You probably imagined that I’d move on from oatmeal after yesterday’s savory Oatmeal with Mushrooms, Parmesan, and Thyme. I mean, two days in a row? Oatmeal?! That just isn’t done.
Oh, but I’ve never been one to play by the rules. At least not always. Well, at least not that one rule that I just made up about the acceptable frequency for discussing oatmeal. In any case, I give you one last savory oatmeal to get you through the winter. 
Welcome to Emmy Cooks! You can find some of my favorite recent recipes by visiting “My Favorite Recipes” (here are September, October, and November). If you like what you see here, you can sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email, add the RSS feed to your blog reader, or follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
I think it’s safe to say that J and I have made hundreds of pots of oatmeal in the past decade, if not more. Now I wish that I had counted, so we could celebrate that 1,000th pot properly. It’s coming soon, if it hasn’t already come and gone unnoticed.
Oatmeal is good for you, I know. And I love oatmeal. Oatmeal with berries, apples, bananas, raisins. With brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, peanut butter. I like a sweet bowl of oatmeal as much as the next person. But you know what else is good for me? Variety. I can’t get enough of these savory oatmeal combinations right now. 
So did you make the Savory Oatmeal with Curry, Greens, and Caramelized Onions? Did you make the Savory Oatmeal with Black Pepper, Blue Cheese, and an Olive Oil Fried Egg? Am I getting to be a broken record here? Good news, friends, I’ll be moving on soon, I promise. To…sweet oatmeal!
You guys are the best! All day today, I felt like we were all standing around in the kitchen together, chatting about how to pull off a last-minute Thanksgiving dinner. It’s easy, you reminded me. Stuff a winter squash, roast some veggies, make a soup or a good salad, put out cheese or olives. Easy is perfect. And just as perfect were the reminders that it’s not the food that makes a holiday special; it’s the excuse to gather as a family and enjoy each others’ company.
And…that’s good. Because we arrived to find our rental-with-kitchen unsavory, and decamped to a hotel suite with only a mini-bar fridge instead. So no kitchen, no Thanksgiving cooking. We’re going to have our Thanksgiving dinner this weekend instead, back in Seattle. Which I already have planned now, days in advance—I’m so uncharacteristically organized! But seriously, thank you–I am so lucky to have met so many wonderful cooks and epicures and readers and writers in this little place called the internet (interwebs?) and I’m thankful to know you all.
In celebration of life with a mini-fridge, and especially for those of you on the road this weekend, I’m sharing my favorite hotel-room breakfast today. Continue reading
Today’s the day, people. Wake up and vote!
To fortify you, I bring you the second verse of my love song for savory oatmeal. It will have you jumping out of bed, eager for an excuse to begin your day. It’s quick, so you’ll have plenty of time to swing by your polling place on the way to work. It’s easy, so you can save your mental acuity for the important decisions of the day. And it’s clever, so it will remind you where you keep your stamps if you’re in a vote-by-mail state.* (*Not really.)
More important still, it’s a savory, creamy, hearty breakfast. And it’s halfway healthy, because it’s oatmeal. Talk about across-the-aisle collaboration.
Welcome to Emmy Cooks! You can see some of my favorite recent recipes by clicking the “My Favorite Recipes” category on the sidebar (here are July, August, and September). If you like what you see here, you can sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email, add the RSS feed to your own reader, or follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Seasoned readers of this blog will probably not be surprised to learn that most of my photographs are taken standing on one leg while I use the other to block my children out of the frame. This dish was so irresistibly good, however, that I failed entirely.
The baby (should I start calling her something else now that she boxes me out to dig into a dish of curried oats and caramelized onions?) could not keep her (meaning my) spoon out of the bowl. And I can’t say I blamed her at all. Continue reading
Welcome to Emmy Cooks! You can see some of my favorite recent recipes by clicking the “My Favorite Recipes” category on the sidebar (here are June, July, and August). If you like what you see here, you can sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email, or follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
There’s something about environmentally-unfriendly single-serving packaged snacks that children find irresistible. Maybe it’s the “all mine” factor, or the satisfying crinkle of those little bags, but it’s hard to compete with a store-bought granola bar for my kids’ affection in the snack category.
These bars did the trick partly because they were fun and hands-on to make, and partly because they’re basically cookies. Mmm, cookies. This recipe, from Good to the Grain, was a great starting point–chewy, sweet and oaty–but I expect to do a little experimentation in the future to find a granola bar that comes closer to being a healthy kid snack. On the other hand, these would make a great hiking snack if you actually needed a sugar boost, and I quite enjoyed them as an afternoon sweet alongside a cup of tea. We’ll just be calling them “cookies” from now on.
Do you have a granola bar recipe you like? Do tell.
