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It finally tastes like fall.

After various adventures, we've finally had a nice, quiet weekend that allowed us time to "nest" - to spend time together, at home, doing stuff around the house.  And while today is warm (and wet!), this week is scheduled to be crisp and fall-like, and the veggies have gone from lettuce and tomatoes to root veggies of various kinds.

We do most of our cooking on the weekend, and this week was definitely no exception.  But since we had time, we used it! The week's menu includes: a roasted local chicken with creamed greens (a new recipe for me) and roasted root veg; a butternut squash, kale, and goat cheese skillet pie; and pressure cooker aloo gobi.

And then there's breakfast and lunch.  It's finally soup time!  There's Ukrainian ancestry in my family, and we had some beets to use up, so I made a batch of crock pot borscht (which I will share once it's officially dad-approved, though regardless, it's delicious).  And for breakfast: well, for breakfast, there's baked oatmeal.

a glass nine-by-thirteen pan containing a golden-brown breakfast oatmeal casserole. Apple cubes are visible sticking out of oats.
Five days of breakfast for a party of two.


You see, we live with a quandary.  I love nothing quite as much as a hot breakfast, and we like to have breakfast together.  But Karen leaves for work quite early.  That means we need things that are very quick to put together *or* things we can make ahead of time and just warm up quickly in the morning.

Enter baked oatmeal, a recipe that I tweak and adjust every year. You can use up most bake-able fruit, throw in some nuts if they're handy, or mix in anything you'd normally eat in your oatmeal. It's awesome with pumpkin, pecans, and cranberries.  It's great with blueberries and walnuts.  This time it's got some of our bounty of fall apples in it - as a way to use up last week's apples before this week's bag arrived.

Over the course of the week, we'll put pre-cut portions into bowls and warm them up in the microwave.  Then we will top them however we'd like: I usually just use a little milk or alternative milk, but Karen adds milk and sometimes a dash of maple syrup or honey.  (I keep sweeteners in the casserole itself minimal.)

One of the things I like best about the recipe is that the oats don't get gross and soggy halfway through the week.  I will occasionally make a big batch of steel-cut oats on the weekend, but by Wednesday, I don't want to warm them up and eat them anymore.  This stays firm enough to hold its shape, and the oats stay not-at-all-slimy.  You could even eat it cold as somewhat crumbly oatmeal bars!

(Oh, and if you come up with some amazing additions, please let me know.)



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