Baked Oatmeal with Sauce
1 cup vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
6 eggs
6 c. instant oats
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 c. milk
2 tsp. cinnamon
Grease 9 x 13 pan.
Preheat oven to 350
Mix oil, sugar & eggs till blended. Add all other ingredients.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes (until set)
SAUCE:
2c. sugar
2 T. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 c. margarine or butter
2 c. boiling water
Mix sugar, flour & cinn. Add boiling water, stir in butter till melted.
Serve warm.
This makes a cake pan full, so plan to eat the leftovers the next day…unless your family is like ours. Lots of kiddos to eat it up. 
A great Sunday morning breakfast!
Bake when you first get up & whip up the sauce when you’re ready. The sauce is like caramel..yummmy
I have had good success using corn starch instead of flour, although if you do that you need to cook the sauce not just pour boiling water over the stuff. I have also reduced the amount of sugar slightly with good success.
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- 3 cups of homemade granola
- 3 tablespoons margarine
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Optional: 1/2 cup raisins, or peanuts, or chocolate chips, or coconut, or sunflower seeds, or chopped apricots, or dates, or whatever strikes your fancy
You may use any recipe for granola that you like. If it already has peanuts and raisins added then you probably won’t want to add more, but you could if you wanted to. The end results wouldn’t be affected that much either way.
In a 2 quart sized saucepan melt the margarine and peanut butter together. Make sure the heat is low and stir it a lot to melt it evenly. Meanwhile crack both eggs into a cereal bowl and beat them up with a fork. When the margarine and peanut butter are completely melted together remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the eggs. You have to do this quickly so the eggs won’t cook into scrambled eggs and peanut butter mess. The mixture will thicken and emulsify making a nice dough like texture. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the prepared homemade granola. Add any optional ingredients to suit your taste. Turn the mixture into an oiled 8-inch square pan. Chill the bars in the fridge until hard. Cut into 16 squares. Serve with milk for a good snack, or pack in lunch boxes as a (relatively) healthy treat.
Preacher Cookies
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick) or 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
- Dash salt
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups rolled oats
First take out a nice 2-quart saucepan. In it combine the sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Cook and stir the mixture over medium heat until the margarine melts, and the sugar dissolves. Bring the pot to a boil, and reduce the heat slightly. Simmer the mixture for several minutes, until the chocolate forms a soft ball when dropped into a bowl of cold water. This is about 234° on a candy thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat when it reaches the soft ball stage. Add the salt, peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until the peanut butter is dissolved. Finally stir in the oatmeal. The mixture may seem a little runny, but will thicken up as it cools. Drop the mixture from a tablespoon onto a sheet of waxed paper. It should form medium sized cookies. Depending on the size of the cookie, you may end up with as few as 15 or as many as 24.
This is my favorite recipe in the whole wide world. It got it’s name because it could be prepared quickly when a housewife looked out her window and saw the preacher riding up the mountain on his horse. By the time the preacher arrived, the cookies were cooling. I remember family members making them for me as a kid, and I still have people calling me just to request this recipe over the phone. This one recipe could make the reputation of a good cook.
Oatmeal Raisin Scones
- 1-1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder (1 tablespoon)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup margarine, softened (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 medium egg
- Sugar for sprinkling (optional)
First soak the raisins in hot tap water in a cereal bowl, to plump them up. This makes them soft and juicy in the scones, instead of hard nasty nuggets that the children pick out with the precision of a brain surgeon. Next, find your best big bowl. In it combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Unwrap the margarine into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Use your hands to mash the mixture together, the same as for biscuits. Don’t over mix. The mixture should be lumpy. Measure the milk in a measuring cup. Crack in the egg and mix well. Dump this milk and egg mixture into the bowl with the flour and oatmeal mixture in it. Mix well, like for biscuits. Make a soft dough. Place the dough on a sheet of waxed paper that has a few spoonfuls of flour scattered about it. Knead the scone dough 8 or 10 times. Do not knead it any more than that, or your scones will be tough. Place the dough on a well-oiled pizza pan, or cookie sheet. Pat the dough into a large circle, about 1/2-inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pie shaped wedges. Bake at 400° for about 15 minutes. The scones will be golden brown. If you want to be fancy, you can sprinkle a little sugar on the scones before baking. This gives them a pretty appearance when they come from the oven. Serves 8.
Honey Oatmeal Pie
- 1 unbaked 9″ pie crust (half of the recipe for Easy Pie Crust)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup margarine, melted
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup dry oatmeal
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Prepare half the recipe for Easy Pie Crust, and fit it into a 9″ pie plate. Flute or crimp the edges, and set it aside.
In a medium sized bowl combine the honey, margarine, sugar, and eggs. Beat very well. Add the oatmeal and salt. Mix again. Turn the filling into the prepared pie crust. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. It should be sort of solid when you give it a good shake on the oven rack. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool some. Serve warm (or rewarmed in the microwave) with ice cream or Whipped Topping.
This is an old fashioned southern recipe that resembles pecan pie, although it is much (MUCH!) cheaper to make. Some cooks add coconut to the recipe along with the oatmeal. Half a cup is enough for this recipe. This amount of filling makes a somewhat shallow pie, so there is plenty of room for the coconut and maybe 1/2 cup of raisins too.
Quick Microwave Oatmeal
I was slow to understand and apply the timesaving which microwaving oatmeal offers an over-burdened mother in the morning. The only time I had microwaved oatmeal was in the mid 1980’s during a home economics course which made more use of the microwave than anyone has ever dreamed of doing since. To my recollection, the microwaved oatmeal was a pasty goop, which spilled over the bowl and exploded into a nasty mess that I ended up cleaning, because my cooking partner was cleverer than I at weaseling out of it was. For years I eschewed microwaved oatmeal because of this one bad experience.
Turns out, I deprived myself of a wonderful time and energy saving method. The key to microwaving oatmeal is to cook it in a larger bowl than you think it needs. For the recipes included in this book, I use a 3-quart glass casserole dish. This gives the oatmeal plenty of room to boil, without tempting it to bathe the inside of the microwave with its hearty goodness.
To begin, combine all of the ingredients called for in the recipe in your large glass bowl or casserole. This includes the water, the oatmeal and all of the various seasonings. Place the bowl in the microwave and cook it on High for about 8 minutes, or until the mixture boils really big and aggressively all over the dish. For old-fashioned oatmeal you want it to continue this rumbling boil for a minute or so. For quick oatmeal, you just need it to boil all the way through to the center of the dish, and then let it sit for a few minutes before serving. Depending on your microwave wattage the cooking time may be more than 8 minutes, or it may be less. Watch the oatmeal the first time you make it, and take note of how much time it takes to cook.
The beauty of this method is that the oatmeal can be left to tend itself. Meanwhile you can run off to find lost socks; scavenge up field trip money; and pack the lunches for hungry heathens hell bent on making the morning rush take as long as possible so they miss the bus and you have to drive them to school. Other hot cereals can also be microwaved. Read the package to find out how, and be sure to use a big enough bowl for the cooking.
Raw Brown Sugar Granola
- 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
- 1 cup raw brown sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup dried fruit (optional)
- 1/2 cup nuts or seeds (optional)
In a large 4 quart saucepan melt the margarine, sugar and water together. Stir it well and let it simmer for a few minutes (2 or 3 minutes should be enough). Add the salt, oatmeal and cinnamon to the big pot. Remove the pot from the stove and stir up the granola. You want to coat the oats with the brown sugar and margarine, so keep stirring until everything is moistened. Put the granola onto a cookie sheet, the kind with sides. Bake it at 375° for 10 minutes. It should be a nice golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the granola to cool right there in the pan. When it is cool, break it up into small pieces and transfer it to clean coffee can, or other type of canister. Add the nuts and/or dried fruit when you put it into the canister. Serve for breakfast in a bowl with milk or yogurt. Very tasty.
Applesauce Oatmeal
- 3 cups tap water
- 1-1/2 cups dry quick cooking oatmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup apple juice concentrate
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1 cup applesauce
Bring the water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. When it is boiling briskly, gradually stir in the oatmeal. Add the cinnamon, salt, sugar, and ginger. Boil this for a minute or two and remove it from the heat. Cover the oatmeal and allow it to stand for 5 to 10 minutes. This is to thicken everything up to the right consistency. Stir in the applesauce right before serving. Bring it to the table hot and pour on the milk (or cream or soymilk). Especially good on cold winter mornings. Makes 4 servings depending on appetite.
To replace the quick cooking oatmeal with old-fashioned oats use the following directions:
Use 1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal instead of the quick oats. All of the other measurements remain the same. Cook the mixture on the stove for 5 full minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the applesauce and serve immediately. Old-fashioned oatmeal is actually a little quicker to prepare than quick oats if you add in the standing time. Such is the nature of the modern world.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick) softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1-1/4 cups rolled oats
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
In a large bow combine the softened margarine and peanut butter. I measure the peanut butter by packing it tightly into a metal measuring cup. Then I scrape it out with my fingers. Add the sugar or Sucanat and the egg to the bowl. Mix it up really good until it is smooth, fluffy and glossy. I do this with a wire whisk. You could use a big spoon if you preferred. Add the vanilla and stir it in a little. Add the salt, baking soda, oatmeal, and flour. Stir it all up really well. You need a spoon to stir in the dry ingredients. A whisk just won’t work for this part because the batter is so thick.
Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. These cookies don’t spread very well so flatten the cookies with a fork or the flat bottom of a cup which has been dipped into flour. Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Half a cup of chocolate chips may be added to the batter if desired. I love these cookies. They are crunchy and chewy and creamy and warm and good. I have been known to let the kids have them for breakfast when I want to sleep in on a Saturday morning. But that is a secret, so don’t tell anyone. 
Five Grain Hot Cereal
- 1 cup dry oatmeal
- 1/2 cup quick barley
- 1/2 cup dry brown rice
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
You need a blender to make this recipe. Get out your blender. Measure the dry oatmeal into it. Whirl the oatmeal until it is powdery, like flour. Dump the oatmeal into a mixing bowl. Measure the barley into the blender. Process it until powdery. Dump it into the bowl with the oatmeal. Measure the brown rice into the blender. Process it until powdery. The rice will take longer processing than the oatmeal or barley. It will be a tiny bit coarser after blending too, that is alright. When it is as powdery as you can get it, dump it into the bowl with the other grains. Add the whole wheat flour and the cornmeal. Stir the mixture up to combine it thoroughly. Transfer the mixture to a resealable container and label. Store on the pantry shelf. Makes 3 cups
To Cook:
- 1/3 cup 5 Grain Cereal
- 1 cup cold tap water
- Dash Salt
- 2 tablespoons apple juice concentrate or honey
In a small saucepan combine the cereal and cold water. You use cold water because it prevents lumps. Add the salt and juice concentrate. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with milk. Makes 1 serving.
To make 4 servings: use 1 cup of 5 Grain Cereal, 3 cups of cold tap water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/3 cup apple juice concentrate.
This is a very healthy and hearty way to start the morning. I like this cereal much better than most other mixed grain cereals I have tried. The rice gives the cooked cereal a nice chewy texture which contrasts nicely with the smoothness of the whole wheat flour and cornmeal. If you don’t have quick barley, you can replace it with more oatmeal, or even wheat germ, or wheat bran. I’ve also thought that Rye Flour &/or Ground Flax Seeds might make nice additions. By adding 1/2-cup of each, you would come up with a 7-Grain Hot Cereal. The measurements of cereal to liquid for cooking would remain the same. This cereal is an excellent source of B vitamins and fiber.
Peanut Butter Granola
- 2 tablespoons margarine
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Begin by melting the margarine and peanut butter together in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the honey, vanilla and salt. Stir the mixture until it is smooth and hot throughout. It doesn’t need to boil. Add the oats. Stir until the oats are completely coated with the sticky gooey peanut butter mixture. It will be chunky. Turn the mixture into an ungreased cookie sheet, or a large 9 by 13-inch pan. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10 minutes. It will be brown and crispy. Now remove it from the oven and allow it to cool right there in the pan. Break it up into pieces after it is cooled. Transfer the granola to a clean coffee can or sealed canister. Add the raisins, if you are using them, when the granola is cool.
Honey Granola
- 3 cups dry oatmeal
- 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup each nuts and dried fruit (optional)
First melt the margarine in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the honey and salt. Honey is easiest to measure in a well oiled measuring cup. Otherwise, just scoop the last of it out of the cup with a clean finger or spoon. Heat the honey briefly with the margarine and then add the oatmeal. Stir it up nicely. It smells really good. Turn the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, the kind with shallow sides; a large 9 by 13-inch pan works well too. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10 minutes. It should be a toasty brown. Now remove it from the oven and allow it to cool and crisp up right there in the pan. Store it in a clean coffee can or sealed canister. Add the nuts and dried fruit, if you are using them, when the granola is cool. Serve it with milk like regular cereal, or if you are hankering for a divinely inspired treat, get a big bowl of plain yogurt, and sprinkle a large handful of granola on top of it. Mmmmmmmm, very tasty. Sliced bananas are good with this too.
Apple Crisp
- 6 cups of sliced, peeled, & cored apples (or peaches or pears)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/3 cup soft margarine
Get out a two quart casserole dish and oil it well. Place the prepared apples or peaches into the dish and sprinkle the lemon juice over them. Set them aside. In a medium sized bowl, combine the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Add the margarine. If the margarine is soft, it will be an easy matter to mix it in with a fork. If the margarine is hard, you can melt it in the microwave or in a small pan on the stove. The topping will be a little less crumbly, but still very good. After the oatmeal mixture is well mixed and crumbly, scatter it over the apples in the casserole. It will cover them thickly. Now put the casserole in the oven and bake it at 350° for about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot with whipped cream or Whipped Topping. Serves 6. This is really good made with peaches or pears too. Choose which ever fruit is most abundant. Peaches in the summertime, apples and pears in the fall and winter.
Oatmeal Muffins
- 1 cup dry oatmeal
- 1 cup sour milk or yogurt or buttermilk (powdered buttermilk is fine)
- 1 medium egg
- 1/2 cup brown or white sugar
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1-1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon each baking soda & salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
In a large bowl combine the oatmeal and buttermilk or sour milk. If you have the chance, let it stand for a few minutes, for the oatmeal to absorb some of the buttermilk. Add the egg, sugar and oil. Beat very well with a wire whisk. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Mix again, until all of the dry particles are moistened. Do not over beat. It should only take about a 20 or 30 strokes by hand to mix it up enough. Spoon the batter into a dozen well oiled muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve hot.
This recipe is one of the first I ever made on my own, while babysitting at a neighbors house. After I got home, I remembered it and wrote it down the next day. The original copy of this recipe survives, in my childish handwriting among my file of favorite recipes. If you like, you may add 1/2-cup of raisins or a cup of chopped apple to the batter, right after mixing in the flour. I really like it with the raisins, but the kids don’t, so I don’t add them as often as I’d like. This is a very good breakfast muffin and also nice in lunch boxes, especially with the apple added.
Ready to try something else from my bread recipe collection? Try my best cornbread recipe.