We'll start the recipe sharing with our culinary creations from this week.  First, we made a steel cut oats recipe in the crock pot.  Mom inspired us last weekend with her oats, so we wanted some for the week.

We added 3 cups of water for every cup of oats.  We also tossed in some salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon and let them go for 8 hours on low in the crock pot.  The oats turned out well - they had good flavor and were thick.  They had a consistency sort of like tapioca - almost too soft.  There were also quite a few oats that stuck to the bottom and sides, so it felt kind of wasteful.   Other than that, they tasted great and it is a fine way to do it.  Here is a picture:

The second recipe that we have to share came from my recent trip to South Dakota.  I had a bruschetta salad at a place in Sioux Falls that I loved and wanted to create.  To make the salad:

1.  Grill or cook one chicken breast, then after it cools shave it into very thin slices - as thin as you can get them going across the grain.
2.  In a bowl, whisk about 3 tablespoons each of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar (the quality of the vinegar makes a difference, I think - get the good stuff).  Add a pinch of salt and a little black pepper to taste.  Spike it with another dash or two of vinegar until it tastes good to you.
3.  Cut 2-3 tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices, and then cut the slices into quarters.  You can seed the tomatoes before slicing them if you want to get fancy, or not worry about it (like me).
4.  Chop a handful of spinach into ribbons about 1/3 inch wide
5.  Combine all of the ingredients and dressing together in a bowl and mix to coat all of the stuff with the balsamic goodness.  Set aside.
6.  Cut 12 thin slices of a good hard bread like ciabatta.  We used ciabatta and it worked great.  Spread the slices on a wire rack and put the rack on a sheet pan.  Sprinkle some cheese (parmesan is best - not the junky fake kraft parmesan powder) on each bread slice.  Turn on broiler in oven to low.  Place the pan of slices on a middle rack - not too close to the broiler.   As soon as the cheese starts to bubble and bread starts to toast, turn off the broiler and turn the oven on to 375.  Bake for another 3-5 minutes or until the bread is fully toasted.  This will help the underside of the bread to toast as well.
7.  Put a mound of the salad onto a plate and arrange the bread slices around it.  Scoop the salad with the bread to eat.

This salad was awesome.  I really like to eat things that you can scoop up with bread, so this was great for me.  Also, it is really fast and very easy.  If you haven't used balsamic vinegar before, you can get it anywhere.  Costco sells a great one, although you end up with a lifetime supply.   Some of the Kneaders breads would make great bruschetta.

Finally, Erin made up the Shepherd's Pie out of the America's Test Kitchen Makeovers cook book.  It was awesome - great flavor and really good way to use ground beef (which we still have a ton of from the cow).  It was really cool looking, very rich, and you couldn't tell that it wasn't horrible for you.  I had guilt-free seconds.  Here is the picture: