Down to hEarth

 The basics of oatmeal are this: 1 cup of oatmeal to 2 cups water. Just double the water of however much oatmeal you are making. Just beware! A cup of oats makes a lot more oatmeal than you might realize! For my faraway daughter - this is what I do so she has oatmeal for a few days: 1 1/2 cup rolled oats  3 cups water pinch of salt 1 cup various dried fruits and nuts A tsp of maple syrup or cake brown sugar - or more up to how sweet one wants the oatmeal. A dash of cinnamon or mixed spice - cardamon is nice too Can also add cut up apple Process: Put water with a pinch of salt in pan and start heating. Cut up nuts, fruits, etc., and add to water. Add sweetener of choice as desired and a dash of spice. Don't add fresh fruit yet. When water starts to boil, add oatmeal, stir and lower the temperature. You want to see that it is bubbling a bit. Add fresh fruit now. Let oatmeal simmer for a few minutes and then put a lid on it, turn off the heat and walk away for about 15 minutes. I...

 Sauteed Spinach has always been a fast side dish - but take it to the next level of richness with a little cream... Looking around the internet at different recipes showed some basic common elements - with lots of different ways to make it just what you want. For me (and faraway daughter) this worked pretty well: Ingredients: 2 packages of fresh spinach - washed and spun dried. Not a big deal if a little wet 2 T olive oil or butter (or both!) 1-2 tsp flour or cornstarch 30 g or to taste chopped shallot or yellow onion 1 small chopped garlic clove (optional) juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup cooking cream or half n half  Process: Add oil/butter to saute pan - heat low. Add shallots, let soften slightly then add garlic. I like to slow cook my shallots/onions to soften them up before caramelizing a bit. Don't burn them.  Add in the spinach and slowly cook it down until it is softened.  Add in 1 tsp of the flour - basically enough flour to absorb the oil/butter and coat the o...