Sweet Potato Pie

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Andrea

Pumpkin pie is one of those items that I stopped making for our Thanksgiving dinner a few years back. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin!

But we have it all the time and I use it in a lot of different applications. Sweet potatoes were something that was completely traditional for Scott to have at Thanksgiving so we couldn’t skip them.

What to do? They had to be part of the menu yet as a side dish would put us way over the edge.

I decided to remove them as a side dish and return them as dessert.

This has worked out very well! We’re still getting sweet potatoes for the big day but not as a sticky gross mess (sorry but that whole marshmallow thing needs to go!). Instead it’s served up in pie form!

And if you’ve got folks who claim they hate pumpkin (GASP!) you can serve them this instead!

This year I experimented a little and added a crumb topping and some good rum into the mix.

Fig and Date Coffee Cake

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Andrea

It’s no secret that I like cooking with beer but I also like baking with beer. And experimenting with different ways to use beer in the kitchen.

One of my most recent experiments resulted in what is now my favorite coffee cake of all time. This coffee cake uses dried figs, dates, and nuts as part of the crumble topping.

This helps keep the cake moist while baking and gives a slight nod toward the fig newtons of my childhood. I wasn’t a huge fan of fig newtons as a kid but when I got older I enjoyed them a great deal.

Having found dried figs at the store, I knew that I wanted to use them in something. With seasonal beers out right now, the idea of making a coffee cake with one seemed like a natural fit.

I’ve made this cake several times since the first experiment and it always makes me squee with happiness when I get a chance to nibble on it.

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Oatmeal Mask

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Andrea

I’m still washing my face with honey everyday. I am not about to give that up, no way. I have found my new routine, hooray!

While the honey is great, I do like to give my face a little bit of a scrubbing one or twice a week. I wanted to keep things simple and still homemade so I pondered what I could use as a natural scrub.

I found a lot of recipes for an oatmeal scrub and decided to quick put together one for a little pampering.

In my scrub I used:

Old Fashioned Oats
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
Unsweetened Coconut Milk

I put all of these ingredients into my mini food processor and processed until the oats broke down and the mixture got thick. I tried to keep the portions small but still ended up with a ton of scrub!

The oatmeal for scrubbing purposes, and coconut milk along with the oats for skin softening purposes. The apple cider vinegar is used as a mild astringent and to help tighten and unclog pores.

Buzzin Bars

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Andrea

Last week Scott left for a business trip that had him away from the house for about a week. He was flying off to San Francisco to geek out about code and be in his element.

Because I knew that eating times might be odd and because I know Scott, this meant he would need to take some food along with him.

He was taking a carry on which meant that the food had to be small, easy to carry, and not prone to spoilage. And since I knew that these could very well be a meal source, I knew that they had to be jam packed with good stuff. Stuff that could get you through a couple of hours.

I like using soaked dates in bars and coffee cakes because it adds a nice sweetness without being over powering. Plus they are a great source of fiber and potassium.

Plus I wanted to do something fun so I added an extra little kick to these bars.

Chocolate Coconut Oats

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Andrea

Most times I’m just a regular old fashioned oats girl with no frills. I used to make all kinds of combos but then I moved away from that and became more old school. Or plain. However you want to label it. I found comfort in regular oats.

But some days we just need something fun. Some days we need a little pick-me-up.

Some days we just need some dang chocolate.

And on those days, I get a little sassy with my oats and make something super yummy. Nothing too terribly fancy and I’m sure others have been doing this for a while but this is my take on a classic flavor combo.

Chocolate and coconut!

Andrea’s Chocolate Coconut Oats

1C Old Fashioned Oats

1.5C Plain Soymilk (or liquid of your choice)

1 Ripe banana

1TBSP Wheat Germ

1TBSP Ground Flax

1TBSP Coconut Butter

1TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa powder

2TBSP Dried Unsweetened Coconut

Extra coconut and dark chocolate chips for garnish

In a small pot, add in the soymilk and the banana. Mash the banana around and then add in the cocoa and coconut butter. Heat over medium-high heat until the soymilk just begins to bubble. Add in the oats and reduce heat to medium-low. Also add in the ground flax, wheat germ, and dried coconut. Stir and allow to cook for about 5-7 minutes until the oats soften and the mixture starts to thicken up. Remove from heat, spoon into bowls, and top with chocolate chips and coconut for garnish. Makes enough for two bowls of oats.

Andrea’s Basic Oats

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Andrea

I love oats in a pretty serious way. I eat oats almost every single morning in some shape, either a bowl of oats or in the form of granola.

When I first started eating oats, I made all kinds of crazy combinations but now I’m an oatmeal purist. I just like straight up oats please. Occasionally I’ll play around with oats and do something fancy, which we can talk about later. But for the most part, my oats are pretty straight forward.

I have two kinds of oats on hand, Quaker because that’s the easiest for me to get as most grocery stores have that brand, and also some bulk oats I get from Kroger. Quaker for breakfast and baking, the bulk oats for granola. Quaker oats don’t really make the best granola but the bulk oats making amazing granola. The opposite is also true, Quaker makes a great bowl of breakfast oats, while the bulk granola does not.

Sunrise Cookies

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Andrea

When I tell you about these cookies, I’m pretty sure that you are going to think that I have crossed over into crazy land. Let me assure you that I have not.

I have been dreaming of a cookie that I could eat for breakfast for a long time now. Something that I could make ahead and keep in the freezer where I could pull out one or two, heat up quick in the microwave and eat. With my hands and not a fork or spoon.

I wanted a cookie that would make a great on-the-go snack that was low in sugar but loaded with flavor and good stuff.

I wanted something that could be legitimately called a cookie because they were made and eaten just like a regular cookie.

I wanted it to have whole grains and veggies in it.

Stay with me, remember I promised you I wasn’t crazy.

I’m calling these Sunrise Cookies because you can have them first thing in the morning and feel good about starting you day off with a cookie.

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Andrea

I grew up in Pennsylvania. Western PA as a matter of fact. Home of the Steelers, The Penguins (and the Pirates if we must) and the City of Bridges. I didn’t grow up in the city but in a rural coal mining and farming town which was only an hour south of the city. I now live in Columbus, which is only 3 hours away from my hometown.

Doesn’t sound like a huge difference but in terms of weather it totally is! Ohio gets some of the most crazy weather and by crazy I am referring to how extreme it is. It goes from one end of the spectrum to the other, sometimes in the same day.

This week we have the pleasure of dealing with an ice storm and then more snow. Good times.

Thankfully Scott and I work from home which means we can stay bundled up.

On the first cold and iced-in day, I decided to kick my normal bowl of morning oats up a notch and make it something special. I’ve seen others talk about baked oatmeal before and the concept always intrigued me. Baked oatmeal sounds really decadent and like a lovely winter treat, doesn’t it?

The Joy of Overnight Oats

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Andrea

If you’ve been reading here for any length of time then you know that I love my oats.

Probably a little too much. Oats bring me joy! And comfort and a full belly. I eat oats everyday in some shape or form. Typically a bowl of oats that I just made but I also have been known to inhale oatbran and a yogurt mess with granola often as well.

Recently with the very hot temperatures we’ve been having and the ridiculous amount of humidity that has made itself known, the idea of a hot steaming bowl of oats is less than appealing. All I want is COLD stuff. I don’t mind hot coffee but everything else must be as cold as it can get!

Even making and eating dinner is not so much fun because I don’t want to deal with the hot and my appetite has gone down a bit as a result. Anyway, I needed to solve this problem somehow because I have to eat breakfast. If I don’t eat breakfast, I can become cranky really quickly. And after an 8 mile run, food is very important. I thought about cereal and even bought some but have yet to open the box. Cereal just does not have enough staying power for me. I wanted the completeness of oats without all the hot.

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