Blackberry-Fig Baked Oatmeal - It’s What’s For Breakfast

Good morning friends!  Had to pop in and wish you all a wonderful Labor Day holiday.  I’m enjoying my day off at home, and wanted to share my latest recipe treasure with you.

If you haven’t “met” Ann Fulton over at The Fountain Avenue Kitchen, you really need to.  She’s got a great blog filled with all kinds of yummy recipes.  I came across her Peach Swirl Baked Oatmeal one day, and decided to give it a try.  Of course I was out of peaches, so I decided to improvise.  Both my husband and I loved it, so it’s become a “regular” menu item at our house.

I vary the fruit according to what I have on hand, and we’ve had nothing but success so far!  I made it once with blueberries, and another time with blueberries and peaches combined.  I normally use a total of 2 cups of fruit, but in this case, I used the full amount of blackberries, and just threw in some figs for good measure.  J  I think I’m going to try apples (my husband’s favorite) next time.

The neufchâtel cheese lends a decadent creaminess, and the broiled topping adds a wonderful crunchy sweetness, so don’t forget to add that part at the end!

Be sure to check out Ann’s original recipe posting at The Fountain Avenue Kitchen for lots of other variations on this yummy recipe, and be sure to tell her that Faithy sent you!  Check out her Facebook page when you get a chance too.

Blackberry-Fig Baked Oatmeal

2 cups skim milk (some places call it fat free now)

1 cup HEB Real Egg (or 4 eggs, lightly beaten)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon low-sodium baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh (or frozen) blackberries (I’m sure raspberries would be delicious too)

3/4 cup chopped fresh (or frozen) figs (I had some in the freezer from this year’s bumper crop!  If you don’t have any, just leave them out.)

3 cups old-fashioned oats

about 3 oz. (3 or 4 Tbsp.) softened neufchâtel  cheese (reduced fat cream cheese) - optional

TOPPING:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans (or almonds) - optional

Grease a 12-inch cast iron skillet and preheat your oven to 375°F.  First, combine the brown sugar & pecans in a small bowl, and set aside for later.  Then combine everything else except the oats, & neufchâtel cheese in a large bowl.  Once everything is mixed well, stir in the oats.

Pour the mixture to your prepared skillet and distribute evenly (make sure the fruit doesn’t all end up lumped in one spot!).  Using your fingers or a small spoon, dot with the neufchâtel cheese (use as much or as little as looks good to you), then poke the cheese down into the batter so that it isn’t dry on top.

 

(At this point you can cover the whole thing with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight if your mornings are too hectic to put it together then.  Just be sure to take it out of the fridge and let it return to room temperature before you bake it.)

Bake for about 35 minutes or until just firm and set in the middle.  Then remove from the oven and switch your oven setting to broil.  Sprinkle the brown sugar & nut mixture over the top, and broil oatmeal until the sugar is melted and top is golden.

Watch it carefully…it will brown quickly and you don’t want to burn it!

 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then serve warm.  It’s delicious!!  The hardest part is waiting for it to cool before taking that first bite!

Happy Labor Day friends!  I hope you’ll get a chance to rest a bit from your normal daily labors, and spend some quality time with your family today.  That’s what I plan to do!

Prayer for the Day:  Lord, let me be a woman who counts her blessings, and let me serve you faithfully as I give You praise as the Giver of all good things.  You have richly blessed my life, and I am eternally grateful.  Let me, in turn be a blessing to all those who cross my path, and may I always remember to give all the glory to You!

Blessings,

--Faithy



Saturday mornin’ scones…

Happy Saturday my friends!  I’m just loving this cooler weather, how ‘bout you?  I was in a baking mood this morning, so once again, I thought of scones.

Scones are SO quick and easy (especially with the help of a food processor), that they’re a perfect breakfast treat.  I have several tried and true recipes that I’ve been using for years, but I decided to “live on the edge” and try something new this morning.

I dug through some of my inherited cookbooks looking for something yummy, and I came across a little paperback cookbook (about 5” x 5” big) entitled:  ”Simply Scones” by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright.  It’s published by St. Martin’s Press.  The title sounded promising, so I decided to give it a try.  As I paged through the book, I found a recipe for “Pistachio Fig Scones” on p. 59.  Hmmmm…

I didn’t have any pistachio’s in the house, but I L-O-V-E figs, and I’m always trying to find new uses for them (besides my usual fig preserves).  In fact, this past summer I froze some, just so I would have them around to experiment with.  How convenient!!

I decided to make a few minor changes to the recipe (surprise, surprise…) and I came up with this (see below).  They were good, but not quite sweet enough for my taste, so next time I may add a little more brown sugar.  I may also add a few more figs…just because I can!  J

At the last minute, I decided to add a powdered sugar glaze.  It turned out delicious, and was just the right touch to change these scones from “okay” to “AWESOME”!

Anyway…here’s the version I tried today.  If you have some figs, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Faithy’s Fig & Almond Scones

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp. lightly packed brown sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons low-sodium baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Smart Balance Butter Blend sticks (or butter/margarine), cut into 1/2” cubes & chilled

1/4 cup HEB Real Egg (or 1 regular egg)

2 Tablespoons skim milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped almonds (the original recipe used shelled pistachio nuts)

1/3 cup chopped, trimmed figs

Mix together flours, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in your food processor.  (You can do it by hand, but this way is much quicker and easier!)  Add the chilled butter and process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In a small bowl (or measuring cup), whisk together the egg, milk, & vanilla.  Add the liquid to the food processor and pulse a few times to incorporate everything.  Add the figs and nuts and pulse a few more times just to get them evenly distributed.  (NOTE:  The mixture will be very sticky!)

Use a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup dry-measure to crop the dough onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray.  Be sure to leave several inches between each scone.  Bake at 375° F for 20 to 25 minutes (or until they pass a toothpick test), then remove them to a wire rack to cool.  You can serve them just like this or with a flavored butter or glaze of your choice.

Here’s the glaze I tried (just something I made up):

--2/3 cup powdered sugar

--1 Tablespoon fig preserves

--orange juice (I prefer it with pulp for a little texture)

Just dump the powdered sugar into a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk in the fig preserves.  Then add enough orange juice to get the consistency you want.  I like a medium consistency…not too runny, but not too thick, so I can spread it easily.

Once you have it the way you like it, just brush it generously onto the hot scones and enjoy!

(The recipe said this should make six scones, but with my cookie scoop it made nine.)

Enjoy this beautiful weekend friends, and don’t forget to thank God for it!!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Faithy’s Fig Jam

Once again, I’ve been busy, and have neglected my blog.  Sorry folks.  I haven’t had time to do much cooking in the past few weeks, but I thought I’d share my fig jam recipe with you in the meanwhile.

There is a wonderfully productive fig tree in my parent’s yard, and it has been providing abundant fruit for many years.  I started making this jam when I was in high school, and have made several batches a year (almost every year) since then.

I’ve found that many people have fond memories associated with fig jam (or preserves), so it’s fun to share it with as many people as possible every time I make some.

I’ve had many requests for my recipe over the years, so here it is.  It’s really simple, and oh so good!  I always like to have a fresh batch of Faithy's Favorite English Muffin Bread ready to test it on while the jam is still warm.  YUM!!

Faithy’s Fig Jam

5 cups prepared fruit (about 3-1/4 lb. fully ripe figs)

(I usually trim the ends and bad spots off, then roughly chop them, but you can also leave them whole - except for the ends and spots - and mash them while they are cooking if you like bigger chunks.  For smaller chunks you can grind the fruit or run it through your food processor before cooking.)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

(I often leave the lemon juice out…but it does help with the jelling process, if you like a firm jam.)

1/2 cup water

1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin (powder)

1/2 tsp. butter or margarine

(optional - I often leave this out as well, but adding it helps to reduce foaming)

7 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
         (I've also used Whey-Low Type D Granular to make a more diabetic-friendly jam - it works great!)

WASH jars and screw bands in hot, soapy water; rinse with warm water.  Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan - off the heat.  Let stand in hot water until ready to use.  Drain jars well before filling.

BRING boiling-water canner, half-full with water, to simmer (for use later, after jam is ready to process).  

MEASURE exactly 5 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-quart saucepot.  Stir lemon juice and water into the prepared fruit in saucepot.  Add pectin, and stir well.

ADD butter, if desired, and bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

STIR in all sugar quickly.  Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Skim off any foam with metal spoon.   (NOTE:  I strongly recommend that you use an oven mitt while stirring, to prevent burns.  This mixture gets VERY hot and bubbly, and will stick to your skin and create a nasty burn if any of it lands on your skin during this process.)

LADLE quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops.  Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids.  Screw bands on firmly.

Place jars on elevated rack in canner.  Lower rack into canner.  Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches; add boiling water if needed.  Cover; bring water to gentle boil.  Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely.

After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger.  (If a lid springs back, it is not sealed and refrigeration will be necessary.)

Let me know if you try it out, and don't forget to make enough to share!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Taste and see...

Taste and see that the Lord is good. -- Psalm 34:8

Happy Saturday my friends!  Sorry I’ve been AWOL lately…life has been busy, busy, busy!  Last weekend, I did quite a bit of cooking, but didn’t have time to tell you about it.  I’ll try to catch up a bit this weekend.

A potluck luncheon (or “covered dish” as we like to call it here in South Texas) at church last Sunday prompted me to search out some new recipes to try.  Thankfully, most of them were pretty successful.

First, I did a Fig Cake, which gave me an opportunity to use up some of last year’s fig preserves.  It turned out delicious!!!  If you have any extra fig preserves laying around, you really should try it.

I got the recipe from the “Bountiful Blessings Cookbook” - © 1998 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.  Apparently it was also previously released under the title, “Homegrown Heaven Bound Cookbook.”  This is a fun book of “favorite old-fashioned, down-home, family-tested recipes” submitted by members of a large Christian book club.  The “Fig Cake” recipe was submitted by Virginia Lear, from London, KY, and may be found on p. 247 if you happen to come across this treasure.

As usual, I’ll give you my version of the recipe…

 Don'tcha want to try a piece?

Faithy’s Fig Treasure Cake

1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour (or 2 cups all-purpose flour if you don’t have whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cloves (I NEVER use as much cloves as recipes call for, because they have a tendency to be overpowering - the original recipe called for ½ tsp.)

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup Smart Sugar (the original recipe called for 1-1/2 cups sugar…you can divide it up however suits you!)

¾ cup HEB Real Egg (or 3 eggs, beaten)

1 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup fig preserves

1 cup chopped pecans (I actually only used about ½ cup because I’m running low)

Preheat oven to 325° F.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and cloves.  Set aside.

Cream together sugar and eggs (1 at a time if you’re using regular eggs).  Add oil and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly.

Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternately with buttermilk.  Stir in preserves and pecans.  Mix well.

Pour into a greased (I sprayed mine with cooking spray) Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour.

Cool (if you can wait that long to try it!), slice and serve with whipped cream or plain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The original recipe listed the buttermilk in the ingredients list, but then never mentioned it again.  LOL!  Not to worry, I’ve baked before, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out a good place to add it.

It smelled so good while it was baking that I just couldn’t stand it.  My husband and I had to sample a couple of slices - just to make sure they were good enough to serve at church! J  Also needed to show the inside for the blog picture. 

Hee, hee…that’s me, always willing to make a sacrifice for the good of someone else.

I’m thinking this recipe would be good with other types of preserves too…I’m thinking peach preserves off the top of my head.  Mmmm…maybe we’ll try that next time I end up with some fresh peaches to make preserves with!

If you have a chance to experiment with it let me know!!

I'll try to get back online this weekend and post my other potluck experiments.
 Hope your weekend is filled with blessings,

--Faithy