The Urban Homemaker Blog

Author: The Urban Homemaker

  • Baked Oatmeal for Breakfast

    baked oatmealEd Note:  This recipe is a delicious and easy way to “disguise” serving oatmeal for breakfast in a family pleasing way.  This tried and true (TNT) recipe was called “cookie casserole” by one mom’s little boy and he asked for more.  Try it and be pleasantly surprised!  Excerpted from Breakfasts for Busy Moms Spiral Bound Cookbook by Marilyn Moll.  Two for the price of one.  Great inexpensive gift idea.

    Mix Together:

    1/2 cup butter, melted (Coconut oil is also good)

    2/3 Cup brown sugar or Sucanat

    2 eggs, beaten

    Add:

    3 cups rolled oats

    1 tsp cinnamon

    2 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp salt

    1 cup milk

    Mix well. Pour into a greased casserole 7 X 11 inch baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. If using a smaller baking pan, increase the baking time to 40 minutes.  Serve with warmed Real milk, cream, or yogurt.

    Variations: Add 1-2 cups finely chopped apple pieces and/or pecans.

    Soaking method:

    Soak oats in butter and milk overnight in a mixing bowl. Cover and set on counter. In the morning add the eggs, chopped apples if desired, sweetener of choice, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

    Learn to enjoy other very economical, hot whole grain cereals for breakfast.


  • Holiday Planning – Week 3 List

    12 weekWeek #3: Items to Do excerpted from The 12 Week Holiday Planner ebook

    *Inventory the supplies you have on hand, then…

    *Shopping Lists for non-perishables! Turn to your Recipe Cards filed under the Holiday Menus and Holiday Baking sections and using the form provided make a list of non-perishables needed for holiday meals and baking. Make sure you have plenty of yeast and related items on hand.

    *Baking Shopping List! Next week will be a Baking Week, so if you plan on doing some holiday baking ahead of time that you can put in the freezer, include perishable items you will need for these recipes as well!

    * Gift making Shopping List! Turn to your Gift Making Checklist filed under the Christmas Gifts section and jot down the supplies needed for gift making.

    * Decorations Shopping List! Turn to your Decoration Ideas form filed under the Holiday Decorations section and jot down supplies you will need for decorating for the holidays.

    * Finalize Shopping List! Also jot down miscellaneous supplies such as film, batteries, gift wrapping, and Christmas cards as needed

    *Shopping! Take your lists and GO SHOPPING!

    OK ladies, are you getting started, procrastinating, or do you have another strategy?  Share your helpful hints with the rest of us.

    Excerpted from The 12 Week Holiday Planner for Christian Families by Sheri Graham and Marilyn Moll reprinted by permission. Sampler pages are available at the website.

  • Simple Fall Centerpiece

    Making a Fall Centerpiece is very easy and inexpensive. Take an inexpensive cloth napkin with Fall colors and lay it on the table artistically.

    On top add two small silk pumpkins (real ones are fine) . I found a set of Fall colored napkins in the thrift store for 50 cents each.

    Combine with a few pieces of mini-Indian corn and two or three picks in Fall colors. Better yet, find some dried things out in the yard or along the roadways that look like Fall. Gourds in different shapes and sizes could be used, even seasonal fruit such as apples.

    The goal is to have contrasting colors, shapes, and sizes.  Even a few votive candles could be added. Be creative. Use what you have!

    Tell others below in the comments what you used or found around the house to use to make an attractive centerpiece.

    This basic plan could be changed seasonally for Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, etc with a little creativity.

  • Invest in my Most Popular Ebooks and save!

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    Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms ebook by Marilyn Moll – $9.97 retail

    * 10 Easy Steps For Getting Started With A Lifestyle For Health

    * 4 Weeks of Kid Friendly Menus and Recipes

    * Complete Shopping lists

    * Steps for Simplified Meal Planning

    * Stocking a Pantry with Master Pantry List

    * Whole Grain Bread Baking Recipes

    * Marilyn’s Famous Whole Wheat Bread and Variations

    Here’s what others are saying about Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms:

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    This ebook Includes:

    * How to Select Ingredients
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    AND

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    Kicking The Breakfast Cereal Habit     ebook
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    Kick that cold, breakfast cereal habit with it’s poor nutrition and sugary ingredients. If you are busy mom like me, learn how I cook a wide variety of nutritious breakfasts quickly and easily. This 60 page ebook includes:

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    * Egg Breakfast Recipes
    * Whole Grain Hot Cereal Recipes including a Cooking Guide
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    * Breakfast Bread Recipes
    * Company Casseroles
    * Serving Suggestions and More

    “Marilyn’s ebooks are a great help. …I feel much better as a mother when my kids are eating healthy! The ideas in Marilyn’s book have inspired me to create a breakfast menu Thanks, Marilyn, for giving me some great ideas for keeping breakfast interesting, tasty, and healthy! Jenifer Fournier, CO

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    Subscribe to From the Heart of The Urban Homemaker a complimentary (free) newsletter of
    information, special offers, recipes, and articles by well-known authors for woman interested
    in cooking and baking with natural whole foods.

  • Family Friendly Farming

    Joel Salatin speaks about Family Friendly Farming and defending the Real Food Movement among other topics.  For example, he helped a restaurant that was recently written up for serving eggs produced the old-fashioned way.  (They weren’t USDA graded)

    The post I read yesterday led me to the following blog post showing the number of states making Real Milk legal.

    <<<1. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund is THE vanguard of food freedom. Without FTCLDF, Joel and Polyface would have spent hours wrangling, haggling, getting ulcers and fighting a battle with food police bureaucrats. Precious time, energy, and emotional capital would have been squandered trying to secure basic food rights and parse the regulatory labyrinth.>>>

    Did you know Family Friendly Farming is under attack?

  • Roasted Tomato Marinara Sauce

    After I  finished the apple sauce Saturday, Belinda and I still had time to chop up the end-of-the season tomatoes to make roasted marinara sauce.

    TomatoesThe beauty of this recipe is that you use what you have including tomatoes that are going over the hill.  Oven roasted vegetables of any kind are extra flavorful and so is this sauce which can be used for spaghetti, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, tomato soup, anything you would use a marinara sauce for.

    Method

    Using a deep roasting pan, or two 9 X 13 pans, drizzle the bottom of the pan with olive oil – 1-2 Tbsp.  Fill with chopped tomatoes – any kind or combination of tomatoes is fine.

    Slice up 1-2 medium onions and arrange over the top of the tomatoes.  Add herbs such as basil, garlic, oregano, thyme, and rosemary to taste along with some hot red peppers if desired.  Sprinkle some salt over the pan. Roast the onions/tomatoes for 90 minutes at 375 degrees F.  Allow to cool.  Run through the blender, package in 2 – 4 cup portions and freeze.

    You can add tomato paste to make it thicker, or pour off some liquid if desired before pureeing in the blender.  Adjust seasonings.

    I enjoyed this sauce over spaghetti squash last year.  I also added some Parmesan cheese and pine nuts to the sauce in the blender before heating for an extra rich flavor.

    Roasted

  • Marilyn’s Famous Fruit Leather

    Children LOVE this, especially if they can help!

    1 Cup fruit fresh or canned Fruit (this can be done year round with whatever is in season, apricots, and peaches are my favorites)

    1 large apple, peeled

    1 Cup. vanilla or strawberry yogurt

    Blend the above ingredients in your blender for about one minute or until pureed. Taste the puree and add honey or spices such as cinnamon to taste. (Remember that drying concentrates flavors). Pour puree onto lightly greased fruit leather inserts, or saran covered cookie sheets. Dehydrate overnight at 115 degrees,  in a low oven with the door ajar, or a convection oven.

    Leather is ready when no wet places remain.

    Wrap the leather in saran and freeze. Freeze fruit leather so it doesn’t vanish too quickly.

    Make lots. Children and their friends will love this snack and beg for more.  Perfect lunch snack or for traveling/camping/hunting, etc.

  • Dehydrating – Food Preserving the Easy Way

    Why Dehydrate?dehydratingWe’re hooked on dehydrating! Most foods can easily and successfully be dried with very little preparation time. What’s more, they are even easier to use!

    With all the surplus apples at a good price, Stephen and I are going to get busy dehydrating later this week before he leaves for his officer training.  He can take a little taste of home along with him and no worries about spoilage.

    I love the round dehydrators with a fan because you can adjust the number of trays as needed, there is a thermostat, and plenty of power.  But any dehydrator will work.  It’s quick and easy.

    Advantages of Dried Foods:

  • Easily Stored – Dried foods take one-tenth or less the storage space of canned foods.
  • Naturally Good and Nutritious – Flavor and nutrition are kept in dried foods without adding preservatives, sugar, or salt. Dried fruits and some vegetables (such as seasoned zucchini chips) are great natural snacks.
  • Economical – Bottles, jars, lids, sugar, etc. are just some of the items you won’t have to buy when you dry food. Processing energy will also be lowered considerably. Overripe fruit needn’t be thrown away but can be converted into tasty fruit leathers.
  • Completely Safe – Dried foods (even vegetables and meats) are completely safe when dried according to directions. There is no danger of botulism because the moisture that is a breeding ground for organisms has been removed.
  • Versatile – Dried foods are easily reconstituted for use in many recipes; from main dishes to breads and desserts. Leftovers and peelings can be dried for flavoring soup stock.
  • Easily Prepared – For people in a hurry, drying is the ideal way to preserve food. Very little preparation is needed – no hot jars, canners, or boiling water to tend.

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  • Baked French Toast

    BakedFrenchToast

    BAKED FRENCH TOAST

    I like to treat myself and the family to an extra special breakfast Saturday or Sunday morning.  Try this sometime soon!

    1 loaf French Bread – slice 1 1/2-2 inches thick

    Place bread slices in a 13X9 buttered pan close together.

    6 large eggs

    1 1/2 cup milk (full fat is best)

    1 cup milk, half/half or cream

    1 tsp vanilla

    1/2 tsp cinnamon

    1/4 tsp nutmeg

    Mix together and pour over bread. Cover with foil and put in refrigerator overnight.  Topping:  1/4 cups soft butter  1/2 cup brown sugar  1/2 cup chopped nuts – optional  1 Tbsp honey.

    Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over entire casserole dish. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees  or until puffed and golden. Serve with maple syrup and butter, fresh fruit in season, turkey sausage or nitrate free bacon.

    breakfastsforbusymomscover_1488_general

    Breakfasts for Busy Moms

    For more delicious breakfast recipes check out Breakfast for Busy Moms.

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  • Wise Traditions 2010 Conference

    The annual conference of the Weston A Price Foundation, called Wise Traditions 2010 is a  three-day conference featuring about forty experts on real food, food activism, sustainable agriculture and more  from well-known farmer Joel Salatin to Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions.
    Joel is the author of Family Friendly Farming, a Multi-generational Home-based Business Testament and other related books.  (A fascinating read, by the way.)
    Topics to be covered include real foods plus politically charged subjects including school lunches, watersheds, nutrition and more information on genetically modified foods and risks.
    Some of my favorite real food bloggers will be there and I will keep you updated about the real food movement.
    Nearly 1,500 and 2,000 real food lovers are expected and if you want to join in this influential conference your can register on line.  It is possible to attend for 1-3 days.   Here are the details:
    Where: Valley Forge Convention Center, King of Prussia, PA
    When: November 12 through 14
    Registration: Click here to register.
    If you go, please let me know and keep me and other readers posted with cutting edge information we can share with other readers through this blog and facebook.

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