Raspberry Oatmeal

I'm always surprised at the posts that prove to be the most popular. My popularity scale is based mainly around comments and "likes" on Facebook (not exactly scientific, I admit), but that's all I have to go on.


The last surprisingly popular post was my Peanut Butter Oatmeal. Who would've thought that a humble bowl of oatmeal would inspire commentary - and several fans to try it themselves at home! I was, frankly, flattered that so many friends wanted to make my version of oatmeal for breakfast. So, in the spirit of democracy, I present to you Oatmeal Part Deux: Ridiculously Raspberry. Back and berrier than ever!


And speaking of being, ahem, back, you may (or may not) have been wondering about my recent absence. That, my friends, is called the 80-hour work week. While it only comes around every once in awhile, it's always a doozy. Now that the back-to-back 16-hour days fueled with Thai takeout and cans of Diet Coke salvaged (stolen) from conference rooms are behind me, I'm back in the kitchen trying to get my nutrition - and blog! - back on track.


So thanks for bearing with me, and thanks for being as passionate about oatmeal as I am! This simple, yet defiantly magenta, oatmeal was borne - as many of my dishes are - from the need to clean out the fridge and save innocent produce from meeting its maker in the trash bin. Rather than let that half pint of berries go to waste - and bored with putting berries merely on top of things - I dumped them into the oatmeal as it was cooking, and they just melted right in. I had to take a photo of the gorgeous bright pink concoction my aversion to waste created! The taste was exactly as you'd imagine - really, really raspberry-y. It gave a hearty cold-weather breakfast a summery twist.


I hope this oatmeal post proves as irresistible as the first. Thanks, as always, for reading. Eat well and enjoy life!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water
1/2 cup steel cut oats
pinch of salt
1-2 T. brown sugar
1 T. butter
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
cold milk (optional)

STEP 1:

Bring milk to a boil. Add salt and butter. Stir in oats and reduce heat to a simmer.

STEP 2:

Add sugar and raspberries. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until oats are tender and raspberries have dissolved into the oatmeal. Serve in a bowl topped with a little cold milk if you want. Enjoy!

Maple-Honey Peanut Butter Oatmeal

I so rarely share with you the simple things I make.


But I should. Because most people don't cook with an average of 15 ingredients per meal. Most of us just want simple ways to enhance the things we love to eat. And because I love to eat oatmeal, I wanted to share with you oatmeal my way.


This is so much more filling (not to mention unprocessed) than those cloyingly sweet instant oatmeal packets (although you could start with 2 packets of plain instant oatmeal and turn it into this recipe if those were all you had around). The protein from the peanut butter will keep you full, and the fiber in the oatmeal is what makes it such a heart-healthy breakfast option.


If you use quick oats and have the basic ingredients on hand, you can even whip this up before work -as long as you don't mind opening a few jars in your morning haze. This is the kind of hearty morning meal that won't leave your tummy rumbling by 10:15 AM. And I think we could all use a little more energy in the mornings.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water
1/2 cup steel-cut quick-cooking oats (or any quick oats)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. butter
~1 tsp. natural maple syrup
~1 tsp. honey
~1 T. natural peanut butter
freshly grated cinnamon (or jarred cinnamon)

STEP 1:

In a small pot, bring the water to a boil. Stir in the oats and reduce heat to a simmer.

STEP 2:

Stir in the rest of the ingredients except the cinnamon and cook until it's creamy - about 5 minutes.

STEP 3:

Transfer to a bowl and top with the grated cinnamon. Enjoy!

Copycat Risotto and a Gorgeous Disaster

Has anyone else been following Project Runway like a hawk tracking its prey through an open field?


Remember a couple episodes back where Mean-a Irina accuses Althea on the runway of copying her Aspen look, and Althea claimed her voluminous sweater was based on her own original sketch all along? This was a classic case of who-thought-of-it-first. This kind of stuff happens all the time among creatives working closely with one another (it happens to me in my job, like, every day). You see striking similarities between your work and someone else's, and no one can quite figure out whose idea was the original one.


That same phenomenon happened in my kitchen the other night. I was thinking over the ingredients I had - collard greens, arborio rice, butternut squash, bacon - and it occurred to me that a Butternut Squash, Collard Green and Bacon Risotto would be lovely. Later, I was perusing NewYorkTimes.com, one of my daily staples. I was looking through the recent recipe archives when I came across - you guessed it - Risotto with Butternut Squash, Bacon, and Collard Greens. Had I seen that recipe before, and had it lodged in my gray matter, only to resurface when the time was right? Admittedly, I made a dish very similar to this a couple weeks ago on a random night in with my friend Sarah, but this exact recipe - collard greens and all - well, I suddenly understood Mean-a Irina's irate runway reaction.

Regardless, this risotto is delish, be it hacked or not.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BACON, & COLLARD GREENS RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS

1 smallish butternut squash, cut into smallish chunks
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
4 slices natural bacon, cut into small pieces
1 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
1/2 small onion
2 small shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 c. dry Arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
zest of one lemon
1 container chicken broth (the box container)
2 bunches fresh collard greens, washed and sliced into ribbons
10-12 leaves fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese for serving (freshly grated)

STEP 1:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the butternut squash chunks in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast until soft and beginning to brown at the edges, about 30-40 minutes, stirring around a few times in the baking dish.


STEP 2:

In a large, deep pot, fry the bacon pieces until lightly browned. Remove from pot with slotted spoon and set aside. In another, smaller pot, heat the chicken broth, covered, over low heat. In yet another pot, boil some water and boil the collards in it for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.


STEP 3:

Drain almost all the grease from the pot, but do not wipe out (you want the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as well as a little grease). Add the olive oil and butter to this pan over medium heat. Cook the shallots and onion, seasoning with a little salt and pepper, until beginning to soften. Add the dry Arborio rice and stir. Pour in the wine, and stir, scraping the brown bacony leftovers from the bottom of the pan (trust me on this part). Add the garlic and lemon zest. Cook until the rice begins to look translucent.

STEP 4:

Add the chicken broth, about a 1/2 cup at a time, and stir constantly until the rice grains have almost completely soaked up the broth. Do this over and over until the broth is gone. Stir in the sage somewhere in the middle of the brothing action. About 5 minutes before you want to stop cooking the risotto (when there is still some broth to be soaked up), stir in the greens, squash, and bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning.



STEP 5:

Serve in shallow bowls immediately, and grate some fresh Parmesan over the top. Enjoy!


I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I don't post everything I cook on this blog. If that were the case, you could assume I only eat about once every week or so, and we all know that's not true. Sometimes, I intend on taking photos as I cook, then forget. Sometimes, I'm so hungry that slowing down to take a photo before I eat seems completely absurd. And sometimes, I just plain screw something up and decide not to tell anyone about it.


These pancakes, however, fall somewhere in a gray area - I did sort of screw them up (but I proceeded to eat them anyway). And despite the fact that they were oozingly raw in the center, they photographed beautifully. A second batch actually turned out OK, so I decided to post the recipe with the simple warning to not make the pancakes too thick when you put them in the pan. Unlike raw cookie dough, no one wants to eat raw pancake batter.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES


INGREDIENTS (not exact recipe I used, but a good recipe from Martha Stewart Living)

1 and 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder;
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

STEP 1:

Mix together first 6 ingredients. Get a nonstick pan medium-hot.


STEP 2:

Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in the skillet. Pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side; serve with butter and syrup. Makes 8 to 10.



Other than the raw first batch, these pancakes were a delicious fall indulgence, and so pumpkin-y! We all know at this point how I love a hot, hearty breakfast.

Thanks for reading! More soon...

Banana-and-PB-Stuffed French Toast

Have I ever shared how much I adore French toast?


Actually, I'm a francophile in many regards - I so dearly love their wine (Beaujolais being my favorite, and only available this very time of year!), their language (though I speak little - "J'adore les croissants avec poulet et Jean-Paul Gaultier!"), their fashion - oh, and did I mention their food? I spend about 92.8% of my time daydreaming about wandering through Le-Grande-Jatte-esque landscapes, picnicking with a baguette, some stinky cheese, and some red wine near a bridge, followed by a jaunt through the Louvre and maybe dinner in some obscure post-beatnik cafe--


--and then I remember I'm actually sitting in front of my iMac, thinking up banner ads. Sigh. Now might be a good time to mention two things: 1.) I've never actually been to France, and 2.) I'm not at all convinced that French toast bears any resemblance to anything the French actually eat for le petit dejeuner. That notwithstanding, my love for French toast (much like my love for the fried potatoes and the kisses for which they are so well-known) endures despite its dubious provenance.


Usually, I make it very simply: egg, milk, cinnamon, butter, maple syrup. Done. But, a few almost-too-ripe bananas weeping on my fruit tray and a new jar of homemade peach honey whispering from within the cupboard, I decided to make that IHOP-bastardization of French toast - Stuffed French Toast. Although this came out nicely and was a fantastic way to start a lazy weekend morning, I truly prefer French toast in its simplest form, but since this insisted on photographing well and being somewhat interesting, I decided to share it. So, thank you, France, for your toast! And thank you America, for your irrepressible spirit of excess!


PEANUT-BUTTER-AND-BANANA-STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

INGREDIENTS

4 thick slices bread (I used whole wheat)
a few spoonfuls natural (unsweetened) peanut butter
1-2 ripe bananas, sliced into rounds
drizzle of peach honey (or regular honey)
2 eggs
1 T. heavy cream (milk is fine, too)
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2 T. butter
maple syrup for drizzling


STEP 1:

Beat the eggs, cream, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside. Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

STEP 2:

Spread 2 slices of bread with the peanut butter, then top with the banana slices. Drizzle honey over both. Top with the other pieces of bread, making two sandwiches.

STEP 3:

Melt the butter in the pan. Dredge each sandwich in the egg mixture, until coated. Fry on the first side until golden-brown. Flip and fry on the other side until golden-brown. Remove from heat, slice in half, drizzle with syrup, and serve. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Muffins

Sometimes I really can't help myself.


I'll be sitting at home, relaxing, flipping through a cooking magazine, cookbook, or perusing a cooking blog - and rather than just being satisfied with some light food-related reading, I will be compelled to jump off the sofa, run to the Market, and make whatever latest recipe has struck my fancy. In the case of dinner, that's usually a good thing; in the case of baking, sometimes that can be a bad thing, because I'm almost always left with an exorbitant number of baked goods that one girl alone simply cannot consume.

On that note, muffins anyone?

I just couldn't put down my copy of Quick Vegetarian Delights, and when I came across this recipe for Oatmeal Muffins, I immediately started fantasizing about splitting them open, slathering them with cream cheese, and having them all week long with my morning tea.

Cut to me scurrying through my alley - weaving around rats like they're orange parking cones - and popping into the store for the one ingredient I didn't have on hand (plain yogurt).

I made this recipe pretty much to the letter, only I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also skipped the sugar/butter topping.


OATMEAL MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/4 c. rolled oats
1 and 1/4 c. buttermilk, or plain lowfat yogurt
1 c. unbleached flour (as I mentioned, I used whole wheat)
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. raisins (didn't go there - I hate raisins)
1 large egg
1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
5 T. unsalted butter, melted

TOPPING

1 T. unsalted melted butter
1 T. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. rolled oats
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

STEP ONE:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the oats and the buttermilk or yogurt, and let sit 15 minutes. Meanwhile, butter the insides and top of a regular-sized muffin pan.

STEP TWO:

In a small bowl, throroughly combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and raisins.

STEP THREE:

Beat the egg, brown sugar, and melted butter into the oat mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients until just evenly combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan.

STEP FOUR:

Combine the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle some on top of each muffin. Bake 17 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm, not hot.*


*Since patience is not one of my virtues, I ate one while it was hot. It was delicious.


These is a nice, base muffin recipe. One to experiment with, for sure. I'm curious how they'd taste if you used vanilla yogurt instead of plain, and of course there are a zillion dried fruits to add - I'm a fan of dried cranberries and apricots. Fresh fruit would be great too - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries...


I just remembered something I saw at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago: a jar of vanilla-lavender peach compote - the vendor was sold out last time I went, but oh mama would that be good spread on one of these! This Saturday, I'm getting there early.

Thanks for reading! More soon...

Angel Hair with Lemon, Kale, & Walnuts

I'm always looking for new ways to incorporate leafy greens into my diet. I know that they don't top most people's list of favorite foods, but I happen to love them, and they're excellent sources of calcium and iron (it's nice to get those things from somewhere other than red meat and milk).



This is an ideal post-workout lunch - it's healthy, filling, but not too heavy.

ANGEL HAIR WITH LEMON, KALE, & WALNUTS

INGREDIENTS

4 oz. whole wheat or Barilla Plus angel hair
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 lb. raw walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 bunch kale, leaves washed and chopped
handful parsley leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 white onion, minced
1/2 c. chicken broth
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
grated parmesan

STEP ONE:

Boil pasta in salted water until slightly less than al dente (it will finish cooking in the sauce). Darin, set aside, and keep warm.

STEP TWO:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter (don't be shy about the amount, since these plus the chicken broth are the only "sauce" for the pasta, but also don't overdo it - you don't want greasy noodles; I used about 1 and half T. olive oil and the same amount of butter, and this dish made about 3 servings). Saute the onions until they're translucent, then add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the chicken broth, kale, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cover and cook until kale has begun to soften a bit. You can use your own judgment on this, but I like my kale crisper and less-cooked; if you like yours softer, cook it a little longer.



STEP THREE:

Add the noodles, walnuts, and parsley and toss to combine. Cover and cook for a few more minutes. If the dish seems dry, add a little more chicken broth or a little of the pasta cooking water. Add any more seasoning to taste. Serve with a little parmesan grated over the top. Enjoy!


This is a great light lunch. It's super quick and easy, but packed with lots of great stuff: healthy fats from the walnuts and olive oil, calcium and iron from the kale, and protein and healthy carbs from the pasta (especially if you use whole wheat). I had enough for two meals, and when I ate it again I added a half chicken breast that I steamed in a little chicken broth just because I was in the mood for meat.

BONUS: Breakfast of Champions

Finding a meal that's suitable to eat BEFORE working out is always a challenge, as well. And that task is especially difficult when your workout of choice is Bikram Yoga; you're supposed to come to class on an empty stomach, but I find that if I go to a morning class after not eating since dinner the day before, I have a hard time not passing out. That's why I wanted to share this breakfast specifically:

SEEDUCTION BREAD, NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER, BANANAS & HONEY

Seeduction bread is my newest Whole Foods discovery. I've made a point lately to get freshly baked, unsliced bread from the bakery rather than more processed, shelf-stable packaged breads. This is hands down the best I've tried. It's really nutty and grainy but still somehow soft and slightly sweet. It tastes good with everything from ham and cheese and mayo to butter and honey.


INGREDIENTS

1 slice Seeduction bread (or any whole grain bread)
1-2 T. natural peanut butter (I've been using Smucker's Natural, with no added salt or sugar)
drizzle of a honey of your choice (I've been using wildflower amber honey)
sliced banana

Spread the bread with peanut butter. Drizzle honey over it, then top with the banana slices.

You could toast the bread, too, if that's your thing.

With a cup of coffee or tea, this is the perfect breakfast to carry you through whatever workout you may embark on - or just through a great morning of lazy TV watching.

Thanks for reading! More soon...