Baked Oatmeal

Folks-

I first made baked oatmeal over ten years ago, using a standard recipe from Allrecipes. It's a great morning breakfast cake or cereal if you're gluten free. I have found the recipe adapts very well to being lactose free as well. Both came in handy when I brought it to work for everyone to enjoy, as I have coworkers who are allergic to both lactose and gluten (no, really allergic, as in tested and everything, not "gluten adverse".)

Some people take a hunk of this, crumble it in a bowl, add milk and eat it like a cereal. I don't. I eat it like a crumbly cake because if I want a cereal made of oats I just skip a few steps and make oatmeal.

But you still have the option there if you want it.

The Allrecipes version of the recipe calls for dried cranberries, but I usually make it with blueberries, and peaches and strawberries have also come out quite good. I suspect I may make it with strawberries and banana chunks eventually just to try it.

Here's the Allrecipes Baked Oatmeal recipe with my notes.

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats (or old fashion oatmeal, or quick oats)

1 cup brown sugar or to taste

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (can add 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, cardamom, and/or allspice)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 large eggs (I have not tested a vegan substitute at this time)

1 cup milk (oat, almond, or soy milk also work, but I prefer oat milk for this)

1/2 cup melted butter (vegan butter or margarine both work)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

3/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins, or currants, or 1 cup whole fresh or frozen blueberries, or raspberries, or sliced strawberries, or diced peaches, or diced mango, just try something. But if using fresh fruit, reduce milk to 3/4 cup.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Gather all ingredients. Mix together dry ingredients (except fruit). Beat in eggs and stir in wet ingredients and fruit. Spread evenly in a 9x13" baking pan and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Watermelon Sorbet

When I was a kid, I lived just a little way down the street from a candy store named Buckheart's Candies. They also had an ice cream counter there, and honestly, I remember that better than the candy.

Specifically, I remember one called Watermelon Ice. It was obviously made from real watermelon, because they left the seeds in it. I've never found it anywhere else, and Buckheart's went out of business decades ago. I miss spitting out those seeds!

Last summer I decided to look for a recipe, and this one is pretty close. You do need some kind of ice cream maker to properly make it, but that's the only extra equipment you'll need.

Here's the recipe!

Recipe source: food.com

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice 

3 cups diced watermelon, seeds removed 

Heat water, sugar, and lemon juice together, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then chill. Puree the watermelon and stir it into the chilled syrup. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and run it according to the directions for your model. Enjoy it soft-serve directly from the freezer, or pack it into an air-tight container and freeze it until it is scoopable.

Easy Peach and Mango Cobbler

 Folks-

I wanted to try to sneak in at least one more recipe before the end of the year, and after my Peach and Mango Cobbler got the most comments at our Christmas dinner (how do you top grilled Emu steaks and grilled whole Lobster? Cobbler, I guess) the recipe to post was obvious.

Here's the recipe! 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 15 oz can sliced or diced peaches in syrup 

1 15 oz can diced mangoes in syrup

1/3 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and place the butter in a deep 2 quart baking dish in the oven to melt. Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix until a batter forms. Once the butter is melted, remove the baking dish from the oven and pour the batter evenly over the butter. Spoon the mangoes, peaches, and most of the syrup evenly over the batter, then bake for 35-45 minutes.

Freezer Jams and Jellies

 My family has been making freezer jams at least since I was a child. It is distinctly different than cooked jams in that it tastes more like the fresh fruit. Freezer jams also have the advantage over cooked jams of being very quick to make.

The disadvantage is that you need freezer space to store them, since they are not sterilized in preparation the way cooked jams are.

My family has always used boxes of dry pectin from Sure -Jell or Ball. These can usually be found near boxes of flavored gelatin in the supermarket, even though they are not at all the same thing. Gelatin is a hydrated colagen that comes from boiling animal skin and hooves, and pectin comes from boiling fruit. Don't get them confused. One is not a replacement for the other in this recipe.

In the past my family always used the "Quick and Easy Freezer Jam" recipe that came in the box of pectin. Sure-Jell recently stopped including it, and instead is directing you to their website. Considering how ephemeral corporate websites can be, and how they've changed their recipes in the past, I tend not to trust them. Hence this blog in the first place.

So, today I am including their recipes, as well as some variations of my own, just to make sure I don't lose my recipes if the last enclosed instruction packet I have of theirs disappears or gets damaged.

Please note that these recipes are for the full-sugar version of Sure-Jell and similar pectins, not the Reduced Sugar or Sugar-Free variants.

Ingredients for All Jams and Jellies

3/4 Cup Water

1 Box Pectin (full-sugar variety)

Specific Ingredients

Apricot Jam:

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 Cups Finely Chopped Apricots, pitted but unpeeled (start at 2 1/2 and stir-in a bit at a time if sugar doesn't dissolve and you've already added all of the lemon juice)

2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

5 1/2 Cups Sugar

Blackberry Jam:

3 Cups Crushed or Pureed Blackberries

5 1/4 Cups Sugar

Blueberry Jam:

3 Cups Chopped Blueberries

5 1/4 Cups Sugar

Sour Cherry Jam:

2 Cups Finely Chopped or Pureed Cherries

4 Cups Sugar

Peach Jam:

3 Cups Finely Chopped or Pureed Peaches

2 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

4 1/2 Cups Sugar

Peach Vanilla Bean Jam:

Same as peach, but add1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste

Homestyle Peach Jam:

Same as peach, but add:

2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Ground Allspice

Mango Jam:

3 Cups Mashed Mangoes

1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice

5 Cups Sugar

Raspberry Jam:

3 Cups mashed or pureed Raspberries

5 1/4 Cups sugar

Raspberry-Peach Jam:

2 Cups mashed or pureed Raspberries

1 1/2 Cups finely chopped or pureed Peaches

7 Cups sugar (yes, 7 cups!)

Strawberry Jam:

2 Cups crushed or pureed Strawberries

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 Cups sugar

Spiced or Christmas Strawberry Jam:

Same as Strawberry, but add:

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 Tsp Ground Ginger

2 Tsp Ground Allspice

Strawberry-Blueberry Jam:

1 1/2 Cups crushed or pureed Strawberries

1 Cup chopped or crushed blueberries

4 1/2 Cups sugar

Apple Jelly:

3 Cups bottled or refrigerated apple juice

2 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

5 Cups sugar

Apple Pie Jam:

2 Cups bottles or refrigerated apple juice

1 Cup unsweetened apple sauce

2 Tsp ground cinnamon

5 Cups sugar

Grape Jelly (may take 1 week to set):

3 Cups bottled or refrigerated Grape Juice

5 1/4 Cups sugar

Grapefruit (WHY?!?) Jelly:

2 Cups of that horrid bottled or refrigerated Grapefruit Juice (Evil Fruit!)

4 1/2 Cups poor, innocent sugar for the sacrifice

Hot Pepper Jelly (may take 1 week to set):

NOTE: Protect hands with rubber gloves while preparing!

2/3 Cup pickled jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (from 1 10-1/4 oz jar)

2 1/2 cups bottled or refrigerated apple juice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1-2 drops green food color (optional)

5 1/2 Cups Sugar

Instructions:

Prepare the fruit as called for in the list of ingredients. Stir in lemon juice, if called for. Measure out exact amount of sugar and mix in spices, if called for, then slowly stir into prepared fruit. Allow to sit for up to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to break down sugar crystals.

While fruit is sitting, measure out water and place in a small saucepan. Add pectin to water. After fruit has sat for 10 minutes, turna stovetop burner to high and place the saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add to fruit and sugar mixture and stir for 3 minutes constantly until sugar crystals are mostly dissolved (some may remain.)

Immediately ladle into clean jars or plastic containers with lids leaving at least 1/4 inch (5mm) space at the top of the container for expansion in the freezer. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, or 1 year in the freezer.

NOTES:

Apricot Jam is especially hard to get to jell correctly. You can't puree the fruit, or you end up with syrup, not jam. Either chop it by hand or use a food processor to get a fine chop on it. If the fruit is too dry, you need to add a bit of water or lemon juice. If you don't, then the sugar won't dissolve. If you want a harder set, you have to add lemon juice. I have messed up apricot jam more times than I've made is successfully. It's very finicky.

I strongly recommend mixing any dry spices into the sugar if the recipe calls for it, as Homestyle Peach, Christmas Strawberry, and Apple Pie do. It keeps the spices from clumping.

Apple Pie Jam has a shorter shelf-life than the other jams. It lasts about 2 weeks in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer. After that it tends to turn into a syrup, but it's still good on pancakes or waffles.

All of the jams listed above are good in plain yogurt to give it a fruit flavor. Just mix in a roughly 3:1 ratio of yogurt to jam if making yogurt pops in the freezer, or 4:1 if you plan to just eat fruit-flavored yogurt. Adjust to taste.

I have not tested Hot Pepper, Grape, or Grapefruit jellies, mostly because I hate grapefruit, and really don't see the point of making a grape jelly that is likely to taste exactly like a jar I can buy in the store. And my stepmom makes a good pepper jelly, so I'm never in need of one. Let me know if they come out for you.

Spiced Strawberry or Christmas Jam adapted from a recipe from Spices and Flavors. It has been said it tastes like Guava.

6/29/2025: You can use granulated pectins besides Sure-Jell, Certo, or Ball, but may have to increase the amount of pectin. Tonight I made Strawberry, Homestyle Peach, and Apricot, but increased the amount of bulk pectin used for the first two to 55g, and 60g for the Apricot. All three jelled, but the Apricot is still a bit soft-set (I'll take it!!!)

Blueberry Soda

Folks-

Tonight I fixed my new Crab Rolls and served this Blueberry Soda with it. They went well together, but I expect the soda would be just fine by itself.

You first make a blueberry simple syrup, then mix that with club soda, Tonic Water, or similar in a 1:3 ratio. I recommend 1/3 cup syrup and 1 cup soda water. Ice is good in it.

Here's the recipe for the Blueberry Symple Syrup I got from Berly's Kitchen:

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and mash fruit immediately with a wooden spoon or potato masher. Allow to cool for 10-20 minutes, and strain through a mesh sieve to get the fruit pulp out. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Note: The blueberry pulp you strain out is wonderful on ice cream.

Fruit Salads

Folks-
Here's another couple of Zap 190 recipes from my mom (Eleanor Perl.) Both are fruit salads, so it seemed to make sense to put them together. The first is my mom's Waldorf Salad, and the second is her Dodie Salad, named after a co-worker of mine at Pacific Western Bank back in the late '80's.

Waldorf Salad:

Ingredients:
3 Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 Medium Bananas, sliced
1 Cup Diced Pineapple
1/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1/4 Cup Small Marshmallows (optional)
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Toss fruits, walnuts, and marshmallows together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, milk, and sugar. Use the mayonnaise mixture as a salad dressing over the fruit.

Dodie Salad

Ingredients:
3 Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 Kiwi Fruit, peeled and sliced
2 Cups Grapes
2-3 Bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 Cup Diced Pineapple
1 Starfruit, peeled, sliced, and de-seeded (optional)
(Any other fruit you may think of)
1 Pint Non-fat Yogurt
1/4 Teaspoon Coconut Flavoring
1/4 Cup Shredded Coconut
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Toss together all of the fruit excepting the Kiwi or Starfruit slices. In a separate small bowl, mix together the yogurt, coconut, coconut flavoring, and sugar into a dressing. Pour the dressing over the tossed fruit, and use the Kiwi and/or Starfruit slices to decorate the top of the salad.