Italian Sausage Meat Loaf

I grew up eating a meat loaf made with ground beef, enhanced with tomato juice and oatmeal and an egg. It fed the whole family until the next to the last kid was old enough for it but by then the older kids were often gone at dinner time babysitting, so I think that the recipe worked just fine my whole childhood, even though there were ten of us at dinner some of the time. Since it takes about the same amount of time to bake potatoes as to bake the meatloaf, the next oven rack down usually had the potatoes baking to be served with the meat loaf. 

I got the recipe from my Mom when I moved to California and made it myself but these days I can't eat beef, so I have to be creative. 

Tonight's version is made with Italian sausage and ground pork. Because the Italian sausage comes already seasoned, I didn't add salt and did add some extra mixed Italian seasonings to make it even more Italian in flavor. Beyond that I only sprinkled some black pepper over the ketchup to tone down the sweetness. Because I love mushrooms, I added finely chopped mushrooms to the mix, plus the usual onion and oatmeal. I added chopped parsley and tomato and skipped the tomato juice. I  forgot to put in the egg...but I did coat the top with the ketchup and a sprinkle of black pepper right before putting it into the oven to cook. 

Italian Meatloaf 

Serves 8

1 1/2 pounds ground meat - I used 3/4 ground pork and 3/4 Italian sausage
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup finely chopped cremini mushrooms
1 diced tomato
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasonings
3/4 cup oatmeal (rolled oats), uncooked
2 tablespoons ketchup
a dash of ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a small sheet pan with a silicone liner or foil or parchment paper.

In a large bowl place the ground meat, chopped onion, chopped mushrooms, diced tomatoes, parsley, Italian seasonings and the uncooked rolled oats (oatmeal). Use your hands to gently mix thoroughly. Form into a rough ball in the bowl, pour out onto the prepared pan, then use your hands to shape in an oval loaf. Spread the ketchup thinly over the top of the loaf and sprinkle with the black pepper. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Check for doneness - thermometer should read at least 175 degrees. If lower, return to oven. Can take up to 1 hr 10 minutes.

Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve hot. 

Feeling My Oats

Today's bake is for Sweetie. He has been such a staunch supporter as I have worked on the puzzle of what to eat and drink and what to avoid putting in my gut. Things are improving in that area and I'm feeling my oats, walking more, gardening again, and even putting a coat of paint on an outdoor structure. Oats are also the star ingredient in the cookies I made for Sweetie today.

He has always loved oatmeal cookies, especially chewy ones, so that's what I made. I used a recipe from the old standby cookbook Joy of Cooking, with (of course) a few tweaks. I added some chocolate chips and some dried cranberries and some chopped walnuts. Beyond that, it was just the recipe in the book. Classics become classics because they are good enough to stand the test of time.

So for this fairly flat, chewy cookie the dominant flavors are butter, brown sugar, oats, chocolate, vanilla, cranberry and walnuts. The edges are crisp, but otherwise it is a fairly soft cookie. Sweetie really doesn't enjoy crisp, crunchy cookies.

I made the cookies pretty large, so I ended up with 26 of them and he ate five as soon as he got home!They are that good (and almost gluten free, with only 1/2 cup regular all-purpose flour...since I've decided that I can have a little gluten now and then with no harm...and it does help with the cookie structure.)

Quick Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 36 2-inch cookies
A variation of a recipe in Joy of Cooking cookbook

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Measure:
   1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
   1/2 cup granulated sugar
Cream with:
   1/2 cup butter at room temperature
Combine and beat in until smooth:
   1 egg
   1 teaspoon vanilla
   1 tablespoon milk
Sift together and add to the above ingredients:
   1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour)
   1/2 teaspoon baking soda
   1/2 teaspoon baking powder
   1/2 teaspoon salt
When beaten smooth, add:
   1 cup uncooked quick rolled oats
   1/2 cup chocolate chips
   1/2 cup dried cranberries
   1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Beat the mixture well. Drop cookies 2 inches apart on well-greased cookie sheet and bake until light brown. Remove to a cooling rack soon after taking cookies from oven.

Breakfast Buns

Bread baking has been on the back burner lately, but I noticed that some mornings I would love to have just a little something to go with the morning cup of coffee and fresh fruit. I decided to put together a breakfast bun that would work, and to put in some healthy ingredients, too. Most of all, it has to be yummy because when you can only have a small amount of bread, it should be delicious bread, right?

For starters I cooked up some oatmeal...1/2 cup rolled oats and twice that amount of water...and set it to cool. I also mixed some yeast, water, a tiny bit of sugar and some flour to make a poolish. It all sat out on the counter while I went to the gym, collecting wild yeast if I was lucky.

Later in the day I mixed the cooked oatmeal, the poolish, some milk, and egg and some more water together. In a bowl I mixed all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, a little more yeast (in case no wild yeast were around that were strong enough), and a touch of cinnamon and added those to the liquid mix to make a nice dough.

After the dough had time to rise, I turned it out onto a flour board and kneaded in dried cranberries, chopped pecans and golden raisins. Those were stretched into a large rectangle, most of the rectangle was given a light coat of butter, a sprinkle with brown sugar, and also with cinnamon. I rolled it up, jelly-roll fashion, and cut it into buns.

The buns went into a 9 x 13 pan and lightly covered. They rose over time and then were baked in a 350 degree F oven until golden brown.

So now I had a dozen breakfast buns. There is about 1/6 of the usual amount of oatmeal one might eat at breakfast, whole grain, cinnamon for antioxidant and flavor value, dried fruits and nuts, milk and egg and only about 1/3 tablespoon of butter per bun, with even less sugar. Fairly healthy as buns go and very tasty. For one of the buns I added a small amount of an icing of confectioners sugar mixed with hot water. That made it a little too sweet, so I think in the future I'll stick with the 'plain' buns. Each bun went into it's own bag, then into the freezer for future enjoyment on those days when they will be the perfect thing to go with coffee and fruit.

You might think that I would want one every day, but today I had coffee, fruit and some plain yogurt and it was just enough breakfast. Normally I'd give you the recipe, but I didn't really measure a lot of the ingredients, so I'll have to see if I can figure it out and post it later.

Pumpkin Season Treats

Have you ever been to a kitchen cabinet party? I've never even heard of such a thing, but Sweetie suggested the concept to our neighbors who are putting together their new kitchen and they ran with the idea. On Saturday there were eleven or twelve people spread out in the to-be-kitchen area putting together various Ikea cabinets. Our hostess brought out the parts and we did the assembly. Sweetie and I started with one of the more difficult ones (of course), but eventually we had it together and, in the process, learned how to put together the drawers and to adjust drawers and doors, so we were able to help others.

You can't have a party without food. Our host cooked up sausages and hot dogs on the grill and there were lots of condiments and go-withs. I had brought some pumpkin pie bars since they could be eaten as finger food. They were a hit and when I told G that I was leaving any leftovers with them, he assured me that I would have disappointed everyone if I took them home. Fortunately, these bars are baked in a 9" x 13" pan, so there were a few at home in the fridge.

These great little bars are from Very Best Baking blog and they have a thin cookie crust and a filling that is basically a pumpkin pie custard filling. The topping is a combination of chopped pecans and brown sugar. I think if I did these again I would just sprinkle on the nuts...didn't really need that extra sugar.

I cut these into fairly small bars for the party, but there were a few more that didn't fit on the serving plate for the party, so Sweetie was happy to have them for a snack the next day...and they were cut in slightly larger bars. Either way works and these are a great seasonal treat.

Pumpkin Pie Bars
from Very Best Baking
12 servings

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned or instant oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (I had a little extra pumpkin since I was using up leftovers from a larger can, so if you have more, add it. I added an extra 5 oz.)
1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
2 large eggs
2 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice OR 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cloves and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in small mixer bowl. Beat at low speed for 1 to 2 minutes or until crumbly. Press on bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

BAKE for 15 minutes.

COMBINE granulated sugar, pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs and pumpkin pie spice in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes; pour over crust.

BAKE for 20 minutes. Combine pecans and brown sugar in small bowl. Sprinkle pecan topping over filling. Continue baking for 15 to 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Buddy, Buddy, Buddy...

It's always fun to see the great bakers who choose to be Buddies and bake with the Bread Baking Babes towards the end of the month. Since I was the lucky Kitchen of the Month for June it was even more fun to see all the ways that our Buddies...and there were quite a few...took the recipe and made it their own, in one case skipping right over our recipe and going back to Farine's wonderful Morning Cuddles that inspired our recipe.

Different nuts were used, different flours, different dried fruits, even different levains. Overall these talented bakers made each kind of twist their own, so now we have lots of options when we want to make 'em again...as many have said they will.

Many thanks to our bodacious Bread Baking Babes for all of their versions, too. We had everything from thin bread sticks to nice wide twists perfect for sandwiches. Below are the Buddies in alphabetical order. Each entry has a link to their post so that you can go and admire their lovely Oatmeal Twists!

 Agnes of Szeretetrehangoltan blog - made Oatmeal Twists - beautiful twists with whole wheat flour, rosemary and walnuts from her garden. Lovely oatmeal on top of twists.

 Breadsong of The Fresh Loaf blog - made Barley Twists - substituting barley malt and flour for the oats and adding golden raisins and Breadsong also made Cinnamon Cuddles, very much inspired by Farine.

Carola of Sweet and That's It blog - made Oatmeal Twists -  with a nice vanilla touch, also she substituted oil for the butter to lower calories and used dried cranberries and pecans. She didn't like the way the first ones turned out (although they tasted fine) and her second batch, as you can see if you go to her post, are beautiful twists!

Cathy of Bread Experience blog - made My Buddy Twists - crusty twists using a spelt levain and spelt flour, hazelnuts, and dates.  They look yummy.

Connie of My Discovery of Bread blog - made Farine's Morning Cuddles -  with walnuts and dates and a lovely rustic twist. They baked up golden even with the challenge of almost running out of fuel.

  Gilad of Vegan - made Oatmeal Twists - lovely twists, braids and a crescent using potato and soy flours and oil to make them vegan, plus dried plums and nuts for flavor.

  Judy of Judy's Gross Eats blog - made Oatmeal Twists - using oatmeal flour instead of the oatmeal, making the poolish, freezing them, too.

Kelly of A Messy Kitchen blog - made Summer Twist - creatively made with cinnamon, pecans and twisted into a bit hug! There is even the plus of frosting.

Sandie of Crumbs of Love blog - made Oatmeal Twists - lovely little twists packed with oatmeal, dried fruits and nuts using the poolish with a little rye flour added. Sandie used dried blueberries and pecans and, it seems, probably in another batch, dried figs and walnuts with a little anise seed...sounds great.

Thanks to all the Buddies for baking with the Babes in June. Hope you will join us next month, too.
XO Elle

Have a Heart

This is a super late Valentine's post (due to a trip to Monterey this past weekend), but you could use this idea for St. Patrick's Day by making three braids, coiling each into a circle, placing on the baking pan in a clover shape, and using a bit of dough cut off one end to make a stem for the clover. It would also make a fine triple braid loaf (well actually two triple braid loaves) if you are not into holiday celebration craftiness.

I made the Valentine's heart bread for Grandma L since she invited us for dinner on Valentine's day and she is more of a savory person than someone who likes sweets. She loved it and we ate about half of it with dinner.

I like that it is an easy dough to work with and that it has seeds throughout. There is also the goodness of oatmeal and whole wheat flour plus the happy use of sourdough starter for the leavening. Makes great toast, too. I was making the savory biscotti dough at the same time as this dough, so I put the seeded dough into the fridge for a day and a half which deepened the sourdough flavor and meant that I could bake it up fresh for the dinner party.

Yesterday I made the same dough again, but didn't retard it as long as Grandma's loaf. I also make enough for three loaves, each about a pound and a half. Two became long braids and one a braid coiled to fit a 9" cake pan.

As you can see, this is all about fun with delicious bread as the product.

I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event. This is a wonderful weekly roundup of great yeast based recipes, and a few things made using bread. Do jump over there and check it out.

Sourdough Oatmeal and Whole Wheat Bread with Seeds

Poolish
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter

Second
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup water
1 cup bread flour
1/3 cup water
all of the Poolish

Third
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mixed seeds (I used King Arthur Ancient Grains which also includes some rolled grains) like sunflower, flax, poppy, sesame, pumpkin
all of the Second mixture
1/2 cup milk (I used 2% but any milk will do, even canned evaporated)
1/2 cup water

about 1/4 cup additional bread flour

Olive oil to oil rising container and plastic wrap

Glaze:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water

Poolish:
In a large bowl combine the all-purpose flour and the whole wheat flour. Stir in the water until it is combined and fairly smooth. Stir in the sourdough starter and combine well. Let sit at room temperature about two hours. Tiny bubbles will form in the mixture.

Second:
In a microwave safe bowl combine the rolled oats and 1/3 cup water. Microwave on high one minute. Stir. Return to microwave and cook and additional two minutes. Set aside to cool.
When oatmeal is cool, break it up with a spoon. Take the Poolish mixture and stir in the flour, water and cooled oatmeal. Let sit on the counter 2 hours.

Third:

In a large bowl or measuring cup combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt and seeds.
Place the Second mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the milk and water and beat on low speed with the paddle attachment to combine.

Switch to the bread hook and add the flour/seed mixture, about a 1/2 cup at a time, letting the dough form and climb the hook. As the dough becomes supple it will mostly clean the sides of the bowl. Use the additional flour, if needed, adding it about 1 tablespoon at a time, to keep the dough from slumping off the hook and into the bottom of the bowl. Knead 6 - 8 minutes or until dough is soft and supple.

Use olive oil to prepare a large bowl or container for letting the dough rise. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a clean shower cap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Divide into two or three equal portions.

Each portion can be shaped as you wish, put in a pan if desired or put onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or Silpat mat. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Glaze the loaves with a wash made of one egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-35 minutes (depending on shape) until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the back. Let cool a bit before slicing into bread.

Triple the Oatmeal

It's probably due to my Celtic background, the Irish ancestors or something, but I love oats. Oats were once a staple grain for much of Northern Europe, especially England, Scotland and Ireland. They have a nice, nutty taste and lots of water soluble fibre.

When I was growing up, my Mom would often make a whole pot of oatmeal for breakfast during the colder part of the year. If made ahead and kept hot, oatmeal has a tendency to become gummy or gluey. Fraid that was the case with Mom's oatmeal if my memory serves.

Still, many mornings a week these days I eat oatmeal for breakfast and I love it! I add some golden raisins and pour a little milk on top once the cooked oatmeal cools a bit.

When I make quick breads or muffins, I often whirl some rolled oats around in the food processor to get some ready made oat flour to add to those goodies, just because I like the way they taste when I do. I know that oats are a healthy food, too, especially if you don't add quantities of butter, brown sugar, and cream. Another Irish staple, potatoes, also is pretty healthy until you start adding in the butter, sour cream and salt in large doses...but that's for another post.

Continuing on my bread baking journey, this week I decided to see what happened if I used some of the things I had learned making loaves in the past and applied that learning to making my own bread recipe. An oatmeal bread seemed like a good place to start.

First I made some oatmeal using steel cut oats. Once the oatmeal was cooled, it went into a poolish, along with whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and some rolled oats...the kind that are quick oats because you can cook them in the microwave in a little over a minute. Some sourdough starter also went into the mix, along with water and salt.

The next morning the third kind of oats came into play. The poolish went into the mixer bowl and was joined by old fashioned rolled oats...the kind you cook for at least five minutes, but usually longer...plus some more whole wheat flour, some bread flour, some buttermilk and honey and egg. This made a wonderful, elastic, easy to work with dough.

Once the loaf had been shaped in a loaf pan and had risen, it received an egg wash and a sprinkle of some more of the old fashioned kind of rolled oats on top. A few slashes across the top and into the oven it went.

This bread browned up slowly...even when slices went into the toaster. It has a nice rough texture from the old fashioned oats and makes great sandwich bread.

If you like oats, you will love this bread. No sourdough starter? No problem. Just put a teaspoon of dried yeast into 1/3 cup of warm water (not above 110 degrees F) and let it sit 10 minutes to proof. Then add it to the poolish instead of the starter. This bread makes a great entry into Susan of Wild Yeast's Yeast Spotting event.

Triple Oat Sandwich Bread

recipe by Elle

Poolish:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup steel cut oats, cooked for 5 minutes in 3/4 cup boiling water, stirring constantly, then cooled to tepid
1/2 cup quick style rolled oats
1 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt

Dough:

1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg, beaten slightly, or equivalent egg substitute
all of the Poolish
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups + breadflour
1 cup whole wheat flour

Wash and topping:

1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water

2-3 tablespoons old fashioned rolled oats

Whisk all the ingredients for the Poolish together. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in cool place overnight, or for at least eight hours.

In a heatproof measuring cup or bowl, mix together the buttermilk and honey. Warm slightly in the microwave. Cool if needed so that it is no hotter than 110 degrees F. Mix in the egg.

Take all of the Poolish and put into a stand mixer bowl. Using paddle attachment, mix in the buttermilk mixture, the rolled oats, and 1 cup of the bread flour. Remove the paddle and using the dough hook, incorporate the remaining bread flour and the whole wheat flour. If needed, use more bread flour, a tablespoon at a time, to make a dough that cleans the side of the mixer bowl. Knead with the mixer and/or by hand for 8 - 10 minutes until dough is elastic and somewhat smooth.

Place dough in oiled bowl; turn dough to oil other side. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured board. Knead lightly a few times to release trapped air. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf shape and put into a loaf pan. Cover and let rise until almost to the top of the pans, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. about 15 minutes before bread is ready to bake.

Brush egg wash over the top of each loaf and sprinkle liberally with the rolled oats. Cut slashes in the top of the loaf and bake in preheated oven for about an hour, until top of bread is golden and loaf sounds hollow when bottom is tapped. Cool on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing. Makes 2 loaves.

Pear Season

Not only are the apples ripe early, but the pears are too. They are usually ready to be harvested (hard and green) in early September. If you let them turn golden on the tree you cut in to them and find that the inner part is browning and pasty in texture. Found that out the hard way our first year here. They do much better if you pick them green and let them ripen in a brown paper bag. Did that a week ago, so we now have a lot of ripe pears...the Bartlett variety.

Recently I found the site of the Pie Lady, Brittany. It's a great blog if you like to bake and she has some great recipes. Go check it out!! You'll be glad you did. Then come back and see what I did with her recipe.

One that caught my eye was for Buttermilk scones with fruit. This morning I decided that I'd make some Buttermilk Scones with Pears for dinner. I used her recipe to jump from, but made a lot of changes.

I like oatmeal a lot. Have it most mornings, cooked in the microwave. For the scones I decided to grind up some oatmeal to replace part of the flour. It adds a nutty taste and some good nutrients. Healthy eating and scones are not really partners, but there's nothing wrong with having some of the ingredients be nutritious. I replaced some of the white flour with whole wheat flour, too. The finished scones are darker that way, and sort of homey.

Sweetie loves molasses, so I decided to replace the sugar with molasses, except for a sprinkle on the tops for decoration. Having eaten the finished product, I think adding about 1/2 cup of sugar, plus the molasses, would have been better, so that's how I wrote up the recipe.

Pears go really well with almonds, so I included some almond extract. Buttermilk provides tang, butter and eggs do their thing well. Salt, baking powder and baking soda provide flavor and leavening. Pears and golden almonds provide the fruit.

The result is a light scone with great flavor, juicy bits of pear, chewy little raisins. If I were to do it again, I'd throw in some orange zest and/or finely chopped candied ginger for a little more pizazz. I might also put in a little more butter. These were more muffin like than scone like in texture. More fat might improve them and you can't beat the taste of real butter. i could have added it when I ate the scones, but I didn't. I did try some orange marmalade with them. It was a good combo.

Buttermilk Oat and Wheat Scones with Pears and Golden Raisins
Based loosely on Buttermilk Scones recipe by the Pie Lady, Brittany

1 egg (or ¼ cup egg substitute)
¼ cup molasses
½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 ½ cups buttermilk

½ cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 ½ cups bread flour
2 cups whole wheat bread flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder
6 oz. unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup fresh diced pears, peeled and cored first
1/3 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a measuring pitcher, whisk together the egg, molasses, vanilla, almond extract, and buttermilk. Put in the fridge while making the dry mix.

In the bowl of a food processor, whirl the rolled oats until a fairly fine flour is formed. Add the two flours, the sugar, the salt, the baking soda and the baking powder. Pulse to blend. Add the cold butter and pulse briefly until the mixture is crumbly. (Elle’s note: the butter almost disappears…that’s OK).

Put the dry mixture into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, pour in the liquid mixture and with your hands or a spoon, stir until about half way incorporated. Add the diced pears and the raisins and continue to mix, just until the dry mix is incorporated. Don’t over mix.

Turn the batter out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently pat into a long rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 8 squares. Then, cut each square diagonally so you have 16 scones. Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and sprinkle with some sugar if desired. I used crystal sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the scones are brown and firm to the touch. Remove to a rack to cool.
Serve warm or cold, split and spread with butter or lemon curd. Some orange marmalade goes well, too.

Jazz It Up: These scones would also be good with a few tablespoons finely diced crystallized ginger, and/or a tablespoons of orange zest.

Warm Dates for Breakfast

I'm a big fan of dates as a snack food and added to all sorts of dishes, but my very favorite way to enjoy dates is warm for breakfast in Date Nut Muffins. On Saturday I decided to make some to go with the fresh fruit and coffee that Sweetie had made. Since I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, I decided to add some rolled oats to one of my favorite muffin recipes, along with the dates and some pecans. They were delicious!

The basic recipe for Muffins in Joy of Cooking was the starting place for this recipe, but, as usual, I made some changes. Fresh from the oven these smelled wonderful and the dates were soft and warm, the oatmeal gave the muffins character, and three of us managed to polish off nine muffins in hardly any time at all. Don't be surprised if there are none left to photograph or to enjoy with afternoon tea.

A few days ago, when I was completely exhausted from by far the busiest week that has ever happened at work, I found that sweet Mrs. W of Mrs. W's Kitchen had awarded me the 'E for Excellent Award'. Awww, that is so special. I enjoy writing this blog and know that there are folks who enjoy reading it, but had never thought that it was actually excellent. Thank you Mrs. W!

Part of getting the Award is then passing it along. I took some time with that, so here are the Awardees, followed by directions of what they are supposed to do once they get the Award, followed the by Date Nut Oatmeal Muffin recipe.

Hope you will visit the Awarded sites to see why I think that they are Excellent blogs and bloggers. There are at least 10 more I could name, but I'll save that for another time. If I have given an Award to a blogger who has already gotten one, well, guess they are super Excellent!

http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/ , Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, this is the blog I check out when I only have time to visit one (a too frequent event these past weeks) because the posts are personal and thoughtful and the recipes are sweet, delish, and the photos usually make me want to lick the screen.
http://workingwomanfood.blogspot.com/, Taste and Tell, Deborah’s posts are engaging, her photos are great and she gives excellent information for the recipes…plus it’s fun to read her blog.
http://llcskitchen.blogspot.com/ La Mia Cucina, Lis is a totally funny blogger and cracks me up with her posts…plus she is den mother to the Daring Bakers along with the next nominee.
http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/ Cream Puffs In Venice, Ivonne’s blog is elegant and inspiring with truly lovely photography. She and Lis (above) began the creation of a wonderful baking community, too.
http://www.jumboempanadas.blogspot.com/ Jumbo Empanadas, Brilynn is unfailingly interesting, totally herself and her blog is delightful to read. Her enthusiasm for baking is inspiring, plus she is funny.
http://www.chezus.com/ Chez Us, Denise writes a thoughtful blog…check out the Ape Diet…also clean and appealing photos.
http://cookbookqueen.blogspot.com/, Cooking the Books, Kelly-Jane blogs about baked goods (my favorite) and main dishes with equal appeal. We often get multiple recipes in one post…and they are all good.
http://www.tasteslikehome.org/, Tastes Like Home, Cynthia could be my next door neighbor, even though she likes hot & spicy foods and I don’t. Her passion for ingredients is awesome and her photos really capture the beauty of those ingredients.
http://www.findingladolcevita.blogspot.com/ Finding La Dolce Vita, Maryann writes so well, it is always fun to see what she is sharing with us. Great recipes and fine photos, too.
http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/ Technicolor Kitchen, Patricia has such great recipes…pasta, cookies, truffles, ravioli, pinwheel scones, and more. Very inspiring.

There are rules relating to the E for Excellent award*. Here they are:
- Find at least 10 more blogs of any kind which you deem to be excellent;
- Post about which blogs you picked, linking to me and to them;
- Once you've posted, return here to let me know your post is up, and of course let your 10 award winners know, too.
*If you've already received this award in the past, I won't hold you to selecting 10 more.

And now for the Date Nut Oatmeal Muffin recipe:

Date Nut Oatmeal Muffins
Makes 12

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup sugar
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal, uncooked
¾ cup chopped dates
½ cup chopped pecans
2 eggs or ½ cup egg substitute
2 tablespoons melted butter
¾ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray the cups of a 12 cup muffin tin (or 2 6 cup muffins tins) with baking spray (or grease with butter or shortening)

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix in the sugar and oatmeal. Gently mix in the chopped dates, coating them with the flour mixture. Mix in the pecans.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the eggs or egg substitute, melted butter and buttermilk until well combined.

Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and quickly, with a few strokes, stir to just mix. Fill each muffin cup about ¾ full. Place the muffin tin(s) into the preheated oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot. These are delicious eaten plain, but very good, too with some butter.