05/14/13

crockpot berry cobbler

One of my favorite things to watch is Hunter play and interact with his daddy. He sure loves him. One more recent thing that just makes my heart smile is seeing this.

Jacob will sit down on the ground with a book, and Hunter walks on over and sits down right next to him or on his lap. He’s snuggled up close soaking in the book, and just being super sweet with his daddy.

Love these two.

When Jacob gets home from work, he tries to get as much play time in with Hunter. This usually frees me up to get dinner started or just have some Heather time. But on those days I plan ahead and start dinner in the crockpot I don’t have to be in the kitchen, I can sit on the couch right next to them and just watch.

While today’s recipe isn’t a crockpot dinner recipe, it is made in the crockpot, but for an after dinner treat of berry cobbler!

I’m not going to lie, pictures of the cobbler cooking in the crockpot are not flattering to this dish. I’ll show you. Once it is done:

Once you have taken most of the cobbler out:

Good thing I’m basing this recipe on taste, not looks! It was delicious, especially serves over nice cold vanilla ice cream.

I got to thinking about why you would use a crockpot for this recipe. The prep time takes just as long as oven made cobbler and it takes longer to cook. Well, it was a hot day when I made it, and not having to turn the oven on was glorious. Summertime dessert making in the crockpot is the way to go.

Crockpot Berry Cobbler

adapted from here

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup natural cane sugar, divided

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp canola oil

1/8 tsp sea salt

2.5 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed (or any berry)

1.5 cups fresh or frozen blackberries, thawed (or any berry

Vanilla ice cream, optional

Directions

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Combine the egg, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick). Spread batter evenly into a 5-qt. slow cooker coated with oil.

In a large bowl, combine the salt and remaining flour and sugar; add berries and toss to coat. Spread over batter.

Cover and cook on high for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted into cobbler comes out clean. Serve with ice cream if desired.

I may have skipped ahead in my 50 crockpot recipe list to share, but I’ll get back on track with the next one! This one was pretty tasty and I just had to share.

Have you ever cooked dessert in a crockpot? If so, what did you make? Do you love watching a dad with his kiddo?

Tomorrow I’m sharing PLANK workouts. If you have one you want me to include, please email it to me (heather.englund@comcast.net) along with the link for where to find it. Thanks!

Heather

05/12/13

bircher muesli

Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you all got to spend time with your mamas. As a gift, Jacob built me 3 raised garden boxes (2 of them pictured below).

I’m excited to get them into the ground and filled with dirt. Also, I have kale and cucumber beginning to sprout in my DIY egg shell seed starters! Hooray for 2 year old seeds to still grow!

Today is another Secret Recipe Club reveal day. This month was super fun for me. I was given Jennifer of Peanut Butter and Peppers! Jennifer is a blogger I’ve known since before Hunter was born. She even guest posted for me once he arrived. Jennifer loves food and shares so many yummy looking meals, snacks and treats. I seriously just want her to come and cook for me. Like every day. Personal chef????

Okay, it will probably be a no, so I guess I’ll make some food for myself. The recipe I chose as a no brainer – bircher muesli – AKA overnight oats!

With the warmer temps around here I’ve been eating less and less hot oats - and that makes me sad!

Soaking your raw rolled oats in liquid (yogurt, milk and juice) plumps them up and ‘cooks’ your oatmeal for you. No hot stove required.

Jennifer’s bircher muesli is a bit different than previous overnight oats I’ve made. Normally I go with banana and peanut butter, but here, the flavors are bright and fresh. OJ and pineapple juice + fresh shredded apple set the tone with natural sweetness. I went ahead and amped up the fruity flavors with a fig and orange zest Chobani bite.

Bircher Muesli
Serves 1

Adapted from peanut butter and peppers

Ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 small apple, grated

1/4 cup juice (combo orange and pineapple juice)

3.5 oz fig and orange zest chobani bite (or plain yogurt)

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp raisins

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Add all of the ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Cover and refrigerated for at least 8 hours.

And it’s all ready and waiting for you in the morning! So so yummy, thanks Jennifer!

Emily at Chobani was so sweet and sent me all four Chobani bite flavors to try. And try I have. Here are my order of favorites: raspberry with dark chocolate chunks, coffee with dark chocolate chunks, caramel with pineapple chunks, and lastly fig with orange zest. Obviously, I love me some chocolate!

Last thing before I head to bed - tomorrow (Monday) is Make It Monday! What are you sharing? Read more about it on the Make It Monday page – I hope you’ll join in!

What is your favorite warm weather breakfast? Do you make breakfast the night before often? How was your Mother’s Day?

Until next time,

Heather

05/7/13

blueberry yogurt protein pancakes

Pancakes are a beautiful thing. Hunter (and I) can easily grab and gobble them up. I love eating custard oatmeal, but it gets a little messy when I let Hunter grab it by the fistful. That’s BLW for you… messy.

Pancakes are not messy though! And are quite delicious. These blueberry yogurt protein pancakes are delicate ones made with mostly blueberry chobani, oats and eggs. Soft and thin pancakes. If you’re looking for fluffy pancakes, these are not them. As they cook the sugars in the blueberry begin to caramelize and give you the color that looks almost burnt, but they aren’t burnt! Just make sure to use a well oil pan or non-stick griddle pan. Since they are so delicate, any sticking will make them turn ugly quickly.

And we don’t want ugly pancakes.

Side note: is it weird to you that raspberries have little hairs growing out of them?? Kind of to me…

I made a double batch (which makes 8 pancakes) thinking that I would have enough left over for another breakfast during the week. Wrong. I ate 3. Then Hunter ate 2.5 pancakes! That boy LOVED them. We’ve also been chowing down on fresh raspberries, which are currently my favorite berry.

Add a smear of your favorite nut butter on top (PB for me!), throw on some fresh raspberries and gobble these yummy cakes up!

Blueberry Yogurt Protein Pancakes
makes 4 pancakes

Ingredients

6 oz blueberry Chobani (or any greek yogurt)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 egg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

Pre-heat a greased pan to medium heat or griddle to 325 degrees.

In a food processor (or blender) add all the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Pour batter into 4 pancakes (they will spread). Flip when the top bubbles. Cook another 2-3 minutes on second side.