Overnight Steel Cut Oats - No Cooking Needed!

I saw a recipe for how to make overnight oats on the Yahoo food website - https://www.yahoo.com/food/how-to-make-overnight-oats-without-a-recipe-79802269460.html.  It calls for rolled oats but I like to eat steel cut oats.  Here's a quick primer on oat types (taken from http://wholegrainscouncil.org/node/5556/print):

• Steel Cut Oats: If you cut groats into two or three pieces with a sharp metal blade, you get steel cut oats. They cook quicker than oat groats, because water can more easily penetrate the smaller pieces. Steel cut oats are also sometimes called Irish oatmeal.
• Rolled Oats: regular (old fashioned): Rolled oats (sometimes called old fashioned oats) are created when oat groats are steamed and then rolled into flakes. This process stabilizes the healthy oils in the oats, so they stay fresh longer, and helps the oats cook faster, by creating a greater surface area.
• Rolled Oats: quick or instant: If you roll the oat flakes thinner, and/or steam them longer, you create quick oats and ultimately instant oats. The nutrition stays the same (these are all whole grains) but the texture changes – a plus for some people and a drawback for others. The good thing about having so many choices is that everyone can get exactly the taste they like best!

I decided I might as well try it with the steel cut oats.  Here's how I made it.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup whole milk
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons coconut

Directions:
Mix ingredients in jar.  Screw on lid and place in refrigerator overnight.  Pour into a bowl and enjoy for breakfast.

Notes: You can use any sweetener you like and any milk you like.  Also, I'm sure raisins or currants would be great in it.  They would be moist from sitting in the liquid all night.

Stove Top Mac and Cheese

I've made this entree so many times and have never used a recipe but I thought I'd write it down for posterity :)  My mom taught me how to make a roux for gravy when I was younger.  And, in the end, a roux can be used for many different types of sauces including cheese sauce.  If you want baked mac and cheese, all you need to do with this recipe is put it into an oven safe pan and sprinkle with your favorite toppings - bread crumbs, more cheese, etc.  You could also add other flavorings to the stove top version like bacon, red peppers, onion, garlic, the list goes on.

Unfortunately, I do not know exact measurements for this recipe as I just make it by adding the ingredients, watching how it goes together and then tasting it.

Ingredients:
Cooked pasta
Milk
Butter
All purpose flour
Grated cheese
Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in 2-3 tablespoons of flour.  Allow the flour to cook a few minutes in the butter.  Continue to whisk to ensure that the flour does not burn.  Add 1 cup of warmed milk to start.  Continue to whisk to keep the sauce from becoming lumpy.  If the sauce starts to thicken too much, add more milk.  The cheese will make the sauce thicker so make it a little thinner than you might think it should be.  Add the cheese and Worcestershire sauce to taste.  Once the sauce is to you liking, add to the cooked pasta.  Voila - you have stove top mac and cheese.

Corn Pancakes

I had some corn cakes (or so they called them) at Cafe Gutenberg. When I googled corncakes, I got recipes that didn't match what I had eaten. So, I googled corn pancakes instead. Then, it seemed to match more closely to what I thought I had eaten. The first time I made them, I just used a recipe I found online. But, they weren't corny enough. The next time, I modified my normal pancake recipe by substituting 3/4 cup of flour with 3/4 cup of corn meal (and didn't add the milled flax seed or wheat germ). These still weren't corny enough. I had been told that I should probably try adding pureed corn. I really didn't want to go to that trouble. So, for my third try, I used masa. It worked! They're very corny. Here's the recipe. It's very similar to my normal pancake recipe but since I expect to make this one again, I want to write it down fully.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup masa
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:
Stir dry ingredients together. Stir wet ingredients together. Add liquid to dry ingredients. Cook and enjoy with maple syrup or as a savory side dish at dinner.

Banana Nut Whole Wheat Pancakes

I love banana nut bread so I decided to make banana nut pancakes. Really, it's just my normal pancake recipe with additions. I've also added blueberries.

1/2 cup plain flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 T wheat germ (optional)
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/4 cup milk (you may want to use more to make a thinner batter)
1 egg
2 t vanilla
2 T oil
mashed banana
chopped pecans

Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well but do not overstir. When making the pancakes, add the mashed banana and chopped pecans. Then, when you turn the pancake, you'll have nice caramelization of the banana and toasting of the pecans.

Christmas French Toast (About 20 minutes)

We had lots and lots of bread that had been sliced up for our Christmas Eve dinner. So, I decided to take a page from Alton Brown's book and leave it out overnight so that we could make perfect French toast. The batter was simple:

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix thoroughly.

Add a dot of butter to a preheated frying pan. Place the bread into the batter for a few seconds, flip and repeat. Place in the frying pan and brown on both sides.

I like a little sugar or jam. My Mom had brought some of her homemade strawberry and blueberry jams. Some people put syrup on it instead.

It was the best homemade French toast I've ever had. Using stale bread is the key! The day after Christmas we had some challah bread left over. It makes awesome French toast as well.