Sunday, November 30, 2014

November Focus: Recommended Books





As I said in October, I got so many great recommendations from my friends that I decided to do the same theme for November. Here is what I read:

Read: Restoration
Read: The Last Unicorn
Read: The Light Between Oceans
Read:  The Things They Carried
Reading:Killing Yourself to Live


I'm not entirely sure what my theme for December will be but I'm leaning towards translated books! 

Monday, November 24, 2014

Vegan Baked Apple Spice Oatmeal

I've been a believer in oatmeal bakes ever since I made this recipe. Recently, I've been flirting with the idea of eliminating dairy products from my diet so when I saw this recipe here I figured I could make it vegan really easily. I eliminated the butter from the recipe and substituted almond milk for regular milk....and it is SO good. The recipe makes a lot and it is so hearty. So far we have had it for breakfast two times and I'm thinking we'll be able to have it at least two more times! 



Here is what you need:

4 cups almond milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups peeled and chopped apples
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup dried cranberries

What you need to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Stir occasionally until the mixture is well combined then stir in the remaining ingredients.
4. In a lightly sprayed 2-quart casserole dish, pour the oatmeal into the casserole dish, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Best Breakfast Potatoes



We've been getting a lot of potatoes from our CSA box recently, and along with them have come some pretty good looking recipes. We whipped these up for Saturday breakfast and instantly knew this recipe would be put in the remake pile. So good!

What you need:

2 lbs potatoes, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 big bell pepper, chopped
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 stick butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt & pepper

What you need to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together the potatoes, garlic, onion, bell pepper, olive oil, butter, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper and some kosher salt and pepper.

2. Pour the potato mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan twice. Raise the heat to 500 degrees and bake until crisp and brown, 15-20 minutes, tossing twice.

3. Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper before serving.

Enjoy!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

October Focus: Recommended Books


For October I decided to read only books that people recommended to me. I asked for suggestions on Facebook and got an influx of great book ideas! So many, in fact, I may need to dedicate November to this theme as well.  Plus I really really enjoyed all of these books...obviously my friends have great taste!

Here is what I read:

Read: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Read: Longbourn
Read: The Illustrated Man
Read: The Twentieth Wife 
Read: The Rook
Reading: Outlander
Reading: Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons