We got back late last night from our vacation in SC and GA. I spent a couple of hours this morning writing the post for part of the week. I think I will have two more posts in me to finish the fun week.
I couldn't let the afternoon go without baking. The first one I made, I made for us. The Harvest Bread I shared last week was so good (we ended up taking part of it on our trip and Leon, Friend Janice's husband, loved it). I wanted to have another type of bread to have to eat when I needed a not-so-sweet treat. I decided this Blueberry Hill Bread recipe in Cathy Mitchell's Quick & Easy Dump Cakes and More sounded perfect.
I have plenty of blueberries I have frozen. The ingredients included fresh or thawed frozen blueberries. I just rinsed my frozen ones off but didn't really let them thaw. Turned out perfect.
BLUEBERRY HILL BREAD
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 x 4 - inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine the buttermilk, egg, and oil in a large bowl and mix well.
Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl with a whisk.
Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Stir just til blended.
(Had to change to my wooden spoon.)
Gently fold in the blueberries.
(Batter is thick.)
Spread batter in loaf pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.
Remove and finish cooling.
Slice to serve.
If you are following my posts for our vacation, I will share another one Wednesday.
It is strange coming back home and turning on my laptop after being away from it for a week. I usually take it with me when we travel but this time I decided not to. I had written posts to be published during the week so just decided to use my phone. (I hope you checked them out. The recipes are some of my best.)
I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do when we travel so this post will not be as detailed as my usual ones are showcasing our trip.
Back in the summer we made reservations to spend the week before Thanksgiving at the Marriott's Grande Ocean Resort on Hilton Head Island. Our friends Janice and Leon went with us again. Leon was a little unsure about going until I told him the average temperature was 70 degrees. (The first and last day was in the the 60s but most of the days were mid 70s even 78 two days.) The resort was actually closed for a bit after Hurricane Mathew hit the island back earlier in October. We were constantly amazed at all of the debris piled along the streets waiting to be picked up and taken away. (I couldn't get pictures of most places because we couldn't stop along the road. These are just some sites. Later we went to Tybee Island south of Savannah and I took four pictures showing where they were temporarily placing the debris.)
We flew into the airport at Savannah which was about an hour away from our resort, but found ourselves traveling back to Savannah three times during the week. We had originally planned to go to Charleston at least once (we had gone there one day when we stayed in Myrtle Beach several years ago), but after going to Savannah, we fell in love with the city and decided not to go to Charleston.
In Savannah the first time, we followed some advice and bought a ticket and rode the Old Town Trolley to tour the city. With 15 different stops, we were able to get off and on as often as we liked and learned a lot of history about the city and the places we were seeing. I didn't take many pictures because I was often on the wrong side of the trolley and I was also just overwhelmed with the beauty. Loved all the moss hanging on the trees.
Chippewa Square where the park bench scene was filmed for Forrest Gump. (I was on the right side of the trolley as we turned the corner. We saw the park bench in the Savannah History Museum.)
The squares that Savannah is so famous for were just beautiful. There were originally 24 but 22 of them still exist. This is a picture of the other side of Chippewa Square. The monument in the center is of General Oglethorpe, the founder of the new colony at Savannah in 1733.
A few more pictures ....
A little debris not collected yet. Most of Savannah was clear of all debris.
The one house we toured... the Andrew Low House (1849). Andrew's son married Juliette Gordon Low. She eventually established the Girl Scouts of America. It was a beautiful home. One of the bedrooms was referred to as the Robert E. Lee bedroom because he would sleep in it when he would visit. One of the amazing things about the house was that one of the bedroom's was completely papered with wall paper that had been removed from another house. That was quite an accomplishment.
Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church...we would have loved seeing inside it, but it wasn't open. (You can find a link for it on the above link.)
I didn't get a picture of the outside of it, but we did get to go inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
The twelve stations of the passion were placed around the walls. The fascinating thing about these were that each was carved from a block of wood. A different artist carved each different character. They were just beautiful. I only took pictures of four of them.
I have to admit that we found Paula Dean's store and restaurant (The Lady and Sons) by accident. The trolley made one of its stops and a lady behind us asked what could we see if we got off the trolley there. (We were on our way back to the start to get our car and go home.) When Janice and I heard "Paula Dean" we looked at each other and said, "You want to get off?"
Inside after shopping (see my purchase below) we decided it was time for dessert and went into the restaurant from inside the store. Peach cobbler with ice cream and pecan pie.... yummy!
When we went back later in the week to Savannah, we decided to eat lunch there since we had enjoyed the dessert so much earlier in the week. Then I took a picture of the outside of the restaurant from around the corner. (The buffet was just good home style cooking. Janice and I had the pumpkin gooey cake for dessert this time. Leon had peach cobbler again. My husband passed. His bad choice.)
My purchase in the store... now it has a new home handing in my kitchen.
One more picture of the city hall and its gold dome. (It is hard to see the gold dome because of the sun, but it was beautiful.)
Well, this post has ended up being more detailed than I thought it would be. I think I will stop for now and pick this up tomorrow. Hope you will check back with me then.
You can find all sorts of baked oatmeal recipes that contain a lot of added ingredients. I wanted to find just a good basic one.
That's what I found in my The Farmhouse Kitchen, Amish Community Cooking from Greenville, PA cookbook. From Ed & Mary Slabough, they did add that you could vary it with 1/2 cup sugar and add raisins or apples.
I didn't do that because as I said, I just wanted a basic baked oatmeal. I like to eat it by itself or added to my Greek yogurt.
BAKED OATMEAL
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups quick oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream first 3 ingredients - the butter, brown sugar, and eggs.
Add the rest of the ingredients and
mix well.
Spread in a 10 x 10 or 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. (I think my pan was about 8 x 11 or 12 - inches.) (I did spray my pan with cooking spray.)
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.
Serves 6 to 8.
My husband puts his yogurt on top....
I like to put the oatmeal on top of my yogurt....
This week I have been sharing recipes I made and served my Mexican Train friends last Thursday. I hope you checked out the Baby Cranberry Scones and the Walnut-Chicken Salad. Today I am sharing the dessert I served - Apple-Nut Bread Pudding.
Besides it tasting really great, it was the perfect dessert to serve because I prepared it about an hour and a half before the ladies arrived and it cooked in my slow cooker until the middle of the afternoon when we were ready to enjoy dessert.
Friend Carol said she loved it because it wasn't as sweet as most bread puddings. I used one of Friend Sue's giant granny smith apples that she had given me earlier and the apple chunks were still a little crunchy which everyone loved.
The recipe suggested serving it with ice cream, but everyone said it was perfect the way I served it.
APPLE-NUT BREAD PUDDING
8 slices cinnamon-raisin bread, cubed
2 medium, tart apples, peeled, and sliced (I used 1 giant granny smith apple, peeled, sliced, and then chopped)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups half & half cream (I used fat free half & half)
1/4 cup apple cider or apple juice (I did use the cider)
1/4 cup butter, melted
Place bread cubes, apples, and pecans in greased 3 quart slow cooker.
(I combined the ingredients first in a large bowl.)
In another bowl, combine the sugar and spices.
Beat the eggs in a bowl
and then add the cream, apple cider or juice, and butter. Mix well.
Add egg mixture to the sugar mixture; mix well.
Pour over the bread mixture making sure you cover all of the mixture as the liquid is not enough to completely cover the mixture.
Cover and cook on low 3 - 4 hours or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (We got busy playing our game and mine cooked about 4-1/2 hours. Nice things about using a slow cooker.)
Serve warm.
Combine the buttermilk, egg, and oil in a large bowl and mix well.
Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl with a whisk.
Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Stir just til blended.
(Had to change to my wooden spoon.)
Gently fold in the blueberries. 
(Batter is thick.)
Spread batter in loaf pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove and finish cooling.
Slice to serve.
