Beth Cato's Blog, page 125

Bready or Not: Overnight Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats in the Crock Pot

In recent years, we’ve been trying to eat more healthy stuff.

That means I’ve been trying more alternative grains like quinoa (okay), amaranth (bleh), and steel cut oats. What are steel cut oats, you ask? They are oats that haven’t been processed as much. They take longer to cook and they have more texture and more nuttiness to them.

That whole texture things means they are awesome when slow cooked in the crock pot.

It takes maybe ten minutes to throw everything together the night before. I don’t bother peeling the apples. Just chop, combine everything, put the lid on, close the pot.

In the morning, give it a good stir. Most of the liquid will have soaked it. It will be soft, though my crock pot creates some crunchy bits, too–which are my favorite, to be honest. Dish it up, and then add whatever topping you want– nuts (pecans are awesome), maple syrup, agave nectar, honey, more milk, more spices…

Keep the crock pot on “warm” and the slow-to-rise people can get their food, too!

Really nice thing? The leftovers. Stash them in the fridge, and for several days–maybe all week–you can scoop some out, zap it in the microwave, and go about your day.

Modified from Jamie Cooks It Up.

Print
Bready or Not: Overnight Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats in the Crock Pot

Ingredients

2 medium-sized apples (cored, unpeeled, chopped)
1 cup steel cut oats (uncooked)
3 Tb brown sugar (or substitute with xylitol and a drip of molasses)
2 Tb butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 Tb ground flax seed
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups vanilla almond milk (or any kind of milk)
1 1/2 cups water

Topping options:
milk
chopped nuts
maple syrup/agave nectar/honey
more spices

Instructions

Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray. Pour all ingredients (except the toppings) inside. Stir.
Cover and cook on low for desired length of time--10 hours is our usual.
Dish up oatmeal and add desired toppings.
OM NOM NOM all week long!
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My Reading Rainbow Story

Check out the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter. It ends July 2nd.

Reading Rainbow didn’t make me a reader, but it told me that I was not alone in my love of books. These days, we have social media and places like Goodreads and LibraryThing and thousands of book blogs. Back in the ’80s, as a kid? I had the B. Dalton at the mall and the Hanford Library. My mom loved to read her Louis L’Amours and Harlequins (the latter, to my mortification). My brother had his Sky and Telescope magazines and read a variety of fiction and nonfiction.

As for me, I read every single horse book I could find.

When I watched Reading Rainbow, I loved connecting with people outside of my family who loved to read. Nothing delighted me more than recognizing books I had read, or finding a new one that we just had to seek out at our next trip to the library.

The episode that I always think as my ‘the first Reading Rainbow’ is the one where James Earl Jones reads Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema.

I mean, holy cow, Darth Vader is reading gorgeous poetry, along with vivid illustrations. It still gives me chills.

A few of my other favorite episodes include Conan the Librarian using might and magic to create library cards (no video on YouTube, alas!), Gregory the Terrible Eater, and probably my favorite episode of all time: on the subject of teamwork, where the featured book was A Chair for Mama. Yes, I remember this off the top of my head. Because I LOVED this episode. I would get this song stuck in my head for weeks. NOW TO INFLICT IT UPON YOU.

At school, I cheered when a teacher would roll in that big black stand with the TV and VCR and put on Reading Rainbow. I’d unabashedly sing along with that theme song.

When I was a kid, we were too poor to support the PBS pledge drives. When I saw this Kickstarter, it hit me in a profound way. The effort’s about the love of books, but for me, it’s also about saying “thank you” for a show that had such a major role in my childhood and made me who I am today.

“Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high…”

The Clockwork Dagger, out September 16th, 2014 from Harper Voyager.

THREE MONTHS *freak out*

Three months until The Clockwork Dagger comes out.

AHHHHHHHHH.

Okay. I’m cool. I’m calm. I can handle this. [[Send chocolate.]]

A few things you can expect over these next months:

- reminders that preorders and the first few weeks of a book’s release are huge in a writer’s career

- links to blogs or good reviews [do you have a blog? want me to drop by for a guest blog or interview? drop a comment here or on Twitter or Facebook!]

- news on events around release time

- have you preordered The Clockwork Dagger yet?

- gratuitous use of gifs to convey complex emotions

- September on Bready or Not will be CAKE MONTH. Because CAKE.

- if you can help spread the word through social media/family/enemy infiltration, that’d be fantastic!

I’m doing my utmost to get ready. When dreams comes true, it’s weird and crazy and awesome.

Let’s do this!

Handy dandy ISBNs and links for preordering!

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-06-231384-3

ebook ASIN (Amazon): B00HLIYZ5U

ebook ISBN (Nook): 978-0-06-231385-0

Release: September 16, 2014

Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell’s Books-A-Million Poisoned Pen Changing Hands

Sunday Quote extends Happy Father’s Day wishes

“Well–then the book is done. It has no virtue any more. The writer wants to cry out–’Bring it back! Let me rewrite it or better–Let me burn it. Don’t let it out in the unfriendly cold in that condition.’”

~John Steinbeck, original dedication to East of Eden

Bready or Not: Triple-Layer Lemon Pie

Two of my husband’s favorite things: lemon and pie.

Another, more recent favorite thing: ease of eating. See, my husband decided to get braces last fall. I didn’t endure that particular hell as a teenager (I had other hells instead), so it’s been rather educational to see everything he has to endure–sore teeth, broken wires, and just overall trickiness with choosing food to eat. He needs things that won’t get stuck between his teeth and that he can easily eat with a fork or spoon.

He had to go get his monthly dental tweaking done, so I decided to surprise him.

He was absolutely delighted with this pie. It’s cold and soothing, lemony and sweet, and very easy to eat. It’s really an awesome summer pie because it is cold and it’s totally no-bake. It comes together in a matter of minutes and just has to set. It also keeps well–my husband ate it slowly over five days.

The perfect summer pie!

From Kraft Recipes.

Print
Bready or Not: Triple-Layer Lemon Pie

Ingredients

2 boxes (3.4 oz. each) Jell-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding
2 cups cold milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 graham crust, homemade or bought
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed & divided (reduced fat works!)

Instructions

Whisk together pudding mixes, milk and lemon juice. It will be thick. Spread 1.5 cups onto bottom of crust.
Mix half of the Cool Whip into the remaining pudding.
Spread the Cool Whip/pudding mixture over the pure pudding layer in crust. Top with remaining Cool Whip--the third layer. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
OM NOM NOM.
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Phoenix Comicon, in Retrospect

Wow. What a weekend.

From Thursday with the craziness of the Holy Taco Church and friends dining together in a former church now dubbed the Taco Guild, to Friday’s full day of convention, to Saturday with back-to-back panels and a grand finale of Drinks with Authors… whew! I’m still tired. My toenails are even sore after two days of steampunk boots.

I’m very happy I was able to share the days with my friend Rachel, who flew out from Texas to keep me sane, because I do crazy things like feed churros to the people but I don’t feed myself. We also glammed ourselves up for Saturday!

I made so many new friends. Maybe a few enemies. But we won’t speak of them.

Plus, I was even provided the divinity known as Churro Bacon Cupcakes. A holy chorus sang. For a few brief seconds, the world was at peace.

Then the cupcake was gone and the world went to crap again.

But that’s okay, because there’s always next year, and more awesome people, and more cupcakes.

Sunday Quote is conning people this weekend

“The dull witted will get dullness and the brilliant may find things in my book I didn’t even know were there.”

~John Steinbeck, original dedication to East of Eden

A bit of wit while I’m away at Comicon

Grab the image and feel free to post it on your blog, Tumblr, Pinterest board, etc. No need to ask.

Bready or Not: Glazed Maple Blondies

I’m ripping off recreating my own recipe.

Last fall I shared Maple Truffle Blondies. It consisted of three layers: maple blondies, cream cheese and pulverized maple cookies, and a maple glaze.

So I wondered, hey, those blondies are really good. I have more maple creme cookies to use up. I do have cream cheese, but I don’t want to use it right now. Let’s knock this down to two layers and see what results.

The result: WOW.

Maple goodness, let me tell you. The blondie is chewy and not overly sweet, so that glaze is perfection. Sweet, but not cloyingly so like some frostings are. If you want, you could also mix nuts (pecans would be great, I imagine) into the blondies or sprinkle them on the glaze.

Before the glaze…

The maple creme cookies are a Christmas seasonal thing in some areas, but I can find them year-round at Fresh & Easy or Sprouts Farmers Markets. If you can’t find them, just sub in Golden Oreos and add more maple flavor, or omit entirely. It would make for thinner bars, but they would still be awesome.

If you love maple, you gotta make this.

 

Print
Bready or Not: Glazed Maple Blondies

Ingredients

For maple blondies:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
10 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 box maple creme cookies

For glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tb butter, melted
3/4 tsp maple flavoring (vanilla will do in a pinch)
2+ Tb milk (almond milk works!)

Instructions

Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. Coarsely chop the cookies. Reserve 1/4 cup of the finer crumbs.
In a mixing bowl, blend the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Add the eggs and vanilla. Pour in the flour mix until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips and cookie pieces.
Spread batter in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the blondie layer cool completely. Place in fridge for a while, if necessary.
Combine glaze ingredients in bowl. Add enough milk so that the icing is spreadable but not runny. Immediately dollop over blondies and smooth it out. Immediately sprinkle on the reserved crumbs. Use fingers to gently press in.
Place pan in fridge to set for hour or two before slicing. Store in fridge.
OM NOM NOM.
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ARCs! Holy Taco Church!

When an author gets copies of the book she has yearned to hold her entire life, it’s only right the book first be offered to the cat.

Porom the Cat, who would much rather nibble on my toes than pose for a photo op.

Then the book must be read to Big Blue, because that’s the kind of thing monsters demand.

Reading time for a Dragon Quest Slime.

The books were also loved, hugged, and named George.

I just have the four copies for now, and no, I haven’t decided what to do as far as contests or anything. These decisions are HARD, man.

In other news!

I’m a High Priestess of Churromancy in the Holy Taco Church. (I know, I know, you’re thinking, “Well, duh.”) But this is a Real Thing. It’s a whole bunch of awesome writers congregating to talk food and liquor and happy thoughts. To name drop, our Tacopope is Kevin Hearne and other members include Chuck Wendig, Jaye Wells, Diana Rowland, and Vicki Pettersen.

My first offering is up today: Churro Shortbread.

Yes, that’s a caduceus made of a churro and two tacos.

And because I’m hardcore, I created my own holy symbol.