Category Archives: Food

Obligatory oatmeal post

I eat oats for breakfast pretty much every morning.  On the rare occasion that I don’t, it throws my entire day off-kilter.  I don’t need coffee, I just need my oats!

Oatmeal from rolled oats fills my bowl most mornings.  I used to be a quick oats gal, but I switched to rolled oats because they’re available in bulk (sure, you can recycle the cardboard canisters from non-bulk oats, but reducing > recycling).  The bulk oats also happen to be organic, an added bonus.

For speed and convenience, I cook my oatmeal in the microwave.  I worried that rolled oats would take a lot longer to cook, but they really don’t.

I shuffle into the kitchen first thing in the morning and measure out 1/2 cup rolled oats.  Combine the oats with a generous 1 cup of water and let sit and soak for at least 10 minutes (this is the secret to rolled oats cooking as quickly as quick oats).

After it soaks (longer is fine), pop the bowl into the microwave.  I cook mine for about 2 minutes and 15 seconds (this may vary).  Do NOT start the microwave and walk away, or you might return to an oatmeal explosion (not a fun way to start the day, and yes, I know this from experience).  I keep an eye on the oatmeal, pausing and stirring twice, while I assemble the toppings.

Toppings:

  • Something sweet — I use honey or brown sugar, just a touch, I’m going for breakfast, not dessert here.
  • Fruit — since I stopped buying bananas, my oatmeal fruit staples are chopped apples (when they’re in season), raisins, or dried apples.
  • A sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg — these add a lot of flavor
  • A splash (or more) of milk (usually soy milk) — I cook the oats in water, and a touch of milk at the end adds a rich flavor.
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of ground flax
  • 1 T. (?) peanut butter and/or some unsalted, roasted sunflower seeds

This is NOT my ordinary oatmeal, but a no-cook, to-go version: 1/3 cup rolled oats soaked in soy milk (perhaps a bit too much milk in the photo above) for a couple of hours.  Topped with sliced local peaches, homemade granola, and almond butter.  I added a touch of maple syrup to the last few bites.

Health Notes

Oats make a very healthy breakfast, especially with the addition of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Adding fruit and nuts or nut butter rounds out the meal with extra vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat.

“Oat products have high soluble fiber content, which aids digestion. Oats reduce cholesterol levels, which makes them good for heart health and they are high in protein. To obtain the heart benefits of oats, the product must contain at least three grams of soluble fiber” (1).

“These data indicate that black peppercorn, nutmeg, rosehip, cinnamon and oregano leaf may serve as potential dietary sources of natural antioxidants for improving human nutrition and health” (2), emphasis added.

“. . . antioxidants in cinnamon have been linked to lower inflammation, as well as reductions in blood glucose concentrations in people with diabetes” (3).

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1. http://www.extension.org/pages/Oats_are_Economical_and_Good_for_Your_Health

2. Su, L, et al. (2007).  “Total phenolic contents, chelating capacities, and radical-scavenging properties of black peppercorn, nutmeg, rosehip, cinnamon and oregano leaf.”  Food Chemistry, 100 (3).  Abstract here.

3. WebMD.  “Spices and Herbs: Their Health Benefits“

Little bit of everything

Clockwise from top left: green bean & roasted beet salad (a twist on the salad here); “Whatever,” Matthew’s name for our tossed-together sauteed summer veggie dish (eggplant, yellow squash, carrots, green zebra tomatoes, celery); grilled okra (super easy and delicious), dipped in spicy homemade catsup; and, last but not least, lentil sloppy joes, served open-face on a homemade English muffin.

This dinner was a combination of leftovers (the sloppy joes and the roasted beets) and must-go veggies from the garden and farmers’ market.  ‘Twas quite the feast!

Farmhaus, a review

On Thursday night, after a week of wrangling middle schoolers on bicycles in increasingly hot temperatures, I mustered the will to hop back on the bike for a dinner date.  We were torn between Stellina Pasta Cafe (an old favorite) or Farmhaus (something new).  I’d read a couple of good reviews about Farmhaus, so it was on my list of places to try.

Matthew voted for Stellina, and I was too tired to care much one way or the other, so we biked there, only to find a thirty minute wait (not outrageous, but it was already 7:30pm and we were HUNGRY).  Fortunately, Farmhaus was only a few blocks away, so we decided to try our luck there.

We walked in the door and were immediately hit by the strong fishy smell (the seafood is the main component of their menu that is NOT local).  We exchanged a look.  Ultimately, they had a table and a menu with some nice vegetarian options, so we stayed.

We choose between three or four salads that all sounded fabulous, settling on the marinated vegetable salad (not sure that’s the exact name).

It arrived in a canning jar — fun! For ease of eating we dumped it out on the plate.  A flavorful and fresh start to our meal, the corn melted in my mouth, buttery and sweet, a nice compliment to the other veggies.

By this point, after the initial wall of odor and adjustment period,  our olfactory systems became desensitized to the fishy smell.

Next up, sweet potato nachos.  These were only so-so.  To be fair, we made some changes to this dish.  We ordered it without bacon and subbed goat cheese for the blue cheese because someone doesn’t like blue cheese.  They came with some kind of a house-made catsup.  Our homemade catsup beats Farmhaus’, no contest.

We discovered a new wine, a “sweet” shiraz (Jam Jar, S. Africa) that was basically a perfect red wine for us.  Not really “sweet” in our book, but definitely not dry — a perfect dinner accompaniment.

For our entree, we shared the vegetarian succotash, tomatillos, grilled okra, corn, and peppers, served over spoon bread.  Mmm, spoon bread — my first, but definitely not my last, encounter with this food.  We ate this and were very sad that we couldn’t lick up the last bits in the bowl 😦  In some cultures, that’s considered very polite.

I don’t have a dessert pic, but we ordered a peach and ricotta pastry.  The pastry was light and flaky, with a generous amount of fresh, local peaches, served hot out of the oven with peach sorbet on top to cool things off.

We chatted with our waiter about local biking options and headed home after a delicious dinner adventure, both glad we ended up at Farmhaus.

Salsa, salsa, salsa

I typed the title with a little song running through my head.

On Tuesday night, I chopped up a bunch of tomatoes.  Matthew handled the onion, garlic, and hot peppers (much to his chagrin on that last ingredient — multiple hand washings still left behind residue that made it into his eyes).

A few hours later . . .

Six pints sealed and another pint in the refrigerator to eat now = success on our first salsa attempt 🙂