A little over a month or two ago I bought some steel cut oats with plans to start making them and increase the fiber in my diet by a bit. The oats I purchased sat there for a bit, my excuse was I wanted to get something else like dried fruit to put in to it. A few weeks ago we got the dried fruit and my laziness kept me from trying to make it for a bit yet, but this last weekend I finally got to it. I didn't hold any super high hopes in how it would turn out, I just found a recipe online that looked like something I could do and got to work making it happen. I modified the recipe as I needed to, my daughter is allergic to dairy and so I substituted soy milk for regular milk and I didn't feel like measuring the dried fruit. I also found the recipe didn't put enough sugar in it and I knew that without enough sugar my wife would hate it. Anyway, when it was all done after about 40 minutes of work we tried it out and found it to be a superb breakfast. My daughter liked it, exclaiming, "Mmm, yummy!" when she tried her first bite and my wife, after adding just a little more brown sugar, found it better than the packets of oatmeal we've bought in the past. I liked it as well, though I was sure I would when I got started anyway, and so we are now anxiously awaiting our next shopping trip to buy more ingredients and make this a common breakfast in our rotation. Below is the (rough) recipe to follow to make it in the way that I did.
Steel Cut Oatmeal
1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (you can use any type of sugar really, honey works too)
1/2 cup dried fruit
Combine water, milk and salt into a medium size sauce pan, cook over medium heat until it begins to boil, stir often (the milk will boil over quickly if you're not paying attention)
Add the oats to the boiling mixture, allow the mix to start boiling again (won't take long), stir often
Once boiling reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, covered, stirring often
Add dried fruit and sugar, simmer for another 15 minutes, covered, stirring often
The oatmeal should be thick, whatever your preference is really. Makes 4 servings, it refrigerates and microwaves well, getting slightly thicker in the process (so you may need to add more milk when you reheat it). The recipe I followed also says it freezes well, I haven't tried yet, but I'm sure I will when I make a large batch.
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 13, 2011
"Cream" of Mushroom Soup
My daughter, poor little thing, cannot have dairy. At least not right now, we're hoping she grows out of it. Anyway, as such it was at first very difficult to figure out how to make some of the foods we commonly enjoy in a way that she can actually eat. One of the biggest were casseroles, most of the ones we made required some sort of creamed soup in it to give it the gravy that made it taste better. So, in order to overcome this problem, I created a "cream" of mushroom soup without using any dairy, and, to save some money I didn't use soy milk either.
Ingredients:
Mushrooms (sliced)
Onions (chopped)
Garlic (minced)
Flour
Oil
Chicken Broth (for us, this is made using chicken bouillon)
Seasonings (your choice, salt and pepper for me)
Directions:
To start off I created a rue, the amount was dependant on how much soup I was making, as this would be a large batch I did about 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup oil, the ratio is 1:1, stir this until combined, it doesn't require any heat. My batch used 6 cups of broth, I combined the 6 cups of water with the needed amount of bouillon (follow the package directions) and spices I chose, I put this mixture on medium-high heat, stirring frequently to make sure everything combined properly. Meanwhile in a skillet I cooked the mushrooms, onions and garlic in oil until they were tender. I set these aside in a bowl and then took some of the broth I had been heating up and put it in the skillet. I stirred this until all the little bits that were stuck on the bottom of the skillet were picked up and poured this back into the rest of my broth. I kept the heat high as the broth began to boil and added the mushrooms, etc. to it when it had cooked down about a third of the way. I then allowed this to continue boiling until it was down to about half of what I started with, by this time it was thick like a cream soup should be, I took this and after allowing it to cool I divided it into several containers and froze it. I use this soup instead of the canned Cream of Mushroom soup in the recipes that ask for it (including green bean casserole).
So, you might ask, why is this green? Well, simply because I can make it and control what ingredients I use. There are many types of oil out there, some healthier than others. And I can get reduced sodium chicken broth or make it myself by cooking a chicken (which would be a very fine meal in and of itself). I also get to save some money doing this because I don't have to get anything super special to make it and can wait until mushrooms are on sale to further bring the price down. This whole process didn't take long and I was very happy to have come up with a cheap solution to our daughter's dietary needs.
Ingredients:
Mushrooms (sliced)
Onions (chopped)
Garlic (minced)
Flour
Oil
Chicken Broth (for us, this is made using chicken bouillon)
Seasonings (your choice, salt and pepper for me)
Directions:
To start off I created a rue, the amount was dependant on how much soup I was making, as this would be a large batch I did about 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup oil, the ratio is 1:1, stir this until combined, it doesn't require any heat. My batch used 6 cups of broth, I combined the 6 cups of water with the needed amount of bouillon (follow the package directions) and spices I chose, I put this mixture on medium-high heat, stirring frequently to make sure everything combined properly. Meanwhile in a skillet I cooked the mushrooms, onions and garlic in oil until they were tender. I set these aside in a bowl and then took some of the broth I had been heating up and put it in the skillet. I stirred this until all the little bits that were stuck on the bottom of the skillet were picked up and poured this back into the rest of my broth. I kept the heat high as the broth began to boil and added the mushrooms, etc. to it when it had cooked down about a third of the way. I then allowed this to continue boiling until it was down to about half of what I started with, by this time it was thick like a cream soup should be, I took this and after allowing it to cool I divided it into several containers and froze it. I use this soup instead of the canned Cream of Mushroom soup in the recipes that ask for it (including green bean casserole).
So, you might ask, why is this green? Well, simply because I can make it and control what ingredients I use. There are many types of oil out there, some healthier than others. And I can get reduced sodium chicken broth or make it myself by cooking a chicken (which would be a very fine meal in and of itself). I also get to save some money doing this because I don't have to get anything super special to make it and can wait until mushrooms are on sale to further bring the price down. This whole process didn't take long and I was very happy to have come up with a cheap solution to our daughter's dietary needs.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tortilla Shells
To complement today's post, here is the recipe I came up with for tortilla shells, this recipe will work for whole wheat (preferred) or white. I find that the white is best for doing a sweat treat, I'll put the treat at the end of the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour (Whole Wheat is best IMHO)
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4.5 teaspoons Oil (Equivalent to 1.5 Tablespoons, I use Canola oil)
1/2 cup flour
Up to about 2 Tablespoons extra flour to remove stickyness of dough
Instructions:
Put a skillet on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Mix the dry ingredients together, the better you mix them the better the shells turn out, I like to use our stand mixer to make these. Add your oil and mix, you will have flour and oil chunks in your mixture, you don't have to break them up a lot but try your best to get them spread throughout. Add the water and continue mixing/stirring until all the flour is into the dough. At this point you can handle the dough by hand, though it might stick a bit, I put some flour down on my work surface and kneed it in until the dough stops sticking so much. The dough should be light, similar in feel to Playdough though it won't keep its shape if you form it. Separate the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape into tortillas, some people say never use a rolling pin, however this is the easiest way I've found and produces nice, even shells. Roll it out into the desired thickness and shape. Cook shells about 30-60 seconds per side on the hot skillet, you will have to experiment with cooking time for your stove and desired doneness of the shells. That's it! You should have 4 medium sized tortilla shells, if you want more you can double, triple, etc the batch. My biggest batch was 4x, any more than this and I start to ache from standing and rolling the shells out.
Other Uses:
Dessert:
You will need a pie pan instead of the skillet, instead of cooking on the stove you will cook it in the oven, 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Use white flour, make your dough, spray the pie pan to keep the dessert from sticking. Spread the dough in the pan as evenly as you can, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cook for 15 minutes or so and that's it, you'll have a sweet treat that's good for dessert.
Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips:
These things are fantastic, my newest addiction for chips and with so much less salt! Follow the above directions for making tortilla shells except this time after you split the dough into 4 pieces you will need to split each piece into 4 more pieces, roll out these 16 pieces of dough into very small tortilla shells and cook them like you should the normal shells. When they are all cooked preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your mini shells into quarters and spread out on a pan, I use a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, chips should just start to brown and should be crispy, let them cool on the pan (this will help finish the cooking process without burning them), when they are done cooling you can store them or enjoy them right away. I have no idea how long they'll store, so just keep your eye on them and don't keep them for too long.
Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour (Whole Wheat is best IMHO)
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4.5 teaspoons Oil (Equivalent to 1.5 Tablespoons, I use Canola oil)
1/2 cup flour
Up to about 2 Tablespoons extra flour to remove stickyness of dough
Instructions:
Put a skillet on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Mix the dry ingredients together, the better you mix them the better the shells turn out, I like to use our stand mixer to make these. Add your oil and mix, you will have flour and oil chunks in your mixture, you don't have to break them up a lot but try your best to get them spread throughout. Add the water and continue mixing/stirring until all the flour is into the dough. At this point you can handle the dough by hand, though it might stick a bit, I put some flour down on my work surface and kneed it in until the dough stops sticking so much. The dough should be light, similar in feel to Playdough though it won't keep its shape if you form it. Separate the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape into tortillas, some people say never use a rolling pin, however this is the easiest way I've found and produces nice, even shells. Roll it out into the desired thickness and shape. Cook shells about 30-60 seconds per side on the hot skillet, you will have to experiment with cooking time for your stove and desired doneness of the shells. That's it! You should have 4 medium sized tortilla shells, if you want more you can double, triple, etc the batch. My biggest batch was 4x, any more than this and I start to ache from standing and rolling the shells out.
Other Uses:
Dessert:
You will need a pie pan instead of the skillet, instead of cooking on the stove you will cook it in the oven, 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Use white flour, make your dough, spray the pie pan to keep the dessert from sticking. Spread the dough in the pan as evenly as you can, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cook for 15 minutes or so and that's it, you'll have a sweet treat that's good for dessert.
Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips:
These things are fantastic, my newest addiction for chips and with so much less salt! Follow the above directions for making tortilla shells except this time after you split the dough into 4 pieces you will need to split each piece into 4 more pieces, roll out these 16 pieces of dough into very small tortilla shells and cook them like you should the normal shells. When they are all cooked preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your mini shells into quarters and spread out on a pan, I use a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, chips should just start to brown and should be crispy, let them cool on the pan (this will help finish the cooking process without burning them), when they are done cooling you can store them or enjoy them right away. I have no idea how long they'll store, so just keep your eye on them and don't keep them for too long.
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