Baked Oatmeal

My family loves this Baked Oatmeal and I have made it several times for various morning potlucks. I found the recipe about 3 years ago on a blog but it has been a long time and I can't find the blog to credit. I had printed up the recipe and it was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe,  however my family doesn't drink non-fat milk so I use 1% milk and I have used the whole egg vs. just the egg white. I also double the recipe which will fill a glass 9x11 baking pan. I hope your family enjoys this as much as my family has.

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit
1/4 cup chopped, peeled apple
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice ( I use allspice)
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 egg whites, beaten (I use the whole egg)
Cooking spray
Fresh Berries
 
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375
1. Combine dry ingredients (first 8) in medium bowl. Combine milk, applesauce, butter and eggs in a separate bowl and beat well. Add wet ingredients to dry and combine until moist

I was so into taking my pictures that I forgot to actually mix up the dry ingrediants prior to pouring in the milk mixture..

2. Pour mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. I use a 9 x 11 pan since I double the recipe. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes ( a tad longer if doubled)
 

3. Serve hot with a dash of milk poured over it. Serve with fresh berries

Yield: 5 to 6 servings

                                                                             



Enjoy!!

 

Linking:

Refinishing Decision and a Cane Chair

I need to stop looking on Craigslist or I need a workshop! I see quite a few things that I would love to purchase but I have no where to store anything. As it is my den area looks reminiscent of a Sanford and Son episode. I mentioned earlier that I purchased a Henredon Table and 10 Henredon chairs off of Craigslist. I had the table and chairs outside ( shaded area) for about a week until I could make room for them in my garage but then it rained. Yes, it rained in San Diego in September. Thankfully one of my daughter's friends was getting picked up right as it started and her dad helped me get everything inside. I love the table and I have been afraid to start the refinishing on it. I contacted Henredon to see if I could get any information on the table and chairs. I sent them a picture and the numbers that were under the table. They got back to me the next day and they told me the table was from their Capri collection manufactured between 1968 and 1976. The table and the chairs are solid pecan wood and the table has a cherry veneer facing. It was so neat to be able to get that information but they stressed not to use harsh refinishing products on the table. I have been flip flopping back and forth as to what exactly I would like to do with the table. My plan was to refinish the table top with a wood stain and paint the table legs white like my Oak table however, I am starting to really love the warmth of an entire wood table offset with white chairs. This is a bit of a problem, if the table top was in great condition I would just leave it as is, even though it is has the speckled finish it is actually nice looking.  There is no way I would be able to match a stain so I am contemplating trying to refinish and entire table. I know it can be done with time and patience's. I would love some input on this.

I started to strip off the caning from one of the chairs, which is a LOT of work. In a perfect world all the chairs cane backs would have been perfect but many were broken. I really had hoped the captains chairs would have been intact but they were not. I plan to recane just the captain's chairs and then upholstery the other chairs. So much work but the whole set was $95, and I know I will enjoy working on it. Here is the picture again for reference:

Well prior to finding the Henredon I bought the oak table and I found other cane back chairs. I finally got around to competing one of those chairs. I am happy with how it turned out. I used Annie Sloan's Paris Gray and Old White but instead of mixing the two colors together I dipped the end of the brush in each color. I used clear and dark wax and did a light distressing. I covered the seat using a canvas drop cloth. I did not sew the seat the way it was but I do plan to do that with the Henredon Chairs..

I would really love your feed back and input as to what I should do with the Henredon table, should I go with my original plan of refinishing the tabletop and painting the rest white, or go with what I am being drawn to know a whole refinished table look? Do you have any experience refinishing an entire table and if so what advice would you give?

Here is the before picture of the random cane chair I have:

                             and the after                          

Linking:

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

Who Made This SALAD!!!???

 I have decided to make an effort to cook healthy for my family but I also want it to be fun and tasty. One of the recipes I found was for  a Couscous & Fruit Salad. I made this for dinner the night before my kick-off meeting for my MOPS group and decide to make extra to take the next day. When I pulled out everything that I needed, I realized my kids had eaten all but one of the nectarines. The raspberries I had purchased just 3 days prior were molded and had to be thrown away. I had blueberries which was great, but I knew it would need something else. Luckily, I had just purchased these delicious dried white grapes from Henry's Market. These actually made that salad for me. One other modification I made was to drizzle honey over the salad tossing  it, and drizzle honey again. The shallot's in the salad were very strong and the I was hoping the honey would help, which it did very nicely. Next time I will actually half the amount of shallots called for.

How did this salad work for my family? My husband seemed to eat most of his and added a second serving, my 17 year old ate hers right up, my  5 year old did alright with it, and my 3 year old son ate the fruit and left the couscous. I loved it, and I hoped my MOPS group would too. The next morning after having been chilled over night (when we ate it for dinner it wasn't chilled and it is way better chilled) I took it to my group. I was nervous that nobody would eat it. I like different salads but I didn't know if this was too different. Then half way through the meeting I hear "Who made this Salad???" I look up and I see Susie holding up my bowl and exclaiming how amazing it was. After the meeting 3 moms came up to me asking how to make it.. I found a winning recipe and wanted to share it here with you! I will note the modifications I made in the recipe in pink. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and my MOPS group did. In a few days I will be sharing with you my Baked Oatmeal Recipe which is another favorite amongst my MOPS group and my family!

 Enjoy!

Couscous & Fruit Salad

adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups cooked whole-wheat couscous
1 cup chopped nectarine
1 cup mixed fresh berries, such as blueberries and raspberries
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds, (see Tip) ( I did not toast mine)

Honey for drizzling and dried white grapes (purchased at Henry's Market bulk section)

Preparation:

Whisk oil, orange juice, vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cooked couscous, nectarines, dried grapes, berries and almonds; drizzle with honey (twice) gently toss to combine.

Tip:
To toast sliced almonds, heat a small dry skillet over medium-low heat. Add nuts and cook, stirring, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.

The recipe as is serves 4, so just double or triple as needed!

Linking to:

 

Grain Sack Wanna Be..

Vintage grain sacks seem to be a big part of the French country look. People are using them to make pillows, purses, framed art, seat covers and many other projects. I do not have access to vintage grain sacks and if I did I don't think I would want to pay for them. I have seen a lot of DIY'ers making their own grain sacks by using graphics from the Graphic Fairy and fabric.

While cleaning up my garage I spotted a frame that I had purchased a few years back. This frame had a fun vintage like apple farm picture. It accidentally got left outside for quite some and the rain ruined the picture. I didn't want to throw the frame away because I thought maybe someday I would do something with it. When I saw it I thought the framed grain sack idea would be perfect. I do not have a before picture because I painted it before I remembered to take one. The frame was already a pretty Robin's Egg blue but I wanted it to be black, so I painted one layer of Old White Chalk Paint and over that I painted one layer of Graphite. I printed up this image from the Graphic Fairy:



If you click on the image it will take you to the Graphic Fairy and a towel project, which I hope to try out. I liked the look of the grain sacks that have the lines on them, so I taped up the drop cloth I was using to section off lines. I mixed a bit of Aubusson Blue, Versailles, and just a splash of Old White to make a greenish blue color. I then painted the lines waited for them to dry and got to work on the image. I had hoped to use a Freezer Paper transfer technique like this one: http://gardenberger.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-paper-transfer-tutorial.html but my printer is a laser printer. From what I have read, laser printers will not work ( I do have an old ink jet so I will dig that out for my future crafts). Instead I used a projector to project the image on to the drop cloth and painted the image using acrylic paint. This was tedious, and in the future I will back the fabric with spray adhesive and maybe cardboard to give it a hard surface to paint on. I didn't do this and the brush just didn't paint well. Learning as I go is becoming my motto! Once that was all dry I took a little bit of sandpaper to try and age it and then I stapled the cloth to the frame. This honestly was the hardest part, I could not for the life of me get it straight. So the image is a little wonky, which will drive me nuts. I will again in the future stabilize the material first, then paint. I have to say if it wasn't for the crookedness of the lines, I would be pleased with the outcome of this project. I will re-do it in the future, but not today! As always, I welcome helpful tips and tricks that you may have.

If there is any doubt how wonderful this could look here is some actual Grain Sack Eye Candy for you!

http://bushelandapeck.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/vintage-grain-sack-and-a-picnic.html

http://thegrowersdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/11/reclaimed-rustics-vintage-grain-sack.html

Linking to:

 

 

My First Feature and I'm a Giveaway Winner!!!

One month ago I found a wonderful blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia. I was so inspired by Kristin's blog and the many other blogs I found through her's. Shortly after finding her blog I contacted her via e-mail asking a few question and she was so friendly and helpful. She is the reason why I started blogging again, she inspired me to get out there and just do something. I really believe had I not found her blog I would not have done the projects that I have done recently. This has had a two-fold affect, first today my oak table refinishing project was a feature (6th the one down) on her blog!! Every Tuesday My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia hosts a linky party, and a few of the previous weeks projects are featured. I linked up my table last week along with 100+ other really terrific projects. I was so honored to see my table featured with 6 other amazing features. So, where does the two-fold part come in?? Well, last night before I went to bed I received an e-mail from Brad and Amber with Shades of Amber. They host a link party each week to share your chalk paint projects. Last weeks party was a special link party in which every project you linked up was an entry into their drawing for 2 cans of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. If that wasn't enough the colors being given are the newest, have yet to be released colors: Coco and French Linen.  What did that email say, well that I was the winner of course!!! I couldn't believe it, I was on cloud 9 all day today! The paint is currently being mixed and is expected to hit sometime this month. So, If it wasn't for My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia I would have never tried being a DIY'er nor would I have even heard about Chalk Paint. If I had never heard about chalk paint I wouldn't have had projects to link up to Shades of Amber's link party giveaway!
It is late, so I am not sure if I tied that together the way I wanted too but hopefully you understand. 

Please visit both My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and Shades of Amber. There are many talented people who link up there projects and many take the time to share how they did it. Plus, they are great blogs!!

Many thanks to Kristin, Brad and Amber!