Oats have been getting lots of press lately – one of those super foods, lowers your cholesterol, they say.  Well, I don’t know whether the health benefits live up to the hype – but this baked oatmeal recipe sure does.  I really didn’t know what to expect the first time I tried baked oatmeal – I was away on the beaches of Delaware during the off-season for a work event, and on this chilly fall morning we opted to go find a hot breakfast rather than eat the hotel standard fruit offering.  The picturesque little coffee shop across the street turned out to be well known for its baked oatmeal bars, and so I figured I would give one a try.  It was love at first bite.  The chewy sweet goodness covered in steaming hot milk warmed me up so well I nearly forgot it was October by the coast. 

Now that fall is coming around the corner once again, it was the perfect time to break out the rolled oats and make my own.  The recipe I found called for dried fruit which I didn’t have – I instead substituted some frozen berries I happened to have on hand (at my husband/food critic’s suggestion) and this was probably the best decision I made.  Little did I know how well raspberries would taste baked into oatmeal!  You certainly could substitute other fruit – pears, apples, and peaches all come to mind – but give it a try with some berries on these days where you still crave those summer berry flavors, but with a little bit of the fall baked in.  Serve your baked oatmeal warm from the oven, topped with some steamed milk, and you will have a toasty warm breakfast to brighten up your fall weekend.

Baked Berry Oatmeal – modified from Blanchl, Baked Oatmeal II on allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, straight from the freezer
• 3/4 cup frozen raspberries, straight from the freezer

• Instructions:

  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined.  Gently fold in frozen berries.  Spread the batter (which will be fairly thick) into a 9×13 inch baking dish, and bake for 40 minutes or until the top is lightly golden.  To serve, slice into squares and top with steamed milk.  Enjoy!

It’s that time of year when there’s an abundance of beautiful fresh berries on sale at grocery stores across the country! Having already tackeled Strawberry Ice Cream this summer, I decided to snag a package of raspberries.

In The Perfect Scoop, David Lebovitz details a recipe for Raspberry Swirl ice cream. Using that as inspiration, I made my go-to vanilla base and layered it with a smooth, bright raspberry sauce. David’s recipe simply calls for mashing the whole berries with a fork, but I opted to puree the raspberries and strain out the seeds.

The final product is even better than I had imagined. The tangy, fresh raspberry sauce pairs beautifully with the mellow vanilla ice cream. While certainly delicious on its own, a generous helping of hot fudge takes this ice cream to another level.

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream

1/4 cup Egg Beaters
7 oz. fat free sweetened condensed milk (1/2 can)
3 tbsp white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar, not packed
8 oz heavy whipping cream
8 oz fat free half and half
8 oz skim milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 cup raspberry sauce (see recipe below)

1. Pour half and half into small saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Remove from heat.
2. In a separate bowl, use a whisk or electric mixer to beat Egg Beaters, sweetened condensed milk and sugar together. Beat in 1/2 cup of hot half and half and then stir this mixture into the saucepan with the remaining half and half.
3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue until the mixture reached 170-180 degrees or is slightly thickened. Do not bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Pour the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the cream, milk, vanilla extract and salt.
5. Chill the mixture for several hours (overnight is even better). You can speed up the process by placing the bowl containing the mixture in a large bowl filled with ice and water.
6. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
7. Transfer the ice cream to a storage container, alternating layers of ice cream with generous drizzle of raspberry sauce. Do not mix the ice cream and the sauce, as it will become muddied.

Raspberry Sauce
adapted from David Lebovitz’s Raspberry Swirl
The Perfect Scoop, p.92-93

1.5 cups (160 grams) raspberries, fresh or frozen
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vodka

1. Puree the raspberries in a food processor or blender.
2. Using a rubber spatula, press the puree through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
3. Whisk the sugar and vodka into the strained sauce.
4. Cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.