Author: Lalena Leigh

Many years ago my exotically beautiful (inside and out) friend, Jennifer, caught the attention of the baker at the fancy California restaurant where she waited tables.  He taught her how to make their signature crème brulee and flourless chocolate cake.  She was kind enough to come to my house and endure five crazy little kids running around (probably naked – they loved to strip as soon as I was distracted) and taught me to make my newfound love- crème brulee (I was about thirty the first time I had crème brulee and I had to forgive the previoius generation for never introducing me to that little cup of wonder.)  On the other side of the recipe card she wrote out the baker’s flourless chocolate cake recipe.  I have since lost that card and she doesn’t remember the recipe, but I’ve “suffered” through several practice runs (my family thanks you!) and came up with something pretty darn close.  

As a young mom I stumbled upon a discovery that practically ruined childhood for the Leigh tribe (or so they say); breakfast cereal is not only a fake food, it’s downright unhealthy.  This was a bummer, as Cheerios were practically a staple for our mornings- and who doesn’t love a sloppy bowl of Golden Grahams or Lucky Charms?  (I still love cereal and once in a blue moon I’ll buy a box for dessert- figure it’s probably about the same as eating cake.  I also bought each child one box every Christmas, so they can’t really claim I ruined their lives!)  When I read how the grains were processed with high heat and incredible pressure, to the point of making them anti nutrients, and the amount of food processing leftovers that went into the breakfast cereal market, we quit cold turkey.  I switched to cooking a large pot of oatmeal (and later learned to soak it ahead of time to make it even more digestible) for most mornings, and when I had time we’d enjoy pancakes (would usually make big batches and freeze some for easy breakfasts later in the week) or waffles.  Sandy’s baked oatmeal recipe quickly became a breakfast staple along with crustless, vegetable packed quiches; both could be baked in a 9×13 pan and we’d have several mornings of food already made.

I typically made these as a side dish with grilled salmon- those were the glory days of Alaskan gardens over producing zucchini and a freezer full of salmon from glorious dipnetting trips to Chitna with my amazing fishing buddies (thanks for Fritz for inviting me along, even it if was only to have a token female to harass!) They have also been dinner all by themselves- super quick to make and low carb.