Oatmeal… Yumy!

After a few days without posting I am back to talk about something I love and that instantly brings me comfort just to think about it: oatmeal!
I love oatmeal in everything from cakes, to cookies and muffins too, but the way I like to eat oatmeal the most is in its simplest form, cooked with milk and sugar. My mom used to make this for us all the time for breakfast, especially during the cold months. Sometimes she would also make these bowls of warm oatmeal for us to eat before bedtime. In Brazil it is not usual to have heating systems in the houses, so the oatmeal was more than welcome during the winter, warming up our bodies and soul before we went to bed.
When I had Matheus my mom and my sister came to stay with us and help during the first month (and what a big help that was!), and she made oatmeal for me every night. I would nurse Matheus and come to the kitchen to have some warm and deliciously sweet oatmeal with my mom and my sister, and it was so comfortingly good, sweet and creamy and best of all: made by my mommy! And you know how good it is to have someone special with you when you are going through such adaptation period.
After she went back I still would make my oatmeal every night before going to bed for a few hours of sleep, sometimes I would sit down and enjoy it warm, sometimes the plan didn’t work well as Matheus would wake up just as I sat down to eat, or even when I was in the middle of the cooking/stirring process… so some nights I would end up with cold oatmeal, or no oatmeal at all, but it was worth not to eat it and go comfort my baby boy, as now I have my own company to eat oatmeal with! (Hubby is not a fan of the sutff…) Matheus also loves oatmeal and to sit and enjoy it with me, and this to me is the best thing in the world! Even more because he says my oatmeal is “the best ever”!
Among doctor’s appointments, school projects, swimming lessons, and a lot more, I managed to find some time and made some oatmeal for us on Friday night. Yes, Matheus and I had oatmeal for dinner, and it was the best dinner of the week I might add!
This thyroid hormone thing is still not quite right, so my body is on an adjustment craziness that sometimes get me down a bit, and nothing better than some yummy comfort food to help us feel good again.
I was in need of some pick me up on Friday, so I decided to make oatmeal for dinner and Matheus loved the idea as much as I did. We were talking about it when he suggested we put some fruit in our oatmeal, so I remembered a recipe I saw on CL a few months ago for Oatmeal with Apples, Hazelnuts, and Flaxseeds. I tried to make it as written, and almost succeeded, the only except was that I burnt the hazelnuts… the good thing is that I did not miss them at all!
My mom always cook oatmeal with milk and sugar, and that is what I did with mine (I could not help myself, it was weird to have a "recipe for oatmeal". I always make it my moms way, this time I tried my best to stick to the recipe tough). I made ½ recipe and used more milk than the recipe says (2 cups for ½ recipe), added the sugar during the cooking process (instead of sprinkling on top), I added it to taste, did not measure it at all, and I slightly toasted the almonds we sprinkled on top, just to give them a crunch and bring out their nice flavor. I always make my oatmeal just my mom’s do, cooking it over medium heat, stirring it all the time (so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan), until thick and creamy. It is soooo good, I LOVE oatmeal!
I liked the apple version; the apples came out nice and soft. I did not use granny smith though, as I like my cooked apples more on the sweet side. As you see I kind of ended up making my moms oatmeal with a few new twists, and I will post here the CL recipe in case you want to try!
(The proportions I always make is 1 cup of milk for 3 heaping tablespoons of oatmeal, sugar to taste)
Today I wanted ice cream with chocolate sauce… we bought the ice cream and I decided to adventure myself with the sauce. It came out good but not exactly as I wanted, not fudgy enough, so I will not post the first recipe I tested. Instead, I am going to experiment during the week and when I find out the right recipe I will share here with you all!
Until then, let me ask you guys, do you have a recipe for some fudgy chocolate sauce? The recipe I tested used cocoa, sugar, milk, butter, and semisweet chocolate chips. It came out nice looking and good tasting too, but still not as I wanted. I am guessing I need some corn syrup to make it sort of fudge-like, right?! (Not a big fan of corn syrup though…)
Just one more thing, off topic and nothing to do with food, but… does your husband (significant other) also doesn’t notice when you get a hair cut or is it just mine?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!
(Yes, oatmeal is comforting and makes you very happy when you get abrand new hair cut!)

Ana

Ice cream and chocolate sauce, first attempt.

Oatmeal with Apples, Hazelnuts, and Flaxseed
1/4 cup hazelnuts
3 cups fat-free milk
1 1/2 cups regular oats
1 1/2 cups diced Granny Smith apple (about 1 medium)
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.
Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, stirring once. Turn nuts out onto a towel. Roll up towel; rub off skins. Finely chop nuts, and set aside.
Combine milk and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in vanilla. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thick. Sprinkle with hazelnuts, brown sugar, and almonds.
Cooking Light – May 2005

Today I was not very inspired to cook so lunch was pretty simple: some veggies, brown rice (jazzed up with some butter and grated cheese to make a kind of risotto thing – my favorite way to eat rice), and some chicken burgers I had previously made and frozen.
I copied the burger’s recipe from a book called Cooking Thin (by Kathleen Daelemans) that I once got from the library. These chicken burgers are moist and super easy to make. It is something I try to always have them in the freezer in case we need some quick and tasty meal.
For the vegetables I just sautéed some onions, garlic, tomatoes, a small yellow squash, and half zucchini in a skillet with some olive oil and seasonings until everything was cooked and flavors melded together. The rice… well, I cook a batch of brown rice every Monday and keep it in the fridge for our lunches throughout the week.
Although I was not inspired to cook, I was definitely in the mood to bake, so I baked a cake in the afternoon. I am in a “nutella kick” this week, and decided to try a recipe that has been on my “to try” list since last year, Sour Cream-Hazelnut Bundt Cake, another Cooking Light recipe (be prepared to see lots of CL recipes around here, I am a subscriber and love that magazine!). I chose this recipe to help me use up some of the nutella jar I bought the other day, before I eat it all by the spoonful, which is what I have been doing…
Other than omitting the hazelnuts (did not have any), I pretty much followed the recipe as written. Oh, and I used low-fat sour cream, as I don’t find the fat-free stuff as good.
The cake came out very moist and tender, and the nutella swirl was more than good, definitely the best part of the cake!
I believe the sour cream is what makes this cake so moist, giving it a pleasantly distinctive flavor, making it not very sweet and leaving a little of its tanginess in the background. Also, the nutella has such a yummy hazelnut taste that I did not miss the actual nuts at all; I guess they are there just to add an extra crunch. And for those like me who also like to lick the spoon (bowl, beaters, spatulas…), the cake batter tastes super good!
All in all, a nice great cake that will probably be repeated over here. I think that this cake can be used as a base for all sort of add ins, the nutella/nuts can easily be omitted and substituted for other things you may enjoy, like chocolate chips folded in the batter, or those different kind of chips (cappuccino chips, toffee bits, etc), maybe even caramel could be swirled to the batter turning it into a totally different cake.
I will leave here the ideas and recipe in case any of you would like to try, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Just don’t forget to come back and give me your feedback!

Ana

Our Lunch today

Chicken Burgers
Cooking Thin, by Kathleen Daelemans

1 pound ground white meat chicken
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons grated onions
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oi

Mix chicken, ½ cup of breadcrumbs, milk, onion, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Divide chicken mixture into 4 or 5 piles and, using your hands, form them into patties. Coat each patty with the remaining breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and fry patties until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
My notes: the meat mixture is very sticky, sometimes I add a little more breadcrumbs if it seem too wet. The onions make these very tasty and moist burgers. And I always omit the cayenne pepper, as we are not big fans of very spicy food.

Do I have to tell you I love nutella...?!

Sour Cream-Hazelnut Bundt Cake
The moist cake is enhanced by the hidden surprise of crunchy hazelnuts and chocolate-hazelnut spread. Bake the cake up to two days ahead of the brunch, and store at room temperature. Or bake it up to a month ahead, and freeze; thaw at room temperature.

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free sour cream
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
2 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (such as Nutella)
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with breadcrumbs.
Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream; beat until well blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until well combined. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stirring just until combined. Spoon half of batter into prepared Bundt pan; sprinkle evenly with hazelnuts. Drop small spoonfuls of chocolate spread over nuts. Spoon remaining batter over chocolate spread; swirl batter using the tip of a knife. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove cake from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar.
Yield: 14 servings
Cooking Light, November 2004