more veggies, please!

I eat this for dessert and breakfast, but you can really enjoy it at any time of day. 1 hr 15 min – serves 6 6-8 apples, peeled and cut into eighths 1 stick unsalted butter, softened ½ cup brown sugar juice of ½ lemon 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup old-fashioned oats, divided ½ cup white sugar ½ cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt 1. Place rack in middle of oven, preheat oven to 425ºF. 2. Butter a baking dish and stir together apples, ½ cup brown sugar, lemon juice, cardamom and cinnamon. 3. Stir together ½ cup oats, white sugar, flour, salt. Blend in butter until incorporated. Add final ½ cup oats until the mixture clumps. 4. Spread over fruit and bake until juices are bubbling, topping is golden and apples are soft when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly before serving. modified from a Gourmet recipe

I’ve been trying to inch my way towards spring by progressively cleaning out my cupboard of dry goods. Instead of making more granola, I decided to opt for a warm breakfast: oatmeal. 5 min – serves 1 basic recipe ½ cup instant oatmeal a pinch of salt ½ teaspoon sugar (optional) variations add 2-3 dashes of cinnamon add ¼ cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, dates) I even added a tablespoon of pine nuts to one of my packets. Not as weird as it sounds! thanks to mark bittman for directing readers of his blog to this site: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/05/09/making-your-own-homemade-oatmeal-packets-a-visual-guide-and-cost-analysis/