Strawberry Oat Bars

It's rainy, it's Tuesday and it's time for this mamma to make some goodies!

First up:

Strawberry Oat Bars

These are some of my kiddos favorite things! And mine too because they are so easy and use things I readily have on hand, so no trips to the store needed! They are perfect for breakfast with some vanilla yogurt, for a quick after school snack, or for dessert (heat them up and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt!). They pack beautifully into lunchboxes too! We also brought these to school for the teachers to enjoy the week before Christmas a few years ago.....they LOVED them!

Here's what you need:

1 ¾ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 ½ cups APF (all purpose flour)

! ½ cups oats (quick or regular)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2-3 teaspoons milled flax seed

10-12 ounces strawberry preserves 

(I use homemade strawberry jam and have a great recipe I will share in another post)

Ready?! Set….GO:

Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a 9x13 or 8x10 (or whatever you have size haha) baking dish)

Mix your flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, flax seed, and baking powder together. Have ya'll used flax seed before? It's such a sneaky little ingredient that I literally toss some into everything I bake (and smoothies) and no one ever knows! The health benefits make me feel like I'm saving the world each little sprinkle I use ;)

Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter orrrr your hands and a fork if you’re like me and can’t for the life of you find your pastry cutter (the results no doubt of my 11 year old unloading the dishwasher, bless her heart)! Ok so, cut in the butter until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.

Sprinkler ½ the mixture into your buttered dish and lightly pat to pack a little tight.

My favorite part, spoon the strawberry preserves over the surface, then smear and 

spread it around evenly.

Now sprinkle the remaining oat mixture and pat lightly again, just enough that it sticks, don’t smoosh it into the oats, smoosh, that’s a technical term right?!

Bake until light golden brown on top, 30-40 minutes then let it cool on a rack in the pan. I realize this picture doesn't look much different than the previous one but it is, and the final results will fill your house with the most amazing smell you have ever smelled. Ever. In your whole life. Better than a baby. Ok I'm done.

Once it’s nice and cool, cut it into squares and serve it up baby! This is a super easy recipe to double for sharing too. Try them with different jams, we love apricot, raspberry and my favorite is apple (imagine that apple bar heated up with vanilla ice cream....yeah it's ridiculous!) These pretty squares will be our celebration dessert tonight! Also, I just ordered myself a new pastry cutter! Pretty exciting stuff right?! 

Celebration Pot Roast

We had some very happy and exciting news hit The Morris house yesterday! Mr. Dad had some major work achievements come to fruition so I decided that tonight, we celebrate! When we celebrate we think about food, not just any ol' food but home cooked, meaty, gorgeous food! I immediately thought of a family favorite,

Celebration Post Roast! I love this dish, it's simple yet layers on the flavor. The ingredients can all be easily found at your local grocer and best of all....there isn't a spec left when dinner is over because everyone LOVES it! It is decadent and delicious and divine in every way! *note that this dish does take some advance planning but it's worth it!*

Celebration Pot Roast

2lb whole Beef Chuck Roast

1 large jar (I use 28oz) roasted red peppers

1 Can/jar whole artichoke hearts

6 whole sundried tomatoes (2 tbsp oil from jar)

1 whole yellow onion, peeled and quartered

14 oz beef stock

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

6 cloves garlic, peeled

1 cup white wine (I use a good sauvignon blanc )

12 oz egg noodles

Fresh Parsley, minced for topping

To get started grab a big pot, one that can be put in the oven and has a lid. Now preheat your oven to 275 degrees F.

Put your meat in your pot, layer that with the roasted peppers then the artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes (I add a couple tablespoons of the beautiful liquid the tomatoes are in too), onion, and garlic.

Add to that your beef stock, some fresh parsley and then the lid goes on. Pop it in the oven and cook for 4 hours and that's it, for now!

Um this would typically be where I would post beautiful photos of the step by step with ingredients and gorgeous meat buuuut I started this at 6am so I would be able to cook it for the 4 hours required and then let it chill for the several hours also required…….so yeah, my brain and photos were not cohesive. My apologies, please still love me.

I do have photos of the moment this puppy was taken straight from the oven, I’m sorry you can’t smell this because OH MY HEAVEN! I’m not even a little embarrassed to say I am literally drooling……

After cooking for 4 hours, remove the very hot pot and check the meat to make sure it’s done. This is very technical so pay close attention, stick a fork in the thickest portion, if it glides in smoothly then it’s done, if the fork meets any resistance then stick the whole pot back in for another 30 minutes or so. See, super technical!

Now try to refrain from eating everything during this next phase:

Remove the vegetables, all of them……garlic, artichokes, peppers, oinions, sundried tomatoes and throw it all in a bowl.

Then the meat comes out next, just remove it and place it in a separate bowl…..don’t eat it, I know, I KNOW!

Now for all that glorious left over liquid, pour it into a smaller container, cover, and pop it in the fridge! Remember when I said the pot roast cooks for 4 long hours then sits for several hours well, here we go! Let this liquid get good and cold in the fridge until this happens…..

The fat solidifies like MAGIC!

This makes skimming the fat off a breeze! Remove the fat and look what we are left with, pure liquid gold!

Put it in a medium size pot and bring that gorgeousness to a boil!

When you see the bubbles starting, grab your wine! Have  a glass, and then share with the pot….add a ½ cup, or whole cup orrr, look just save some to have with dinner!

Again, let it boil up real pretty! Let it reduce by half.

Just a note....you could just add the wine to the meat and veges and let it all cook together in the pot but I don't like to have my meat taste like wine, I would rather just ladle the wine infused sauce over it :) does that make sense?

While you’re waiting for the bubbles…..Spoon out a little liquid out, say ½ cup, and mix it into a little flour, say 2 tablespoons. Mix it good! You want a thick gravy.

Once you see bubbles appear all over the surface of the liquid, drizzle in ½ the flour mixture. Let it cook while you stir, if it’s still too thin add a little more flour mixture and allow it to cook again while you stir. It should thicken to a rich, thick liquid/gravy. *if it gets too thick, don’t fret! Just add a little of that yummy beef broth we didn't use all of!

Now nuke those veggies and meat. Grab them out of the fridge and heat them up!

Now comes the funnnn! Get those cooked noodles on a serving platter and then layer on hunks of that delicious meat, add the intact artichoke hearts and peppers and don’t leave out the garlic cloves because they are not to be left out, ever! Spoon the gravy alllll over the feast and sprinkle some fresh parsley! WHAT! Yes, how amazing does this look!!