Lovin' From the Oven

Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

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It’s that time of the year again, folks; It’s girl scout season! That means plenty of cookies to buy and devour. You’re either lucky or unlucky when it comes to finding them. When you’re most craving some Samoas, there won’t be any girl scout in sight. You’ll drive to all of your Targets, grocery stores, and school campuses to see if there’s a table stationed anywhere, but you’ll always drive away disappointed. Welcome to my life.

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Lucky for me, I have a niece that just started her first year in girl scouts. I have to be the good auntie and buy boxes from her, of course! That makes my life so much easier because I don’t have to walk around stalking troops. Not that that has stopped us from buying boxes from anyone else. My DB came home from school with a box of Thin Mints that we could rip open immediately. No waiting necessary.

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Not only that, but working at the Y has its perks. There are at least three kids in every grade that are determined to win that mini Ipad by selling 3,000 boxes.

By the way, that’s ridiculous. How can one child sell 3,000 boxes?! They probably know 30 people in their lives. That means everyone they know would have to buy 100 boxes from them. That’s like when I was in elementary school and we tried to sell rolls of wrapping paper. They always enticed us by having the “money hurricane machine.” Thinking back on it, I have no idea what the big prize was. Now, they have Ipods, Ipads, Shuffles, and all those electronics, but that certainly didn’t exist when I was in grade school. Does anyone remember?

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Either way, I never sold anything. My parents would buy two rolls of wrapping paper so I wouldn’t feel so bad and then call it a day. I never walked door to door asking neighbors to buy from my catalog. My parents would kill me if I ever did that.

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Here’s an easy breakfast meal that you can make for the week. Just store the portion you don’t eat in the fridge and warm it in the microwave whenever you want it. You can also make this bake for guests. It’s nutritious, has a pleasant cinnamon spice taste to wake you up, and can be served alongside eggs if you want just a little sweet treat to finish your breakfast.

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The oatmeal is soft without being gooey or mushy. If you want it for dessert, serve a piece with a scoop of ice cream. I promise I won’t tell anyone. 🙂 From Sweet Pea’s Kitchen.

Print
Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 apple, grated
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • Cooking spray

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cranberries, walnuts, and baking powder.
  3. Gradually stir in the milk, vanilla, grated apple, butter, and egg and mix until well combined.
  4. Pour into prepared pan, leveling it out.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes and serve warm.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-apple-walnut-oatmeal/

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

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Happy New Year, friends! I hope were ringing it 2013 with the ones you love the most. As for me, I fell asleep at 11 PM and didn’t quite make it to midnight. I told you I was a grandma. My body is just not made for staying up past 10 PM.

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It’s okay, though. I never really cared for New Years. For some reason, I’ve never had a good one so my expectations are very low. I’d much rather be sleeping than waiting up for a ball to drop. I don’t even get the significance of that, anyway. How does a ball touching the floor indicate the start of a new year? Why couldn’t you get fake snow to fall or an elaborate display of fireworks?

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Oh wait, a quick wikipedia search answered my question. Apparently the British Royal Observatory used to drop a lighted ball everyday so that the Captains could synchronize their timepieces. Well, that was boring. Heck, I don’t even know if that’s true, but we’ll just go with that for now.

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Do you have any New Years resolution or are you sick and tired of hearing about them? I’ve got a couple:

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  1. Blog more often. I have been doing this every year since the blog started, so I’m hoping to carry on that tradition.
  2. Become more personal on my blog. I have a crazy amount of stories and I need to write them down before I forget them all. I just need the time to write them!
  3. Update A Pile of Style. I know, I totally suck.
  4. Be more adventurous in cooking. 2012 was the year for the crockpot for me. I may have started cooking, but it was all mostly in the crockpot. Time to take it to the stovetop.
  5. Get my DB to eat vegetables. Alright, that one may be a little bit of a reach, but I think I can do it. Slowly and surely, he’ll be eating greens in no time. It’s just a matter of tricking the mind…

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I guess I can also throw in all the stereotypical “eat healthier, lose weight, drink more water, eat smaller portions more frequently…. ” yada yada yada. But for now, I’ll just say not to eat this coffee cake in one sitting.

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This cake may seem like it’s a lot of work because the ingredient and direction list continue on endlessly, but I promise it’s not difficult. It’s just a matter of making each part and putting the pieces together.

You end up with a magazine worthy looking cake that can feed a dinner party. This is probably on my list for the top 5 prettiest looking baked goods. Not only does it look good, but it tastes like heaven. It’s really dense (carrying this thing out of the oven was a workout for me!) and a little goes a long way. The lemon flavor is strong, but not overwhelming. The blueberries sunk a little bit for me, but coat them  in a bit of flour and you’ve solved that problem.

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From Kitchen Runway

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Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

Ingredients

    Crumb Topping:
  • 1¾ C all purpose flour
  • ¾ C light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 1½ sticks of cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
    • Cake:
  • 2 C all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 C sugar
  • ¾ C regular butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 12 oz. fresh blueberries
    • Glaze:
  • 1 C powdered sugar
  • 2½ Tbs fresh lemon juice
  • ½ Tbs. milk

Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 300° F. Grease 9" spring form pan with butter.
  2. Make the crumb topping: Mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add butter pieces and use your hands to combine mixture until clumps form. Place in the refrigerator.
  3. Now, get started on the cake. Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
  4. In your mixer bowl, beat eggs and sugar on medium high speed for about 5 minutes until mixture is lighter in color and has increased in volume.
  5. Turn mixer to low and slowly add butter. Then beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes.
  6. Stir in the vanilla, zest, and lemon juice. Slowly fold ½ C of the flour mixture at a time into the egg and sugar mixture. Add blueberries and stir gently until just incorporated.
  7. Pour into pan and top with crumb topping. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Cool cake in pan until completely cooled.
  9. Once the cake is completely cooled, make the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cake, letting it drip over the sides of the cake. Let the glaze harden before cutting and serving.
https://lovintheoven.com/blueberry-lemon-coffee-cake/

 

Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

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You know what the worst activity in the world has got to be? Clubbing. I went for my first time this past weekend in Vegas at Tryst and was completely miserable.

First, there’s getting into the club. We were lucky for our group of twenty or so to get in without a cover charge, especially since there were more boys than girls. Who wants to pay $20-$40 bucks just to wait in a Disneyland-sized line?

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Then, once you’re in, you get packed together like a can of sardines on the dance floor and you’re stuck trying to wiggle out an arm to dance. How is that appealing to anyone?

Not only that, but you have to shout at the top of your lungs just so the person standing five inches from you can sort of make out what you’re trying to say.

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So after you find your spot and get as comfortable as you’re going to be for the night, a six foot girl in five inch stilettos comes by and stomps on your poor little feet without even realizing it. As if you weren’t cozy enough already in your own heels.

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Looking around the club, I’m curious as to where these people came from. I’ve never seen so many creepers in my life. There’s the 55 year old man walking around completely sober scoping out the 20 year old girls that can barely walk a straight a line, let alone walk. Then there’s the man who’s rubbing up against every girl in a skintight dress. Again, do people like this?

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Then there’s drunk people. Don’t even get me started on that. Sometimes, drunk people when you’re sober can be funny. Most of the time, it’s just annoying. That’s probably my fault for putting myself in that environment, though, since I’ve never been drunk (or even buzzed) in my life.

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Bottom line? That was my first and last clubbing experience. Sorry, Vegas. I’ll gladly stick to your shopping, food, and “Deal or No Deal” slot machines.

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Have you ever had baked oatmeal before? If you haven’t, you’re truly missing out. It’s so easy to whip up, can be refrigerated for a couple of days, and warmed up to eat whenever you want. It tastes just as good as when it came out of the oven. This recipe slightly adapted from Annie Eats is also very easy to change. Mix up the fruits or kind of nuts and you’ve got yourself a different dish that tastes just as great!

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Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • ¼ cup chopped slivered almonds
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen), divided

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375˚ F and lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
  2. Combine the rolled oats, half of the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
  3. In a liquid measuring cup, mix together the maple syrup, milk, egg, butter, and vanilla.
  4. Lay out the bananas in a single layer on the bottom of a baking dish. Evenly spread out half of the berries on top of the bananas. Place the dry oat mixture over the fruit and then pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats. Top with remaining nuts and berries.
  5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until just brown and set. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
https://lovintheoven.com/blueberry-banana-baked-oatmeal/

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Oh, and to announce the winner for my latest giveaway,
Congrats Jamie! I will be sending out an email very soon so keep an eye on your inbox!

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