Easy Back to School Breakfast "Berry Apple Swiss Oatmeal"

As I am writing this post, I am eating a jar of the Back to School Berry Apple Swiss Oatmeal my eighteen year old step daughter made for her dad and I.  She absolutely loves these jars for breakfast, lunch and dinner , LOL!  I thought it would be a good idea for her to do a run through on the recipe to see how it tasted if someone else made it.  Just as delicious. 

If you're not a breakfast person like me, this is a great alternative.  The flavors are crisp and creamy  from the apples and yogurt and with a hearty flavor from the oatmeal and nuts.  It will keep you full til lunch so you're not snacking. If you are always in a rush in the morning (like me)  packing lunches and get myself out the door, this is a great shortcut. I make them on Sunday night and we are ready to go on Monday morning, just grab a jar and a topping bag and I'm out the door.  Trust me when I say, I make this weekly... my family absolutely loves these jars.  I cannot believe I waited so long to start making them.   But here they are now. So I hope you give this recipe a try...

Happy Cooking everyone!

Easy Back to School Breakfast "Berry Apple Swiss Oatmeal"
Makes 8 jars

Ingredients:
3 cups Old Fashioned Oats
3 cups Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt (not Greek)
2 cups  Low Fat Milk (or you can use Vanilla Almond Milk)
4 Tablespoon Honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
pinch of salt
3 Granny Smith Apples, cored and sliced into cubes
1 cup sliced Strawberries or 1 cup Blueberries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup of toasted almond slices
3 tablespoons light brown sugar or 2 tablespoons of white sugar

Need:
8-16 oz Mason Jars  (Target is a great source for these)
Cooking Spray
Large bowl


Directions:
1. In a Large bowl add 3 cups of old fashioned oats

2. Add 3 cups vanilla yogurt

3. Add 2 cups of milk, 3 tablespoons of honey and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix everything together

4. Core and Cut up three large Granny Smith apples into 1" cubes.


















5. Add chopped apples into the large bowls

6. Add a cup of cut strawberries or cup of blueberries and 1/3 cup of dried cranberries in the large bowl

7. Fold in the cut up fruit into the yogurt/oat mixture

8. Add 2-3 1/4 cups measurements of mixture into each of the mason jars. Tighten lids and put in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.

9. Turn on oven to 350 degrees.   Add 1 cup a sliced almonds to cookie sheet.  Spray with coconut oil or  vegetable oil.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 5 minutes, till nuts are golden.   Remove from oven and cool.   Put 2-3 tablespoons of nut mixture in 8 plastic snack bags and serve with Berry Apple Swiss Oatmeal.

10. Oats are good in the refrigerator for 3-4 for days for freshness.

Summer Fruit & Riesling Pie

Now you can have your wine and eat it too with this Summer Fruit Pie with Riesling in the filling!

 

I liked that the pie was not overly sweet and the fruit still maintained most of its' shape without breaking down into a pile of mush. You could definitely see the different combinations of fruit that was used in the filling.

 

The Riesling added a nice fruity note. Be sure to use a Riesling that you would enjoy drinking. I used a J. Lohr Riesling from Paso Robles.

 

The great thing about pie is how adaptable it is! Use different combination of fruit or the thickening agent of your choice. I used flour because that's what I had on hand, but some people prefer cornstarch or tapioca starch. Also, if you're a pie baker, you may already have your own preferred baking technique. Some prefer to bake at a high temp for the first 15-20 minutes of baking, then reducing the temperature.

If you're looking for a slightly sophisticated dessert that capitalizes on the freshness of Summer fruit and isn't too complicated to make, this recipe is for you. Use a good quality store bought pie crust for a quick short cut to make the recipe even easier!

No matter how you bake it, pie is always delicious!

 

Summer Fruit & Riesling Pie

Ingredients:

Double crust pie crust (store bought or homemade)
Here is my favorite pie crust recipe
Yvonne really likes this store bought crust

6 1/2 cups assorted fresh fruit (I used sliced strawberries, blueberries, sliced peaches and sliced nectarines)
*I cut the strawberries in half and left the skin on the peaches and nectarines and sliced them into 1/4" thick slices)
1/2 cup sweet Riesling wine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup water
Egg wash: one egg beaten with a little water
Demerara Sugar (sugar in the raw) for sprinkling

Directions:

Place all of the filling ingredients in a medium size heavy bottom saucepan and toss to combine. Cook over low heat until the mixture comes to a simmer stirring often. Simmer and stir until some of the fruit breaks down and the mixture thickens (approx. 5-7 minutes). If you find your mixture is getting too thick, add a little more water.

Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool. To help with the cooling process, stir occasionally to allow steam to escape.

When filling is cool, place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat oven to 375f

Roll out your crust to approx. 1/8" thick. It should be large enough to fit in the bottom of the pie dish with 1" overhang of crust. Place the bottom crust into the bottom of a glass pie dish (I prefer glass so you can see how done the bottom of the crust it, but metal is fine also).

Scoop the filling into the pie crust lined pie dish. Make sure it is in an even layer.

Roll out the second pie crust to 1/8" thickness. Place the second pie crust on top (you can do a lattice design, cut outs like I did or leave the top crust whole). If you leave the top crust whole, trim the edges then fold under and crimp. Cut a few vent holes in the top with a sharp knife to allow air to escape. If you do a lattice effect you still need to fold the edges of the crust under and crimp. For cut outs, just cut the crust into any shape you want using cookie cutters, then lay on top of the filling making sure you overlap the pieces.


Brush the top crust and edges with the egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar.


Place the pie on the preheated cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, loosely tent the top with foil making sure there is space for air to circulate underneath the foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until the fruit has a slow bubble and the crust is golden brown. If you used a glass pie dish, you can lift the pie high enough to see underneath to check to make sure the bottom of the crust is done too.

Remove from oven and place the pie on a wire cooling rack for several hours to cool before serving.
Serve with whipped cream, ice cream and another glass of wine!


Pie is best eaten same day or next day.

Recipe adapted from Bakeaholic Mama

Empanadas de las Monjas (Turnovers from the Nunnery)

Empanadas de las Monjas (Turnovers from the Nunnery)

 

I know you’re probably questioning the title, but honestly this recipe was given to my Cousin Gabby, who then gave it to my Tia Conchia, who originally got it from a Nun.

 

Growing up, we loved to stop by the Nunnery on our way to visiting our Grandparents in a small town in Texcate Mexico. The Nuns would make and sell these AMAZING little turnovers to make money for the church. They were light, sweet and flaky, the perfect little treat for us girls. Anywise, over the years I have thought often of these little pastries so I was pleasantly surprised when my Aunt came to visit this weekend and had the recipe with her! So this weekend, she shared the recipe with me. There were a few things about the recipe that didn’t make sense to me, so I made a few modifications. After testing out the new recipe, my Aunt was shocked how much better they tasted. The end result was these perfect little pastries filled with sweet filling and an amazing turnover crust!

 

I hope you give this recipe a try. They are definitely worth your time!

 

Empanadas de las Monjas

Makes 60-65 mini turnovers

 

Ingredients:

Turnover

1 ½ cups All- purpose Vegetable Shorting

1 cup unsalted butter

7 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1- 12oz bottle of beer ((I used New Castle) (no idea what the nuns were doing with beer!)

½ cup half and half ( not in dough, but used to seal the pastries)

 

 

Filling (homemade filling) double recipe if your only making blueberry ones

2 cups frozen blueberries (thawed)

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon lemon juice

2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

and

1 jar of fruit preserve (I used strawberry, do not use Jelly)

 

Or you can just use 2 jars of your favorite preserve)

 

Topping:

1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

½ cup Turbinado Sugar (or raw sugar would work)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

Directions:

 

Make the dough:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.

2. Cream the shortening and butter together using a the paddle attachment.

 

3. Add flour and beer to the shortening mixture in three parts, until mixture is a nice, thick dough.

 

 

4. Switch the mixing attachment to dough hook. Mix 2 minutes.

 

5. Put dough in a bowl, and hand knead for about 1 minute.

 

6. Taking pieces of dough, make into 1 inch balls and set on a cookie tray lined with wax paper.

 

7. Once you done making all the balls, set to rest for 1 hour.

 

While dough is resting make the homemade filling:

8. In a medium saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice. Cook over medium heat.

 

9. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and set aside.

10. Once the blueberries start to boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil and boil for about 2 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

(best result, make the jam the day before)

 

Assemble the tarts:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees:

 

11. After the dough balls have been resting for an hour, take a tortilla press and press each ball into 4” circle (if you do not have a tortilla press, use two pieces of wax paper and a rolling pin)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Add 1 teaspoon of filling to the center of disk.

 

 

13. Using your finger tip, dip in half and half mil and brush the edges of the disk.

14. Fold each circle in half over the filling. Use your finger tip to press the edges gently to seal.

 

 

 

 

 

15. Place on cookie tray lined with Parchment paper.

16. Crimp each tart with the tines of a fork. 

 

17. Brush each tart with the sweetened condensed milk and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

 

 

18. Bake for 23-26 minutes.  Tops will be light golden brown.

 

19. Cool for 15 minutes, ENJOY!