Healthy(ish) Butterscotch Brownies

I get migraines. Two or three times per week, sometimes more if the weather is bad. At my prenatal appointment yesterday, the midwife suggested cutting out all common dietary migraine triggers for the next two weeks to see if that helps any. This leaves me without: cheddar and other aged cheeses, hot dogs and other foods with nitrites, anything containing MSG, peanuts and peanut butter, sour cream and yogurt ... and chocolate. That's right - no chocolate for two weeks! I can substitute other things - like almond butter for peanut butter, mozzarella or monterey jack for cheddar, etc. And, as is evidenced by my previous post and many other posts, I know that I am perfectly capable of making and enjoying delicious dessert and snack items without using chocolate. But I'm the kind of person where, if you tell me I can't eat chocolate, that's all I think about!

So this is my attempt to curb my sudden intense desire for chocolate by replacing it with something else, to prove to myself that I can satisfy my sweet tooth with something that not only doesn't include chocolate, but also has healthy ingredients too. This recipe (from the More with Less Cookbook) proves to me that yes, I am strong! I can live for two weeks without chocolate! I can survive!

But I don't have to be happy about it.


Healthy Butterscotch Brownies
1/4 cup margarine
1 tbsp. molasses
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. dry milk powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8-inch square pan.

Melt margarine. Add molasses, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir well. Sift in milk powder, baking powder, and salt. Add wheat germ and walnuts. Stir enough only to blend, using no more than 20 strokes. Spread in prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes.


The verdict? Well, it's not chocolate. And it's not very brownie-like either. The bars are a bit chewy, with a very wheaty flavor and texture. But that said, I like them. They even have almost a cocunutty flavor, though there's no coconut in them. They'd probably be even better spread with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting or sprinkled with powdered sugar or something. But they're pretty good plain too. And they have Zaylee's seal of approval.


But they're just not chocolate. Sigh.

Summer Cherry Cake

Oh yum. This was so fantastic! I saw this recipe earlier today on My Muffin Thursdays. We just bought cherries yesterday for $.88 per pound and have been eagerly snacking on them. But I knew they needed to be used quickly or they would go bad - we bought them near the end of the sale knowing they only had a couple more days left to go. This cake looked so simple and so delicious that I knew I had to make it!

And I'm so glad I did. This is a very delicious cake. The cherries are soft and moist, and the cake is buttery and tasty, with a crispy and flaky top "crust" that formed as it baked. Oh, it was so yummy!


Summer Cherry Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
2 cup cherries, pitted (sweet, if using sour increase sugar to 1 cup)

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts. Sift in salt, baking powder, and flour.

Pour batter into a sprayed 8" cake pan (I used a greased 8-inch square pan) and poke cherries through the batter, pushing to all different levels. After this I added a step of lightly spreading the batter over the cherries, since pushing them in had made the batter very uneven and funny-looking on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oooh, look at that delicious cake! Doesn't it look so beautiful?


Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.


Yeah. REALLY glad that I made this cake, heeheehee...

My Kitchen My World - Ukraine (late...)

This post is several days late, I think. But I wanted to make these dishes anyway because they looked so delicious and I had the ingredients. So here is my late submission to My Kitchen My World, Ukraine!


Cabbage with Tomatoes
1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter or bacon fat
3 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. butter or bacon fat
2 tbsp. flour
1 cup diced canned tomatoes
1 tbsp. sugar, or to taste
2 tbsp. sour cream
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

Saute the onion in a large frying pan until tender. Add the cabbage and water and cook, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until the cabbage is tender but still slightly crisp.

In another pan, melt the butter or bacon fat. Add the flour, stir to blend, and add the tomatoes and sugar. Cook until the sauce thickens. Add the sour cream and season to taste with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes

Combine the sauce with the cabbage and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors.


Sour Cream Cucumber Salad
3 medium cucumbers
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup fresh chopped dill (I cheated and used dry dill)
1 tbsp. white vinegar
Dash white pepper
1/4 cup (add more depending on your taste and size of cucumbers)

Peel cucumbers and slice thinly. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand 15 minutes. Drain liquid. Add green onions, dill, vinegar, and white pepper. Toss lightly with sour cream.


Served with some fresh homemade bread, this was a tasty Ukrainian meal (though I do admit it probably would have been more authentic had I made rye bread. Oh well, no one's perfect). I think these are probably more along the lines of adult taste, as my usually unpicky children wanted nothing to do with anything on their plates except the bread. But Jeff and I really enjoyed the cabbage and the salad.

Both of these delicious recipes came from Nash Holos, "a blog about Ukrainian music, musicians, radio, TV, internet, culture and community in Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere." This blog has lots of yummy looking Ukrainian recipes that I would love to try! Especially the many desserts, mmmmm...

Raisin Oatmeal Scones

I grew up eating eggs and cereal for breakfast nearly every single morning. About the only variation we had was whether the eggs were fried, scrambled, or boiled, and what type of cereal we had available that day. My mom had eight kids, and it was the easiest and fastest way to get breakfast on the table, though on Saturdays we sometimes had a special treat in the form of pancakes or omelets. Now that I'm grown and have my own family, I have departed quite a bit from the typical eggs-and-cereal breakfasts that I grew up with - I prefer variety and don't mind spending a little extra time in the kitchen to achieve it on occasion. I'm sure that as my children get older and we as a family get busier, I'll lean toward the quick and easy breakfasts more and more often, just as my mom did. But for the time being, we enjoy a large variety of breakfast foods (here are some that I've posted about).

This is an example of a breakfast food that's a little more effort-requiring and fun than just eggs and cereal. This recipe for raisin oatmeal scones came from the Tightwad Gazette (I love that book!) and makes an inexpensive and delicious breakfast. These scones are wonderful spread with margarine and jam, and pretty easy as far as "fancy" breakfasts go.


Raisin Oatmeal Scones
1 1/2 cups flour (white or wheat)
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup softened margarine
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup sour milk (milk with 2 tsp. vinegar added)
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Mix dry ingredients; cut in margarine and raisins. Stir in enough sour milk just to moisten. Divide the dough in half.

Flour hands and pat dough into two circles on a greased cookie sheet about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into quarters. Bake for 10 minutes. Brush on egg and then bake until golden brown, 10 to 15 more minutes. Serve with honey, margarine, or jam.


I used whole wheat flour in my scones this morning. They were good in a stick-to-your-ribs kind of way, though a bit dense. All-purpose flour will yield a lighter-textured scone. And just a note, like many scones these might be considered kind of bland on their own. They're meant to be paired with something sweet like jam or honey to bring out the flavor. :-)

"Freezing Foods" Article on Allrecipes.com

Just a quick post - I was on allrecipes.com and found a really great article on there about making freezer meals. It has great ideas, safety guidelines, a best-by chart, and several recipes that would be good for freezing. Just thought it would go great with my little freezer meal series I've been working on. I know I learned a thing or two. Check it out here!

Baked Beans with Hot Dogs - Freezer Meal

Just a basic Baked Bean recipe that I added hot dogs to. Beans freeze really well, so they make an ideal freezer meal no matter how you cook them! Like with the bean soup, I used half black beans and half black-eyed peas. Other beans or bean combinations can be used; the actual recipe suggests navy beans.

At this point I'm running low on room in the freezer, and bemoaning the fact that I have no room or money for a chest freezer! I may or may not have to go on a freezer meal hiatus after these beans, until I can use up some of the stuff we've got in the freezer and make more room for meals. :-) We'll see how it goes. But I sure am having fun stocking my freezer with all these meals! With these baked beans, there is now a total of twelve meals and twenty burritos in my freezer. Awesome.

Ick, yucky picture. Lighting is all weird lately. Too bright for the bowl, too dark for the beans. Sigh.

Baked Beans with Hot Dogs
1 lb. dry beans
2 quarts water
1/2 cup molasses (wasn't sweet enough for me, I also added 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 package hot dogs, sliced

Soak beans in water overnight or by quick method. In same liquid, bring beans to a boil and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Drain, reserving liquid.

Combine beans with remaining ingredients in a 2 quart casserole. Add bean liquid to cover. Bake 4-8 hours at 275, adding liquid occasionally if necessary. Cover during first half of baking time, then uncover.

Or you can do it in the crock pot - I chose to because I didn't want the added heat of running the oven for four hours! Combine beans with remaining ingredients in crock pot. Add bean liquid to barely cover. You won't need as much liquid as if you were doing it in the oven, because the liquid won't cook off. Cook on low overnight.

Freezer Meal: By now you should know the drill - let the beans cool, then spoon into freezer containers, canning jars, or freezer bags. Freeze. To use, thaw in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan over medium heat.

Bean Soup - Freezer Meal

Here's the next installment in my freezer meal saga! Going through all my dry beans, I realized that I'm running really low; there was only enough for the refried beans, the chili, and these next couple of bean meals. So this soup and the baked beans (soon to come) had to be made with the only beans I had left - one pound each of black beans and black-eyed peas. I soaked them all together, then used half of that combination to make the soup and will use the rest for the baked beans. And yes, we bought several more pounds of beans when we did our weekly shopping yesterday!


I will take this moment to remind you (or rather, remind myself...) that when you decide to do several large freezer meals in a short period of time, make sure you have all the ingredients necessary. I took it for granted that we would have basics like carrots and onions, because we always have those! But I forgot to take into account that I've been using them in large amounts for the other meals I've done. So when I went to start chopping veggies for the soup, I realized I had only two small carrots and was out of onions. Jeff volunteered to walk to the nearby grocery store and pick up onions (I just can't live without onions), and I added a chopped green bell pepper in place of the third carrot. I could have avoided the need for an extra trip to the store had I made sure that we had all necessary ingredients before we did our shopping yesterday - even the ones that I take for granted!

Bean Soup
2 cups (1 lb) dry beans
2 quarts water
1 ham bone or several polish sausages, sliced (optional, I didn't include this)
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
1 quart tomato juice or stewed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight or by quick method. Drain and add fresh water, 6-8 cups. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 2 hours or more until beans are tender. Add more liquid if necessary. If you used a ham bone, remove meat from bones, chop, and return to soup.

Freezer Meal: Let soup cool, then spoon into freezer containers or canning jars in meal-sized portions. I don't recommend putting the soup in freezer bags, just because it's so liquidy. Freeze. To use, thaw in refrigerator, empty into a saucepan, and heat over medium heat. Should be good served with a loaf of fresh bread or some corn bread!


I'll probably cook the rest of the beans this evening and do the baked beans in the crock pot overnight tonight. That way I won't heat the apartment too much, which is very important. ;-)

Just a note to myself: I really need to start using more of what's already in the freezer - I'm running out of room to put all these freezer meals! I still have a few more planned and am just hoping that there will be room to squeeze them all in. Fingers crossed!

Bean and Cheese Burritos - Freezer Meal

I finally got around to assembling the burritos I've been planning on for days. I made those refried beans several days ago, and was totally planning on making my own flour tortillas to wrap the beans in. But I never got around to it, and really needed to assemble these burritos before the beans started going weird... So storebought tortillas it was!

These were super simple, and I think they'll be really good to have around - frozen burritos can be so convenient!

Bean and Cheese Frozen Burritos
Flour tortillas
Refried beans (can be canned or homemade)
Shredded cheddar cheese

Start by heating the tortillas, a few at a time, to make them malleable. Spoon 3-4 tablespoons beans on a tortilla, and top with about a tablespoon of cheese.


Fold in ends of tortilla, and roll up. Place seam-side down in a baking pan.


Repeat with remaining ingredients. When pan is full, cover with foil or plastic wrap and place in freezer. I made two pans of burritos, and have some beans leftover. When the burritos are frozen, remove from pan and place them in a large freezer bag. Be sure to squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible to prevent freezer burn. You can also choose to individually wrap the burritos before bagging them to further protect against freezer burn.

If you want, you could do beef and bean burritos instead. Just substitute taco meat for the shredded cheese.

To heat, I'm not really sure. I would guess you just stick one on a plate and microwave for a couple minutes or until it's heated through. To do several at once, heat in the oven until heated through. Since I've never made these before, that's about as detailed as I can get right now! Maybe the next time we go shopping, I'll peek at the directions on a package of frozen burritos to see what that says. :-)


Next up on my list of things to make and freeze are baked beans with hot dogs, and bean soup. I'll be soaking the beans tonight, so stay tuned for those recipes!

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

My little guy turned 2 years old today. What a little man! Lately he's been really into growling and roaring and stalking around like a predator. So when someone at work gave Jeff a couple green chocolate alligators, we knew we had the perfect inspiration for Thomas' birthday cake.


So cute, and so easy! I made a 9x13 yellow cake (from a mix, they were on sale for 69 cents a box). Then I frosted it with my go-to decorator frosting recipe (found in this post).

I frosted the cake normally, then I built up the "sand" corner with some extra frosting. I wanted it to be a bit of an incline. I left about 1/4 cup frosting for the water. I dyed that blue and spread it over the "water" corner. Then I crushed up some sandwich cookies and pressed them into the frosting on the "beach" to make up the sand, just like I did for his first birthday cake. Yup, when I find an idea that works, I keep using it! :-)

For the plants, I just bought some aquarium plants, one package of the cheapest kind they had; it was less than a dollar. I figured aquarium plants would work perfectly because they're meant to look aquatic. I stuck a couple pieces of the plant along the edges of the pond, and one more on the beach. Then I just plopped on the chocolate alligators, and I was done!


I really enjoy doing cakes that look special, but are simple to make. My cakes are nowhere near professional quality, but I sure think they're cute!

Picture of the birthday boy, enjoying the goodies!


Sorry for the strange lighting. This apartment can very unforgiving in the lighting department sometimes!

Having recently been given a new (to us) ice cream maker, we decided to make ice cream today after church instead of buying some. We didn't have any cream, but nothing stops me when I put my frugal mind to it!

Ice Cream (the cheap version, lol)
4 cups evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk (made my own, recipe to follow)
2 tbsp. vanilla

In ice cream freezer container, combine all ingredients; mix well. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze leftovers.


So thrilled to have an ice cream maker! It worked really well. Next time I would let it churn a little longer to let the ice cream thicken a bit more. But it turned out so good!

Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup powdered milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
3 tbsp. melted margarine

Combine all ingredients in blender container. Process until smooth. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Yields equivalent of 1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Yeah, I'm a tightwad and proud of it! The ice cream turned out fantastic - delicious and creamy. It was the perfect way for us to break in our ice cream maker, and the perfect accompaniment to our alligator cake. Having used homemade sweetened condensed milk and canned evaporated milk, it of course had a different flavor than regular ice cream. But sometimes I like different, it makes things interesting!


Happy birthday to my little guy! It's been such a fun two years!

Home-Style Chili - Freezer Meal

I love this picture - makes me think of hard life on the trail, eating whatever foods you brought or could hunt up. Foods like chili and other simple one-pot meals topped the menu. This picture is found in the chili section of the book "Where's Dad Now That I Need Him?" The book is a lot more than recipes, but there is a sizable recipe section, including an entire chapter on chili.

This is the first recipe in that chili chapter, and it's super good! Simmering for a really long time, it starts very watery but over the hours it thickens and the flavors blend so deliciously. This is a chili that just gets better the longer it sits! That's also what makes it a great freezer meal.

For this recipe, since it already makes so much, I didn't have to double it or anything. Just made it as-is, and it made enough for 3 freezer meals for my family, plus enough for dinner tonight.


Home-Style Chili
3 cups dry kidney beans plus soaking water
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped celery (I skipped this, as I used up all my celery for the curry)
1 tsp. pepper
4 tsp. chili powder
6 cups water
1 #2 1/2 can tomatoes, pureed in blender (about 2 14-oz. cans)
2 cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. celery salt

I also added about a cup of squash puree from my freezer, a couple sliced carrots, a seeded jalapeno, and a can of olives, sliced. I like lots of stuff in my chili! I also used TVP in place of some of the ground beef.

Wash beans; cover with water and soak overnight. In a skillet, cook meat and onions until meat is browned and onions are tender. Add to beans in a heavy kettle. Stir in remaining ingredients except celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 4 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more water if necessary to keep chili from scorching. Add celery and simmer 30 minutes more.

This could probably be done in a slow cooker - just toss everything in once you've browned the meat and onion, and cook for several hours.

Mmm, look at that big ole' pot of thick, chunky chili! Yum!


Freezer Meal: Same as with the curry - once chili is finished cooking, let cool and separate into meal-sized portions, into freezer containers, ziploc-style freezer bags, or canning jars. Freeze. To use, thaw completely in refrigerator, and heat in a saucepan over medium heat until heated through. Again, if you use freezer bags, freeze it flat to make best use of freezer space, and to allow for faster thawing.


I did the curry in gallon-sized bags, and the chili in quart-sized. With a fairly small family like mine, either size works fine.

Easy Curry - Freezer Meal

This is the second freezer meal I've chosen to work on (the first being the burritos for which I made those refried beans). I really love curry. I grew up on the boxed curry, where you cook the meat and vegetables, then add water and those squares of curry paste. It's so yummy, but those boxes are so expensive! I do think that the boxed curry will always be my favorite, but this recipe is a very delicious and inexpensive substitute. It came from the More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre. I love using this book for yummy, inexpensive, practical recipes.


I doubled the recipe and it made enough for three freezer meals for my family. I cooked it up after dinner last night, so I wasn't heating up the apartment by simmering the food during the day. I try to avoid doing anything that will heat up the apartment in the middle of the day - it's already too hot!

Easy Curry
1/4-1/2 lb. chicken or other meat (raw or cooked), finely cut
2-2 1/2 cups water
2 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
1 green pepper
1/2 medium onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. curry powder (this makes a medium spiciness - for spicy use more, for mild use less)
1 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp. cornstarch

Brown meat in small amount of fat. Add water. Chop and add vegetables. Add salt, pepper, and curry powder. Blend tomato sauce, milk, and cornstarch, and add.

Simmer 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick and glossy. Stir frequently. Serve over rice, noodles, or biscuits.

Sorry for the bad pic, the lighting in my kitchen is terrible! But here you can see all the delicious veggies and the thick, glossy sauce.

Freezer Meal: Once curry is finished cooking, let cool and separate into meal-sized portions, into freezer containers, ziploc-style freezer bags, or canning jars. Freeze. To use, thaw completely in refrigerator, and heat in a saucepan over medium heat until heated through.

If you put it in freezer bags, flatten it out to freeze. You can stack the frozen bags easily so it takes up less freezer space, and it thaws faster.


I was going to wait and do the curry another night, but we had chicken last night for dinner and there were several drumsticks left. Opportunity knocked, and I used the leftover chicken to make the curry after we had dinner. I had planned on boiling some separately for this recipe, but why do all that work when there was already cooked chicken available! ;-)

Later today I'll be making a nice big batch of chili, and possibly tortillas for the burritos. Stay tuned!

Refried Beans

I've got a series of posts that I'm working on right now. I've decided to delve into the world of freezer meals - who doesn't love the idea of having dinner all ready in the freezer, and all you have to do is take it out to thaw in the morning and it's ready to heat for dinner! So I sorted through all the stuff in my freezer, taking inventory and deciding what to use and how to make room for dinners. Next I planned several meals that I will be making over the next many days. Freezer meals usually mean big batches and lots of cooking. You can either do one or two huge marathon cooking sessions and get it all done at once, or spread it out over several days and/or cooking sessions. I'll be spreading it out, doing one or two meals or parts of a meal per day.

One of my planned meals is frozen burritos. These appeal to me because you can take out and heat as many as you need, plus I just really love burritos. But one of my criteria for the meals I planned was that they should use as many things that I already have as possible - no going out and buying a can or two of refried beans when I had a bag of pintos waiting in the cupboard! So I made a big ole' batch of refried beans from scratch. It was easier than I expected, though it took a long time.


Refried Beans
1 lb. dried pinto, pink, or kidney beans plus soaking water
6 cups water
2 onions, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup hot bacon drippings, margarine, or lard
Salt to taste

Soak beans overnight or by quick method. Add water and onions. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer slowly until beans are tender, about 3 hours. Mash beans with potato masher.

Add fat and salt. Mix well; continue cooking, stirring frequently until beans are thickened and fat is absorbed. Serve at once or refrigerate for later use.

This is the first time I've made real refried beans. I've made a quick facsimile using bean powder, but never actually cooked the beans, mashed them, and "refried" them. I was pleased that they turned out so good - thick and flavorful. They also thickened up quite a bit in the fridge. These pictures were taken after chilling overnight - I made the beans last night when there was no good lighting. But don't they look good now?


Stay tuned for the next post in my freezer meal adventure - I've got to assemble and freeze the burritos!

My Kitchen My World - The Bahamas

My Kitchen My World this week takes us to the Bahamas! Calls to mind tropical breezes and sandy beaches to me. Unfortunately, I only remembered about this particular event yesterday, so had to work around my extremely limited foods on hand (we shop on Mondays, so by Saturday/Sunday, we're running low or out of most of the "fun stuff"). Luckily, as I searched Bahamian recipes, Johnny Cake kept popping up, with basic ingredients that I always have on hand. Actually, this particular recipe was my second choice. I had picked one that included cornmeal, but as I started measuring ingredients I realized that I was out of cornmeal! So that's going on the list for tomorrow, and I had to hurry and find a recipe that didn't include it. I found it quite that Bahamian Johnny Cake can be made with or without cornmeal.


Johnny Cake
2 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. oil
1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients; add liquids. Mix together and knead for a few minutes. Put into a greased 8x8-inch square pan and place in a 374 degree preheated oven. Bake approximately 20 minutes. Most recipes suggest serving hot with butter.


Johnny Cake is traditionally served as an accompaniment, great for dipping in a nice soup, stew, or souse. I don't tend to be traditional with what gets served when, so because we had a very large lunch, I served this on its own as a simple dinner, topped with butter and jam. It was soft and fluffy, actually pretty similar to biscuits. It was simple enough and good enough that I think it will probably make its way into our regular meal rotations. Yummy!

Breakfast Crisp - An Alternative to Muffins

I wanted something a little more than just fried eggs or cereal for breakfast today, so I searched "breakfast" on allrecipes.com. This recipe came up and looked pretty yummy, so I gave it a go. It ended up being very easy and tasting pretty good, almost like eating a giant oatmeal cookie for breakfast! It would also make a great dessert, served with some ice cream.


Breakfast Crisp
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats (I used regular rolled oats)
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x9 inch baking pan (I used a glass pie dish). In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together brown sugar and margarine. Beat in egg. Stir mixtures together just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean.