SKIN Organic Body Care Giveaway #2 WINNER

Hi folks!  Hope you had a splendid Thanksgiving!  We had our first holiday with just us, and it was really nice.  Especially because we have the greatest little guy to share it with this year and start new family traditions with!  I made many of the side dish and dessert recipes from Season's Eatings and also tried out some new recipes and ideas I have been playing with.  I'll share our successes soon in future posts!  We also skipped the turkey this year and did Cornish hens.  They were so cute on our plates!  And only take an hour to cook...even if you have 4, 5, 6...in the oven at a time.  An hour, people!  They came out with crispy skin and super juicy meat, too.  No basting required!  I'm sold, Cornish hens for all future Thanksgivings in the Schwartz household.

Now enough of my babbling.  Time to announce the SKIN Organic Body Care giveaway winner!  And the winner is Nancy D.!  Nancy, please send me an email with your mailing address and Stephanie from SKIN will send you your very own jar of Healing Calendula Cream: elise@healingcuisinebyelise.com.  Congrats!!  And thank you to all who entered and took the time to tell us what you are grateful for this year.  We loved reading your responses!

I do have a quick recipe to share today.  Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.  Since I started breastfeeding, I've been craving oatmeal.  Every day for the last 2 months.  You'd think I'd be sick of it by now, or at least I try to tell myself I should be sick of it.  Sometimes I (embarrassingly) have two bowls of oatmeal in one day.  A lactation consultant and friend told me that there's something in oats / oat straw that stimulates milk production and that some women need different things in their diet to enhance milk production.  Oats seems to be my thing.  Since I'm boiling up a bowl of steal cut every morning, as I stand there watching it and stirring occasionally, I have been thinking of ways to switch it up and make it more flavorful, more than my bland butter, stevia and oats.  Sure there's cinnamon, raisins, coconut milk...etc that can be added.  "But why not pumpkin?" I thought to myself one morning.  And that was the beginning of Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.  It is the perfect fall comfort breakfast!

This is a Core Plan treat because of the oats folks, just to clarify.  (Shhh...even though Dave has me on the Advanced Plan for Austin's dairy allergy, he *probably* doesn't know I've been eating oatmeal every single day since Austin's birth.   Don't tell him! ;)

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Makes 1 Serving

1 cup steal cut oatmeal, cooked
1/2 cup cooked pumpkin, pureed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
12 drops pure liquid stevia (more/less to taste)
Full-fat organic coconut milk (optional)

To warm prepared steal cut oatmeal, stir in pureed pumpkin, spices, vanilla, and stevia until well combined.  Serve as is or drizzle a couple spoonfuls of coconut milk over top.  Dave likes to add hempseeds to his bowl for extra protein.