Happy Memorial Day to you and yours. Thank you to all who have served and are serving to keep us safe. We had a year-end breakfast at school last Friday. We were asked to bring a breakfast treat, so of course I hit up Pinterest and found this delicious recipe. Baked Oatmeal with Apples, Raisins and Pecans Serves 6 Gluten Free What you need: 1/2 c Raisins 2 baking Apples--tart yet sweet cut inch 1/2 chunks (approx. 2 cups) 2 large eggs 2 c Rolled oats, old fashioned 1 tsp Baking Powder 3/4 c light Brown Sugar 2 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 c Walnuts OR Pecans-- divided 4 T unsalted Butter--melted 2 c milk Preheat oven to 325. Grease 8 or 9 inch baking dish with butter. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, 1/2 cup of nuts, raisins, baking power, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. In another bowl break eggs then whisk together; then whisk in the milk and vanilla until combined. Add the milk mixture to the oat mixture, along with the melted butter. Scatter the apples evenly on the bottom of the greased dish. Pour the oatmeal mixture over the top and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top. Bake for 40-45 minutes until top is golden brown and the nuts are set. Serve warm or at room temp. This went over well and Mr. Ken had the leftovers. This is a great dish for those of us who do not traditional oatmeal. Holidays are coming, family will be around--make this for a breakfast buffet. Enjoy! ~Keep on Dreaming~
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Please take a moment to remember those who served our country and are no longer with us. Thanks to those who are serving today to keep us safe. If you are celebrating with family and friends, please be safe. Especially if you are with high water. Keep those in your prayers that had devastating Tornados too. This has been a weird weather month for sure.
I made it, I survived this school year!! I was pretty sure at times I was not going to make it but I did. Now I can relax and have fun. So looking forward to it too. Hopefully I can put a bit more effort into this little blog of mine. "Country Dreaming" will turn 10 this year!!! I find that amazing. Thanks for hangn' with me!! Enjoy your holiday weekend!!
*Note this is not my kitchen. The owners must not use this one. :) Kitchen Hacks is our topic on the 'ol blog. 1. Make hard boiled eggs peel real easy by steaming them in a steamer basket that is suspended over boiling water for 15 minutes. Shells supposedly slip right off. 2. When roasting veggies, place the pan in the oven as it preheats. As the veggies hit the pan they get a jump on browning. 3. Need powered sugar? In a pinch, pulverize granulated sugar in a spice grinder. 4. To keep things warm like Mac and Cheese, serve it on warm plates. Use the "warm" setting on oven. 5. For speedy meatloaf, place individual portions in a muffin pan bake at 450 for 15 minutes. 6. Ignore egg dates. WHAT? The best way to check an egg to see if it is a good one is by placing the egg in water. It will SINK if it is still good and FLOAT if it is not. But please useyour own judge- ment. I'm picky about my eggs.
7. When grilling, put your raw meat on a foil lined pan. After the meat is on the grill toss the foil and keep the pan to serve the meat. 8. When toasting nuts always make more than you need , these freeze well and you will have them on hand when you need them. You don't even have to thaw them. The perfect toasting temp is 325. There you have it. Hope you found one or two useful. ~Keep on Dreaming~
Hello! **Long post...bear with me. I was reminded in a comment on my last post that May has arrived and I know that but May for us arrived in a whirlwind of horrible weather. Rain (LOT'S of it ), thunder, lighting and wind. Woke up on the first to a geyser coming out of our sump pump and water in our family room. Mr. Ken stayed home to do cleanup and I went to school, an hour and a half later I came home to help. It took a total of 12 hours to clean up the water mess and the messes it created. On the first I was supposed to have a job interview at a brand new Early Childhood Center after leaving a message to possibly move the interview, I received a message that the interview would not be held because they could not pay what I wanted and they would not be providing benefits at this time. So the Merry month of May did not start off well. We had rain the rest of the week and spent the first weekend of the month finishing putting the sump pump back together from Mr. Ken's temp fix and spreading dirt to fill in gaps to keep the water away from the foundation. We also put in a short wall to redirect water from one of our down- spouts away from the house. We continued to have more rain this week, as of this writing, we are waiting for the next storm. "Oh bother " as Eeyore would say. Moving back to the interview...I was bumbed to say the least but as time has passed and I have heard some different things in regard to next year it was probably for the best. Plus the drive would have been 10-15 minutes added to my current drive. This has not been a good year and I know that I have said that before but truly this has been "THE WORST" of my 19 years at school. We have 10 1/2 days with kids and I have one more day after they leave, plus our department is switching rooms with Kindergarten! So there are six rooms moving. Lots of packing going on for sure. Hoping these last few days of school go a bit more smoothly than Monday and Tuesday went, today was a bit better but still no recess due to the weather. Thanks for listening, hope everyone's days are going more smoothly than ours. ~Keep on Dreaming~
