My recipe for Capp-oat-ccino Delight aka Oatmeal Espresso was recently published in Dave Grotto’s new book, 101 Optimal Life Foods. Some of you may remember that I entered a recipe contest after the Quaker Oats Living Proof Blogger Weekend in Chicago. My win included the prize of an ill-fated unvacation to the Colorado Oatmeal festival as well as the publication of my recipe in Dave’s book.

Dave was kind enough to send me a copy of the book which I’ve flipped through. It’s a guide to what foods will help you manage or prevent various illnesses. I took special note of the chapters on headaches and chronic pain. It’s a handy little guide, and Dave Grotto is a registered dietician dietitian, so he knows what he’s talking about. Roni from Green Lite Bites has some recipes featured in the book too, so you can double the blogger love even if we don’t get any royalties :)

• Continue reading "I may hate cooking, but my recipe was published anyway"

When I hear the word “porridge” I think of Goldilocks and the three bears. I don’t think bears actually eat porridge, and I don’t think I’ve eaten porridge either. Grits, check. Oatmeal, yep. I’ve even had quinoa, though I can’t pronounce it. In Iceland, porridge is popular these days because “it’s cheap and it stands with you through the day.”

It’s also been reported that candy sales are up, particularly for nostalgic candies like Necco Wafers and Mallo Cups. Candy is a cheap way for people to feel better about the crap economy. Even if you don’t have a paycheck, you can get a Payday.

The word “economy” feels vague and formless. I can’t seen an economy, I can’t feel it, and I definitely can’t eat it. Yet, when the economy shifts, it affects everything, down to what we have for breakfast. I’m lucky for now that I don’t have to live much differently than I did before the economy crashed. I’ve always been thrifty and I’m fortunate to still have a consistent paycheck. I’m still eating […]

• Continue reading "Hard times are good for hard candy and porridge"

Yesterday I received a gift basket in the mail that I was supposed to pick up at the annual Lafayette Oatmeal Festival. This reminded me that I’m the twit who ditched the oatmeal festival (though for very understandable reasons). As I took the gift basket out of the box, it fell, making me the twit who also broke a Quaker oatmeal bowl she received for not attending the Oatmeal Festival. Whoops-si-doodles!

Then I took a picture of all these things and was reminded that my photos are crap and I cannot even be bothered to move the PediPaws I bought at Walgreens out of the background of my photos. (Nope, haven’t bought a Snuggie yet, but my friend Jenny knows how to make one!) Someday I’ll buy a D-SLR camera and become a real blogger!

Anyway, to feel less twit-like, I interviewed Ellen Kanazawa, the organizer of the Oatmeal Festival. Only, I interviewed her over a month ago, so again – I’m such a twit! Be grateful I manage to put on pants in the morning. So, […]

• Continue reading "All your oatmeal questions answered!"

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have wondered why I was conducting top secret oatmeal experiments last month. Wonder no more! As a part of the Quaker Oats Living Proof weekend I attended, Quaker challenged the attendees to come up with a new oatmeal recipe that met certain nutritional guidelines. The prize was an all-expense paid trip to Lafayette, Colorado for the 12th Annual Quaker Oatmeal Festival. That was great, but the part about free ski passes sounded more enticing. I love me some oatmeal, but the idea of the world’s largest topping bar isn’t quite enough motivation for me to conduct oatmeal experiments in my kitchen top secret lab. I decided 1 in 16 odds were pretty damn good for winning anything, so I started doing unholy things to instant oats.

I remembered that Quaker Oats is owned by the same company that makes Diet Pepsi as well as other products like Tropicana and Lays Potato Chips, as illustrated in this photo of the lobby above. (This photo also makes me think […]

• Continue reading "Recipe: Oatmeal Expresso"

I live alone, so I like recipes that create a single serving without leftovers to binge on. This week I experimented with a recipe Kathy left in the comments on my oatmeal visit entry last week.

Single-serving oatmeal pancake

1/2 cup of quick oats

2 teaspoons of Splenda

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 cup milk or soy milk

Mix together the oats, Splenda and cinnamon in a small microwave-safe bowl.

Then mix in the egg and soymilk.

Microwave the bowl for three and a half minutes.

Lift out pancake onto serving plate and enjoy! Or you can eat it straight out of the bowl. Just a note: I guesstimated the ingredient measurements. I’ve just been eye-balling the amounts until the mixture looks good. At first I tried it without any milk, but it was too dry, so adjust that measurement depending on how gooey you want the pancake.

If you’d prefer to make this as a muffin, you could probably microwave it in a small mug and scrape out the end result using a spatula. Either way, it’s a quick and easy way to […]

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