Oatmeal Pancake Cupcakes

Recipe: Donnie Cochran (my husband), cooking instructions by Gwaltney Foods

Gwaltney Foods Link: http://www.gwaltneyfoods.com/food-fun/?fun=sausage_pancake_bites

Recipe/Cochran Review: My husband is the true morning chef in our house. He's been tweaking and perfecting his pancake mix for quite awhile now. I found a fun way to make pancakes through Pinterest. The Gwaltney Foods link said to mix pancakes as instructed and provided a unique cooking method for pancake bites... or as we like to call them, pancake cupcakes. Call anything shaped like a cupcake just that and our toddler will gobble it up! Parent trickery!

So, here it is. Donnie's recipe combined with Gwaltney Foods cooking method. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancake Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini or full size muffin pans, your choice.

- 1 & 1/4 cup of oatmeal (ground in food processor or blender finely)

- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

- 3 Tbsp of Greek yogurt or 1/4 cup of oil (we prefer yogurt)

- 1 tsp of baking soda

- 1 tsp of baking powder

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 & 1/4 cup of milk

- 1 tsp of apple cider

- 1 egg

- Extras desired: Turkey sausage crumbles, fruit, nuts, syrup, etc

In a small bowl, mix 1 & 1/4 cup of milk with 1 tsp of apple cider. Let this mixture stand for a minimum of 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, blend ground oatmeal, flour, Greek yogurt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, vanilla, and egg. After milk & apple cider mixture has sat at least 5 minutes, combine in large bowl with other ingredients. If the mixture appears too runny, adjust by mixing in small amounts of additional flour.

Pour mixture into greased muffin pans. Add extras. For example, we like turkey sausage crumbles, strawberry & banana, strawberry & chocolate chip, toasted almond & syrup, etc. We even made one with apples, cinnamon, & nutmeg, like an apple pie! Yum! This is where you can get creative and personalize the pancakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes.

This baking method is great for several reasons:

- the cook can socialize with a cup of coffee instead of slaving over the stove

- little hands love to gobble the cupcakes up

- fun dipping into syrup or fruit compote, if you choose

- they freeze well; so, make a large batch during the weekend, and breakfast is quick with a reheat

- these travel well for breakfast on the go

- for those who struggle eating oatmeal, you'll never know you did

- And last, but not least... Toddler approved!



Hope you enjoy!

~ The Cochrans

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

Credit: Two Peas & Their Pod
Recipe: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/italian-sausage-tortellini-soup/

Cochran Review: This was really good. You may notice on the labels I have Meatless and Slow Cooker. Meatless is tagged because you can make this meal without the Italian Meatballs... unless you're cooking for me boys. Ha! I had a jam packed day when I made this so I altered the meal to a slow cooker method. However, you do not have to make this in the slow cooker. Just follow original recipe for stove top cooking.

One cautionary word of advice, I found rolling a zillion tiny little meatballs time consuming and tedious. So, if preparing this on a work day or busy day, you may want to do this step in advance. You could put them on wax paper in fridge to keep or even freeze them. Also, I ended up scooping all of the tortellini for our original meal and buying another batch to make for leftovers. My family likes a chunky, hearty soup over mostly broth. I will definitely make this again with doubling the tortellini. Enjoy!

Here are some pics from our dinner:

I made the meatballs about the size of a baby spoon.

I couldn't decide which pic to use, so I offer both. Ha ha! Also, I decided to top the soup with freshly grated Romano cheese I had on hand from another recipe.

Steak: Fabulous w/o a Grill

Credit: Lauren's Latest
Reciepe: http://www.laurenslatest.com/steak-its-a-beautiful-thing/

Cochran Review: These were succulent and wonderful! I highly recommend making this recipe! Quick, too! One to two minutes of prep and nine minutes of cooking. I did a few things different from the original recipe post due to comments on the blog, but basically followed the blogger's original instructions. Here's how I made our steaks:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Fill skillet (safe for stove top and oven use) with 4 Tbsp of butter and olive oil. Oh yeah! LOL
While waiting for the skillet mixture to scream at you on medium heat, start next butter mixture.

Butter mixture:
- 4 Tbsp of butter
- 1 Tbsp of basil
- 1 tsp of white pepper
- 2 tsp of minced garlic
- put ingredients in a heat resistant bowl and set on oven so oven heating up softens butter

Salt and pepper steaks.
When skillet mixture is sizzling place steaks in the skillet seasoned side down. Don't move them, they're fine.
Cook steaks for 3-4 minutes. I did 4 and our steaks maintained a pinkish middle, but no bloody drippings.
Season steak side facing up with salt and pepper while other side is cooking.
Flip steaks after 3-4 minutes.
Turn stove top off.
Top steaks with butter mixture.
Place skillet in the oven at 400 degrees for 5 mins. Again, don't fuss with them.

Original recipe suggest plating them to rest, but I put them in a casserole dish so I could pour all of the yummy juice with them.
Cover with foil.
Allow to rest 15 minutes to an hour. I let them rest for an hour, but we ended up heating them a bit when my husband got home from work. I'd probably shoot for 30 minutes nest time.

I served this with tricolor quinoa with green beans mixed in and a salad on the side for the original meal. Yum, yum, yum! Enjoy!

For next day leftovers:
I sprayed olive oil cooking spray in a hot pan & added tortillas.
Then heated cut up steak and quinoa in the pan.
While meat mixture was heating I smashed fresh avocado in the tortillas and squeezed fresh lime.
Wish I had cilantro to add, but I didn't.
Add meat mixture to tortillas.
Top with salsa. Our favorite is Mrs. Renfros Mango Habenero.
Enjoy again!

Turkey & Barley Soup

Credit: skinnytaste.com
Recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/09/beef-barley-soup.html?m=1

Comments: Making this for dinner tonight. I'm substituting beef with ground turkey. Stay tuned.

Family Fajita Bar - turned slow cooker meal

Credit: Weber
Recipe: http://www.weber.com/grillout/recipes/beef/family-fajita-bar

Cochran Review: Well, we ran out of propane, and I do not know how to change the tank. So, I turned this grill meal into a slow cooker meal with great success! Here's how I did it:

I put about a tablespoon of coconut oil in a large pan on the stove top. I seared both sides of the steak to caramelize it. I put the steak in the slow cooker. Then added the chicken to the pan to sear both sides. I then added the chicken to the slow cooker, too.

Since I was putting the meal in the slow cooker for the day, I thought I should increase the liquid. Instead of 1/4 cup of orange juice, I used 12 ounces. I had concerns that adding this much orange juice and not using a grill would create a tropical flavor and loose the smoky grill taste. So, I put the orange juice, olive oil, and lime juice in the pan I seared the meat on low and mixed the drippings. This turned the liquid to a smokier and browner consistency. End result seemed to be much more smokey grill flavor than blatant orange. So, we were happy.

I poured the liquid mixture from the pan over the meat in the slow cooker, added the other ingredients (except peppers & onions; we sauteed them in a pan w/ coconut oil right before serving), and cooked it on low for 5 hours.

We really enjoyed this meal! I think the conversion from a grill cooking method to a slow cooker is a nice alternative for those without a grill or for winter months. We really enjoyed this.

I have a favorite guacamole recipe I typically make. I was gonna give this one a try, but time didn't allow and I went to my reliable Wholly Guacamole cheat. If you try the guac recipe included, let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak

Credit: Point-less Meals
Recipe: http://pointlessmeals.blogspot.com/2011/05/grilled-balsamic-flank-steak.html

Cochran Review: This meal was so easy and tasty! Not balsamic over load at all! I served it w/ a side of Heinz 57, because my husband loves it. We really enjoyed it! With a mid-winter break in temperatures (in the 60's last week) I couldn't resist adding a grilled meal to our menu! I threw the marinade together quickly, let it sit until my husband got home, and he grilled it while I was at the gym for a 30 min run. My husband said it grilled easily... he didn't read the instructions on how the recipe said to grill it. He just went out and cooked it. So, I can't say if it grilled the way the recipe stated. Sorry. We paired this w/ a sweet potato. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker French Dip

Credit: Picture Perfect Cooking
Recipe: http://pictureperfectcooking.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/slow-cooker-french-dip-sandwiches/

Cochran Review: Easy to make and very tasty. It satisfies all of your French dip cravings. Make it and enjoy it!

Best Burger Ever

Credit: Little Miss Mamma
Recipe: http://www.littlemissmomma.com/2011/10/best-burger-ever-recipe-with-secret-sauce.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FvlrRO+%28Little+Miss+Momma%29

Cochran Review: Well, this one is a bit tricky to review as we did not actually have it for dinner. My husband was cooking tonight, that's right, my husband... be jealous ladies! He opened the meat. I didn't know he opened it, smelled something, and instantly checked our son's diaper. It's not a good start if your meat smells like a dirty diaper. He continued to make the burgers, but the smell never went away. He tried a bite and said it was awful. So, we are thinking we started with bad meat.

A little about the blog the recipe is on... The blogger doesn't give how much meat to use. Several blog followers commented on the blog that their burgers fell apart. So, we were going to try adding a couple of eggs. Our burgers didn't fall apart, but they were stinkers! If you're gonna give this recipe a try, be prepared to play with it a bit. It seems a few details are missing or it needs a few adjustments.

Slow Cooker BLT (Bacon, Leek, Tomato) Brisket

Credit: Rachael Ray Show
Recipe: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4438

12.19.12 Update: RR changed their site. New link attached above, but doesn't include the crouton recipe. Here is her garlic crouton recipe I found that we can just add parmesan to: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4895

Cochran Review: OH EM GEE!!!! This dish... AH-mazing!!!! That says a lot coming from me, because I will choose turkey or chicken over red meat 95% of the time. Definitely don't skip making the easy salad and croutons! It was so easy and adds so much! Mom mentioned she loved the different textures: soft falling apart brisket, crisp salad, and crunchy croutons! Mom & Dad loved the stewed cherry tomatoes. My husband & I enjoyed the flavor the tomatoes gave, but didn't eat them. Donnie has an issue with tomato texture and I'm allergic (can only handle small doses). I can really understand why Rachael recommends caramelizing the meat before slow cooking it! It really added flavor!

Our salad was actually made with Boston Lettuce instead of Watercress or Arugula. My husband doesn't care for Arugula. So, I was going to use Watercress. However, Watercress doesn't hold up well and isn't widely sold in our area. So, the groceries only order upon request. If you want Watercress, make sure you check with your grocery or produce stand a few days in advance. That being said, Boston Lettuce was recommended by my grocery produce manager and we enjoyed it very much!

Also, the recipe calls for 2 Tbsps of honey. Our pediatrician recommends not giving our son honey until after he is 2. So, I substituted 2 Tbsps of honey with 1&1/2 Tbsps of maple syrup and 1 Tbsp of white sugar. See my article about Food Substitutions for more detail. I think our son thought it was worth it, because he gobbled this meal up!

This recipe has a few steps. So, I did some of them the night before. I cut the leeks, and put the veggies in a zip lock so I could just dump them into the slow cooker in the morning. Also, I cooked the bacon and caramelized the brisket the night before and put it in a zip lock. I made the croutons before serving, but I certainly think this step could be done the night before, too.

Hope you give this a try and enjoy! We will be making this again!