Pumpkin Oatmeal

I had some pumpkin puree left over after making some pumpkin frozen yogurt (which was kind of a failure, btw, so you won't be seeing it on the blog), and needed a way to use it up.  A little Googling led me to Kacey's Kitchen and this recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal.  

You'll need:


1 cup oats
2 1/2 tbs brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp butter, softened
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
maple syrup, to taste


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray 4 individual-sized ramekins with cooking spray.  Set them aside.


Combine all of the ingredients except for the pecans, mix until combined.  Divide the mixture evenly between the 4 ramekins.  Put the ramekins on a baking sheet (allows you to move them in and out of the oven more easily) and bake for 10 minutes.


After 10 minutes, pull them out of the oven and sprinkle each of the ramekins with the chopped pecans.  Give each of them a good squirt of maple syrup, too.


Put the ramekins back into the oven and bake for an additional 7 minutes.  Let them cool for a few minutes before digging in.


If you're just cooking for 1 or 2 people, you can also keep these in the fridge and have them another day.  They will just require a little extra time in the oven.

So if you're in search of a moderately healthy, delicious breakfast option, give this a try!  I'd love to make more, but it seems that Walmart is no longer stocking the pumpkin puree, just the pumpkin pie filling nonsense, and I unfortunately wasted the bulk of my last can of pumpkin on the aforementioned failed pumpkin frozen yogurt.  Anyway, just because it's not October or November, who says you can't enjoy some pumpkiny goodness?  Enjoy!

Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

Okay so technically my mom made these, not me.  I didn't think anyone would really care about that little detail.  She made them for Sean and me when we were staying at my parents' over Thanksgiving.  My mom had been telling me about them for a while, and now I can totally see why.  They're amazing!   

This recipe was originally seen on an episode of Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentis.


You'll need:


1 2/3 cups water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups pancake/waffle mix (yes, the stuff in a box)
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
2/3 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh)
melted butter


Using a rubber spatula, stir the 1 2/3 cups water and vanilla in a large bowl.  Add the pancake mix and stir until just moistened, but still lumpy.  Stir the ricotta into the pancake mix, and gently incorporate while still maintaining a lumpy batter.  Fold in the blueberries.

Heat a griddle/cast iron skillet/whatever pan you usually make pancakes in over medium heat.  Brush with melted butter (or I'm sure cooking spray works here too).  Working in batches, spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture onto the griddle for each pancake.  Cook until golden brown, ~3 minutes per side.   

You can serve them with the honey syrup listed with the original recipe, regular old maple syrup (what we did), or whatever you'd like.

These pancakes are very moist, and are really more like crepes, if you must know.  Though we didn't have them this way, I bet they'd be really good with a little lemon zest added to the batter.  The only thing wrong with them is that you don't want to stop eating them!

Breakfast Casserole with Sausage and Egg

Hello everyone!  I hope that you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.  Ours was rushed (as always), but very nice.  It was so good to go back to Pittsburgh for a few days and spend time with our families and some friends.


I'll keep this one short and sweet, since I have quite a bit of work to catch up on following our long weekend.  I make this breakfast casserole every time we have visitors come for the weekend.  It's incredibly versatile, and simple to make.  The best part?  You can make it the night before.  It's great; just pull it out of the fridge while the oven preheats, stick it in the oven, and voila!  You have breakfast.  No slaving over the stove while your guests are having fun elsewhere without you.


My mom makes something very similar to this on Christmas morning, which is where I got the inspiration for this.  I'm sure there's a recipe somewhere, but I don't have it.


You'll need:


16 oz. breakfast sausage (1 tube)
1 loaf good French or wheat bread (you probably won't use the whole loaf)
10 eggs, beaten
splash of milk
salt and pepper
shredded cheddar cheese


Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until crumbled and browned.  Set aside for a few minutes. 

Grease the heck out of a 9x13 glass pan with cooking spray or butter.  Trust me on this one.  If you want to be able to clean this pan in a reasonable amount of time, you will need to grease it (Sean can back me up on this one).  Cut your bread into 1 inch cubes and place evenly in the greased pan.  Or alternately, just rip it up, like I do.

Beat your eggs and a splash of milk in a medium-large bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Evenly layer the cooked sausage on top of the bread.  Pour the egg mixture over the casserole.

Top the whole casserole with shredded cheddar (as much as you'd like; not pictured here).  If you'll be baking it straight away, place your uncovered casserole in a preheated oven (350 degrees F) for 30-45 minutes. 


If you plan to make this ahead, cover the dish and place it in the fridge overnight.  The next morning, remove the casserole from the fridge and allow it to start coming back up to room temperature while the oven preheats to 350.  Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes, or until the eggs are done (casserole should be firm and spring back when touched in the middle, and nothing should be runny).


Scoop some up and enjoy!

You can customize this dish any way you'd like.  It's good with different flavors of sausage, and with some vegetables thrown in.  It's also good topped with some salsa or maple syrup.

Pumpkin Waffles

I was informed by my husband the other night that he is "pumpkin-ed out".  o_0 ...  He revealed this to me when I asked what kind of doughnuts he'd like me to bake this weekend (YES!  I recently bought a doughnut pan and am just dying to use it!).  Perhaps he would like... pumpkin doughnuts?  Negatory.  He is (I'll say it again) "pumpkin-ed out".  "Everything you've baked lately has been pumpkin!", he says.  While this may be true... my obsessive use of pumpkin in dishes both savory and sweet has just begun.  He'll have to learn to deal with it.


So what do I do immediately after he tells me this?  Decide that 1) I am going to bake those pumpkin doughnuts this weekend; and 2) that this recipe for Pumpkin Waffles should be my next post.  


I used to make some combination of waffles, sausage, and eggs for breakfast every Saturday and Sunday for Sean and myself.  Somewhere during my first year of grad school I became lazy (read: exhausted) and stopped doing this.  Sure, Sean is perfectly capable of making some breakfast--in fact, he makes some mean eggs and bacon--but I feel a little guilty about letting this tradition/ritual slide.  So now I'm trying to bring it whenever I can.  This past Sunday seemed like the perfect time, since we didn't have any plans that involved leaving the apartment.  I figured rather than reaching for the boxed waffle mix, which will do in a pinch, that I'd try a recipe that was a little more labor intensive and interesting.


Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens for this recipe.


You'll need:


2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs, separated
3 tbs butter, melted


In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and ginger.  Set this bowl aside.


In a medium bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, and melted butter.  Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture all at once, and stir to combine.  The batter should be pretty lumpy.


In a small bowl, using an electric mixer on highs peed, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the pumpkin mixture.  There should be a few streaks of egg white visible still.

Heat your waffle maker, pour in some batter (amount will depend on size of your waffle maker), close the lid and bake according to manufacturer's directions.  

Calphalon waffle maker ftw: Another awesome wedding gift =D

You can serve them immediately or keep them warm in a 250 degree F oven for a short while.  


We served ours with a little butter and syrup.

Sean was kind and patient enough to let me photograph his waffle before digging in.  Thanks, honey!

The verdict: These waffles were good.  But just good.  There wasn't anything wrong with them... I just kind of felt they were a little lacking in pumpkin flavor.  


Lack of pumpkininess (totally made that up) aside, these waffles were good!  They end up being a nice warm color, and are tender, and taste good.  They're much better than anything that comes out of a box.  They definitely require more effort than the "just add water" boxed mixes, but are much tastier.  Give them a shot if you have some extra time on the weekend.

Oatmeal Scones with Cinnamon Sugar

Thanks to Good Housekeeping for this one!


I really love scones, and have been looking for a healthy-ish recipe for a while.  My parents visited this weekend, and I wanted to have something for breakfast that wouldn't require much effort on my part the morning of, so I could spend more time hanging with them (and my childhood dog, Sophie!) instead of being in the kitchen.


I typically make a breakfast casserole (recipe forthcoming!), but wanted to change things up a bit.


You'll need:


2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut up
3/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
cinnamon and sugar


Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.  In a food processor, combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Pulse to blend.  Add the cut up butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form.


In a cup, beat the buttermilk and egg.  With the food processor running, add the egg mixture and pulse until a dough forms.  The dough is pretty sticky, so make sure to use some flour on your palms and 1/4 cup measuring cup when handling the dough.


Scoop the dough, by the 1/4 cup, onto a cookie sheet.  Flatten each mound into a 2 1/2-inch round.  Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar.  Bake 15-17 minutes or until golden on the bottom.  I baked mine for 16 minutes, but found that some were a wee bit overdone on the bottom.  Just make sure to keep an eye on them toward the end.


I managed to get 9 scones out of this recipe.

Sophie, intently staring the scone down.

They're a bit crumbly, and aren't nearly as dense as regular scones, but also aren't overly sweet, which is nice.  The top is crusty and crunchy from the cinnamon and sugar.  All in all, these ended up being pretty tasty, and I don't feel terrible about eating them since there isn't a ton of sugar in them, and they have some oats.  Enjoy!

Baked Garlic Cheese Grits

Disclaimer: This ain't good for ya.  But it sure is good.  =)

This recipe marks the first appearance of a truly cheesy dish on this blog!  I'm slightly disappointed that it didn't happen sooner.  I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't take this long for another absurdly cheesy dish to make an appearance.  

Cheese haters need not read any further.

Since college football season just started, and Sean is a big college football fan, I wanted to throw together a little brunch to celebrate the start of the season on this three day weekend (again, ahhh... three day weekends are so sweet).  Also, I just wanted an excuse to make these grits.  Regardless of the reasoning, we'll probably invite a few of the neighbors over for some noms and some football.

Apparently I'm on a Food Network kick, because this recipe comes from Paula Deen, and can be found here.  It really goes without saying since this is a Paula Deen recipe, but this dish ends up being quite rich.  You have been forewarned =)

You'll need:

6 cups chicken broth (I didn't have quite this much on hand, so I used a combo of chicken broth and water.  It works out just fine.)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 cups regular grits

16 oz. shredded sharp cheddar, plus a little extra for topping the dish

1/2 cup milk

4 large eggs, beaten

0 butter - 1 stick of unsalted butter (Paula's original recipe calls for a whole stick, <shocked face>, but I found that it made it a little too rich last time I made it.  I ended up tossing in ~3 tbs.  Do whatever you're comfortable with, though!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Grease a 4-quart casserole dish.

Bring the broth, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to a boil in a sauce pan.  Stir the grits in and whisk until completely combined.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the grits are thick.  Add the shredded cheddar and milk, and stir.  Gradually stir in the beaten eggs and butter until combined.

Please excuse my use of the flash.  My kitchen has no windows, and therefore, terrible lighting =(

Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle with the leftover cheese and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until set.

Before baking...

Like I said, it's rich, but oh so good.

And after baking.

Mmm... observe the cheesy gooey goodness...