Category Archives: Breads and Other Grainy Stuff

Instant Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal

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  • 3 cups quick oats
  • salt
  • sugar or Splenda
  • cinnamon
  • dried apples, chopped
  • 8 quart size zipper freezer bags

Put 1/2 cup oats in a blender and whirl at high speed until powdery; reserve in a small bowl and repeat with another 1/2 cup of oats. If you are using a food processor you can process the 1cup of oats in one motion.

Into each bag put 1/4 cup unpowdered oats, 2 tablespoons powdered oats, a scant 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons chopped dried apples.

To serve, empty bag into a bowl (don’t forget to rinse and reuse!). add 3/4 cup boiling water; stir and let stand for two minutes. Use less or more water according to taste.

Makes 8 packets (for maximum nutrition, I keep my packets in my freezer)

Some may argue that it’s just as easy to make quick oats and add the fruit and flavoring to it. Yeah, I suppose, but I’m not a morning person, nor am I always around when the kids demand oatmeal, so making it up ahead and storing it makes life easier in this household.

And Now for Stuffing Completely Different

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  • 3 cups Corn Chex-type cereal
  • 4 cups Wheat Chex-type cereal
  • 1/2 pound bacon
  • 1 cup chopped celery (leaves included)
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chicken broth

In a skillet cook bacon until crisp; crumble and set aside. Cook the celery and the onion in the bacon drippings until tender, but not browned.

In a mixing bowl combine eggs, crumbled bacon, cooked celery and onion, parsley, poultry seasoning, and salt. Add cereal; toss lightly until well mixed. Add the chicken broth; toss gently to mix.

Bake, covered, in an ungreased 1-1/2 quart casserole dish at 350 degrees fahrenheit for approximately 30 minutes.

Serves 6 to 8

This recipe is dedicated to my grandfather, the late Hayward Adams. Every Thanksgiving it was his job to make the stuffing for the turkey and every Thanksgiving it came out different due to his imagination and what was available (one year he used hot sauce!). It was his culinary imagination that inspired this recipe. Thanks Grampa!

Anita’s Italian Herb Bread

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This recipe comes from the book “Bread Machine Magic” by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway (revised edition). Each recipe in this book has an ingredient list for small to large loaves, as well as minute adjustments to the fluid to compensate for various machines. Once you know what adjustments are required for your particular machine you can pretty much use any recipe from this book with ease. I give the adjustments in the same manner a crochet pattern would be written: Small (Medium, Large).  Small is 1 pound. Medium is 1.5 pounds; Large is 2 pounds. Keep in mind if your bread machine requires the dry ingredients to be added first, just reverse the order.

Anyway, this is the recipe for Anita’s Italian Herb Bread.

  • 7/8 to 1 cup (1-1/8 to 1-1/4 cups, 1-1/2 to 1-5/8 cups) buttermilk
  • 1 Tablespoon (1-1/2 Tablespoons, 2 Tablespoons) olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon, 4 teaspoons) sugar
  • 2 cups (3 cups, 4 cups) bread flour
  • 1/3 cup (1/2 cup, 2/3 cup) freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 tsp (1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp) dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoons) dried oregano
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons (1-1/2 teaspoons, 2 teaspoons) Red Star Active Dry Yeast (Babs: I’ve used both Fleischmann’s Active Dry, and Bread Machine, Yeasts, with no problems)

Place all ingredients in bread pan, using the least amount of liquid listed in the recipe (Babs: for your given size loaf). Select Medium Crust setting and press Start.

Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 10 minutes, if it appears dry and stiff, or if your machine sounds as if it’s straining to knead it, add more liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until dough forms a smooth, soft, pliable ball that is slightly tacky to the touch.

After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on cake rack, and allow to cool 1 hour before slicing.

Crust: Medium
Bake Cycle: Standard
Optional Bake Cycles: Sweet Bread; Rapid Bake