line it. In would go coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peelings, anything that could be thrown into my grandfather's extensive garden out back. My grandfather could grow anything. As a kid I wandered through his garden helping him pick out cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes. Nothing tasted quite so good as food grown in my grandparents' Virginia back yard.

Today I became a little more like Grandmother. I think she would be proud.

And let's hope it's rewarded with gigantic tomatoes next summer!

Great recipe finds

Lately I've been stumbling upon the most AMAZING, easy recipes that have been real crowd pleasers. I wanted to provide the links here so you can print them for your own recipe books (I don't have any photos because most of the results disappeared VERY quickly.

Simple Sesame Noodles (These are so good, and when I went to purchase the oils I needed it only cost about $10 ... and it's Los Angeles so you have a good shot at it being cheaper where you live! Very, very good).

Green Enchiladas (These are a huge, tremendous hit every time. I substitute onions for the celery, though. So easy to make!)

Corn and Bean Summer Salad (YUM! We eat this like salsa with tortilla chips. It is very satisfying)

And in the oven right now with some modifications ... Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

(I'll let you know how this one turns out).

Happy cooking!

And on the list to try! Hummus!

The best brownie mix!

Sometimes when I need to stress eat, nothing can satisfy me like a good warm brownie. On a stressful night a few weeks ago I half-jokingly replied to a resident of my house who asked me if I needed anything that I needed a very specific box of brownie mix. That person is AWESOME and soon returned with my fave, Ghirardelli Caramel Turtle Brownie mix. IT IS THE BEST. Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Another one bites the dust

My garbage disposal has been the death of many kitchen tools - spoons, chopsticks, breast pump accessories, you name it and it's been ground to a pulp - at our house. The latest victim? My favorite tablespoon measure. Dangit. I loved this thing!

What's cookin' today:

Lunch: Mediterranean Pepper Salad ala Smitten Kitchen

(We've already eaten half of this today. It's SO SO GOOD OH MY GOODNESS).

Dinner: Green Enchiladas ala Secret Agent Josephine

(Smells good so far. Gotta love Crock Pot cooking!)

Pasta primavera (puttanesca style!)

Have you ever seen that movie A Series of Unfortunate Events? In the movie at one point the kids have to make dinner for their evil uncle (played by Jim Carrey) and they make something they call "pasta puttanesca" which the oldest sister defines as a pasta dish that you make with whatever ingredients are available. Wikipedia, however, defines pasta alla puttanesca as "whore's pasta" and as it turns out it originally WAS a dish made from whatever was lying around but now there's a specific recipe for it, blah, blah, blah. Check out the link here. (And by the way I can't wait to answer the question, "Mom, what's for dinner?!" with the response, "WHORE'S PASTA!" ha ha!)

I bring all this up because sometimes I make a dish that in my head I call "pasta puttanesca" and define it as making a pasta dish with whatever I can find! Usually, though, my dish looks a lot more like pasta primavera because I make it with whatever vegetables I can find in my fridge and freezer.

Last night I made this dish for John and it turned out great!


First I salted and boiled the water for the pasta and got that going (did you know that adding salt to the water makes it boil faster? Something about it changes the molecular structure of the water. I got a B in chemistry in high school so that's the best explanation I can give you. It DOES work!). I used farfalle (bow tie) pasta. Penne or any other short pasta works great for this. While the pasta was going I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan with a lid. Then I added two small diced onions, carrots, a bag of frozen broccoli, and frozen mushrooms and let this cook for a while over med-high heat. After the veggies had defrosted and the carrots had softened a bit I added fresh tomatoes, garlic salt, ground black pepper, and stirred. Let this cook until the tomatoes are warm.

At the very end I added some chicken breast I had in the fridge (left over from a Crock Pot experiment I'll tell you about one day) plus more olive oil. After this was all heated, the pasta was done! I drained the pasta, returned it to the pot, then added the veggies. A few dashes of parm and we were ready to go!


And then? We chowed down. YUM.