This morning was already windy at 6:30 AM, but I decided to ride as far as I could stand it. To my surprise, it wasn't bad, and once I made it to the area of tree canopy it was downright pleasant. I could hear the wind in the treetops. I was untouched by it. I had not taken my phone because it needed charging. Always a mistake because invariably the photo ops will crop up everywhere and indeed they did. Five wild turkeys crossed the trail in front of me. A lone fluffy cloud in the sky above had the most beautiful long wispy tail. Looked much like a cartoon balloon. There is a name for those things but it is escaping me. You know the things that hold the words in a cartoon strip? At any rate, that is what it looked like.
I rode out to what we call Roger's road. Roger Conant, my deceased cousin Sherry's husband lives there. It is just before you get to Winkleman's Switch and 4.3 miles one way from our house according to the map below.
There is one area past the river that I call the church. It is heavily treed and as quiet as an empty church in the middle of a cornfield. It is a favorite spot of mine. I have several.
So I rode 8 miles this morning, a good distance for a quick morning jaunt before coming home and getting into a productive day. Of course that part remains to be seen. It always makes me feel productive even if I am not.
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I came home and made the following recipe. I made it in the pressure cooker. Takes 2 minutes. That isn't fair, because by the time you wait for the pressure to come up and then do its 2 minutes it gets closer to 20 minutes. Worth it though.
CrockPot Recipe for Make-Ahead Apple Pie Oatmeal
(Makes 4-5 servings
(I used my small 2.5 Quart Slow Cooker for this recipe, so if you only have a much larger size you'll need to double the recipe.)
Ingredients:
2 large Granny Smith apples, seeds removed and coarsely chopped (no need to peel them)
1 T brown sugar (or use 1 more tablespoon of sweetener if you don't want to use sugar)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 - 3 1/2 cups water (depending on how thick you like your oatmeal)
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
milk or soy milk for serving (I used a combination of milk and vanilla soy milk, which is what I always use to eat on cereal.)
Instructions:
Cut apples into pieces and remove the core with the seeds; then chop apples into pieces. I made the pieces different sizes so some apples would dissolve slightly while others stayed chunky. (No need to peel them.)
Spray the CrockPot crockery container with nonstick spray. Then add the apples, sweetener of your choice, brown sugar (or more sweetener), cinnamon, and salt. Add from 3 to 3 1/2 cups of water, depending on how thick you want the finished oatmeal to be. Stir together and cook on high for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Add oatmeal and stir ingredients together, then continue to cook on high for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on how soft you'd like the finished oatmeal to be. (I would start checking after 45 minutes.)
Serve hot, with milk or soy milk.
This oatmeal can be stored in the fridge overnight and reheated in the morning. You may want to add a little water when you reheat it, then microwave for about 1 minute or heat for a few minutes in a small pan on top of the stove.
( freezes beautifully)
Enjoy your day!!
