Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal

This is my first time participating in Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. I tried this recipe this morning after reading about the health benefits of steel cut oatmeal, then breaking down and buying some. I used Bob’s Red Mill brand.

Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal

Steel cut oatmeal is chunkier and heartier than oatmeal made with instant or rolled oats, because steel cut oats are less processed than rolled oats. Steel cut oats are the best oats for making Crockpot oatmeal. Rolled oats get mushy in the Crockpot, but steel cut oatmeal can withstand the longer cooking time without breaking down. Steel cut oatmeal is also sometimes called Irish oatmeal or Scottish oatmeal. McCann’s and Quaker both make steel cut oatmeal that’s available in most supermarkets.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

* 2 cups steel cut oatmeal (also called Irish oats or Scottish oats — not rolled oats)

* 5 cups water

* 1-1/2 cups milk

* 3/4 cup brown sugar

* 1 Tbsp. cinnamon

* 1 tsp. kosher salt

* 2 large bananas, sliced

* 1 cup chopped pecans

* maple syrup for drizzling

Preparation:

1. Spray Crockpot stoneware with cooking spray.

2. Place oats, water, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in the Crockpot. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

3. Just before serving, stir in bananas and pecans. Drizzle with maple syrup if desired.

Reviews: I liked it. Instead of adding bananas and pecans, I added frozen wild blueberries, a drizzle of maple syrup and walnuts. Big Sis DIDN’T like it. Too creamy…it was a texture thing, I guess. She didn’t add anything except a splash of skim milk. Little Sis had hers with frozen blueberries and maple syrup, and loved it. She can’t wait to try it with bananas. Good thing! We have plenty of leftovers…about 4 cups! I wish I could share with my mom, but she’s not allowed whole grains on her renal diet.

For more great recipes, stop by this week’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Busy Saturday

Today’s to-do list:

1. Grocery shopping, even though I did it yesterday (because I need to…)
2. Go to Mom’s (and…)
3. Begin making Fried Ice Cream Balls for Big Sis’ Girl Scout Thinking Day (which I didn’t buy the ingredients for yesterday because I thought it was NEXT Sunday, not THIS Sunday. Oops!)
4. Do homework for online course; due at 6pm (haven’t started yet)
5. Wash blanket and sleeping bag that Little Sis peed on last night
6. Wash blanket and sleeping bag that Little Sis peed on last week
7. Send Evite for event next Saturday (oops again.)
8. Make snacks for Oscar party tomorrow night
9. The usual feeding of the troops
10. Finish everything in time for a family movie night (Mr. Hoagie wants to watch The Addams Family on TiVo. His pick , NOT mine.)

For those of you playing along at home, here’s the recipe I’ll be using today, courtesy of Big Sis’ troop leader.

Fried Ice Cream Balls

To make this fake fried ice cream recipe, use an ice cream scoop to quickly form as many firm ice cream balls as you need. Use your favorite flavor of homemade ice cream. After the balls are formed, you might need to place them in an airtight freezer container and set them in the freezer for a while to harden. You need them to be rock hard!

Just before serving, take the frozen balls and roll them in a bowl of crushed corn flakes, pressing them firmly into the corn flakes until they are completely coated with the cereal. Frosted flakes work well too, and they are especially good.

Some cooks prefer adding a tablespoon or two of corn syrup or liquid honey to the cereal first, claiming it makes the flakes stick to the ice cream better and helps to simulate the deep fried taste.

As with traditional fried ice cream recipes, add the customary garnish of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, and a red maraschino cherry on top. Serve immediately.

WFMW: Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I’ve been making an effort to cook more, both to save money and to eat more healthily. I stumbled across an oldie but a goodie this week, and had to share it. It’s a perfect quick weeknight meal. It tastes indulgent, but is pretty good for you. I originally got it in Cooking Light magazine, but it’s posted here.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients
* Cooking spray
* 1  cup  chopped onion
* 2  garlic cloves, minced
* 3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1  (16-ounce) package broccoli florets
* 2 1/2  cups  2% reduced-fat milk
* 1/3  cup  all-purpose flour
* 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
* 8  ounces  light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

Place one-third of the soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan.

Nutrition info: 203 calories, 2.9 g fiber, 6.3 g fat
WW points per serving: 4

For more great ideas, head over to Rocks in My Dryer (this week is the last week Shannon is hosting Works for Me Wednesday, so be sure to leave a comment for her!)

WFMW: Banana Bread

So I’ve been staring at eight bananas all week that have been turning blacker by the minute. I could have peeled them and frozen them, but I already have a stockpile of about ten frozen bananas (they’re perfect for smoothies, by the way).

So I began searching for banana bread recipes. First I tried my recipe binder (tried & true favorites), but couldn’t find anything that appealed to me. So I searched the internet, finally coming across The Fresh Loaf.  I found a couple of recipes on there, compared and contrasted them, and found that they’d use up my stuff, namely eight bananas and an 8 oz. cup of plain yogurt Little Sis opened thinking it was vanilla yogurt.

Little Sis and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

I tripled this recipe, added the yogurt and a splash of vanilla. I divided the batter into 4 mini loaves and one regular-sized loaf. The mini loaves were done in about 23 minutes, and the loaf was done about 20 minutes later.

We sliced the large loaf for an after-school snack, and I wrapped and froze the mini-loaves. I would’ve saved one to take over to Mom, but apparently bananas are toxic to those with kidney failure. Who knew?

For more great ideas, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

Banana Bread (courtesy The Fresh Loaf)
Makes 1 full-sized loaf or 2 small loaves

Preheat the oven to 350.

In one bowl, combine:

1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened
2 eggs
2 or 3 very ripe bananas
2/3 cup sugar

Use a potato masher, fork, or spoon to squish the banana and mix the ingredients together. It is alright for there to be small (1 centimeter) chunks of banana in the batter, but you want most of the banana to be reduced to mush.

In another bowl, combine:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together.

If you like, stir in additional ingredients here, such as chopped walnuts or pecans, dried cherries or apricots, or chocolate chips. A handful (about a half a cup) is about right.

Pour the dough into greased baking pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Small loaves take around 30 minutes, a normal-sized loaf takes around 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven. This bread is great warm, but it is excellent cold too.

After they have cooled for 5 or 10 minutes the loaves can be removed from the pan to cool. Once they are cool they can be individually wrapped and frozen.

Enjoy!

Five Point Friday: Italian Sausage and White Beans

This is my first time participating in Five Point Friday. I pulled this recipe out of my “greatest hits” recipe book. It’s been a while since I made it; it may have to be on next week’s menu! I love it because it’s an easy, healthy, tasty, one-pot weeknight meal. What’s not to love?

It’s from Cooking Light magazine; here’s the link.

Italian Sausage and White Beans

Italian Sausage and White Beans

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 12  ounces  sweet Italian turkey sausage
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2  cup  chopped onion
• 1/2  teaspoon  bottled minced garlic
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1  (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced Italian-style tomatoes, undrained

Preparation

Remove casings from sausage.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Add sausage, and cook 8 minutes, or until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in oregano and remaining ingredients; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

266 (29% from fat)

Fat:

8.5g (sat 2.4g,mono 3.1g,poly 2.8g)

Protein:

21.4g

Carbohydrate:

24.9g

Fiber:

6.7g

Cholesterol:

72mg

Iron:

4.3mg

Sodium:

851mg

Calcium:

85mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2002

Thanks to Mel at A Box of Chocolates for hosting this carnival! Stop by for more great 5 Point recipes.