HARVEST OATMEAL TEA BREAD for "Tea In The Garden"

  Today I set up a little tea time in the garden.  While in Missouri a few weeks back, I got some bittersweet at an antique mall called Artichoke Annie's east of Columbia.  We always enjoy stopping there when we visit my son and his family.  I put some of the bittersweet on the birdhouse in the corner of the yard.  I hope you are ready to sit and relax a little while this morning!

I recently pulled out some of my fall cookbooks to enjoy.  Don't you love the recipes for apples, pumpkin, squash, etc.  I would imagine that the pumpkins will be arriving at our market soon.  This is the really colorful time of the year.

Please pour yourself a cup of tea and
 have a nice slice of this Harvest Oatmeal Tea Bread. 
 The recipe was in an old 1997 November
 issue of Victoria Magazine.

Harvest Oatmeal Tea Bread:

You will need: 3/4 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 1/4 cups boiling water, 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal, uncooked, 1 cup of sifted flour, 1 tsp baking soda,  1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,  1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup dried chopped apricots, 1/2 cup dark or yellow raisins, 1/2 cup craisins, 4 Tb cognac (you could also add nuts if desired). I did not have cognac so I used Rum.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and the sugar and mix in the eggs one at a time until fluffy.

Boil water and add oatmeal and stir setting aside.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda spices and salt.  Add the dried fruits to this mixture.

Add the cognac and the creamed butter mixture to the dry components.

Fold the oatmeal into this mixture.

Now pour into a greased and floured bread pan 5 x 9 and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Next, turn the oven down to 325 degrees for an additional 45 minutes and check with a wooden skewer. (Frankly - I only baked this an additional 15 minutes this morning and it was done.)  If it comes out clean this means it is done. Turn out of pan while warm!

Indoors I have pulled out my fall decorations and transferware pieces and will share those later this week.  I am like many of you who leave these items out until around Thanksgiving November 26.  I like the Canadian Thanksgiving Day of October 12th so much better!  That gives them so much more time for Christmas decorating.

SPINACH, CHEESE AND HAM QUICHE FOR LUNCH

Today my husband and I decided that we can find nothing in our small kitchen pantry.  Our home was built in the 80's and what were they thinking?  We went to Walmart and bought a cheap plastic shelf to put on the landing of the half way point in the stairs going down to the basement.  This will be the place the less used items in the pantry will go! I am so excited about this simple improvement!  I just have to go down 1/2 flight of steps to get those items.  I'm o.k. with that!

 Now let me share what we had for our lunch break:

 I know you all make quiche too and isn't it wonderful!  I love it with a salad for lunch and this one doesn't even have a crust. 

Here are the ingredients:  2 hand fulls of fresh spinach brought to a boil and simmered for 6 minutes and then drained, 8 oz of shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup cooked chopped ham, 1 green onion saute in 1 Tb butter, 6 eggs, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 Tsp salt and little pepper

Beat the eggs with the cream and salt and pepper.  Stir in the cheese and drained spinach with the onion and butter.  Pour into a buttered 9" pie dish and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees until a knife or wood skewer comes out clean.  You should let it stand for a few minutes before cutting - but we rarely obey that rule!

ROSE SHAPED BAKED APPLES

I have seen these Rose Shaped Baked Apples and the videos of how to make them on face book for quite some time.  Last night I decided I'd better try them and they are easy if you pay attention to a few things.

I watched the video by Manuela M. several times on YouTube and then wrote some directions.  It only take 2 apples to make 6 roses. Buy a package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and thaw one sheet.

#1 Cut 2 washed and unpeeled apples in half and remove all the core.  Red Delicious Apples were recommended but I used Gala.
#2  Slice very thin on a cutting board.  The reason it must be thin will be clear to you when you go to roll them up - thin means they will roll better.

#3 Fill a medium bowl 1/2 full of water and stir in 1/2 lemon juice making sure there are no seeds - put the apple slices in the bowl separating them
#4  Microwave the slices for 5 minutes (3 min was not enough for me)
#5 Stir 2 Tb water into 3 Tb apricot preserves and stir and microwave 1 minute

#6  unwrap the pastry and roll it out on a floured cloth about 1/2 larger
#7 Cut into 6 strips - brush strips with apricot
#8 overlay a row of apple slices with the tops of the apple pieces dropping over the side of the dough 
#9 mix 1 Tb ground cinnamon with 2 Tb sugar in a small bowl

#10 sprinkle over the apples - now fold down the dough in half and roll it up into a rose
#11 put this in a muffin pan which has been sprayed with pam
#12 Bake 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  
SPRINKLE WITH POWDERED SUGAR OR SERVE WITH WHIPPING CREAM!

I would highly recommend these for a party dessert, Afternoon Tea Tray or Fall luncheon.  I am an amateur and I thought they were pretty easy.  At first the apples weren't tender enough to roll into a rose but I recooked them more in the microwave which is why I suggest 5 minutes!  Also, the apple slices must be sliced very thin - I had to go back and re-slice some of mine which were too thick.

TEA FOR TWO for "Tea In The Garden"

I have been enjoying Queen Anne's Lace in my garden for 3 months now.  The main reason I still have it is that I have dead-headed it a lot.  For anyone that doesn't know, that means as soon as a head turns into seed (or even sooner) I cut the bloomed out stems off so the plants energy keeps going to the other blooms.

I have been collecting little thrift store tins in the garage to give the seeds away. You can put a lot of seeds in a small tin.  Others just go in sandwich ziplock bags.  I have really enjoyed my garden this summer and I hate to see time passing by but hopefully we have many lovely days ahead for fall.  I enjoy seeing all your lovely gardens in blog land too!

Today I am sharing my little "Tea For Two" musical teapot.  I have seen these on pinterest and etsy and stumbled across one recently.  It plays beautifully!

I was able to attend my second "A Paris Street Market" last Saturday in Denver, Colorado.  As you can see it was a beautiful day too and not 93 degrees like last month!

I picked up some linens in one booths that were very reasonable.  My runner on the little table was one of those.

I am loving our cool nights now going into the 50's.  Is your summer winding down?

If we go to Denver we make the most of the distance and hit as many places as possible and I happily found this little cream and sugar below at the Brass Armadillo.  You see that it matched my Arthur Woods teapot.  Since so many of these old English factories used the same decals you can mix and match brands.

THAT LITTLE BROWN TEAPOT: Tea Quote

TEA QUOTE FROM 365 THINGS EVERY 

TEA LOVER SHOULD KNOW

When creating a great pot of tea, pour boiling 

water into the teapot and remember that small

 tea leaves will take less time

 to brew than large ones.