As with most of the kilted photos, I would be happy to give credit to the photographer and kilt wearer if someone knows who they are.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Food Friday--Baked Oatmeal
It's cold and snowy here today. We got about a foot of snow yesterday, so I put my cat in her harness and took her outside to play in it. She had a lot of fun until she realized it was wet, then she begged to come back inside. The ferret had a lot of fun in the snow, too, but soon got cold and wanted to get warm.
I actually made a nice warm breakfast yesterday to fortify people about to go play in the snow. It was oatmeal, something I don't normally eat. I don't mind the flavor of oatmeal, but the texture is offensive to my mouth. THIS oatmeal, though, is almost like an oatmeal cookie and I actually ate two servings because it was good. It takes about 45 minutes in the oven, so it's not something you whip up when you are in a hurry, but on a lazy morning, it's worth the wait, especially with a cup of hot chocolate on the side (or hot tea if you are a tea addict like me).
Baked Oatmeal
(Adapted from Taste of Home Kid Approved Cookbook)
What you need:
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk (I use fat-free, but milk with fat in it would make this taste better, I'm sure)
1 stick (1/2 cup) melted butter (I use unsalted)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
(the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt which I omitted. You may choose to add it if you would like.)
Additional milk for serving
What you do:
Preheat your oven to 350, and spray a 9 inch square baking dish with non stick spray, or butter it, either one.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt if using. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, eggs and milk and whisk thoroughly. Carefully pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. (Or do what I did and combine the wet ingredients in a large bowl and then just add the dry in one thing at a time as you measure it, and stir it REALLY well after everything is in).
Pour into your greased baking dish and pop it in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool for about 3-5 minutes, cut into 9 squares and enjoy in a bowl with more milk.
(Also, if one is feeling adventurous, one could soak some raisins in some rum overnight and then stir the rum-soaked raisins into the oatmeal before baking. I wish I had thought of that sooner!)
I actually made a nice warm breakfast yesterday to fortify people about to go play in the snow. It was oatmeal, something I don't normally eat. I don't mind the flavor of oatmeal, but the texture is offensive to my mouth. THIS oatmeal, though, is almost like an oatmeal cookie and I actually ate two servings because it was good. It takes about 45 minutes in the oven, so it's not something you whip up when you are in a hurry, but on a lazy morning, it's worth the wait, especially with a cup of hot chocolate on the side (or hot tea if you are a tea addict like me).
Baked Oatmeal
(Adapted from Taste of Home Kid Approved Cookbook)
What you need:
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk (I use fat-free, but milk with fat in it would make this taste better, I'm sure)
1 stick (1/2 cup) melted butter (I use unsalted)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
(the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt which I omitted. You may choose to add it if you would like.)
Additional milk for serving
What you do:
Preheat your oven to 350, and spray a 9 inch square baking dish with non stick spray, or butter it, either one.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt if using. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, eggs and milk and whisk thoroughly. Carefully pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. (Or do what I did and combine the wet ingredients in a large bowl and then just add the dry in one thing at a time as you measure it, and stir it REALLY well after everything is in).
Pour into your greased baking dish and pop it in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool for about 3-5 minutes, cut into 9 squares and enjoy in a bowl with more milk.
It kind of fell apart when I was serving it, so it tastes better than it looks!
(Also, if one is feeling adventurous, one could soak some raisins in some rum overnight and then stir the rum-soaked raisins into the oatmeal before baking. I wish I had thought of that sooner!)
Monday, February 18, 2013
Happy Monday
I have a small group of friends who enjoy kilted persons, and I try to remember to send out a pic of a kilted (or sometimes just really hot) person on Monday mornings, and I got to thinking that I will share them here, too, for everyone else to enjoy. :)
So, for today's viewing enjoyment, shirtlessness.
I do not know who took most of the photos I have, if anyone knows, please tell me and I will provide proper credit.
So, for today's viewing enjoyment, shirtlessness.
I do not know who took most of the photos I have, if anyone knows, please tell me and I will provide proper credit.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Food Friday--Mini Pizza
Pizza is really good, and really bad for you. Also, if there is a group of people, deciding on which toppings to get can be a nightmare. Making individual mini pizzas solves this problem. Everyone gets to choose their own toppings, so everyone is happy. :) Happy is good.
These mini pizzas are easy to make, though they can get rather pricey if you are not careful.
What you need:
English muffins
pizza sauce (or plain tomato paste)
shredded pizza cheese
desired pizza toppings (Hawaiian: pineapple and Canadian bacon. Assorted veggies: mushrooms (saute in a little butter first for a really yummy treat), artichoke hearts, bell peppers, black olives, other veggies. Fried, chopped bacon. Whatever you like, really. It's your own personal pizza!)
What you do:
Split an English muffin in half, spread desired amount of pizza sauce onto each half, pile on whatever toppings you like, sprinkle cheese on top, and bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
I like to use bell peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, artichoke hearts, all kinds of yummy veggies on mine. My son prefers either just plain cheese or pineapple and cheese. My husband likes pepperoni or Canadian bacon, or any other meat that he can get on it, and veggies.
I have a friend who makes this with tomato paste instead of pizza sauce, and they are good that way, too, and lower in sodium.
Also, if you like to make your own breads, I will try to remember to post my English muffin recipe next week.
These mini pizzas are easy to make, though they can get rather pricey if you are not careful.
What you need:
English muffins
pizza sauce (or plain tomato paste)
shredded pizza cheese
desired pizza toppings (Hawaiian: pineapple and Canadian bacon. Assorted veggies: mushrooms (saute in a little butter first for a really yummy treat), artichoke hearts, bell peppers, black olives, other veggies. Fried, chopped bacon. Whatever you like, really. It's your own personal pizza!)
What you do:
Split an English muffin in half, spread desired amount of pizza sauce onto each half, pile on whatever toppings you like, sprinkle cheese on top, and bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
I like to use bell peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, artichoke hearts, all kinds of yummy veggies on mine. My son prefers either just plain cheese or pineapple and cheese. My husband likes pepperoni or Canadian bacon, or any other meat that he can get on it, and veggies.
I have a friend who makes this with tomato paste instead of pizza sauce, and they are good that way, too, and lower in sodium.
Also, if you like to make your own breads, I will try to remember to post my English muffin recipe next week.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Wondering About Happiness
It has recently come to my attention that I am getting older. We all are, though some days it doesn't feel like it. Some days I am still 18. Some days I can tell that I have not been 18 for a long time. I know most of us are like that, though, and I try to enjoy those young days as much as possible when they come around.
This post is not about those days, however. This post is about wondering. I am finally a senior in college. I have about three more semesters (including a summer term) and then I will graduate. I will be very relieved to be done with college, but then will have a bunch of student loans to pay back and no real skills with which to find a job.
I have been wondering lately what it really is that I want to do when I grow up. I was reluctant to go back to school because I will be so much older than most of my classmates when we graduate, and that makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. But, I want to do this. I want to finish my BS, even if it is useless, no matter what age I will be at the time. Age doesn't really matter so much in the pursuit of what we want to do. We are going to be 45 or 55 or 85 anyway, shouldn't we be doing something that makes us happy?
As is usually the case with me, thinking about that question brought up a whole other set of questions and thoughts.
Why do we settle for doing things that don’t make us happy? Yes, I know there is the societal pressure that we all feel to “grow up and get a job,” but why are the jobs we so often get something that we have merely settled for? Are we hoping that this job will only be temporary, but it winds up sucking us in like quicksand and before we realize it, we are so deep in that we can’t get out?
There is also the pressure that is placed upon us by our families and friends. They expect us to get jobs as soon as we either turn 18 or graduate from college, and to become independent and autonomous–little islands of self-sufficiency bobbing around in an already overcrowded stream. Just because we have turned 18 does not mean we are “grown up”.
Lately I have been wondering: why do we stop growing up? Someone somewhere decided that once we hit the age of 18 we were adults and therefore done growing up. But that’s not true. Isn't growing up about acquiring the wisdom we need to survive? About experiencing changes and learning about ourselves? Is that growth not something that continues to happen to us our entire lives? If we all stopped gaining knowledge and wisdom at the age of 18, there are so many things that would never have been accomplished. I think that “growing up” should be a life-long process. Something that we never quite finish doing, not something that ends once we reach a certain age.
This post is not about those days, however. This post is about wondering. I am finally a senior in college. I have about three more semesters (including a summer term) and then I will graduate. I will be very relieved to be done with college, but then will have a bunch of student loans to pay back and no real skills with which to find a job.
I have been wondering lately what it really is that I want to do when I grow up. I was reluctant to go back to school because I will be so much older than most of my classmates when we graduate, and that makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. But, I want to do this. I want to finish my BS, even if it is useless, no matter what age I will be at the time. Age doesn't really matter so much in the pursuit of what we want to do. We are going to be 45 or 55 or 85 anyway, shouldn't we be doing something that makes us happy?
As is usually the case with me, thinking about that question brought up a whole other set of questions and thoughts.
Why do we settle for doing things that don’t make us happy? Yes, I know there is the societal pressure that we all feel to “grow up and get a job,” but why are the jobs we so often get something that we have merely settled for? Are we hoping that this job will only be temporary, but it winds up sucking us in like quicksand and before we realize it, we are so deep in that we can’t get out?
There is also the pressure that is placed upon us by our families and friends. They expect us to get jobs as soon as we either turn 18 or graduate from college, and to become independent and autonomous–little islands of self-sufficiency bobbing around in an already overcrowded stream. Just because we have turned 18 does not mean we are “grown up”.
Lately I have been wondering: why do we stop growing up? Someone somewhere decided that once we hit the age of 18 we were adults and therefore done growing up. But that’s not true. Isn't growing up about acquiring the wisdom we need to survive? About experiencing changes and learning about ourselves? Is that growth not something that continues to happen to us our entire lives? If we all stopped gaining knowledge and wisdom at the age of 18, there are so many things that would never have been accomplished. I think that “growing up” should be a life-long process. Something that we never quite finish doing, not something that ends once we reach a certain age.
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