Oven update

Update: My mom took my very subtle hint and posted her Meusli recipe. Be sure to check it out, it's delish.

I mentioned earlier that our oven was broken. I came home from work today to see this -
Sorry it is so dark but I have 200 Zion pictures to edit so I didn't want to waste time on a throw away picture of an oven. But yes, that is our oven, outside our apartment complex. So what did I find inside where our oven used to be? A brand new oven!

I've never had an oven so clean before, I made dinner tonight very cautiously, I didn't want to get it dirty. I especially love how the stove tops have more options now. Before I had low, medium, medium high and high but it wasn't efficient so I basically had to use high and medium high. And if I wanted to make pancakes I had to switch between the two half-way through each one to get it to work. Now I tons of options, not unlimited because it is electric, but enough. And now the top doesn't get super hot whenever the oven is on. One time I reached up to get something from the cabinet and had a nice burn mark across my stomach for a week that hit right where my pants would irritate it constantly - that was a long week.

But even without the niceness of this new one, it just nice to have any oven to use again. I can't really say that it made much of a difference in my meal planning for dinners, I use the stove top, my crockpot and my George Foreman much more than the oven but it did put a cramp in my regular "it's late and I need chocolate so let's make brownies" routine. And it did mess up my great plans for breakfast reformation.

You see, I am working on getting us healthier and have decided to start with breakfast. I think I can make the biggest impact there without a ton of effort and let's face it, does it really matter how healthy your dinners are if you start the day with a bowl containing 4 Tablespoons of sugar? Even one of the cereals that I considered "healthier", honey nut cheerios, has 9 grams (over 2 Tablespoons) of sugar in every serving. Yikes!

So I made granola, and that worked really well I ran out and the oven broke. But right now I have two batches in my brand new oven and they are smelling yummy.

I'm working on getting a good method for oatmeal and can't wait to try all those suggestions from yesterday. My mom mentioned Muesli and that is a good option, Craig doesn't like it but he is the only person I know who doesn't. It is so yummy and easy to make a smaller batch and it keeps fine for a couple breakfasts in a row. The only problem is that I always forget the recipe, even though it is super simply, and they I have to call my mom and have her tell me again. If only she would post it somewhere so I could look it up when I need it...hint, hint.

Another option I am excited to try now that I can bake again is refrigerator muffins which I read about here recently in a WFMW. Basically you make the batter and it keeps in the fridge (how long they keep depends on the recipe but seem to be about a week for most) until you want a muffin. Then you just put some in a tin and bake away. I think this could be really good for us since I love muffins but we can't shouldn't eat the whole batch before they get old and dry. But with these I can make a batch on the weekend when I have time then enjoy them all week long. Now that I have options and an oven, I'm so excited to get started. I'll let you know how my experiments turn out.