Weekend Cooking; Flavor of the Week

(My breakfast)

What a title.  I've been reading Flavor of the week by Tucker Shaw for a day or two and while the story is less than fetching each chapter ends with an interesting recipe.  Last night this is the recipe I ended with and as I drifted to sleep my thoughts were on breakfast already.  Tucker Shaw is the food editor for the Denver Post so it makes some sense that his recipes would be memorable.

Hot-Buttered Maple-Baked Oatmeal (my notes)


2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick)
pinch (sea) salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 cups whole milk (i used 1%)
1 (farm fresh) egg
1 T. vanilla (real)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (hefty sprinkle on top before baking)
raisins, coconut flakes or almonds for topping (all optional)


1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Position rack in the middle of the oven.
2. In a large bowl combine oats and salt.
3. In a smaller bowl mix together the maple syrup, milk, egg, and vanilla.  Pour over oats; mix well.
4. Pour the oat mixture into a glass baking dish (I used a 9 x 13). Bake for about 40 minutes, stirring once midway through.  Remove from oven.  (We stirred it at 20 minutes and only let it cook another 10-it was perfect)
5. Sprinkle the oats with brown sugar and return to the oven for 5 minutes.  The brown sugar will get all melty, which is exactly what you want.
6. Serve in warm bowls with a big hunk of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup that you've zapped in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Top with yummy toppings.  We had little bowls of brown sugar, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts at the table to sprinkle as well as a little milk pour on top.

My husband did the stirring at 20 minutes and he thought it looked done at that point.  As our 9-year-old bounced on our bed earlier he told her about this delicious idea for breakfast and she seemed at best dubious!  She was like "I like my regular oatmeal.  This sounds too baked, too dry, too crunchy!"  He didn't want it to turn out like her worst ideas and truly it was creamy and wonderful with less cooking time.  You decide.
It serves four and all of us had a big heaping bowl.  Groovy Girl's last words "This is actually good. I hope you make it again."  Made my day.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly cooking meme, Weekend Cooking.  Click her link to check out the other foodie posts and read her thoughts on Beer Wars, the film.

Next up on my to-do list.  Cleaning the guinea pig's cage with Groovy Girl.  I know; I can feel the waves of jealousy!