Oatmeal Empanadas

Since my last post, we had a rare long weekend away, with all of the chaos that entails for the week before and the week after the actual weekend. I wrapped the end of last week by borrowing *The Cookie Bible* from the library. Having loved *The Slow Cooker Bible*, I was not at all shy about borrowing the cookie version. Am I ever glad I did! I love these two books so much that not only did I shop Amazon and buy both of them (Cookie from Amazon and Slow Cooker as a used very good condition copy) that I bought *The One Dish Bible* used without having seen anything more than the cover! I will have those three cookbooks plus *Fix, Freeze, Feast* in my hands and a couple of weeks, and then the experimenting really begins!

Meanwhile, I made two recipes out of *The Cookie Bible*: breakfast cookies and jam-up oatmeal cookies. The breakfast cookies are pretty good and are frozen, bagged, and stashed in the freezer for nutritious afternoon snacks or for breakfast running out the door. The star of the day, though, was the oatmeal cookie recipe. It was instantly renamed oatmeal empanadas because that's pretty much what they are (and the kids just like to say empanada), and they are already high on the favorites list. This is a very good sign of future success of recipes from this cookbook! So here's the recipe. I have to say it was very easy. The dough was not sticky; the scraps re-rolled well without any stiffening to allow for maximum cookie production. I used a cookie cutter larger than 2" so in the future I'll use a little more than 1 tsp of jam on each. These would be great done in a variety of shapes, and I'm already thinking about Easter shapes!

*Note: the recipe is sometimes brand specific because it's sponsored by a list of brands. I removed brands.
Oatmeal Empanadas
1 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs (I used 1/2 c. Eggbeaters)
2 tsp almond extract
2 c. all purpose flour (I used AP flour this time, but I'll be trying it with some whole wheat flour next time)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 c. quick oats (not instant or old fashioned), uncooked
1 c. finely chopped pecans
jam for filling
1. Combine shortening and brown sugar in a large bowl, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs and almond extract.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add to the shortening mixtre at low speed until just blended.
3. Stir in oats and chopped pecans with a spoon.
4. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets with shortening or line with parchment paper (I love parchment paper!).
6. Roll out dough, half at a time (I kept the second half of the dough in the fridge while working with the first half), to about 1/4" thickness on floured surface. Cut out with 2 1/2" round cookie cutter. Place 1 tsp of jam in center of half of the rounds. Top with remaining rounds, matching up the edges, then pressing the edges together to seal (a fork works great for this). Price centers (heck, I just made a little cut a good 1/2" long) to allow steam to release; sprinkle with sugar (I didn't do this part but will color code with sugar sprinkles next time - strawberry jam gets red sugar, peach jam gets yellow sugar, etc.). Place 1" apart on baking sheets.
7. Bake one baking sheet at a time for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not overbake! Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets, then remove parchment paper to cooling racks or cookies to foil lined counter.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies (I got 2 1/2 dozen)
I did apple pie jam, strawberry jam, and ginger peach jam fillings, and all three varieties were fabulous!

Vegan Chocolate Pudding and Oatmeal Bread

I love pudding much more now than I did before I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at age 12, probably because it is such a huge treat - a 4-pack of chocolate soy pudding is easily $3. Every recipe I looked at was using ingredients that either I couldn't use or I wasn't sure how it would do with soy milk. Then I had a stroke of genius - visit the Silk soy milk website and see what recipes they have! I found a recipe for chocolate pudding, made it, and will definitely make that again! It was creamy, smooth, densely chocolate, not too sweet, and easy. Plus, it used 3 cups of soy milk, and a whole half gallon costs less than $3, so I can certainly make it at home for less than what it costs at the store when I am actually able to find it! This recipe is a keeper!

Chocolate Pudding
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups Silk, any flavor (I used Silk original)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated margarine

1. Combine the cocoa, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a saucepan and mix well.
2. Slowly add the Silk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps.  (I added 1/4 c., then another 1/4 c., then added 1/2 c. at a time until all whisked in.)
3. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat while whisking constantly. Lower heat to a simmer and cook gently for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until pudding begins to thicken. (It will thicken some when it cools. I took it off heat before it was the consistency of gravy, and cooled it is now the consistency of really thick gravy.)
4. Remove from heat and whisk in the margarine and vanilla.
5. Pour into 1 large bowl or 8 small serving bowls and refrigerate for at least an hour, until thoroughly chilled.
Recipe from http://www.silksoymilk.com/.

I also experimented with oatmeal bread yesterday. Fair warning: the recipe I used from http://www.reciperascal.com/ (the archive storage for breadnet) was not for beginners the way I found it! The recipe directions were very poor, and one ingredient was not included in the directions (listed in the ingredients but the directions never said when to add it). I'm listing my directions, not the original directions for this recipe. It's an easy recipe for a person who understands the basics of breadmaking - with the proper directions! The bread was good. A bit too crusty for my liking, and I didn't watch it and it really browned. The oatmeal the recipe called for putting on the outside looks nice, but it flakes off when you cut it. The interior, though, is definitely the star of the show. It is moist and tender but with great body, firm enough to hold up to a thick layer of jam, but tender enough that your teeth just sink into it and it's feather light across your tongue. It's a light brown, tan color. A and I couldn't discern the honey or the molasses, so I'm not sure why they were each needed since either one would bring the sugars needed to feed the yeast. I will likely try it with just honey to see how it turns out. The "cooked" oatmeal in this bread means it brings a lot of moisture while also bringing a lot of fiber and structure to the bread, and this bread should keep nicely for a few days.

Oatmeal Bread
2 packages dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp loose from the jar)
1/2 c. warm water (120 degrees - 130 degrees - piping hot tap water is usually the right temperature)
1/3 c. shortening
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. boiling water
1 c. quick cooking oats
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. molasses
2 eggs, beaten
5-6 c. all purpose flour

1. Mix together the yeast and the warm water in a bowl. Allow this to sit to activate the yeast.
2. Combine the next six ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring to combine and setting aside to cool to lukewarm.
3. When the oatmeal mixture is cooled to lukewarm, mix in the eggs and 2 cups of flour, and beat well.
4. Add the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough (I needed 3 more cups of flour.).
6. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (I actually didn't flour the surface but just used the excess flour in my bowl and then didn't need anymore flour.)
7. Place in a greased bowl, turning the dough over once to grease the top. Cover with a towel and let it rise until double in size, 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.
8. Punch down (this redistributes the yeast and air). Divide dough in half. Cover with the towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.
9. Grease two 9"x5" bread pans and coat the inside with oats (I'll skip the oats part next time). Shape dough into loaves, and place in the pans. Cover with the towel and let rise until double, about 45 minutes.
10.Mix 1 egg white with 1 T water and brush top of the loaves with the egg wash, then sprinkle with oats (I'll skip this part next time too.)
11. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more.

Cherry Oatmeal in the Crockpot

I had made oatmeal in the crockpot once before, and while I love the convenience of wake up and breakfast is hot and ready (and I'm a wake up hungry kind of girl), I didn't love the crust around the edge of the crockpot and it was a bit creamy for my liking. So here was my try number two. The first time I used steel cut oats, didn't spray the crock with cooking spray, and used a newer crockpot (they run hotter than the older ones). This time I used old fashioned oats, sprayed the crock, and used my older one. No crust, no sticking at all, but still pretty creamy. I'm seriously considering getting a light timer to plug my crockpot into and setting it to start cooking only a few hours before breakfast since I like my oatmeal more firm. In the meantime, this recipe yielded 9 cups of oatmeal (not the 7 it said it would), so I have quite a few baggies in my freezer of 1 cup portions of cherry oatmeal, just waiting for me to heat and eat. I don't see why this oatmeal couldn't also use other fruit pie filling varieties such as mixed berry, strawberry, or apple. Warning, though: this was obviously pink oatmeal studded with red cherries. Not for people who don't like eating pink food.

Cherry Oatmeal
6 cups water
1/4 tsp salt, optional (I didn't use it)
3 c. old fashioned oats, dry
1 tsp almond extract (alas, wasn't a noticeable flavor)
21 oz can light cherry pie filling (used regular)
3/4 c. strawberry flavored or regular powdered sugar (now why would you need the extra sweetness, and why use powdered sugar when you just used light pie filling? Obviously, I didn't use this ingredient.)

1. Spray a slow cooker (I had to use my round 4 qt crockpot) with cooking spray.
2. Mix the ingredients in the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. (Yeah, well, if you don't have a timer, and you sleep longer than 5.5 hours.... I cooked mine for 8.5 hours out of basic necessity.)

Recipe from *Busy People's Slow Cooker* by Dawn Hall.