Overnight Stone Ground Oats

I really got into overnight oats recently with rolled oats, so I decided I'd give it a try with steel cut oats as well. 

I found this oatmeal in the grocery store and decided to give it a go. I love coconut and coconut milk, so I used that this time around. With steel cut oats you use a 1:1 ratio of liquid to oats. After some experimenting, I found that a 1:2 ratio of oats to liquid works best. In this instance, I like to use 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal to 2/3 of a cup of coconut milk. 

I'll often add a little something else to the oatmeal to give it different flavoring. My ultimate favorite is the dark chocolate sea salt caramel sauce from Stonewall Kitchen. I'll also mix in some of my homemade triple berry jam at times too. I'll make a few batches and will throw them in the fridge overnight or for a few nights and will just heat them up the next morning for about 2 minutes. Super easy!

Mashed Cauliflower

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and can't get it out. I've seen mashed cauliflower on menus and online all the time, but I never really paid much attention to it. Then I decided I needed to make some. So never having tried it before or read a recipe on how to make it, I just set out to make some. What could go wrong? (Turns out nothing.)

I started by taking about half a package of FROZEN cauliflower and put it in a pot with about 1/4 cup of chicken broth. I covered the pan and let it steam for a good 15-20 minutes until the cauliflower was super soft.

Then I took my immersion blender to the cauliflower mixture and buzzed it up. I might have pureed it a bit too much this time, but live and learn. I then added a splash of 1% milk to the cauliflower to thin it out. It might look like a lot, but that's probably 2 tablespoons of milk.

At the very end I sprinkled in a little grated parmesan cheese for a little flavor since I found the mashed cauliflower needing a little something extra. This did just the trick. 

Brown Sugar Nutmeg Green Beans

Last weekend we had a nice dinner with my grandmother. In addition to a dessert, I was tasked with bringing a green veggie. I decided to pull out my trusty green bean recipe.

To start, I sautéed a massive bag of green beans in a little butter. This picture is deceiving, this pile of green beans fed eight people.

I sauté them at a fairly medium high temperature to get a nice soft char on the outside without turning them into mush. I like a little crips to them.

Once cooked, I sprinkled on a little bit of brown sugar. This is just about a tablespoon of light brown sugar for enough green beans to serve eight people, so don't overdo it. I mixed it all together and sprinkled in a little nutmeg as well. You basically want to cook this enough to melt the sugar onto the beans but not enough to caramelize it. Once the sugar is melted, you're done.

Serve up and enjoy!