Silk Nog Saves the Day

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain pitter pattering on the roof, at last some proper winter weather here in San Diego! To celebrate the stormy day I decided to make a winter weather breakfast favorite, banana oatmeal. I measured the oats, toasted the walnuts, sliced up a banana, gathered a few spices and went to the fridge to get the vanilla soy milk only to find that gasp! There was none to be found!! Oats without milk would just not be the same! I searched and searched thinking there must be some hidden in the back somewhere but alas there was none. What we did have though was a full carton of delicious silk nog and with that a delicious new oatmeal creation was born.

 

Happy Holiday Oats

Serves one

Ingredients

 1 cup silk nog

½ cup oats

½ teaspoon vanilla

a dash of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove

1 small banana, sliced

 

Topping Ingredients

a sprinkle of brown sugar

1 tablespoon walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

a splash more of silk nog

Preparation

Combine silk nog and oats in a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat until bubbly then lower heat to a light simmer. Add to this the vanilla and spices then stir to combine, let simmer a minute or two and then add the sliced bananas. Let this cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed into the oats.

Once the oats are done pour them into a bowl and top with all of the scrumptious toppings.

Now put on some festive tunes or your favorite holiday film (I highly recommend Elf or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), sit by the fire and enjoy your delicious bowl of holiday goodness.

Oatmeal Season

As much as I love me a delicious bowl of oatmeal the past few months of heat and humidity have put a bit of a damper on my normal morning oatmeal cravings. While the daytime hours are still mostly sunshiny and warm here the mornings and nights have at last started to cool, this past weekend it even dropped down to the upper 40’s late at night! That being the case the early work day mornings are at last the perfect temperature for hot oatmeal breakfast again. After weeks and weeks without my favorite breakfast food it was so hard for me to narrow down the delicious mixins to include in my oats to just a few, so I decided not to!

Autumn Everything Oats
Serves one



This recipe was inspired by the cooling weather, my indecisiveness and a chat with my peachy keen Georgia friend, Elliott about our mutual love of oatmeal.

Oatmeal Ingredients

1 cup vanilla soy milk
½ cup oats
½ teaspoon vanilla
a dash of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove
1 small banana, sliced
1 tablespoon pureed pumpkin

Topping Ingredients

a sprinkle of brown sugar
1 tablespoon walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
more vanilla soy milk or vanilla hemp milk
a spoonful of peanut butter or raw almond butter

Preparation

Combine soymilk and oats and cook over medium high heat until bubbly then lower heat to a light simmer. Add to this the vanilla, spices and pumpkin, stir to combine, let simmer a minute or two and then add the sliced bananas. Let this cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed into the oats.

Once the oats are done pour them into a bowl and top with all of your scrumptious toppings.



On a cool day oats are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Personally, I have been loving this new Coconut Chai Tea from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea.



Served with a bit of milk and sweetener (I like stevia) it is delish!

For the <3 of Oats

Fairly recently I was informed of a delightful addition to the list of delicious gluten free foods. McCann’s Steel Cut Oats. Oh happy day, as if I needed another excuse to eat more oatmeal for breakfast! Apparently they have been gluten free for sometime, but this was new news to me. I checked the McCann’s website to verify that the rumor was true and found in the faq section that they cannot completely guarantee that the oats are gluten free due to an 0.05% chance of cross contamination but they are pretty darn sure that the oats will be okay for most people. Oats are one of those things that are fine and dandy for some celiacs to digest and an impossible pain for others. My personal experience has been that once I had allowed my tummy adequate time to recover after my initial celiac diagnosis as long as the oats are processed in a (relatively) gluten free facility I am okay. So what did I do to celebrate this joyous oaty news, I made oatmeal of course!

Steel cut oats are much thicker than rolled oats, they look more like a rice grain than the flaky oats most of us are accustomed to cooking with. This gives them a different taste and texture and also means that they take a bit longer to cook. Trust me though the nutty flavor and chewy texture makes the extra cooking time more than worthwhile. For cook time shortcuts check out the McCann’s webby page where they have some great time saving tips.

Sweet and Nutty Steel Cut Oats
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 teaspoon earth balance or butter
1 cup steel cut oats
5 pitted dates, roughly chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 cups water, boiling
1 cup milk (soy, hemp, rice or moo cow)
1 teaspoon vanilla
a handful of pecans, toasted
brown sugar for sprinkling (or agave)

Preparation

In a large pot melt the butter. Add the oats and stir for a couple minutes or until toasted. To the butter oat mix first add the cinnamon stick and chopped dates, give a good stir and then add the 3 cups boiling water, reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

After the majority of the water has absorbed add the milk and vanilla to the pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the oats reach the consistency you prefer.

Portion into bowls and top with a splash of milk, toasted pecans, and a generous sprinkling of brown sugar (or agave nectar if you prefer).

There is always time for breakfast

Even if you have to eat it while doing you make up, driving to work, or answering emails at the office. After a long nights sleep your body needs the proper nourishment to give it some fuel to start the day. I don’t know all the nitty gritty details but I do know that when you go a long time with out eating (like during the 6 to 8 hours you are sleeping) your body starts to slip into starvation mode which means your energy will dwindle, your brain will not be as sharp, and your metabolism goes haywire. When you finally realize at 11am that you are starving and grab the first thing you can get your hands on and gobble it down (which will probably be junky food) your body latches onto it and immediately stores it as fat because it’s worried that you will soon starve it again and therefore must retain whatever you feed it in order to survive. Breakfast is not only an important for your health, wellness and waistline but it can also be one of the most scrumptious meals of the day and by skipping it you are depriving yourself of a truly delicious morning treat.

Throughout the years my breakfast favorites have varied. When I was younger I loved hot cream of wheat with honey and golden raisins. Sometimes mom would get up early and make blueberry muffins served with honey butter and turkey sausages as an extra special treat. When I was in high school and wanting to spend my mornings sleeping as late as I possibly could I opted more for things that were quicker to prepare like Grapenuts cereal with fresh berries or toaster waffles with peanut butter and honey. In college when I was not eating much meat my favorite thing ever was morning star farms fake bacon, crumpets with butter or jam, and Kashi go lean crunch cereal. When I first stopped eating gluten I was temporarily crushed, most of my beloved breakfast foods seamed to be on the nono list. Happily though I quickly realized that there were a plethora of delicious gluten free breakfast options out there for me and I soon developed a new list of gluten free breakfast favorites.

• Arrowhead farms hot rice cereal made with vanilla rice milk and honey
• Raw buckwheat grouts, dried blueberries and cinnamon sprinkled on vanilla yogurt
• Chicken apple sausage or turkey bacon
• Gluten free granola, bananas, and blackberries over acia berry sorbet
• Homemade gluten free muffins, scones, breads, waffles and pancakes
• Cold gluten free cereals with fresh fruit
• Gluten free toaster waffles smeared with raw almond butter, honey, and dried blueberries

I quickly realized that just because I gave up the gluten did not mean that my delicious breakfast eating days were through, in fact the intolerance introduced me to a whole new array of delicious breakfast options. Without the forced change in diet I would have never thought to try something like buckwheat grouts, acia berries, or the vast assortment of gluten free flours I have found that are perfect for making baked goods with.

Throughout the years of taste, schedule, and diet changes there is one breakfast favorite of mine that has remained a constant. One delicious and nutritious breakfast dish that never grows old and that I enjoy today even more so than I did 25 some odd years ago when I first tried it and that most scrumptious breakfast treat is….

Oatmeal!

Quaker, steal cut or instant, drizzled with honey or loaded with fruit and nuts. Any way you serve it I have always loved me some oats. When I was in grade school I would make the instant ones as a snack, super sweet and warm they were the perfect treat after school on cool winter days. In college when I was working nights at the theater I would go to Keith’s Diner at 1:00am after my shift and order the oatmeal with brown sugar, nuts and milk. When I first gave up the gluten I noticed oats were on the list of foods to avoid but with an asterisk noting that technically oats were a gluten free food but could be hard to digest for the gluten intolerant and are also almost always cross contaminated due to processing. So for a year or so I was oat free (sigh) and then one day when I started working my new job in Solana Beach I found myself on a lunch break at Naked Café. I noticed they had a particularly delicious sounding oatmeal on the menu that included berries, milk and toasted almonds and decided to throw caution to the wind and try it out. It was just as delicious as I had anticipated and did not bother my tummy one bit. I soon became a regular visitor at the Naked Café and more often than not would order the oatmeal (so much so that the wonderful wait staff would put in my order for oats as soon as I came in even without me ordering it first!). For the most part I always felt fine after eating the oats, but every so often my tummy would object and remind me that this was something that I might want to not eat so often. One day while shopping at Henrys and making a once through the gluten free isle to see if they had anything new I noticed a big bag of oats labeled, “certified gluten free”. I squealed with delight at the sight of these non tummy offending oats and snatched up a bag to take home. I’ll be honest the first thing I made with the precious gluten free oats was a batch of oatmeal cookies (my favorite that I had not had in nearly 2 years!) but the second thing I made was oatmeal. Everything was yummers and did not bother my tummy in the slightest.

It’s been a year now since I found the gluten free oats and I still adore them just as much as the day I discovered them. Gluten free oats are a bit more expensive but for an oat lover like myself its well worth the extra few bucks. More often then not for breakfast these days I can be found enjoying one type of oatmeal or another. I think because there are so many different ways to prepare them my tastbuds never seem to tire of it. Here are a few of my favorite oatmeal recipes.

Chocolate strawberry oatmeal
Serves 2

When strawberries are in season these oats are a sweet and colorful treat. The cocoa powder and soymilk simmering together give these oats a hint of hot chocolaty flavor. I have always swooned for chocolate + strawberry combinations so these oats are a spring and summer time favorite of mine. I highly recommend sprinkling your chocolate chips on the oats while they are still pretty hot so the chips get super melty.

Ingredients

1 cup oats
2 cups vanilla soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 cup strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces
2 packets of splenda or 1 tablespoon agave nectar
15 or 20 chocolate chips

Making the oats

Bring the soy milk and oats to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer and add your vanilla flavoring and cocoa powder. While the oats are cooking cut up your strawberries, place in a bowl, sprinkle with splenda or agave nectar and set aside. After 8 to 10 minutes of cooking or when most of the liquid has absorbed from the oatmeal, reduce heat to low and add the strawberries. Stir gently to combine, let sit for a minute just to heat the strawberries through a smidge and then portion oats into two bowls and top with chocolate chips.

Banana nut oats
Serves 2



This is my all time favorite way to prepare oats. Most mornings I start my day with a run and some yoga and the high protein content in this recipe helps me refuel for the day ahead. Plus they are uber delicious! All the different flavors and textures mishmash together to form the most scrumptious bowl of oats you will ever taste!

Ingredients for the oats

1 cup oats
2 cups vanilla soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon flax seeds, ground
*I buy flax seeds in bulk, grind them in the blender and store in the fridge for easy access
1 tablespoon walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 large banana or 2 small, cut into ½” thick slices

Topping ingredients

1 or 2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons raw almond butter
A splash or two of vanilla soy milk (or vanilla hemp milk if you can find it)

Preparation

Bring the oats and soy milk to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. While this is cooking slice the banana(s) and toast the nuts (in the oven or in a microwave for 60 seconds). After 5 minutes or so of cooking and while there is still some liquid left in the pot add in your vanilla, cinnamon, flax and nuts. Stir to combine and then immediately add in your banana and stir gently. Let this cook for another two or three minutes or until the bananas start to get a bit melty and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Divide the oats between two bowls, sprinkle with brown sugar, add a smidge of your milky product of choice and serve with a dollop of raw almond butter on top.

Fruity oats with cinnamon ginger infused creamy syrup
Serves 2

This is one of the first types of oatmeal I made when I discovered gluten free oats. I use to make this for dinner and serve it with a side of turkey bacon to make a complete meal. You can alter the amount of sweeteners you add to your taste and dietary requirements.

Ingredients for oats

2 cups water
1 cup oats
¼ cup dried fruit, cranberries, chopped apricots, cherries, blueberries (any combination you like!)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional, if you want to make it a bit sweeter)

Ingredients for the cinnamon ginger infused creamy syrup

1 ½ cups vanilla soy milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave nectar
2 cinnamon sticks
4 quarter inch thick slices of fresh, peeled ginger

Ingredients for toppings

¼ cup frozen raspberries

Preparation

Combine all of the creamy toping ingredients, cover with a lid, and heat on medium low. You want this mixture to be barley simmering, just hot enough to infuse the milk with the flavors of all the yummy mixins. While the creamy syrup is cooking bring the oats and water to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. After oats have lightly boiled for about 5 minutes add your dried fruit and brown sugar (if you are adding it) and cook until most of the liquid has absorbed from the oats. While everything is finishing up cooking microwave your raspberries until they are hot and then remove the cinnamon sticks and ginger slices from the creamy syrup. Portion the oats into two bowls, top with a generous portion of the syrup, and serve with a dollop of hot raspberries.

Baked banana oatmeal
Serves 2 (or 4 if you double it!)



Another favorite! This tastes like a combination between oatmeal cookies and banana bread. The recipe can easily be doubled to make as a treat when you have company for breakfast. Sometimes when I know I will be running short on time in the morning I will pre measure ingredients and get all the utensils and tools ready for this the night before. Then in the morning after my run I mix it all together, pop it in the oven, set the timer and then take the timer with me so the oats can cook while I get ready for work. When the timer dings I take a break and eat breakfast (or if I am really running late I portion my oats into a bowl and take it with me to eat at the office).

Ingredients

1 cup oats
2 cups vanilla soymilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 large banana or two small, cut into ½” thick slices
1 or 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preparation

Combine the oats, cinnamon, baking powder and walnuts. Add to this your soymilk and vanilla. Pour this mixture into a greased or parchment paper covered baking dish. Gently top with banana slices and add a small sprinkle of cinnamon atop the bananas. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and top with brown sugar, pop this back in the oven and broil on low for 1 or 2 minutes, just until the sugar starts to bubble a bit. Serve in bowls topped with a splash of vanilla soy milk.

Pumpkin and peanut butter oatmeal
Serves 2

These oats are great in the fall when you start to crave baked goods like pumpkin pie and peanut butter cookies. Not only does this breakfast taste like a decadent dessert but it good for you too, full of vitamin C and beta carotene from the pumpkin and protein and healthy fat from the smidge of peanut butter.

Oatmeal ingredients

1 cup oats
2 cups vanilla soy milk
¼ cup pureed pumpkin (the kind you get in a can for pumpkin pie works perfect)
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave nectar
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Topping ingredients

¼ cup vanilla or plain yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 small sprinkle of cinnamon

Preparation

Bring the oats and soymilk to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sweetener of choice (maple syrup or agave), stir to combine and let cook for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. While this is cooking prepare the topping by mixing the yogurt, maple syrup and sprinkle of cinnamon in a small bowl and then set aside. When oats are just about done mix in the peanut butter and stir until it has all melted into the oats. Turn off the heat, portion oats into two bowls and serve with a dollop of the maple flavored yogurt on top.

Friends and Food in the Forrest

One of the few things I enjoy more than cooking is spending time with my loved ones, put those two activities together and I am as happy as can be. This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get to spend three days doing just that, cooking delicious food and catching and up with a handful of my nearest and dearest friends. This weekend of food and friends was made even more exciting due to the fact that there would be no kitchen or dining room table for us to gather around and not even a roof over our heads as we were to be spending our weekend outdoors and under the stars camping in the Cleveland National Forrest.

A handful of us drove up early on Friday afternoon thinking it might be handy to get an early start setting up camp while it was still light out. When we left San Diego the sky was overcast and gray so we were quite pleased to find that as we approached our destination the sky cleared and the sun came out to shine brightly in the sky. We pulled into the campground and drove around till we found our spot which sat on the edge of a big grassy meadow. We gathered our things and got ready to hop out of the car, happily anticipating the feel of warm sunshine but as we opened the car door we were surprisingly greeted with a strong gust of chilly wind. Not quite what we were expecting but that’s okay, we threw on a couple extra layers and started to unpack thinking soon enough the wind would die down enough for us to set up the tents. One hour later and the wind is still gusting just as strong and chilly as when we had first arrived if not even more so. We decided before attempting to set up the tents in the wind we should have a bite to eat so we broke out some crackers, chips and a bag of Trader Joes Gluten Free potato crisps for me and had ourselves a little pre tent setting up snack. The boys were drinking beer and I was perfectly content with my water until my darling Kate broke out the bottle of tequila she had bought for the occasion. We all decided it would be appropriate to mark the start of our camping adventure by having a shot straight from the bottle. The delicious chips filled our bellies and the tequila helped cut the chill of the wind and motivated us to get to work pitching our temporary fabric bedrooms.

An hour later our tents were up and the Ford Family had arrived with puppy dog Deezl in tow. Kelly being the fabulous gal that she is brought all sorts of tools and supplies for a weekend of successful outdoor cooking. By the time we had finished setting up camp the sun had begun to set and more friendly faces from San Diego had arrived. After exchanging lots of hugs and how are yous we decided it was time to start the camp fire, chop up some veggies and crissen our camp kitchen. Friday night’s dinner was to be a delicious smorgasbord of sausages, potatoes and peppers.

Chicken apple gouda sausages (sooo yummy!!) and spicy Italian sausages grilled on an open fire. Chopped potatoes, onion and bell peppers drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, wrapped in foil packets and cooked on the fire for 20-30 minutes. Chopped yams drizzled with a Trader Joes Hard Apple cider I was drinking and sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar, wrapped in foil and cooked on the fire for 20-30 minutes. You want to make sure and flip the foil packets ever 5 minutes or so to keep the potatoes from charring too much on one side.

Dinner was incredibly delicious and particularly enjoyable considering all the hard work we had put into setting up camp earlier. The chilly wind continued to gust long after the sun had set so the hot food and cooking over the fire really helped warm us up. Even when we decided to call it a night and headed off to bed the wind shook the tents throughout the night. We also had some rowdy drunken neighbors that crashed the site next to us and were up till the wee ours of the morning causing quite the ruckus stumbling around the campground, being noisy and obnoxious and even chopping down trees in the forest behind our tents (grrr!!!). Lucky for me I had ear plugs and was able to sleep through most of the noise and our offending neighbors were kicked out first thing Saturday morning by the cute old couple that oversaw the campground (yay!!).

Unlike Friday, Saturday’s weather was quite pleasant. Warm, sunshiny and not windy at all. Once everyone was up and about we got to work preparing breakfast.

Ford made potatoes and yummy maple chicken breakfast sausages on the gas grill.

Kelly made eggs and I made my favorite breakfast item, oatmeal!

I cooked up two batches, banana nut and apple pie (the latter being for my bestest banana loathing friend Kate). I cooked these on the camp stove and then kept them warm on the fire.

Breakfast was scrumptious! Bellies full we decided it was time to get out and enjoy the beautiful day. Plus, we needed to do a bit of exercise if we wanted to be hungry for the dinner feast we had planed for that evening. We packed some water and a few snacks, slathered ourselves with sunscreen and headed out for a hike. We walked past the wooden fence that ran along the edge of our campsite and stepped out into the vast grassy meadow (which of course made me start quoting lines from Bambi).

The middle of the meadow had a spiffy cluster of boulders in the center of it that we stopped to climb on.

We also came across a heard of cattle. They were trying to intimidate us with their horns and angry cow stares.

After an hour we stopped in a shady spot and had some apples and pears, I planted my apple core in hopes that a tree might grow there someday. After another hour or so we were back at camp and plum tuckered out so we resigned to our tents for a little camp nap. When we awoke it was almost time to start preparing dinner, but not quite yet so to pass the time we made some smores!

Peanut butter cup + roasted marshmallow + cookie = yumers!!

I used a Nana’s Nana Banana cookie bar as my graham cracker replacement. I think this actually worked much better than a graham cracker because the Nana’s cookies are so soft that they don’t crumble to bits when you take your first bite. It was so delicious! I could have easily eaten another one (or 4!) but I limited myself to one because I wanted to save room for our Mexican feast we were going to be eating for dinner in a few hours.

I started making the tortillas first since they take the longest time to prepare. I mixed up the masa harina with water and then used my hands and a tortilla press my dad and brother brought me back from Ixtapa to make a bunch of corn tortillas. Kelly had brought a super spiffy gas grill that had a huge removable rectangular plate on it that was perfect for cooking 5 tortillas at once. Once the tortillas were done I set them aside to keep warm in my super fancy styrofoam tortilla warmer that I got at the 99 cent store just for the occasion.

Kelly got to work warming up some pork in a green sauce she had made at home in the crockpot while I warmed up some black beans I had slow cooked on Thursday night.

Kelly Orange had brought an abundance of delicious fresh fruits and veggies and chopped up some squash, bell peppers and onion to be sautéed with garlic and roasted on the fire.

Mikey brought some carne asada and more colorful peppers that to be grilled over the fire.

Steve, my official recipe taste tester gladly sampled everything and loved every bite.

As if dinner was not enough deliciousness for one evening we still had an amazingly delicious dessert to enjoy, a dessert which we will call…

Scrumptious Stuffed Bananas

Ingredients and tools

Bananas
Peanut butter cups
Milk chocolate chips
Marshmallows (mini or big ones torn into mini sized pieces)
Heavy duty aluminum foil

Assembling the package

Leaving the peels on use a knife to cut a slit running lengthwise into the inner curve of each banana. You want to cut through one side of the skin and flesh of the banana and leave the opposite side of the skin intact. Stuff the slit of the banana with as much crumbled up peanut butter cup, chocolate chips and bits of marshmallow as you can then wrap the bundle in foil and put on the fire to cook for about 5 minutes or so. If you don’t have a grill over your fire you can put the foil packet directly onto some hot coals or rocks (if you do this you might want to double wrap the banana with foil). Once your banana is cooked grab a spoon, carefully open your foil packet and enjoy. You can eat this straight out of the banana peel with a spoon or I have been told that it is also extremely delicious spooned atop of a graham cracker.

Yum!!!

After a long day of hiking, cooking and eating we all cozyed up around the warm fire to relax and enjoy our surroundings. Even though we had only been away just shy of a day being outdoors in the peaceful wilderness far away from the hustle and bustle of city life lightened our spirits and cleared our heads of thoughts of job obligations, alarm clocks and traffic jams. For most of us our days at home are jam packed with working, commuting, school, cleaning, taking care of kids and errand running and while our bodies and minds adjust to this fast paced way of life I think it is extremely important and healthy to take some time every now and again to slow down and enjoy a few peaceful, pleasant moments with friends.

After a much quieter night’s sleep we rose early in the morning, started a campfire and made a simple breakfast of tea, leftover oatmeal, foil packet roasted potatoes and peppers and hot strawberry chocolate scones (baked Friday morning before we left) warmed up on the fire.

It was a delicious end to a delicious trip and one that renewed my love of camping and inspired me to make plans to do more cooking and playing in the great outdoors.

Next camping adventure in the works, southern California beach camping, who’s in?