Oh Wow Raw Oatmeal

I've been trying to watch what I eat lately, trying to get my waistline back in shape. A couple of years ago, I did the raw food diet for a couple of months and lost some poundage. So I pulled out Ani Phyo's Raw Food Kitchen. Some of her breakfast recipes use oat groats. I found oat groats in the bulk section of Whole Foods. I got about 2 cups and rinsed and soaked them overnight. The groats then go into a food processor with add-ins. I plopped in almonds, wheat germ, cinnamon, ginger, and agave. Whirl and add water or milk to desired consistency. If you use regular milk like I did, it's not raw anymore. There are plenty of milk subs or water will work.

twd ~ Tender Shortcakes

Cathy of The Tortefeasor chose Tender Shortcakes for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.



Monday was a day from the devil. One of those days that will either make you cry or fight...forget the whole fight or flight. That theory was probably made up by a man who needed to be more in touch with his emotions.

Anyway...I found some lovely, ripe berries at the farmers' market perfect to top the Tender Shortcakes. I whisked the dry ingredients and cut the butter into it with the music up. Then I poured in the milk and stirred the batter. Batter? Not dough! Immediately I realized that I was quartering the recipe; everything but the milk. The batter tasted good so, refusing to be defeated but not wanting to start over, I pulled out a cupcake pan and made six sweet, biscuit muffin shortcakes. The little babies are sweet and doughy. Can't wait to make the real things!

Atlanta Cupcake Scene: Take One ~ Atlanta Cupcake Factory

I've searched a few times for bakeries close to me, usually when I'm out and needing a treat & the day seems more special than Starbucks. Usually the bakeries are closed, sadly operating on a skewed early day schedule. On the Saturday before Mother's day, my mom was picking me up on the way up to my grandmother's. Treats are always good when traveling so I did another Google search and out popped....Atlanta Cupcake Factory!



Just reading the flavor combinations on their website sold me! The plan was to get two and split with my mom, but standing in front of the display case, all the pretty choices melted any willpower. Plus, the cupcakes were on the smaller side so four didn't seem like too many. (Ha!) The final choices were strawberry, coconut-almond (the fave of the lady filling my box), sugar cookie with salted caramel icing (best seller), and chocolate peanut butter. Would you be surprised if I said all of them were delicious? They were. The strawberry should be a summer hit - real strawberries folks. I will definitely be back to try the others.

twd ~ White Chocolate Brownies...with Blueberries

I think this one is a little bit of a misnomer. You say brownies and I think dense little squares, or dense big rectangles, of chewy chocolate, be it dark, milk, or white. But this, this is a nice little to-do, similar to a yogurt cake.

It has ground almonds and blueberries. The original recipe calls for raspberries and meringue. I can't stand meringue and I love blueberries. And I wasn't the only one. My mom, whom I was visiting for the long weekend, felt the same way, so we made the appropriate changes.

This was a nice ending to all the heavy Memorial Day cook-out food. After snithcing on it around midnight, I was too tired to properly store it, so I left it in the pan and popped it in the microwave for safe keeping. And there it stayed. I was in the car halfway back to Atlanta when I remembered. My sweet mom took pictures and texted them to me. Of course, I can't figure out how to upload them so the pictures will have to wait a little while. But at least my mom will get to enjoy the rest of the brownies for her trouble. Thanks Mom!

And also, a big thanks to Marthe of Culinary Delights for picking this week.

twd ~ Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie

Check out this recipe on Spike Bakes. Thanks Spike for a wonderful summer pick!

The star of this dessert is the crust. Buttery coconut and shortbread cookies! Magically, it tastes even better than it sounds!

On top of the crust is a thin layer of sliced banana. I did not dig the frozen banana taste or texture. I ended up digging them out. Not really a fan of frozen fruit.

There was another ripe banana mixed into the ice cream. I couldn't really taste it so much. Perhaps because I used German Chocolate Cake ice cream instead of plain chocolate so there was caramel and fudgey cake pieces for the banana to contend with.

This was a great dessert to have waiting in the freezer when my mom came up this weekend. After a yummy dinner of spicey Thai curry, this was perfect for sitting on the balcony in the cool summer evening.

twd ~ Apple Apple Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is good. Many people think not, but if it's made right it's delicious! Made badly, it's soggy bread. Gross.

Armed with Dorie's Apple Apple Bread Pudding recipe, it wasn't difficult. It's not a quick recipe, because you have to let the custard soak into the bread, and then bake for over an hour. In the end, it was worth it. I think it could be a breakfast dish and dessert. I haven't yet tested out this theory, but there is a little left in the fridge so tomorrow morning will be a little sweeter.

I made one-third of the recipe, and used all 1% milk instead of whole milk and cream. It worked perfectly! Still very good and the proportions didn't seem thrown off by the reduction in servings as sometimes happens.

Thanks Elizabeth of Cake or Death? for a great pick this week!

twd ~ Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

I think everyone is thanking Becky of Project Domestication this week! This was amazing...even if I did have a llittle problem...

It's ice cream, minus the ice. Mine never froze! It got very cold but even hanging out in the freezer overnight didn't help. Weird.

But it didn't matter, it was delicious caramel. Finger and bowl licking good, which is why I ended up with a very small bit foor picture taking time. No worries, I will be making this again!