Morning Apple Oatmeal with immune boosting essential oils

No pictures, because I didn't take any this morning. But I made this recipe this morning using some essential oils to boost my kids, and my own, immune systems. The kids loved it and had multiple helpings. Notice it is only 1 TB of sweetener for 3 servings. Plus protein and omegas from the chia seeds. Try this, you won't be disappointed. 

Morning Apple Oatmeal

with essential oils that are great to boost your immune system in the cold season.

Serves about 3

1 heaping c. of instant oatmeal

3 TB chia seeds

1 drop of Cassia

1 drop of Lemon

Ginger to taste

Pinch of salt

2 c. liquid (apple juice, coconut water, almond milk, coconut milk, milk, cream, half and half, water and any combination of those you want)

2 apples, chopped into bite size pieces

½ c. apple sauce

1 TB sweetener (evaporated cane juice, maple syrup, honey, sugar, etc. I only use 1 TB because I use some apple juice for my liquid and so I need less sugar.)

1 tsp vanilla

Combine in a saucepan everything except oatmeal and vanilla. Heat over medium heat, stirring regularly. Once hot, add in oatmeal and stir. Once oats are cooked, about 1 minute, take off heat and add vanilla. Add toppings if you want and serve hot. My favorite is pecans.

Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/24/apple-pie-oatmeal/

Plants

With the help of RJ, we are growing some plants. We have some Sugar Snap Peas and some Yellow Squash growing in our backyard. The sugar snap peas are very yummy. The squash is not ready yet.

Nina turned 2 ...

a week and a half ago! woops! We celebrated with the Palmer clan on Easter sunday with some yummy brown butter frosted brownies. On her birthday she had her first swim lesson and the next night Rebecca had a birthday party. Saturday we had pizza with extended family staying in Danville and Sunday was Easter, so on Monday our little foursome family celebrated Nina's coming into this world with some Key Lime Cupcakes and a little party on the front lawn complete with silly string and those little bottles with streamers in them. Nina was not a fan of the silly string, but loved the icing, and presents and being with her dad.

White Bean and Grape Salad with Garlic Parmesan Dressing

So I had a salad one time when I was passing through San Francisco International Airport that I had picked up at the Napa Farms place there. It was fantastic! I like that it is very different than the salads I have had. I love that it has grapes and beans. It has such different flavors going on and I love it!

I have tried to re-create it a couple of times and this was pretty close (as far as I can remember).

So the salad itself is easy. Get some:

  

Lettuce (red leaf pictured here)

White Beans (pictured is canned Great Northern, but whatever white bean you like)

Red grapes, cut in half

Sun Dried Tomatoes (pictured here are Trader Joe's, I prefer those that come dry, not packed in oil, but they will work just fine, just make sure to add less dressing)

Parmigiano Reggiano (the real stuff is pictured or you can fake it)

 

Now, the first time I bought dressing. Some Newman's Own Garlic Parmesan something or other. Good. but this is Better! I hodge podged a couple of recipes and I made it according to my taste. It came out like this:

3/4 c. Olive Oil

6 or so garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbl dried Basil

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

4 - 6 splashes of red wine vinegar

1 Tbl Lemon juice

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 heaping TBL of parm (green can kind)

oh and a sprinkling of sugar

and a squirt of spicy brown mustard (not much for me)

So to keep from having to wait hours for the herbs to get their flavor into the oil. Heat it up! Put the oil on your stove over medium and add the garlic. Let it warm and don't let it get too hot. Add the basil and oregano and salt and peppa. Turn off heat and the rest of the ingredients. Make sure to shake well before using.

Yesterday

I did some cooking and baking yesterday. I made for dinner stuffed poblano peppers. They were good. I didn't have any canned black beans except for refried black beans, so I used that in my filling. I also simplified the sauce by taking a jar of salsa and blending it up. I really liked the refried black beans, but it was all soft. I think some rice would be really good in it.

Then at night after the kids were in bed, I made some tropical mini muffins. Instead of orange extract I used orange zest and some juice (about 1 to 2 Tbl). I didn't have the wheat germ and I also added coconut. Yum! These were delicious for breakfast this morning. The girls loved them.

The Flying Falafel

is a stand at our local farmer's market that I have had falafel from. Yum! Well tonight I made falafel myself. It turned out pretty good for a newbie. I more or less followed this recipe. RJ liked it. Nina refused to try it. Next time I will probably double it. Instead of cucumber sauce, I just put cucumbers and plain yogurt on my falafel and wrapped it up in some butter lettuce leaves with some cherry tomatoes on the side. Lovely, I should have taken a picture, but I ate it all gone :)

Rosewater

The other week I made rosewater. I found this recipe that uses rosewater, but ended up doing not doing it and doing this recipe instead (his pictures are better). Amazing!

Cherry Chocolate Almond

Oatmeal...that is. I thought this up the other week and Rebecca and I have enjoyed a few times since.

.

Cherry Chocolate Almond Oatmeal

.

3/4 c. oatmeal

1 1/2 c. water

handful of cherry flavored craisins or dried cherries

generous sprinkle of butter toffee glazed Almond Accents

light sprinkling of Ghiradelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips

.

Cook oatmeal according to directions and add in cherries to cook for about a minute with the oatmeal. Put in bowls top with remaining ingredients, mix and enjoy!

.

No sugar added, though there is sugar in each of the toppings. About 3g from the chocolate, 1g from the almonds, and it is hard to calculate from the cherries, because they are fruit and therefore are higher in sugar. But it is not the overly sweet oatmeal, like the apples and cinnamon, you buy at the store. This is just slightly sweet and oh so yummy.

Scottie Dog Apron

These pics are mid-December. Rebecca and I were making chocolate peppermint cookies. She wore her new apron from Grammie. She loves licking the spatula and I have to keep telling her to wait until I'm done using it.

4 Years!

July 9th was our anniversary and we celebrated it on Friday. I planned it this year. The theme was Oakland. We went to the Oakland Temple.




Then we went to lunch at Celestine's.
We had Potato Skins, then I had the Turkey legs with Yams and squash and Steve had half a fried chicken with mashed potatoes and squash.

It was DELICIOUS!!












Then we went on a tour of the USS Potomac, which was FDR's presidential yacht. Very cool!

















These seats on our the back of the boat. FDR would come back and sit and think. It is super comfy!



We had a really fun time together! And as Steve's said, we have signed up for another year.

Homemade is always better #9

In general homemade is always better than store bought. I had never though of making my own ketchup though. Last night Steve was making hashbrowns and I have not bought any ketchup yet (its only been 2 months in our house and no ketchup needs have arrived until last night). So I thought I would look up a recipe online. This is the recipe I used. These are not the best pictures.

It was really good. I was super suprised at how wonderful homemade ketchup is. Its a little sweeter than store bought, but I could easily cut more sugar out of it and it has no preservatives or high fructose corn syrup in it. I am a fan. I think I will always keep some tomato paste on hand to whip this up when I need it.

Favorite #2

I love cereal. I could eat it for breakfast every morning with no problems. Steve makes fun of me when I got to the grocery store with my list and come out with 5 more boxes of cereal. But they were on sale! 17 boxes of cereal in my garage, is what this is a picture of.

Who eats dinner at 4pm? I know we eat early at 5. We had scheduled two dinner guests this evening and they could come at 4. My husband isn't home from work at 4. Are there many who have husbands home by 4? I know there are some. But these guests can't come unless my husband is here. So now I have 12 lbs. of brisket cooking away in my oven and no dinner guests.

Anybody want to come over for dinner?
I also will have homemade bread (I'll take a pic later and put it up for you.)

I love Buffets.

When on my trip last month to Southern Utah, my FIL and I stopped at the Mandalay Bay buffet for dinner. I only got one picture of the food, which was delicious! This is actually dessert. A coconut cream pie, chocolate ganache thing, and a raspberry creme with fresh fruit in a chocolate cup. So tasty! Thanks pops!

Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Doesn't get much better than this! Other than I should make homemade lemon curd to go in between the layers next time! I made this to celebrate getting our new house.

Indian and English

Steve and I love Indian food!! But it can be kind of expensive to eat out every time we want it. I bought a bottle of sauce at Target once. It wasn't that great. But what I made for dinner last night...Yum!!! Butter Chicken, which is our favorite dish at Bombay, our local Indian restaurant here in downtown Walnut Creek. This didn't taste exactly like it, but it was good. The box is strictly spices. But it has the recipe on the back. I got the box of spices at an Indian grocery store in Pleasanton right by the Papa John's (also a favorite place). Almost all of the measurements on the box are in grams. So I had to convert it all. About 1 lb. of chicken, 1/4 of an onion, 1 can of tomato paste, 10 almonds. How easy does that sound?


Now the odd thing is that you make a past with the onion and an almond paste. Put the onion in a sauce pan with 1/4 c. water and let it simmer for 15 min. The almonds need to be blanched and peeled and then blended with 1/4 c. water to make the paste. I don't have a food processor, but I want one badly. So it was finely ground not a paste and it was fine. Now cut the chicken into pieces and cook over medium/high heat with oil and onion paste until onion paste is translucent (10 min.). Then add tomato paste, almond paste, 1 Tbl (if you like it spicy, or less if you don't) spices and water (how much water? about 1 1/2 c. but you just add it until it looks right). Let it cook for 15 min. then add heavy cream. Ta-da!!! Butter chicken!




Then today I made scones, which I've been wanting to do for awhile. Chocolate chip scones with fake-out clotted cream and lemon curd. So good!! The fake-out clotted cream recipe was so easy. And Kirsten or another reader who lives in GB and knows clotted cream, this is not the same. 1c. heavy cream whisked into stiff peaks, then hand whisk in 1/3 c. sour cream and 1 Tbl. powder sugar. The lemon curd here is store bought, though I have made my own and I think my own is better, but store bought is easier.

Also there is still time left to enter win blog candy, just click here.

A First

Today was the first day EVER for me to make scrambled eggs. Do they look okay? I wasn't sure if they were. Rebecca ate them though. All gone. But I'm not going to test them to make sure. I'm not sure if I cooked them long enough or did it right or anything. They look so disgusting to me. I think I did them wrong.

I found it!

This is one of my most favorite teas and it is only around for the holiday season. It can sometimes be a little difficult to find. But last night, I was shopping at Target to get everything needed for the Palmer Family Christmas Party on Saturday and I just happened across it! It wasn't where the normal tea was it was on a side shelf, but on the back side. I bought two boxes. So wonderful!!!

Christmas Spirit

How much fun is this?!! The past two days I've made cranberry cinnamon scones, pumpkin butter, caramels, granola bars that turned out more like granola crumble, and peppermint bark of course!

Rebecca got really excited about all the Christmas excitement too!

Chillin' and Baking

Rebecca wearing her cute sunglasses. Daddy got this cute picture of her.

Daddy was craving something yummy, so he and I made chocolate cookies with peanut butter and chocolate chips in them. Delicious!