Tuesday, July 31, 2012

More Recipes From The Pioneer Woman

Mindy here, and it's no secret that Missy and I love the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. When I'm looking for something new and yummy to satisfy my family, she seems to be my go-to person. So last week at the ranch when I wanted something different and sweet to feed my guys, I pulled one of Ree's recipes that I'd printed out a while back.

Strawberry Oat Bars. Doesn't it just sound good?

Here's what you'll need (ignore the laundry basket in the background):


  • 1 3/4 sticks salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing pan
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup oats
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • One 10 to 12-ounce jar strawberry preserves

  • (A couple of Tex notes. At home I buy my brown sugar in two pound bags. But at the ranch, I don't use it as often. So when I discovered these Redi-Measure pouches, I was all over that. Each packet contains one quarter cup and they keep for a LONG time. I love that.

    Second note, I wanted to cut back on the sugar, so I used the Smuckers Low-Sugar variety. This stuff is great. No artificial sweeteners added, just half the sugar!)

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch rectangular pan.

    Mix together the butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
    (Tex note: I used a pastry cutter for most of it, but ended up using my hands to make sure everything was well mixed.)

    Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan.

    Spread with the strawberry preserves.

    Sprinkle the other half of the oat mixture over the top and pat lightly.

    Bake until light brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

    Let cool completely, and then cut into squares.

    How's that for easy? And we're all about easy. Right? The only thing better than easy is easy AND yummy. These are dangerously yummy.

    Do you have a favorite chef/cook/cookbook you tend to gravitate to when looking for recipes? Aside the ever-popular Betty Crocker Cookbook, that is.



    41 comments:

    1. Ok another question from the Aussie. What or how much is a stick of butter? And do you really call it a stick of butter?
      I am not a fan of strawberries as much as I am sure most will love this I just can not eat strawberries dont even like the flavour.

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      1. Jenny, we do, indeed, call it a stick of butter. That is a quarter pound, half a cup, four ounces, or eight tablespoons.

        And you can you use anything your little heart desires. I'd love it with raspberry jam/jelly/preserves, but my guys aren't fans.

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    2. Jenny, good morning! I've got coffee and tea m'darlin', what's your pleasure this fine Tuesday in the States????

      A stick of butter is 1/4 pound or 1/2 cup. Either measurement works.

      And you could use any jam for this, I'm sure, but I'll let Mindy advise you properly from the Lone Star State. I think it would be awesome with raspberry or cherry preserves... I love oatmeal anything, Mindy, and I think we should have an oatmeal festival.

      Wouldn't that be fun? I'm grinning, just thinking about it! They have festivals for every other thing in the world, but oatmeal, with all its wonderful health benefits???

      NO FESTIVAL.

      We should do this.

      Sign me:

      An Oatmeal Lover from Upstate New York

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      1. Ruthy, thanks for keeping things running here. This has been a travel day for me so I'm just now getting to the computer.

        I love raspberry and cherry would be wonderful too. So does blueberry.

        Oatmeal festival you say? Count me in!

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    3. The aussie is trying to work out how much a quarter of a pound is. would that be 4 oz? I think we get ours in 8oz packs or 250gms.

      I am over liquids. I have to drink about 3 litres or about 12 glasses of liquid a day and I have to say if I drink anymore today I will burst.
      its 7.30pm and I think I will be in bed very soon, so tired tonight.

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      1. I hope you're feeling a little better, Jenny! And I have a lot of recipes copies from when I lived in France and they're hard to transfer to lbs and ozs here. *whew*

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      2. Virginia I could understand that. I know roughly how to convert some as we have the old scales here its the newer recipes as I dont have a metric scale. (need some metric weights.) we changed when I was about 8.

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    4. Jenny -- 1/2 cup is 4 oz. Does that help?

      I have a measurement question too. The first ingredient says
      1 3/4 sticks salted butter. Does that mean 3/4 of a stick of butter? Or 1`stick plus 3/4s of another? I'm thinking the latter but just want to make sure. And go figure -- I've started buying unsalted butter because of your 'stick' recipes here but I only have a regular block of salted butter so that means I'll have to do the math right along with Jenny!

      But I'm going to make this recipe this morning before it gets too hot -- if I can figure out how much butter to put in it. Love how y'all answer my culinary needs instantly. Much appreciated. :-)

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      1. Kav, sorry I'm so late chiming in. You are correct, one stick and 3/4 of another stick.

        You know, Kav, I used unsalted butter when I made these because that was what I had on hand. Can't remember if I added a sprinkle of salt or not. I think so.

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    5. I'm just amazed at the translation difficulties between the three countries. Don't we all speak English?

      To throw another wrench in, the 4 oz. of butter is a weight measure, so 1/4 pound. We also use ounces in volume measures - can anything be more confusing?

      And Kav, here in the states both the salted and unsalted butters come in sticks. It's hard to find it in a one pound package that isn't already packaged in 1/4 pound sticks.

      But measuring aside, this looks absolutely easy and delicious. I'm with Ruthy - I think you could substitute almost any fruit jam for the strawberry. I think this would be great with peach preserves, don't you?

      To keep the sugar content down, I've been buying the "Simply Fruit" variety from Smuckers. No sugar - just fruit. I can't tell the difference.

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      1. Here our butter comes in blocks of 250gms or about 8 oz.
        here the jugs often have the oz on them as well as gms.
        I just know 3 litres in any language is to much!

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      2. Jan, you're right. I like the Simply Fruit too. And peaches would be yummy. Though I'm surprised you didn't say apricots:-)

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    6. I'm hungry! no particular 'go to' cookbook for me - most of what looks good isn't good for me :-( I usually end up browsing online or flipping through various cookbooks. Ilike the Pioneer Woman too - fantasy reading with all the butter and stuff! :-)
      Susanna

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      1. Fantasy is right, Susanna. I usually try to adjust to fit my dietary needs. However, there are some recipes I just have to pass on.

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    7. I forgot to answer the question!

      The Pioneer Woman website is a go-to for me if I'm looking for a recipe. If I don't find it there, I try recipes.com.

      But when it comes to cookbooks, I love browsing through my collection of fund raiser cookbooks - you know, the ones churches and other groups do? Just looking at the names of the contributors brings back memories, and I've gotten some of our favorite standbys from those cookbooks.

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      1. Jan, I love those cookbooks! Those are some of my faves. And I always buy one, wherever I am, because I know how much work goes into the gathering, sorting and production.

        Oh my stars, amazing!

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      2. ooh those are the best!!
        susanna

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    8. Oh. My. Stars. This looks amazing! And simple. I'll try it with my Splenda brown sugar (which is a mix of Splenda and real brown sugar). That'll cut back even more on calories.

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      1. Missy, you've got to let me know how it works with the Splenda blend.

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    9. Kav, the photo shows a whole stick plus what looks like 3/4 stick, so I think you're correct.

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      1. You know, restaurants and bakeries still use whole pounds of butter. They sell them at Sam's Club, too, and youse know I buy a lot in bulk... So one pound blocks are the norm.

        But I buy the sticks too because I like serving with the sticks of butter.

        Jenny, I'm worried about you. How can we help? Besides being our cute, adorable, funny selves????

        I feel bad that you're having a rough time and we're half a world away.

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      2. Ruthy,
        I am ok. just tired. Of course if the olympics were not on I may sleep better in the morning. I stayed up til about 8.30 which is am improvement. I am doing some work and its probably good I dont have fultime work at present. I am going back to the bookshop this afternoon. Its fairly quiet but it also can get chilly in there but I will be able to read there. I have a new appreciation for people with chronic fatigue and other issues that make them so tired. I am eating much healthier, just at times I am not sure what I want.

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      3. Hoping you feel better soon, Jenny. Hang in there, girl. We'll keep praying for you.

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      4. Whenever I get pregnant I'm sick all 9 months and I'm telling you, there's nothing worse than havng to eat when you're not hungry.

        HUGS and make sure you get enough protien. I know drinking all that water probably makes you feel like you're a giant balloon.

        Prayers!

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    10. Missy, your comment about Splenda reminded me of Coconut Palm Sugar.

      When I was visiting my mom, she had Dr. Oz on and he was doing a show on healthier substitutes. One was substituting Coconut Palm Sugar for regular or brown sugar because it has a much lower glycemic index so your body processes it slowly and you don't get the spikes in blood sugar. It tastes pretty much like brown sugar or raw sugar.


      More info here - http://www.livestrong.com/article/367337-what-are-the-benefits-of-coconut-sugar/?utm_source=popslideshow&utm_medium=a1

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      1. Thanks for the link, Jan. I have a serious sugar addiction and I know it. Need to do something about it!

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      2. I've never even heard of coconut sugar! How cool! I'll look for it.

        I also just heard of coconut butter today. It's basically ground up coconut (the meat part).

        So many fun things to try!!

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      3. That great to know, Mary. Thanks for sharing. I'm checking that stuff out.

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    11. Oh, yum!!!!

      And my Joy of Cooking 1950 is my go-to book (also has metric, liquid, dry measuremen translations in the back)!. It doesn't call for things like 'one can cream of chicken soup', know what I mean? It gives actualy ingredients!!

      Ree, just love her. SO FUNNY! I have her first cookbook, inscribed to ME. Birthday gift from my college roomate when Ree blew through Portland a few years ago.

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      1. That is so cool about the cookbook, Virginia. Lucky you!

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      2. Oh, Mindy. I should include some pics in my nxt post. How to skin a squirrel and mke possum stew. No kidding. Eating well in the 1950's.

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      3. Virginia, that sounds like Road-Kill Cafe to me. Yum!

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      4. Hey, I did a roast possum dish once... from my ancient America Cooks cookbook...

        Not one person reported back on how theirs came out. Do you think it was the itty-bitty head, still attached???

        Because they do it with fish and pigs, right???

        Blink...blink...blink... How does one eat something that's staring at them????

        Oy.

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    12. Oy -- I had to play around with the butter. I mean one stick is 1/2 cup that's easy enough, but 3/4s of a stick would be 3/4s of a 1/2 which would be????? So I fudged it and my oatmeal mix looks a little more glued together than the pictures. :-( It's in the oven now and came back to see how long to bake it. Crossing my fingers that it turns out because I plan to share tonight. A few friends are getting together for an Olympic catch up evening and we're supposed to bring red and white food. I figure the oatmeal and flour started out white and the jam is red so I'm good. If I'm lucky someone will bring vanilla ice cream. Won't that go together well? Yum.

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      1. Kav, you just reminded me that I forgot to buy ice cream. RATS!

        I made this blueberry peach pie. Peach part is great but the blueberries -ooooh TART! I figured vanilla ice cream would help.

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      2. Great idea, Kav. Hope all turned out well. Three quarters of a stick would be 6 tablespoons. I know, too little, too late. Sorry:-(

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      3. Okay, y'all need to knock off the ice cream talk. Me love ice cream. Yum, yum, yum.

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      4. Sounds wonderful! Let us know how it turns out!!

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      5. Kav, I'm in! Send me some. I'm just across the pond. Yellow house.

        We'll leave the light on for ya'.

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