Cinnamon and Spice Oatmeal (By the Pound)

Last year our kids started eating oatmeal for almost every breakfast. We'd buy it in the 42-oz cylinder (the big one at your local supermarket), add a little cinnamon and sugar, nuke it in the microwave, and serve it up. The kids liked it a lot... until they discovered the pre-made packets from Quaker. They liked it all, but "Cinnamon and Spice" was their favorite. They went through it as if their lives depended on it.

Here's the thing, though: Quaker flavored oatmeal isn't nearly as good for you (LOTS of sugar), it's a lot more expensive, and the packets are a pain. After some experimentation, we were able to come up with a recipe that tastes like the "real" stuff (not quite as sweet) and is crazy cheap. We buy oats in 10-pound increments, but this recipe works for the big cylinder you'd find at your local grocery. If you buy the oats from the store, this recipe will cost you about $3.50 for about 30 breakfasts, so just over $.10 per meal. If you buy the oats in bulk, it's half that.

Ingredients

42-oz cylinder of quick oats
1 cup dried milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg

Instructions

1. Take 3 cups of oats from cylinder and add to food processor or blender. Process for 10 seconds.
2. Pour processed oats in large mixing bowl. Add dried milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add remainder of oats (about 9 cups) to mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
4. Pour entire mixture into resealable container.
5. To serve, boil water (we love our electric kettle), pour 2/3 cup of oat mixture in a bowl, and add boiling water to your own preference.

I like my oatmeal a little runny, my wife likes hers closer to a brick. To each their own. After a bowl or two, you'll know how much water to add.

Banana Oat (Chocolate?) Muffins

I don't create many recipes. Mostly I steal from recipe writers I like, and maybe do a tiny bit of tweaking. But these banana muffins are becoming extremely popular in our house, and this one is all (or at least almost all) mine. We have a batch cooling in the kitchen right now, and Jenna (who turned 8 last month) did every step herself. These are not complicated.

Oats and bananas are staples in our family: the kids have oatmeal every morning and we all eat at least one banana a day. Years ago, Judi and I would joke that we kept a small Ecuadorian banana farmer in business, but we've doubled our consumption since then. Perfecting this recipe hasn't helped.

I add the chocolate chips because the kids beg for them, but honestly I don't think the muffins need them. You won't be disappointed if you add them, and you won't be disappointed if you don't.

Ingredients

Dry Team

1 1/2 C flour (all-purpose or white whole wheat)
1/2 C sugar
1 T cinnamon
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Wet Team

1 C milk
1 C rolled oats
1 egg
1/3 C canola oil
1/2 t vanilla
1 banana, mashed

Mix-Ins

1 banana, chopped (I cut slices, then quarter the slices)
1/3 C chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

1. In a small mixing bowl, add the milk and the oats. Yes, the oats are part of the wet team. By soaking them for a couple minutes first, they soften up in a way I could never get them to do otherwise.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry team.
3. In the small mixing bowl, combine the rest of the wet team.
4. Add wet to dry (Muffin Method!), stir and fold to combine.
5. Add mix-ins, stir and fold to combine.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes.
7. Let cool briefly, then allow your family to consume almost all of the muffins in one sitting. Try to hold a couple out for school lunches.

Basic Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

I was laying in bed, drifting off to sleep, when my wife rolled over and said to me "Did you remember to bake the bread?" I hadn't. My bread was happily rising in the (cold) oven, and if left overnight would probably overflow and make a mess. So I'm downstairs, out of my nice warm bed, writing down this recipe and waiting for the bread to bake.

A few months back, I tried making my own sourdough starter by catching wild yeast in pineapple juice. It worked amazingly well. I've made bread several times, but honestly it's seemed somewhat hit-or-miss. Several loaves were beautiful, but several others were bricks. I've mostly used the sourdough starter to make quickbreads: pizza crusts, tortillas, pretzels, and the like. It's awesome for that, and ridiculously easy.

Homemade bread may sound scary, but the finished product is worth it.

After much experimentation, though, I think I've finally got a bulletproof sourdough sandwich loaf I like. Judi makes an incredible honey oat bread that we use for sandwiches, and it is really excellent. The kids love it because it's ridiculously soft; practically a WonderBread. Sometimes I want something different, though. Something a little more firm, something with a little more tang, or something a little cheaper. Between the oats, honey, and yeast, the honey oat bread isn't necessarily less expensive than cheap grocery-store bread. It tastes better, but it costs about the same. This loaf, though, is crazy cheap. Basically flour and water, and you can get 25 pounds of flour for under $8.

25 pounds of flour fits perfectly in these trash cans. That's bread
flour on the left and all-purpose flour on the right.

Sourdough starter has different "strengths" based on how recently it's been "fed." If you read hard-core sourdough bakers, it can get pretty technical. This recipe avoids that by using two phases to reach the appropriate level of leavening. It really is dead simple. If you have sourdough starter, you can make this bread. And if you don't have sourdough starter, I'd be happy to give you a cup or two of mine, or just make your own by following the link above.

Ingredients

Phase 1 (Sponge)

• 2 cups starter (fed last night)
• 2 cups bread flour (can substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour)
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 T white sugar

Phase 2 (Dough)

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 T kosher salt
• 1/8 C canola oil

Instructions

1. Combine starter, flour, water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Place somewhere warm. In winter, our house is cold enough that I can't get the yeast to do its thing without placing it in a barely-warm oven. Preheat the oven for 45-60 seconds, then turn off the oven and put in the mixing bowl. This will need to sit for several hours, depending on the strength of your starter, the warmth of your oven, and so on. Once you can see bubbles on every square centimeter or so, you're ready for phase 2.
2. Add flour, kosher salt, and oil to mixing bowl. Mix well. Turn out bowl onto flat surface and knead until dough comes together. Depending on the moisture level in the air, you may need to add a few teaspoons of water or a small handful of flour. Once dough is smooth, return to mixing bowl and let rise for 3-4 hours.
3. Divide dough in half and add each half to a lightly-greased sandwich loaf pan. You may want to shape the dough before panning; something like this will work well (although my method is much less fussy).
4. Let the dough rise until it's about the size you expect to see in a loaf of bread. I might expect to see the top of the loaf about an inch over the lip of the bread pan, but that's up to you. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, then remove and let cool (slightly) before cutting in and enjoying with butter and honey.

Once it's cooled a little and you've eaten your fill, move whatever is left to an airtight container. We went through several solutions before landing on a 2-gallon ziplock bag. The bread will continue to release steam, but if it's in an airtight container the steam will be reabsorbed into the crust, making it softer. Other than that, there's not really a secret; or at least not one that I know. Enjoy!

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Everybody (except my sister-in-law) likes chocolate cake. I don't know that I've ever had a bad one. But this is the best chocolate cake I've ever had (including from bakeries and restaurants), and it's hardly any more difficult than what comes in a box. Actually, a boxed cake is the main ingredient. From humble beginnings come something truly amazing. I should confess that I modified (stole) this recipe from CakeCentral.

This will more than double the volume of the boxed cake. I use it in a bundt pan, but you can also use it in cupcakes or to make a great layer cake. Do as you think best.

Ingredients

Dry

• 1 box chocolate cake (I've used all brands with success. Get the chocolatey-est cake you can find on sale)
• 1 C AP flour
• 1 C white sugar
• 1 T cocoa
• 1 t salt

Wet

• 1 1/3 C water
• 1/4 C canola
• 3 eggs
• 1 C sour cream (or 8 oz)
• 1 t vanilla

Steps

1. In a mixing bowl, blend all dry ingredients.
2. Add wet ingredients to mixing bowl and mix until mixture turns creamy.
3. Bake in a manner appropriate to your baking pan. For a bundt pan, lightly oil all surfaces and then lightly flour before adding cake batter.
4. Bake at 325 for a time appropriate for your baking pan. In a bundt pan, this will take about an hour. A sheet pan will be quicker.
5. Let cool, then remove from pan and add delicious chocolate icing. Serve with homemade ice cream.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

I've had a lot of good chocolate chip cookies, but I've never made one I loved. This week, thanks to multiple attempts and some input from Kenji, I finally got it right. This recipe also appeals to my obsessive-compulsive side because the only two volume measures you need are the half cup and the teaspoon.

I know it's a little complicated to use both white sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup. I know it's weird to use both Crisco and butter. I know it's weird to brown the butter. But these cookies have a sweet, nutty caramel flavor and have crispy edges and a chewy center. This is it: my ultimate chocolate chip cookie.

Dry Ingredients

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 C (1 stick) browned butter (see step 1)
• 1 ice cube
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C Crisco shortening
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 T corn syrup (Note that 1 T is 3 t)
• 1/2 C packed light brown sugar

Mix-Ins

• 1 C chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
• 1/2 C peanut butter chips

Steps

1. Brown the stick of butter. It's easier than you'd think. For instructions on browning butter, click here. Note that adding hot butter to eggs will curdle them, so it must cool before joining the other ingredients. Once the butter has cooled slightly (no longer boiling), add ice cube and move around until it melts. This should drop the temperature enough, but there's no harm in letting it cool a few more minutes before adding it in Step 5. If you don't mind doing extra dishes, you might pour it out of the skillet and into a small bowl to accelerate cooling.
2. Preheat oven to 325.
3. In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients and set aside.
4. Add white sugar and eggs to large mixing bowl. Mix until smooth. Add Crisco, vanilla, and corn syrup and mix again. Crisco will not fully incorporate, but should break into small pieces. Add brown sugar and continue to mix.
5. Once brown butter has cooled (does not need to be room temperature, but should not be hot to the touch), add to mixing bowl.
6. While continuing to mix, add dry ingredients, in small batches, until combined. Add chocolate and peanut butter chips.
7. Drop heaping spoonfuls on cookie sheet, preferably with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
8. Cook at 325 for 18 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Pumpkin Muffins

We made our own pumpkin puree this year, and it was interesting learning to cook with amounts that weren't measured by the can. It also meant we needed recipes that used varying amounts of pumpkin puree, since we didn't think to measure the puree before we froze it. These muffins became our go-to method for finishing off the rest of the pumpkin.

Note that the recipe is pretty forgiving with the pumpkin. If you have an extra quarter cup, just throw it in. We also made these once using mashed sweet potatoes, and they tasted pretty much the same. Substitutions for the win. In a pinch, you can also add half a cup of chocolate chips. Everything is better with chocolate.

Ingredients

Dry Team

• 1.5C flour
• 1 t pumpkin pie spice
• 1 t baking powder
• .5 t baking soda
• .5 t salt

Wet Team

• 1 C pumpkin
• 1 C sugar
• 1/3 C canola
• 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add dry team to a small bowl and combine
3. Add wet team to a mixing bowl and mix.
4. Add dry to wet and mix.
5. Spoon into muffin tins. If you hate life, feel free to grease the tins or use paper cups. As for me and my house, we use silicone baking cups.
6. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

This is an easy one. Never buy pumpkin pie spice when it's so easy to make your own. If you have a larger container, double this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground allspice or ground cloves

Steps

1. Mix and store in an airtight container.