Karin's Week Nineteen Recipe: Ramps 'n' Taters

Last year we had discovered ramps at our local Farmer's Market, and loved the way they tasted. What are ramps, you ask? They are sort of like a combination of leeks and green onions.  They can be called Wild Leeks, and are only available in the early spring. This year, we saw them again, and I decided to look for a recipe to use them with. I found several, but this seemed the easiest and I had all ingredients on hand.

Ramps 'n' Taters

4 or 5 large potatoes, diced
1 lb bacon
1.5 lb ramps, cleaned and cut up (we used about 13, and only the white bits)
6 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside. Fry diced potatoes in bacon grease for 3-4 minutes, then add ramps, and cook until potatoes are done. Add eggs and scramble with potato mixture. Place bacon on top, and simmer for 2 minutes until heated through.

This was excellent. And easy. And tasty. Although, we did take out about 1/2 the bacon fat before putting the eggs in, as otherwise I think we'd have had bacon grease soup. And we crumbled the bacon into the pan at the end. We had this for a weekend breakfast, and would definitely make it again. It also reheats well in the microwave, if you can't finish it all in one sitting. There was also discussion that this would make a great camping breakfast, using green onions instead of the ramps. I think the camping version may be trialled later this summer...

Chris's Week Ten Recipe: Cherry-Berry Baked Oatmeal

I've never made baked oatmeal, and thought today was the day to give it a try. It took a while to track down a recipe that was low on sugar, but I found one here. This is my own version:

Cherry-Berry Baked Oatmeal

1 c old-fashioned oats

1 T brown sugar

dash cinnamon

2 c skim milk

1/2 t almond extract

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c frozen Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Blend

Combine dry ingredients. Add the almond extract to the milk. Add the milk and applesauce to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the frozen fruit, then pour the mixture into a greased 1 qt casserole dish. Bake for about 40 min at 350F or until set and just starting to turn brown on the top.

NB: any frozen fruit should work with this recipe. You don't have to thaw the fruit. In fact, I suspect that the fruit 'floats' better in the mixture when completely frozen.

Would I make this recipe again? Num, num, num... you bet I would! The result was creamier than regular oatmeal and had a nice, subtle flavor.