Divine oatmeal in a bowl...who knew?!

I'm switching things up today and posting this morning as I have a recipe on my mind that we tried last week and just love!

When we were in MBA school, the MBASA did a cookbook each year & these two simple books are some of my favorite cookbooks. The recipes are the tried & true recipes from women and families everywhere and there are some awesome gems in there. There is also the occasional funny recipe such as 'go and get a bag of Cheetos, open up a can of pop and enjoy' :) That one makes me laugh - the guy who submitted it was married to one of my good friends, and their son was in my preschool class both years. It's not a recipe I have tried, but it makes me laugh because of his zany personality and for putting such a dorky recipe in!

I have spied recipes that I've wanted to try for years & I'm trying to go through and do more of them now that I've got a bit more time in my life. With not having the PTA taking up huge chunks of my time, it's amazing how many hours there are to do things each week! It really does feel like I quit a part/full-time job & there are times when I miss all the events & projects we did....however, I have enjoyed how much time is in each week & not feeling so rushed all the time! I looked over this week's schedule and realized that it's rather empty & I get to choose what I'm going to fill it with! I have the typical cleaning, laundry and shuttling kiddos around in the schedule - and having Jacob home in the mornings without full-day Kindergarten is huge! I have an appointment here and there, and I did realize there is a PTA meeting & I'm volunteering in Bryson's class - but that is only 2 hours of time at the school & I'm going to the PTA meeting just to be informed....not because I'm signed up to do anything in particular. I used to spend between 30 & 40+ hours at the school on various projects. It's really nice & rather exciting to get to choose how I'm spending my time these days - and doing things for and with my family is a top priority....so cooking more meals at home that are healthy is something I'm spending a lot more time on :)

Anyway - pulling myself back to the main topic (wow, I get out on some tangents, eh?!), the recipe that I've wanted to try for some time is Baked Amish Oatmeal. We love oatmeal in our family, but the regular bowl of oatmeal each week gets a little tiring, so it was time to change things up. We finally made it to the grocery store at the end of the week (having the kiddos home for Spring Break was awesome, but it was tricky to go shopping with all of them...I'm going to need to think about options for this summer! Once we had the eggs for this recipe I pulled it together last Thursday morning & Bryson Jr., Jacob and I were in heaven! We couldn't believe how yummy it was! Bryson Sr. tried some the next morning (we doubled the recipe so we could have extras for a few days after and I'm so glad that we did!) and he said it was like eating warm oatmeal cookies doused in milk. I think of it more like a big oatmeal cake....whichever of the two you prefer it is one of the best breakfast meals and it will definitely be showing up on our table a lot more!

Here is the recipe that I followed...but I'm going to work to tweak it a bit to see if I can make it a bit more healthy. These measurements are doubled, because I made it for the 9x13 pan and again to give us those yummy left-overs for subsequent mornings. If you don't want as much 1/2 the recipe and use a 9-inch square baking pan.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

1 c. vegetable oil (*I'm going to try applesauce next time, or at least 1/2 oil & 1/2 applesauce)

1 c. brown sugar (*it had originally called for 2 cups & I knew that would be too much, and even halving the sugar it was plenty sweet. I'm going to try honey or agave next time and see if I can work with the sweetener.)

4 eggs

6 cups regular rolled oats (*it called for quick oats, but I don't think they are as healthy...plus, I don't even have them so we used good old fashioned rolled oats & it still cooked beautifully!)

4 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

2 cups milk

2 tsp. cinnamon

*fruit options - apple (peeled & chopped) or dried cranberries, or I saw this website & picture that put in fresh blueberries. Oh, the yummy-ness!

Mix everything together (wet first and then add the dry) and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour....although when it gets brown on the edges and firm in the middle it is done (it was 45 min. for me). Cut into pieces and serve as you wish...get ready for some definite "Mmmmmmm's" from those enjoying!

I put fresh blackberries on top of mine and did a little heavy-whipping cream. Oh wow - it was a party in the mouth! We also had some fresh whipping cream from a dessert, and Bryson Jr. and Jacob had a spoonful of whipping cream and then some regular milk over their bowl. They were all delicious ways & I really felt like we were cheating breakfast somehow and going straight for the dessert...which I'll be honest I've had the cake for breakfast on some mornings, and although it's good this was far better because it was the same sweet taste but much healthier!

Alright, I'll stop writing about oatmeal :) I have a storage room to clean out, and plants to get into the garden as it's going to be around 78 degrees today! I'm putting in a little herb garden in the soil next to the back door so that I can step out in my kitchen herb garden! I only have cilantro and spearmint to put in right now - but I want to add basil, rosemary and green onions....that is one area that I've enjoyed filling my time with - playing in the dirt & gardening. It's been incredible to have a yard again!

Memories

Each day there is a moment where I miss NYC. Perhaps it's seeing a friend, running to Debbie & Lillian's to borrow something or to send the boys to say hello or show Lillian something, missing the beat of the city or the treats that we enjoyed there.  Thankfully --- we can recreate the latter.  The other things, we aren't really homesick for them, but there is a part in my heart that misses much of what was our life the past 2+ years.

Today, we must have all needed to do something about our NYC memories, as it seemed the afternoon was full of city trademarks right within our home way out here in the good ol' west.

To pay homage to the city that we just left we went all out & I made the copy-cat recipe for Banana Pudding (I call it Banana Mousse since it's SO thick!) from the one and only (well, not the only one as there are quite a few in the city!)....MAGNOLIA BAKERY

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding (Mousse) Recipe

1 package instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups cold water
1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 cups heavy cream
1 box Nilla wafers
4 ripe bananas

Put vanilla pudding mix in a bowl. Whisk in water and sweetened condensed milk. Once it's whisked together, refrigerate for at least 15-30 minutes, preferably an hour.

Whip cream with an electric mixer until it gets soft peaks. Fold the cream into the pudding base.  Be sure to mix completely so there are no more yellow streaks.

Slice up bananas. Arrange1/3 of Nilla wafers along the bottom of a pan or bowl (I like to make mine in a deep glass bowl we got for our wedding - it's almost like a Trifle bowl so that you can see the layers) and then top with half of the bananas. Top with half of the pudding mixture. Top with another 3rd of your Nilla wafers and the rest of your bananas. Put the rest of the pudding on top and then crush the remaining Nilla wafers until they're a powder and sprinkle over the finished pudding.

Cover with plastic wrap, keep in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours.  I just learned with this 2nd time of making it....that it really is that much better when it gets almost 12 hours to set....I'm eating the left-overs now and I like the consistency that the wafers have become with how long it has sat in the fridge to soften them up.  Oh this is divine --- it's almost scary that I know how to make it, as now I can have it anytime when in the city it would be a rare treat when I'd let myself stop and get this nectar of the gods! 

I had started the pudding the night before, however Madeleine & Bryson were so excited to help me finish making it, and then Bryson Jr. talked me into making Black & White cookies.  To make a long story somewhat short :)  I went in on Friday to his class as he had been Friend of the Week in his class.  I had already done a presentation just about Bryson on Wednesday - showing pictures and the two of us told about who he was and what he liked.  On Friday I got to go in again, and this time he and I did a presentation on what it's like to live in NYC.  We had talked about making the Black & White cookies to share with his class so earlier this week I had collected all the ingredients and then Thursday came along and it was a crazy day -- our van windshield wipers has stopped working when I was driving to get Jacob from school and it was pouring rain!  The older kids and I had to pull over and Bryson left work to pick up Jacob and pick us up so that we could run him back to work and then drive home.  We were off-schedule, cranky and the timing was not working in the first place to make the cookies...so that by 8pm when I started to finally pull things out and realized I didn't even have a cookie sheet (mine were old & nasty so I threw them out when we moved)....I just figured I'd find some at a local bakery and serve those to Bryson's class.

Bryson had really wanted to make these cookies for his class with me - that boy loves to cook!  As we have church from 9am - 12noon we had most of the afternoon to bake and play games...so after the pudding was finished we started on the specialty of almost every deli or bakery in the city, the famous
Black & Whites! 

And a funny part to this story - I found the Black & White recipe while browsing many magazine articles while at Dr. Lord's office (the Dentist Dr. Lord the first week we had moved here).  I came across the recipe and wondered why I hadn't tried them before - which I know why as our kitchen was so small in the city I really gave up most fun cooking...but now, with a kitchen that I can actually work in I knew I'd have to try these.  


I pulled out my iphone and took a few photos of the recipe, which I told this story when we got to Nana & Papa Lord's house for Sunday dinner when someone asked where I'd found the recipe.  Papa Lord laughed and said that was the difference between our generations - he would have asked for a photo copy of the recipe, Nana said she'd probably have written it down by hand & I pulled out the phone to take a picture....I wonder what trajectory path our children are on....will there be some gadget that can produce the item on the spot?  Probably not, but I'm sure it will exceed what I did in "copying" the recipe down.  

I made a few tweaks in the recipe - I doubled the recipe and even then I don't think it made near the amount I had expected.  I need to get a cookie scoop so that I can get even amounts for each mound.  The spoon worked fine, however some of my edges were really scraggly and it would be nice to have more of the moon look of a perfect circle for these cookies.  Also, I put a little more lemon zest into the batter...probably by just 1/4 tsp. but I liked how it picked up the lemon flavor and then also I squeezed fresh lemon juice into the white frosting mixture as it tasted too much like powdered sugar.  I didn't measure, but I'm guessing 1/2 - 1 tsp. of lemon juice according to what your palette likes.  

The frosting takes awhile, so listen to music you like or bake with someone that you want to catch up with and enjoy talking because you'll be there for some time frosting these cookies!  The key is to do the white first - if you have time let it set up and then do the chocolate....we didn't have time so we did them at the same time and I was surprised how well the dividing line worked between the vanilla & chocolate.  There was no problem  with that - the only issue was that the frosting hardens up rather quickly so I made it in 1/2 batches or someone else on a blog I read put a little butter in hers which kept the frosting smooth and easy to work with.

Either way - these are delicious cookies that are enjoyed....the biggest question is how you'll eat them?  White first - or black first - or trying to get the perfect mix of black & white in every cookie (this last one is attributed to Jerry Seinfield in one his episodes, which I'd love to find....the classic episodes (meaning the clean ones) are so true to living in the city, Bryson and I laugh with new appreciation for that show!

While we were busy making the cookies, Jacob had taken our last game of Blokus and turned it into his art masterpiece where he created his version of The Empire State Buildling (the building is in red, blue clouds in the sky and then some trees or the playground (at Madison Square Park) is on the left. It looks like in the eyes of a child the tallest parts of a playground are close to that of the tallest building in NYC!

We had a fun afternoon enjoying time together, and making some memories of our time in NYC.  We are definitely enjoying many of the perks of living in a home, and being by family - however it's nice to give into memories and recreate things we loved about one of the great places we have lived.  

I'll make a list/post soon of all the things we love about the changes and the things we do miss.....as I said we are more than grateful to be here, and yet at the same time We Love NYC!