Savory oats.. well almost

I have been thinking about the idea of making oatmeal that is not sweetened. Oats are a grain and if you actually purchase them as they were intended (rolled not instant) then you can really see this versatile grain.

So the idea came up when I read about Mark Bittman's Savory Oatmeal with Scallions and Soy Sauce (http://tiny.cc/qjcwj) as soon as I finished the article my mind was racing with ideas on how to make oatmeal less breakfastly.


Today I decided to try one of my ideas, I had some Chili sauce and honey mixed together from the night before and I had recently purchased whole rolled oats from Vitamin Cottage so I plunged into the unknown.


(side note, I cannot stand mushy oatmeal, sticky oatmeal, old or cold oatmeal, etc. My oatmeal needs to be warm, and the grains have to be al dente.)


Here is what I did:

2 cups of water (I will reduce this for the next time possibly 1 1/2 cups)
2 pinches of kosher salt 
1 cup rolled oats
1 tbls chili-honey sauce

Bring the water and a pinch of salt to a rolling boil, add oats and turn off the flame. Stir a a couple of times until until oats have reached the desired consistency.

Serve oats with the salt, and chili sauce and a pat of butter, enjoy.

I would love to hear from anyone who is brave enough to try this.. it does not have to be breakfast, maybe it is a side dish or a quick lunch.

As I am working on my writing, I am attempting to make my food photos more enticing, drop me a note to let me know what you think.

in the meantime Eat!


Trace
www.cookingwithtrace.blogspot.com

The perfect baked potatoes

The perfect baked potato!

With a little preparation and a few ingredients you can make the tastiest baked potatoes at home. My wife loves the potatoes at Texas Roadhouse, and therefore I took it upon myself to try to duplicate.

The main thing about these potatoes would be the salty exterior and secondly the fluffy interior. To ensure that the flavor is matched we would have to visit the restaurant for research purposes… just kidding.

My wife had a scrapbooking event to attend today so we assembled the ingredients and made the tasty taters for her to take with her.

A quick note about potatoes from www.idahopotato.com

A 5 ounce potato has no fat, cholesterol, or sodium. There are only 26 grams of carbohydrates (2 fiber and only 1 sugar) and it even has a couple grams of protein.

So again moderation is the key and of course be careful what you top it with.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

Oil

Kosher salt

 Several small/medium potatoes

A baking dish

After washing and drying your potatoes roll them in oil and salt

Add them to the baking dish

I like to use my Pampered Chef fluted stoneware baker, the sides allow the heat to cook the potatoes evenly.

Bake at 350 for 90 minutes and then let cool for about 20 minutes. The outside is crispy and salty while the inside is fluffy. Add butter, sour cream, bacon bits, chives, etc. Enjoy

Viva la unfrosted cake!

Old age and frosting...

When I announced that my birthday cake was going to be frosting free, you would have thought that I committed an act of culinary sacrilege. My thought was that if you break it down we are smearing fat+sugar+food coloring on to a slab or flour, eggs, sugar. Do we really need to sweeten cake? Don’t get me wrong, I love frosting, as a matter of fact the main reason for me to want to not have it on my birthday cake is because I would not be able to stay out of it. I was certain that there was a better choice, and my friends eventually came around.

I wanted to make my own cake but the clock/calendar was not cooperating. I wanted something unique and artistic, maybe a flavored cake. So I made a few phone calls, several local bakeries, everyone had the same thing to offer, white, yellow, chocolate, carrot, and spice. One local bakery had a zucchini cake and also an Italian cream flavor (which we will keep in mind for another time, yum), did you know that almost all supermarkets will sell you an unfrosted cake for about one third less than a frosted cake? This would not include Safeway, all of their cakes come frosted some their “commissary” in Denver. One of my last calls was to City Market (a Kroger subsidiary) and I asked the same old questions, what flavors do you have besides the standards, can I purchase it without fat smeared all over it, etc. Suddenly the clouds opened up and the person on the other end said “we do have an almond poppy seed flavor”... angels started singing, taste buds starting tingling, and I am pretty sure there was some salivating. Almond poppy seed? that screams flavor and uniqueness. Almost immediately I started thinking of how I would make this into a celebration treat.

The answer is FRUIT SALSA! My wife had mentioned that as an alternative to cake in the planning stages (Mango Salsa Sundaes is a wonderful Pampered Chef recipe). So after a brief Facebook survey, I determined that you could put anything into a salsa and it would still turn out pretty good, but the key ingredients that kept popping up were, Strawberries, peaches, kiwi and bananas. My oldest son has an allergy to bananas, so they are out, but what about the rest?

Here is what I can up with:

4 lb frozen Strawberries (partially thawed)
10 kiwi (peeled, in chunks)
2 32 oz cans of peaches in juice (not syrup) reserve juice from one can
2 cans crushed pineapple in juice
2 bottles of mandarin oranges in juice
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup sugar

Place the strawberries and peaches in a large bowl and mix/chop them until you have a salsa consistency, add the chunks of kiwi and the crushed pineapple.

Split and scrape vanilla bean into sauce pan, add sugar and juice from peaches, heat and stir to combine. Once cooled add to salsa and mix together.

Layer the mandarin oranges on top and we are done!

We served the unfrosted cake with fruit salsa and whipped cream, it was a hit, I even was thanks by my friends daughter because she cannot eat frosting and was ecstatic to come to a party and be able to eat the cake!

The point is make it delicious, make it adventurous, make it original! Leave the frosting alone! Viva la unfrosted cake....

Trace



cookingwithtrace.blogspot.com

How now brown cow! Latest article from Your Valley Source

How now brown cow?
Does it seem conceivable that once upon a time most of our everyday junk
food was actually made at home? I remember the first time I saw my grandma
make pudding from scratch, no box, no Bill Cosby, just ingredients and
(cheesy alert) love.
Can you think of a time when you made a cake from scratch, or your own
potato chips? You can do it! Anything you want from popsicles to candy bars
can be made in the home kitchen, it will take time, it will take a little
gumption, but it can be done.
Let's start with something easy, delicious, and somewhat nutritious.
Chocolate milk! It bothers me that you can find low fat chocolate milk in
every direction from cows to soybeans, but you can't find any low sugar
creamy caramel colored goodness.
Why do I care? A couple of reasons, first off they serve the sugary stuff in
school to get kids to drink milk, but I believe if you make a nutritious
product and then fill it full of bad things then what is the point.
Secondly, it is a cool refreshing drink that is full of vitamins, protein,
and good carbohydrates. There is even a movement right now that is
supporting chocolate milk as a post workout recovery drink.
So now that I have your attention I am going to throw another wrench in the
works, what about chocolate milk for adults?
The nutritional content of 1% white milk is as follows: 1 serving (8 ounces)
100 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 12 carbohydrates (all of which are sugar)
and 8 grams of protein. There are 4 grams of sugar per teaspoon, so a
regular glass of white milk has 3 teaspoons of sugar. Now when you add in
the chocolate syrup you add typically another 3 teaspoons of sugar for a
total of 6 teaspoons or 1 fluid ounce of sugar. Would you add that much
sugar to any other drink?
So what is the solution? I have fallen in love with stevia. Stevia is a
natural substance that is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar and it is
carbohydrate free. I recently purchased pure stevia powder at a little shop
on 7th and Main streets in Grand Junction, Orrs Trading Company. The pure
powder can be purchased by the ounce (and by our calculations 1 ounce of
stevia at 300X will sweeten a lot of stuff) and then added to your choice of
items. If you go by there you can pick up a lot of other bulk herbs, spices
and teas all at reasonable prices. Tell Deborah I said hi!
A quick note about the new surge of stevia products in the grocery store,
check to see what they are mixed with, since the stevia is so much stronger
it has to be typically cut with inulin, or maltodextrin, or some other
"harmless" additive.

Stevia semi-sweet chocolate milk

2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 oz warm water
1/2 teaspoon pure stevia powder
Add cocoa to water and stir until combined. Once you have slurry add the
stevia and mix to combine. Stevia takes a few minutes to "bloom" so I would
suggest waiting about 5 minutes before tasting a little of the chocolate,
you can add more stevia is needed, but I like mine a less sweet. It will
still seem bitter, but trust me added to the milk it will be very tasty.

To make the chocolate milk add about 1 teaspoon of the paste to 8 to 10
ounces of ice cold milk and stir to combine. Enjoy anytime and I'll bet it
would even be good warmed up this winter. If you are adventurous you might
add some chile powder for a kick.
For other ideas and recipes visit my blog as
www.cookingwithtrace.blogspot.com


cookingwithtrace.blogspot.com