I woke up this morning and decided to try the Baked Oatmeal recipe that I spotted yesterday while perusing Finding Joy in My Kitchen's blog. First of all, let me start out by saying that when I found this recipe, I had never even heard of baked oatmeal. Now, oatmeal is a gooooood thing where I come from. We eat it a lot in our family. I'm pretty much a fan of all things oatmeal! However, sometimes I just can't stomach a whole bowl of oatmeal. I'm not really sure why... it's almost like how I like yogurt but can never finish a whole container full. Anyway, when I saw the link to the recipe, I was immediately intrigued by its name. I went on over and had a peek, and it looked delicious! Her picture made me think of my mom's awesome oatmeal muffins. (She makes them for us for breakfast some days, and they are so good!) This recipe seemed like an all-around win to me! I've been on the hunt for some new breakfast ideas that are on-the-go easy, full of "good" carbs, and filling. The filling part is of extreme importance as sometimes I eat breakfast at 7 and don't get lunch until 12:50. (That's the joy of subbing at the high school... you never know what lunch period you're going to end up with!) Needless to say, I'm starving by lunchtime.
Ok, so back to Baked Oatmeal. The recipe was super easy to follow! Aaaaannnnnd.... I LOVED it! It was so good and warm and filling! It baked up semi-firm. Not quite a "breakfast bar" or "breakfast cookie," but almost! The texture was amzxing. Gooey and soft and firm and chewy all at the same time! I followed her recipe verbatim. I used mostly brown sugar like she suggests... but the finished product was a little on the sweet side. I started thinking about it, and I soon realized that I used an individual cup of applesauce that had been sweetened with Splenda. So, my suggestion would be to use unsweetened applesauce! She mentioned something about using an egg and a couple of egg whites, but I just used 2 whole eggs. And last but not least, I'm pretty sure I was able to taste the applesauce in my version of baked oatmeal. Which is not necessarily a bad thing - I love fresh fruit like strawberries and peaches in my oatmeal! Which gets me thinking... fruit would probably be a great addition to the recipe! Anyway, all that to say - sometimes you just might not want a fruity flavor, you might just want plain ole oatmeal and cinnamon! So, I'm guessing you could definitely sub in some canola oil (the healthiest of oils in my opinion) for the applesauce. However, let me assure you that I'm most likely crazy about the whole applesauce thing. My mom came home this afternoon and tasted my new find. She thinks I'm crazy - she says she can't taste the applesauce at all! So, who knows! I just thought I could taste a hint of apple in it! Overall, I was highly impressed with the recipe, and I'm pretty sure I'll be making this delightful little dish many times over! : )
While I was waiting for my baked oatmeal to cook, I started thinking about lunch. Haha! That's pretty sad isn't it? I do have a good reason - while I was getting my ingredients ready for the baked oatmeal, I spied a pack of chicken breasts that I put in the refrigerator last night to defrost. I knew I wanted to try something new, but I wasn't sure what! I browsed on over to Annie's Eats (Which is probably my most loved cooking blog! She's got tons of GREAT recipes!) I clicked on her chicken category and started browsing. I soon saw this wonderful recipe for braised chicken, and my mouth started positively watering! I just loved the thought of all those wonderful spices coming together: cumin, paprika, curry, and cinnamon! Yum! I continued my search to make sure nothing else "suited my fancy" and better, but I kept coming back to the braised chicken recipe! So, braised chicken it was!
I followed her recipe verbatim as far as spices and amounts are concerned, but I did decide to add extra onions and some canned mushrooms to my dish. I absolutely love onions and mushrooms! I also knew that I didn't have any whole tomatoes, so I planned to substitute canned diced tomatoes. Well, after I started prepping the dish, I realized that I had crushed - not diced - tomatoes. Anything goes, right?!?! So, I spooned some of them on top of the rest of the vegetables. It did turn out very good! I'm not completely sold on it, but I did enjoy it. My thoughts... I plan to increase the salt in the spice/oil mixture next time around as it just didn't seem salty enough for my tastes. Also, some parts of my chicken breasts weren't as tender as other parts. I plan on pounding them to an even thickness next time to see if this helps! My bell peppers were extremely tender, but some of my onions were not. I think I'll sautee them briefly after I brown the chicken! I'm all about the flavor of a sauteed vegetable! : )
I paired this dish with saffron (yellow) rice and sauteed asparagus! I thought the saffron in the rice would pair nicely with the spices in the braised chicken dish, and it did not disappoint! I'll have to be honest with you... I think the rice was my favorite part of the meal! Haha! This is why... The directions on the package (I used Mahatma's little yellow rice packet) call for 1 and 2/3 c. of water. I decided to use 1 c. water and 2/3 c. chicken broth! Excellent choice! The rice was so flavorful! On to the asparagus... I sauteed my fresh asparagus in some olive oil and sprinkled doused it liberally with McCormick's Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning! LOVE that stuff! It's good on practically everything! I then decided to throw in the remainder of my canned mushrooms. So good!
So, there you have it... the culinary adventures of the unemployed. : ) Super glad that I'll have an awesome breakfast and lunch for the next few days! (Yup, I'm all about some leftovers! Cafeteria food just does not cut it!)
PS... I'm gonna need to either get my camera fixed OR buy a new one so I can take pictures of my finished products!
PS... I'm gonna need to either get my camera fixed OR buy a new one so I can take pictures of my finished products!
