o is for oatmeal

I have a couple of oatmeal eaters at my house. Kate (almost 4) and Will (2) ask for oatmeal probably three times a week, more if I don't have cereal. I also have sent BJ to work with a collection of oatmeal packets to keep him from starving since he leaves too early in the morning for breakfast. I have bought the premade ones and I've made up my own in good old ziplock baggies. For my kiddos I do the following:

1. Pour about 1 cup oatmeal in a microwave-safe bowl and add about 2/3 cup water.

2. Microwave on high for 1 1/2-2 minutes.

3. Add a dash of salt, a 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, and 2-3 ice cubes.

4. Stir and pour into individual serving dishes.

My kids eat it up and it's an easy way to use food storage. Since it's about $2 for a #10 can of oatmeal, which holds about 16 cups of oatmeal, I figure it costs less than a quarter to make those two kids breakfast. And it's healthier than most everything else they want to eat.

h is for hootenannies

Hootenannies

Heat oven to 425.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in 9x11 Pyrex cake pan in oven.

Mix well in blender:

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

Pour ingredients into hot pyrex pan and cook for 20 minutes. It will rise in the oven and fall when removed.

Serve with fresh fruit and cream, jam and powdered sugar, or syrup.

We grew up with hootenannies for dinner every once in a while. I'm not really sure why they are called that. My kids call them puffy pancakes. It's a really simple, quick, easy, light dinner. Even the clean up is easy. This recipe also comes from Grandma Doxey.

We had these with fresh strawberries, blueberries, frozen raspberries, bananas, and yogurt for dinner the other night. Everyone ate it and loved it. BJ even said that if we have more dinners like that I might turn him into a fruit-lover. It just feels good to eat fresh food in the summer, don't you think?

g is for granola

I went to visit my mom in March this year in Moscow. Every morning for breakfast I had a bowl of granola and yogurt. It didn't take long before I was addicted, so I began pricing it here once I got back. It's so expensive! I was sad to see how much it was because I couldn't feel good about spending that kind of money when there are so many cheaper breakfast alternatives. In May we had an enrichment meeting and one of the mini-classes was on using your food storage. I had gone on a home-made kick before and just let it fizzle, but this class inspired me to try again. I looked for some granola recipes online and found some that looked pretty good. Most of them are more complicated than I would like, especially since more ingredients means more money to be spent on it. Then I found this simple recipe in my Taste of Home cook book. I have made it several times and it's really good with yogurt and berries. Caleb likes it with milk. The only thing I had to buy for it was wheat germ, since I already had all the other ingredients. I found a 12 oz. bottle of wheat germ at Walmart for about $4, which is about how much a small box of granola costs. So instead of about 12 servings for $4, you get about 12 cups of homemade granola for the same price. And I just found a 20 oz. jar of wheat germ at HEB for $5 this week. That'll make two batches and cut the cost almost in half. It's so easy to make, although it does require a couple hours at home. Here are the specifics:

Toasted Granola

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 6 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 jar (12 ounces) toasted wheat germ
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring brown sugar and water to a boil. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, flour and salt. Stir oil and vanilla into sugar mixture; pour over oat mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake at 250° for 1-3/4 to 2 hours or until dry and lightly browned, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 11-1/2 cups.