Morning Madness and Leftover Oatmeal

Mornings at my house have such great potential.  I get up before everyone, make a hot breakfast, wake everyone, and wait....Some days it's an idyllic scene.  All the kids and their Dad show up in their jammies, or ready for the day, blankets in tow.  The fire is going, hot chocolate is served in little cups with lids and straws to prevent the sleepy spills that are inevitable when 4 out of 6 of us are drinking with our eyes closed.  Usually there's also eggs, breakfast potatoes, hot cereal, toast or fruit (ONE of the above).  We pray, read a few verses of scripture, the biggest of the kids leaves.  All is right at the dawn of the day.

Then there are days like today, when madness is more a reference to my frustration than to the chaos of getting four kids and a husband out the door in the morning.

"Brennan, you are going to miss the bus.  Breakfast is getting cold and EVERYONE is waiting for you."
I shout through the bathroom door for the third time.

"Well, for some reason, my alarm didn't go off," he answers back. I won't go into the details of the rest of the conversation. He makes it down in time for a quick nod to heaven and dashes out the door.  "Sorry, Mom.  No time for breakfast.  Love you guys." Slam.  I don't think he meant that as an insult.

Now I'm left with two sleeping kids and three of us eating the steel cut oats that took 40 minutes to prepare.  There's a trick to it, and they are hardy, but not hard to make, you just have to watch your heat or they will boil over, no matter how big your pan.   I think there is a life metaphor there.  Anyway,   I'll give details on that business in a separate post.  Needless to say, with one of our biggest eater gone, there were lots of leftovers.

Google what to do with leftover oatmeal and one of the first recipes you come to is for Leftover Oatmeal Cookies.  I made these.  They were not great.  When I tasted them what I thought was this, "These poor little ugly cookies really just want to be muffins."  So, I add some extra sugar, a little more cinnamon, vanilla and a cup of milk to my remaining batter and pour it into muffin tins.  They turned out delicious.  How do I know?  Because when Bren tried them he said, "Mm." 

Here are some other reactions, "Can I have another one, Mom?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, go for it."

Four bites later, "Can I have another one?" he asks again.

"Last one for now," I say.

When the girls are eating I ask, "So, Hannah, you like those muffins?"

"Yes, can I have another one?"

"Uh huh.  How about you KC, are they good?" I ask.

"Yeah, they're so good," she says, then with a slightly suspicious tone. "Why?"

"Because I made them with leftover oatmeal from this morning.  What do you think."

"I think you shouldn't tell anyone that until after they've tried them, cause that's just disgusting to think about."

"Can I quote you on that?"

"Yes, as long as you get it right."

I hope I did.  When Don came home he saw the cookies first.

"What are these?" he asked picking one up.

"Those are not as good as the muffins."

He disregarded what I said thinking I was being modest or picky.  He took a big bite and said, "Your crazy.  These are great.  I'm glad you guys don't like them because I'm going to eat all the rest of these."

He never even made it to the muffins.

So, here's the recipe on both items, in case you want to try them.  This is as best as I can record it, considering I used a third of the batter to make yucky (in my opinion) cookies.

Leftover Oatmeal Cookies
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. cooked steel cut oats

Sift dry ingredients together. Add butter, sugar and eggs and beat until creamy (about 2 minutes). Stir in oatmeal. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 10minutes.
Yield: 4 dozen.

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. butter
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 1/2 c. cooked steel cut oats

Sift dry ingredients together. Add butter, sugar and eggs and beat until creamy (about 2 minutes). Stir in oatmeal. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 15minutes.
Yield: 2 Dozen +