Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

Life has kind of ganged up on me.  Between the awful heat, work stress, having to put one of my beautiful rattie girls to sleep because of a tumor and having a bird with a lump on her wing that can’t get looked at until my vet, the only vet in the city who takes care of birds, get back from vacation in a week, I haven’t been really inspired to cook any thing.   All I have been inspired to do is curl up in my easy chair and binge watch Supernatural with a big bowl of popcorn on one side and a very large glass of iced tea on the other.  I know this to shall pass and I will get out of my funk and get back into the kitchen more.

The only thing I have managed to cook in the last few days is a strawberry baked oatmeal.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted from My Forkin Life

3/4 cup strawberries, chopped

1 cup  rolled oat

2 1/2 TBS brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 TBS butter, melted

1/8 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk milk and eggs. Add in melted butter, vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined.   Place the oatmeal mixture in a 1 quart  casserole dish. Place strawberries over mixture. Bake  in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

Paleo Almond Butter Strawberry Zucchini Muffins

What do you do when you make muffin batter and you can’t find your muffin tins?  You bake your muffins in 5 inch deep dish pie pans.  Isn’t that what everybody does?   Seriously guys,  I keep all my baking stuff in the cupboards above the stove.  My muffin pans aren’t there and I  can’t find them anywhere.  It is driving me crazy that I can’t find them.

I am one of those rare  cooks who loves to bake as much they love to cook.   My absolute favorite thing to bake is muffins.  I love turning on the oven on a cold, rainy, or snowy day and filling my apartment with warm, sweet smells.   I have been interested in learning to bake with alternative flours  for a while but never tried it  because alternative flours can be expensive.  I decided try this paleo muffin recipe because I already everything but the coconut flour after of doing a couple of rounds of Whole 30.  I can afford the $4.50 for a couple of pounds of coconut flour.

I also wanted to try this recipe because I know I can count on recipes from Physical Kitchness to work and taste good.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The muffins had good texture and were lightly sweet.  They were tender and moist, everything a muffin should be.  I think this recipe would make a good base for many other muffin experiments.

Almond Butter Strawberry Zucchini Muffins

• Difficulty: Easy
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From Physical Kitchness

1 cup strawberries, halved

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup honey

3 TBS melted  coconut oil

3 eggs

1 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup finely  diced strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degree. Place mufifin liners in the muffin tin, set aside.   Shred the zucchini and place it in a colendar.  Sprinkle the zucchini with salt and let sit for 10 minutes.  Add the halved strawberries,  almond butter, melted coconut oil, and honey in a blender and blend  until creamy and  well combined.  Pour the almond butter/strawberry mixture into a medium bowl.  Add the eggs,  zucchini, vanilla and apple cider vinegar.   Mix  until well combined.  In another bowl,  combine the coconut flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix  until just combined.  Fill each muffin liner 2/3 full.  Top each muffin  with finely diced strawberries.  Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted  in the center comes out clean.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

When I was a kid salads consisted of iceberg lettuce, a few cucumber slices, a celery stick, a carrot stick, a tomato wedge, and some shredded cheese which I promptly drowned in ranch dressing. I ate salads to loose weight or so I wouldn’t feel guilty about indulging in the things I love the most….. desserts. It never occurred to me until I was well into adulthood that salads were something that could be eaten for no other reason then they plain taste good.

This simple salad of spinach, strawberries, cheese, nuts and light drizzle of poppy seed dressing is currently one of my favorite salads. It can be used to a simple side to a heartier main dish salad with the addition of chicken.

• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients
2 TBS white vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp paprika
5 oz baby spinach
1/2 cup sliced, fresh strawberries
2 oz crumbled cheese
1/4 cup toasted pecans

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, sugar, poppy seeds, onion, Worcestershire and paprika. Whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. On a plate arrange the spinach, strawberries, cheese and pecans. Drizzle with the poppy seed dressing and serve.