for breakfast today I enjoyed a wonderful bowl of OATS! rolled oats to be specific, I like to keep them around when I make homemade granola, but this morning I wanted something warm, filling and satisfying as IT IS SNOWING!!!
So I meant last night to soak my oats in some milk so I wouldn’t have to cook them this morning, but I forgot. However I brought them to work this morning and nuked them and they turned out just lovely. Here is my recipe:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup plus a smidge of milk
Then I nuked that for a few minutes, stirring once to loose up the starches and make it creamier!
Then for the stir-ins. I have noticed lots of people make oats for breakfast in some sort of fashion. I don’t usually go for oatmeal, I prefer crispier breakfast foods (aka toast). Today my stir ins were: half a partially mushy banana (it was time to get rid of it!), a squirt of agave nectar (which embarrassingly enough I keep a bottle on my desk at job #1), a spoon of almond butter and a spoon of chocolate hazelnut spread. YUM YUM! And voila:
ok so it might look like poo in the middle, but i promise it tasted fantastic. My favorite combo is banana, peanut butter, and chocolate, so this was amazing!
Now for a few fun facts about oats. Oats are obviously a type of grain. They can be consumed cooked or raw, they can be ground up, chopped, baked with, cooked with, even used to make beverages with. There is even evidence that oats are good at relieving itchy skin, hello Aveeno!
The oat bran, aka the outer shell of the oat is believed to lower bad cholesterol and fight against heart disease, due to its higher amount of soluble fiber. Hence why you see all those Quaker Oat commercials.
I also like to look for food that is gluten free because I know celiacs and its always nice to learn which foods I can serve them. Oats do not contain the gluten protein, however, it does contain a minor protein called avenin which can trigger a reaction due to it being toxic to the intestine, but not all Celiac’s will react.
So oats are healthy, have multiple uses and are super yummy and filling!
Maybe tonight I’ll find another way to use oats…oatmeal chocolate cookies anyone? or maybe some homemade granola? hmmm….or maybe i’ll make my homemade honey oat bread!
and i owed you a picture of my peppermint bark:
how do you make you ask?
1 package of white almond bark (24 oz)
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
red food coloring
6 crushed candy canes
Melt the bark in a sauce pan over med-low heat, add in the peppermint extract. Pour into a pan covered in wax paper. drop food coloring over the top randomly and swirl with a toothpick. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces and let to set. You can refrigerate, but I didn’t. Roughly chop so pieces are different sizes. Enjoy!
honeymoon pic anyone:
and how about a sad puppy pic because poppa left for work:
ok that is all for now. We are expecting anywhere from 6-12 inches of SNOW today, so I might be cooking
