Food Blog:
Cook In.
Eat Out.
Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
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Wednesday, February 9
On Being a Food Fiend
Being a food fiend (use any phrase/word you'd like... foodie, gastronaut, gourmet, etc) coupled with also having tendencies towards "nutrition nut", I like to invent dishes that suit both ends.
Case in point - my cream of celery-walnut soup. Filling, delicious, and tons of good nutty fat in it.
Example #2 - personalized "instant" oatmeal. Instant oatmeal is, of course, convenient. That, honestly, is its only selling point. Even the flavors are not inventive and nearly always far too sweet and chemical-y. Strawberries 'n Cream, where the description from Quaker is that it "has the flavor reminiscent of refreshing summertime strawberries covered in dairy cream", while the 'creaming agent' is non-dairy creamer (read the 3rd ingredient)? Yick.
I decided that I like oatmeal enough during the day at work that I should make something like instant oatmeal but much more appealing to my taste buds and my GI. It starts thusly: 1/3 cup old fashioned oats (the 5 minute+ kind) go into a Ziploc snack sized baggie. Note to those that don't see my kitchen drawers: I love baggies, all sizes and shapes and thicknesses. They hold my frozen chicken stock, bulk meats that I separate into portions and toss with a marinade before freezing, cooked veggies/rice, cutting board detritus to make stock with later, etc etc etc. Baggies, in my opinion, are BETTER than sliced bread. Who needs slices, anyway?
Ok, continuing onward with the oatmeal. To each baggie gets added the flavorings, for example:
SPICE MIX
1/4 t each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt
2T powdered milk
1T ground walnuts or almonds
CREAMY BLOO
1/2 t cinnamon
3T powdered milk
1T dried blueberries (from TJ's, naturally)
PEANUT COCONUT
1T shredded coconut
2T powdered coconut milk/cream
1T ground peanuts
I make about 10 at a time and then stash them in my desk drawer at work. Preparation is not instantaneous but its also not hard: dump one baggie into a 2-3 cup bowl, and add 1 cup of water. Nuke until it boils, then cover and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. After it looks about the right consistency, nuke again to desired temperature, and its done. So far the peanut-coconut flavor has been my favorite. I might even do a savory one next time, with black pepper, toasted dried onions, and other spices.... yum!
Time posted: 13:24 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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