Lilac Simple Syrup

Where I live, lilacs are blooming everywhere, which reminds me of living in Oregon -- the first place I lived with a noticeable number of lilacs. There are a variety of lilacs available -- and the area around me has a lot of them. Lilacs (Syringa spp.) are part of the olive family, and are native to the Balkan peninsula. Lilacs came to the American colonies in the 1700s, and when white Americans and immigrants moved west, in the 1800s, they brought lilacs with them -- and I can't say I blame them. These plants have showy flowers, which grow in panicles, and give off a light floral scent. The shrub itself will eventually grow a clonal thicket, if left to grow without human intervention.

Lilac flowers are edible, and taste pretty much like they smell (with a light bitter end, that'll probably seem familiar if you've tried other edible flowers), at least if you make them into a simple syrup. The flavor of each plant can vary, so you may want to try a flowers from a few different plants, if you have that option.

Lilac syrup actual turns out a lovely light pink, if you don't do anything to modify it. When I was looking into making lilac syrup, I saw a number of people suggesting that you make the syrup with a couple of blueberries to enhance the color -- and since blueberries are also delicious, and I happened to have some on hand, I figured why not?

The process is straight forward, and fairly fast, at least for active cooking time. I let my flowers steep in the warm sugar water for a while, which heightened the color of the syrup. The most time consuming part is removing the flowers from the stem. Ideally, you'll remove all the green parts, because those impart some bitter flavor to your finished product.

Generally simple syrup is a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water, but I opted to increase the water a bit for a thinner syrup -- and because I knew that I was going to let the flowers infuse for a while, and I live in dry climate.

Lilac Simple Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups water
3-5 blueberries (optional)
2 cups lilac blossoms (I used a variety of color blossoms)
1/4 teaspoon citric acid OR juice from 1/2 a lemon

Remove the lilac blossoms from the stem, doing your best to remove all of the green parts.

In a saucepan, over high heat, combine the water and sugar, and bring to a boil. When all of the sugar is dissolved, reduce the heat and add the blueberries (if using) and lilac blossoms. Let simmer for 8 minutes, then remove from heat, stir in citric acid or lemon juice (to help preserve your syrup), cover and let cool for 12 hours.

Use a sieve to strain the blossoms from the syrup, and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. 

Pumpkin Granola with Buckwheat & Pepitas

It seems like over the past few months, pumpkin granola has leaped into the forefront of "it can be paleo and still granola" as well as many "skinny" (aka low-fat / no-fat / we'll prove we can use less or no oil and not use apple sauce") recipes. Certainly, if you got here by googling "pumpkin granola," you probably noticed how many recipes came from this year -- and how many are grain free or say you can use pumpkin instead of canola oil.

These things are not what I was thinking about when I decided I wanted to experiment with a pumpkin granola recipe. Instead, I thought about the granolas I've already made this fall, and how pumpkin granola seemed like a fun and tasty late autumn breakfast. I thought about how much I like pumpkin things (and how my parents didn't make them when I was growing up). I thought about how easy it is to find pumpkin at the store right now, both fresh and in cans.

And I thought, well, why not?

With this recipe, I use buckwheat, a gluten-free (un)grain (we treat it as a grain, but it's technically a psuedo-cereal and not a grain at all). I secretly really wanted to use millet, but I seem to be able to handle millet only in small amounts. Working with buckwheat can be a bit harder -- if you cook it first, it turns into a somewhat gelatinous blob and doesn't look very appealing. Fortunately, it doesn't really need to be cooked beforehand to be soft enough to chew. I used raw buckwheat, as opposed to kasha, because I was going to stick it in the oven anyway, and because kasha tends to be more expensive than regular buckwheat.

Pumpkin seeds add a little additional protein to this granola. I suggest 1/3-1/2 cup because they can be kind of spendy, but feel free to add more if you like -- or to wait and add them until you're ready to eat your granola.

As with most of my recipes now, this is gluten-free and vegan. If you store the granola in an air-tight container (I like storing it in jars), it should keep for about 2 weeks -- if you live in a humid climate, maybe not quite as long.

Pumpkin Granola with Buckwheat & Pepitas
4 cups GF rolled oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3-1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup pumpkin puree mixed with 2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl, and then add the pumpkin puree mixture. Spread evenly onto a cookie sheet. Bake 40-50 minutes, stirring the granola to break up the pieces about 30 minutes into the baking time. Remove from oven and allow to cool. If the granola still feels wet (and this is dependent on your climate, mostly) once it's cooled completely, return to the oven and bake at 300 for another 15 minutes.

Sweet and Fluffy Coconut Cornbread

Confession: I grew up not eating sweet cornbread. In the south, sweet cornbread is well, a bit blasphemous. It wasn't until I left my parents' house that I got sweet cornbread on a regular basis. Does that mean that I love sweet cornbread? Hardly. Pretty frequently, I opt instead for a spicy cornbread with whole kernel corn and jalapenos.


But, today seemed like a good day for a nice, warm sweet cornbread that I could pair with a vaguely chili-like stew. A friend of mine recently attempted to make a coconut cornbread that used coconut flakes and coconut oil -- and was disappointed that the coconut flavor didn't come through very strongly. I wanted to increase the coconut flavor (you should think coconut! when you taste this) when I worked with this recipe. The trickiest part was figuring out how much liquid to use (I guess coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid -- this definitely used more water than I expected and you should see my note below about this, in case it was my cornmeal and not my flour greedily hogging water).

This is a vegan, gluten-free recipe that gets baked in an 8 x 8 baking dish, though I imagine it would also do well if you cooked it in a cast iron skillet (and it would probably have a better crust on the skillet side!). Serve it with a hearty stew for dinner, eat it as a snack, or pour some warm milk on it and serve it as a warm cereal for breakfast -- whatever makes you happy.

Coconut Cornbread
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup finely ground cornmeal
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup agave nectar
1 cup water
1/3 cup coconut, almond, or soy milk
2 tablespoons vegan buttery spread (or coconut oil)
1 tablespoon canola oil

2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons flax + 6 tablespoons warm water)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients (coconut flour through salt) together in a medium-sized bowl. In a small saucepan, over low heat, mix together the agave nectar, water, milk, buttery spread, and canola oil. Once the buttery spread has just melted, add the flax eggs to the liquid mixture, and then add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until smooth (note: you might need to add up to another 1/2 cup of water -- you want a batter that is a little thicker than cake batter).

Pour the cornbread mixture into a greased 8 x 8 pan, and bake for about 25 minutes, until it is golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Chocolate Orange Granola

I know, I know, you were thinking it'd been far too long since the last granola post, right?

I've started seeing Terry's Chocolate Oranges in the stores (and knock-off versions as well), and that reminded me of how, growing up, my dad and I would each receive a chocolate orange in our stockings at Christmas. I still enjoy the flavor of chocolate and orange together, at least from time to time, and because today is grey and gloomy (though also windy and warm, and beautiful in a slightly spooky way) it seemed like a good morning to try making chocolate orange granola.

As with my other granolas, this one isn't terribly sweet. If you like it sweeter, increase the sugar or agave nectar (in the directions, I'll have the amount I recommend increase in parentheses). The orange flavor is subtle, but then again, you probably don't want to overwhelm your tastebuds with super-duper-orange OMG goodness, or you'll cancel out the chocolate flavor.

The chocolate is also a moderately subtle flavor in this granola, which means you can actually still taste the oats and buckwheat groats -- which I appreciate, since they add their own complexity to the cereal. I bake this granola at a much lower temperature than most granolas I make since it does use cocoa powder and I definitely do not want that to scorch. If you decide to go with a little higher heat (like if you're crunched for time, I recommend not above 325, and stir more frequently).

Chocolate Orange Granola
4 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup buckwheat groats (not toasted)
1/2 cup brown sugar (2/3 cup if you prefer sweeter granola)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar (3-4 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt
10-15 drops pure orange oil

1/2 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all the ingredients except the water in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until all the oats are evenly coated and moist. Spread the granola out on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Granola should be crispy when cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Cranberry Orange Scones (Vegan, GF)

It's been a long time since I made scones -- almost 18 months! That's far too long, and it makes me a bit sad (okay, so really only a year since I made any type of scone). This basic recipe is one of my favorites, and now I've modified it to be vegan in addition to making it gluten-free.

When I first posted the basis for this recipe,I hadn't been eating GF for very long. I used Bob's Red Mill flour, and was incredibly excited when the recipe turned out edible. Now, I'm more confident in baking GF and I experimented with the flours some. Generally, if you're creating your own GF blend a 70:30 (flours to starches) ratio works pretty well. This recipe hits that pretty close, though it's a bit higher on starches, which causes the scones to be reminiscent of sweet English tea biscuits.

If you're already baking GF, there's a good chance you have these flours in your pantry. If not, you can find them online (like anything else) or in most grocery stores, on the baking aisle. Xantham gum might be the tricky thing to find (and I actually don't love using it -- you're welcome to try the recipe without it. It works, but is a bit more crumbly.) and this too is pretty readily available now.

Scones remind me of breakfast with friends in the Midwest. The last time I made these, I created a glaze for the top using citrus juice and powdered sugar. I don't have powdered sugar on hand and it didn't seem worth buying for just this recipe, but if you want a slightly sweeter scone, I recommend it.

Cranberry Orange Scones
1/2 cup sweet white rice flour
1/2 cup sweet white sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup soy milk combined with 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice to produce "soy buttermilk"
1 tablespoon flax seed mixed with 2 tablespoons warm water

Optional Quick Cranberry Sauce (you can use sauce leftover from another project or meal too!)
6 ounces fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
1 tablespoon agave nectar

Place rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. 

 If you don't have leftover cranberry sauce, combine all ingredients from the Optional Quick Cranberry Sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow to cook, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the scones.

Unbaked

In a mixing bowl, sift together flousr, xantham gum, sugar, orange zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. In another bowl, combine  soy buttermilk and flax seed mixture, then  beat lightly with a fork. Add to flour mixture all at once, stirring enough to make a soft dough. 

Turn out onto a lightly floured board (I used a little bit of sweet rice flour) and knead a few times to make sure the dough isn't too sticky -- it should hold together without sticking to your hands, but it shouldn't crack around the edges either. Roll or pat out into a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 8 large or 12 small squares. On half the squares, spread a thin amount of cranberry sauce(amount will depend on the size square you’re using and how much jam you want. I make small squares and use about 1 tablespoon sauce per finished scone). Place the remaining, squares on top to make a “sandwich.” Place scones on prepared baking sheet. and bake at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, until they just begin to turn golden. 

Up Close, Golden Brown and Ready to Eat!

Chocolate Mint Granola

You might say that I'm on a bit of a granola kick. This is, as I explained in a previous post, partly because I now live in an area where my GF cereal of choice isn't as cheap as I'm used to and I'm living on a fairly small budget. Granola, of course, is a little more expensive to make than just eating oatmeal, but it's also more satisfying when I want something crunchy (or if I just don't want hot cereal). Plus, during these cooler months of the year, it's an excuse to turn on the oven for an hour or so while creating something useful.

I'd been wanting to make a chocolate mint granola for a while -- in part because I love mint patties, but no longer eat them for a variety of reasons, and in part because I have mint extract from my green-mint smoothie phase earlier this year. I wanted to make it gluten-free, of course, and also vegan since I've embarked on eating mostly vegan.

This granola, like my others, isn't overly sweet, but if you drink vanilla soy / coconut /almond milk it is just sweet enough, and almost exactly the flavor of eating mint patties. For the record, I use organic spearmint extract when I make this granola, but I imagine it would turn out similarly using a peppermint extract. Note, these are both different than using mint oil. Baking Bites has a great article about the differences, that I won't rehash here -- but you should check it out. I like adding lentils to the granola, to increase the complexity of my morning meal, but you could omit them if you wanted (just skip those steps in the recipe below). I also like eating this with pumpkin seeds or sunflower kernels.

This would make a wonderful surprise breakfast for your kiddos who really, really want that chocolate sugary cereal from the grocery store since it's pretty much fat-free, doesn't contain much sugar, and still tastes like chocolate. Or, you could make a double-batch and wrap it up in pretty jars and give it as a holiday gift. Or, you could just make some for yourself, a small indulgence.

Yum! Chocolate Mint Granola (with red lentils)

Chocolate Mint Granola
1/3 cup split red lentils, boiled in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes and allowed to rest in hot water for 20-30 minutes (optional)

3 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure mint extract (note, this is different than oil)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Mix together your oats, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl.

Dry Ingredients

If using lentils, add the mint extract and agave nectar to the lentils and mix well (otherwise, mix the agave and mint extract together in a separate bowl with 1/3 cup warm water). Add the lentils, and their liquid, to the oat mixture. Stir until the oats are evenly moist.

Spread the granola on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until the oats have turned dry and crispy* (in moist climates, this may take a little longer). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

*Note: As with other granolas, it's important to remember that the oats will continue to turn crispy as they dry. If you have some oats that are not completely dry, but others that area, you can turn the granola once more time and then turn off the oven. In another 20-30 minutes, your oats should all be crispy.

Orange-Lentil Granola

Orange-Lentil Granola

Regular readers, you might have noticed I was absent for a while. A fairly long while, compared to this spring. I was in the middle of another move, and now that I'm settled I hope (plan) to start posting more regularly again. I appreciate your patience and the handful of kind notes I got asking where I'd been.

Shortly after moving to my new place, I discovered a lack of (affordable) stick-with-you / nutrient-dense gluten-free cereals. I'd been spoiled by having a CSA share (sauteed veggies for breakfast most days) and access to cheap(er) cereals over the past year. To compensate, since I'm trying to survive on a really small budget, I started making granola again, and now make it a couple times a week. That much granola can be, well, a little boring.

That's what inspired this vegan, gluten-free granola, which has just a slight hint of orange. I don't like my granola particularly sweet, but if you do, add a little more brown sugar or a hit of agave to it. You might also experiment with the amount of orange you add. I use pure orange oil, so a 1/4 teaspoon works well. One of my testers though, used an orange extract and suggested that 1/2 teaspoon would be more appropriate. It's absolutely fine to taste it before you stick it in the oven, and add more orange flavoring, if you like.

The lentils in this granola add a lovely splash of color and a hint of protein. Soaking the lentils, as I suggest in the recipe (or boiling them for about 5 minutes, and then draining them) is essential. You'll (probably) get really gassy otherwise and they'll definitely crunch a lot when you bite into them. Be sure you use split red lentils.

This would be perfect to make a few days in advance of Thanksgiving, so you don't have to think about it on Black Friday morning, when everyone is feeling possibly-still-a-little-gross from the day before -- or something that you can make a lot of and put in mason jars as gifts for the winter holidays!

If you do decide to make this recipe in larger quantities, I find about 3 cups of oats per baking sheet works pretty well.

Orange-Lentil Granola
1/3 cup red lentils3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water (near boiling)

2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon pure orange oil

Mix all the dry ingredients ingredients together. Add the hot water and the oils, and mix thoroughly. Allow to rest 30 minutes to an hour (this will start to soften the lentils). Spread the granola mixture on a baking sheet and bake in a 300 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the oats have turned golden and most are crispy.* Store in an airtight container.

*If some aren't crispy, they'll continue to harden as they dry. As long as the majority of your oats have begun to crisp, and you don't have any huge lumps of granola-cluster, you should be fine.

Orange-Lentil Granola, with dried cranberries

The pictures in this post are courtesy of Nick Clift.

Autumn Muffins (GF and Vegan)

Dog, seen on bike ride

Until recently, I worked at an Inn, where I made breakfast for people a lot. I love this work, because as you're probably aware (if you're a regular reader), I enjoy feeding people and forming a connection with others and with the environment via the things we put in our bodies. For me, cooking for others -- and eating with others -- creates a sense of community that I think is often overlooked in the way we usually run our lives. Unfortunately, a lot of the time at the inn, I made one of a dozen or so dishes and it quickly becomes pretty routine. I didn't always get to talk to our guests after they've finished their meal (there are so many things to do at an inn!), and I only had the opportunity to try one new recipe on guests (and this isn't it).

Happily, however, one of my co-workers (we'll call her J) and I started eating brunch together after work about once a week -- it was a wonderful opportunity for us to just relax, to talk about life, and generally hang out. We worked together in the kitchen, lovely change from the Sunday evening cooking I do for a handful of friends, and reminiscent of the Friday breakfasts I shared with friends when I lived in the Midwest.

Tree, no pretty leaves yet...

These breakfasts also presented an opportunity for me to actually feel inspired to try new things, or to make modifications to recipes I didn't like as much the first time around but see potential in. That's what happened with these muffins, which were inspired by a non-vegan recipe from my food co-op. These muffins are moist and taste like autumn -- perfect as the weather starts too cool off. Lately, I've even seen a few trees with red and yellow leaves!

We had these vegan, gluten-free muffins with a lovely veggie saute, made entirely with veggies from J's garden. They rise well, are moist, and hold together nicely (especially for a gluten-free product). If you decided to make these in loaf pans, you could definitely do that and because it holds together well, you could probably turn it into french toast (easier if you're not vegan). Afterward, we went for a bike ride together, and these muffins combined with the veggies, gave us plenty of energy for a 20 mile trip.

Don't let the ingredient list intimidate you. If you're already gluten-free, you probably have many of these ingredients around -- and if you're not, but are cooking for someone who is, these ingredients are available at most grocery stores. If you like nuts (I don't in baked goods), consider sprinkling a few chopped walnuts on the top of the muffins before throwing them in the oven.

Autumn Muffins (Gluten-Free)
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 medium, overripe banana, well mashed
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup water
15 ounces roasted butternut squashed (mashed)
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa or millet flour
2 teaspoons guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped dates, raisins, or dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil muffin tins*, or line with paper liners. Beat flax seed, banana, oil, agave, and water until creamy. Fold in butternut squash.

In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients (brown rice flour through nutmeg). Fold the wet and dry ingredients together. Fold in coconut and dried fruit. The batter should be pretty thick, but add more water if it's the consistency of extra-firm cookie dough. Divide batter into muffin cups (3/4 full). Bake 25-30 minutes, until tops begin to brown and spring back lightly when touched. Allow to cool for five minutes before removing from the pan.

Serve warm. Store in an airtight container, and refrigerate after the first day. Keeps 2-3 weeks in the freezer.

*I come out with 12 regular sized muffins, plus 1 mini-loaf (which cooks another 10-15 minutes.

The Muffins!

Polenta -- made from masa!

I spent the last year living on a very minimal budget. As in, after rent (which is modest and included utilities), I had slightly less than $200 for the month. Some months, because of odd jobs, I had a bit more. But this $200 needed to buy:

• Gas (occasionally; mostly I bike)
• Dog food (and her yearly vet bill) for a mid-sized dog
• Toiletries
• Food

Occasionally, I allowed myself treats. E and I, for instance, have made one of our housemate-bonding experiences a weekly trip to a fro-yo place where we sit and watch traffic violations and talk about our weeks, books, or television. Or, for example, sometimes I really just want to buy that GF Vegan cookie from the co-op that's so yummy, or to buy coffee out with a friend. Or I needed some article of clothing or pay an insurance. This year, there were also plane tickets -- one a mental break from my rough spring and the other to a funeral.

French Lentils with Marmalade over Masa Polenta

Fortunately, before this year, I had three years of grad school to practice living on a tight budget while still eating moderately well. If you're a regular follower of my blog, you've heard me talk about cooking on a budget before.

But now I'm probably moving soon and I'm trying to use up things I bought over the year. One of those: tamale masa. For a recent Sunday dinner, I made French lentils with orange marmalade and this polenta, made from masa -- all because these were things in my cupboard that I want (and need) to use before I move.

This is a soft polenta, but if you chill it over night, it gets pretty thick and I'm moderately sure you could make fried polenta cakes out of it (let me know how it works if you try it!). 

Masa Polenta

2 cups tamale masa

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium-sized pot or a large pan, combine the masa, water, and salt. Turn the heat on under the pan to medium and stir constantly until the masa has thickened enough that when you drag a spoon through it, it doesn't immediately run back together (with my masa, this took about 10 minutes). Adjust salt if necessary, and grind in some black pepper. Serve.

Cranberry Raspberry-Lemonade Smoothie

As regular readers may have noticed, I've been on a bit of a smoothie kick (thanks, in no small part to my friend Marissa, over at We*Meat*Again, reminding me I liked them). I think it's the warm weather, all the other fresh goodies I've been eating, and the fact that I've been writing in the mornings rather than getting ready for work. Smoothies travel well and are fast to make. This is the next installment.

Yum, smoothie!

Don't ask why I have MinuteMaid Raspberry-Lemonade frozen concentrate in my freezer. It's a kinda long story -- but it's almost gone, because I've been making this smoothie a fair amount (okay, three times). It sweetens the smoothie nicely and allows me to imagine summer when I'm in the office. I like the sweet-tart flavor, the color is beautiful, and best of all, it doesn't use a banana!! It does use cranberries, so if you don't have those on hand (read about why I do), play around. The wonderful thing about smoothies is that they're pretty flexible.

When I take smoothies to work, I tend to also grab some carrots and/or nuts on my way out the door to make sure that I'm getting enough energy for the work day. Consider what your body needs and what will keep it happy, healthy, and functioning the way it should based on your work (or play!) environment.

Cranberry Raspberry-Lemonade Smoothie
2 tablespoons frozen raspberry-lemonade concentrate
1/2 -3/4 cup frozen cranberries (I like more, but they are too tart for some people)
1 cup milk or milk alternative of your choice (I use plain almond milk)
1 tablespoon vanilla protein powder

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve.

Road Food: Trail Mix

As a food-conscious (ethics, food-as-fuel) gluten-free vegetarian, road travel can be a bit of a pain especially if the trip is long enough that I'll want food more than once. I've learned not to rely on the usual roadside places to stop for something resembling a meal. There are a few exceptions I've come across over the years, including SeQuential, Tally's Silver Spoon (a restaurant), Planet Ozone and others depending on where I'm driving and how long I'm mentally allowing for stops, detours, and anything that isn't absolutely necessary.

I've learned to pack trail mixes (often hand-mixed) and fresh fruits and veggies (as long as I'm not driving into California, where I have to prove my produce's citizenship). I've learned to buy tofu jerky (I need to try making this still) if I think I'm going to be short on protein and want something besides nuts. A friend of mine packs hard-boiled eggs -- I might do this if I didn't hate how eggs make me feel. Another friend swears by peanut butter, on pretty much anything. These are all good solutions, and if there's space, I'm in favor of packing yogurt in a cooler for stomach-calming calcium and plenty of protein.

But back to trail mixes: I like to select trail mixes for road trips because I don't buy them on a regular basis. They feel special. I can include chocolate if I want (always a nice treat, and quick sugar), dried fruits, nuts & seeds, or a variety of other options. They can -- and probably should -- consist of complex & simple carbs, plus protein and fats. GORP is a nice standby, except I haven't been buying peanuts recently because I'm tired of them. Instead, I've been using sunflower seeds or soynuts -- salted varieties of both, if you were wondering.

For an upcoming road trip, I decided to indulge in a trail mix with a variety of dried fruits (but primarily cranberries & raisins) and almonds. I'm going to throw in a handful of chocolate and call it good, then pack a couple of grown in the USA apples with stickers attached, corn tortillas + nut butter, and a couple of small containers of yogurt. And then  I'm going to hope that's enough food for a several-day-total trip to a nearbyish city that will involve a lot of hiking and time outdoors. It's not as though I can't also opt into buying food there -- I'm sure I will, in fact (an avocado, some carrots)  -- but in case that doesn't make sense for my schedule I want a back-up.

Marionberry-Cranberry Smoothie

One of the lovely things about the PNW is that we've got a ready supply of marionberries -- at this time of year, in the freezer section of my local grocer. I love marionberries, which are a hybrid berry developed by Oregon State University between two berries I'd never heard of (and which are already crosses of other berries). If you're not familiar with it, the link above is to Wikipedia (and if you're like me, you can get lost for ages strolling through links and learning fun facts) -- but basically it's blackberry-like in shape and taste.

This smoothie recipe was inspired by a "Oh god, I've been writing too long and it's time to go to work!" moment the other morning. As always, measurements are approximate, so adjust as you see fit. I like this smoothie because it's sweeter than the spinach-mint smoothie I posted the other day without having to add additional sugars. However, if you like your smoothies sweeter, definitely add a bit of sweetener of your choice.

Notice this smoothie contains protein powder (because I have some I'd like to use up, rather than just toss since I never use it), but I don't think that's a requirement. If you want to increase the protein, use a tablespoon or two of nut/seed butter, or a spoonful of Greek yogurt.

Marionberry-Cranberry Smoothie

This has cranberries because I always have them around (or at least 6 months+ a year -- I stocked up when they were in the grocery store -- I finally, thankfully, live in a place where they're not in the freezer section year round and then threw them in my freezer). If you don't have cranberries lying around (and why would you at this time of year??) toss in a handful of blueberries or extra marionberries. The result will be a little sweeter, and a little purpler.

Confession: I always make too much smoothie. For this recipe, I essentially filled two 16-ounce glass jars with smoothie (whew, because I wound up writing too long the next morning also. That and feeling upset by police brutality--at what point does force become brutality?--in Occupy Homes MN -- watch a video here). Anyway, I stuck the extra jar (sealed of course!) in my refrigerator and grabbed it when I headed out the door the next morning. It worked out beautifully and there was only a little bit of separation -- a problem easily solved by a quick shake.

Marionberry-Cranberry Smoothie
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup frozen marionberries (or fresh, if you have them)
1 large banana, frozen (and half thawed, if your don't have one of the fancy blenders)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk, or milk of your choice
2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder, optional (I used soy)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Serve chilled.

Green Smoothie - Spinach-Mint

It's summertime (well, in just under a month) and I've been craving the fresh fruits and veggies that come with summer for quite a while now. Fortunately, my farmers market is already up and running and the local produce is coming in at the co-op and my favorite grocery store.

But beginning during the winter, when E and I were swimming several nights a week, I started making green smoothies. They were the perfect end to a workout, especially since we got home late and I didn't really want to eat dinner beforehand. The nice thing about green smoothies like the the one here is that some greens really start coming in over fall & winter -- and if you're on top of your game, you can get these greens fresh, cook them up and then freeze them in little smoothie-portioned chunks. If you're not on top of your game (and I wasn't this year, since I moved), you can also just buy frozen greens. Or, if you've got a better blender than mine, use fresh greens.

The mint extract in this smoothie helps tone down any bitter qualities of the greens, and the banana makes it smooth. Normally, as regular readers of my posts know, I'm not a fan of using bananas. Even when I buy them organic/fair-trade they're not the best environmental decision. Other options for making it smooth include: nut butters, yogurt, or (possibly) oats (my friend Marissa, over at We*Meat*Again just wrote about this possibility). 

If you have it on hand (which I do now--pineapple mint, if you're curious), you can also use fresh mint -- but it takes a lot more! The portions suggested below are just suggestions. If you think it needs to be sweeter (this may depend on the ripeness of your banana as well as your personal tastes), add some agave, honey, or other natural sweetener of your choice. Sometimes my smoothie comes out a little thick -- if this happens, just add a little water or more milk and that should solve the problem beautifully

Spinach-Mint Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (or other milk of your choice)

1/2 cup frozen spinach

1 large frozen banana, slightly thawed (again, unless you have a super-awesome blender -- which I don't)

4-5 drops mint extract or 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, packed

1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. If you don't plan to drink it right away, store in a container that you can shake up later (in case of separation) and store in refrigerator.

Green Smoothie in a peanut butter jar

Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Scones

Frosted Evergreen

When I lived in the Midwest, the restaurant across the street from my apartment sold wonderful scones -- which (probably for the best) I didn't try until my last year living there, thanks to a friend I met during a 2 week long field trip for a Sustainable Agriculture class. This friend talked up these scones endlessly and after losing a bet with him (I don't even remember what we bet on!), I brought him a blueberry-lemon scone from this restaurant, which was the one he requested. Since I had to buy one for him anyway, I bought one for myself, just to try it. And then I was hooked.

The scones had none of the qualities I dislike about scones. They were moist, namely, rather than crumbly. They had flavor, personality. I wound up buying a scone a week for a while, until I decided to give up gluten. Giving up those scones was one of the hardest things about going gluten-free. In fact, I've replicated them in the non-vegan version before, in one of my posts about things to do with mulberries.

Warning to those of you who have found my blog by looking for vegan or gluten-free recipes. This recipe is neither. I made these scones because I planned to take a few scones to a dinner party and I wanted something that wasn't nearly as sweet as the "breakfast" (dessert) style scones I'd made. These are much closer to many traditional scones in their lightly-sweetness, but still aren't the type of scones that crumble (or shatter) as you take a bite out of them. I've got no interest in making those.

However, this is apple season and I've got a few apples that are softer than I generally like for eating. I'm a bit picky about how soft apples are "allowed" to be, which in my mind, is "not at all soft." Apples should be crisp. For this recipe, I'm using one Gold Rush and one apple that I've already forgotten the name of, both bought from my local growers market--from a farmer who grows more than 60 types of apples and has been generous enough to talk to me about the apples (and recommend books about apple varieties and cultivation) for the past three months.

These scones are different from the standard buttermilk scones in that I use yogurt instead--the same principle, but less liquid. To help balance this, I use both yogurt and whipping cream (you could use 1/2 cup of yogurt instead, potentially, but you might need to add some additional liquid) that I've curdled with lemon juice--this also lets me reduce the amount of butter I use.

If you're in the mod for apple cinnamon scones, here are a few other suggestions:

*Chocolate chips with orange zest (like the Joy the Baker recipe originally called for)
*Blueberry-lemon
*Cranberry white-chocolate (use a white chocolate glaze with fresh cranberries and lemon zest kneaded into the batter)

There are many more combinations of course, depending on what flavors you like.

Apple Cinnamon Scones

makes four large or six small scones 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour  2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 1 teaspoon thyme 2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons cold butter 1 egg yolk 1/4 cup low-fat or non-fat yogurt 1/4 cup whipping cream mixed with 2 teaspoons lemon juice or cider vinegar Easy Apple Compote (see my post on this) Place rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, nutritional yeast, thyme, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. In another bowl, egg yolk, egg yolk, and whipping cream. Add to flour mixture all at once, stirring enough to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead about 15 times. Roll or pat out into a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 8 large or 12 small squares (or more). On half the squares, spread a thin amount of apple compote(amount will depend on the size square you’re using and how much jam you want. I make small squares and use about 1-2 tablespoons compote). Place the remaining, squares on top to make a “sandwich.”  Place scones on prepared baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.   Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and then serve.

Half have a maple syrup glaze

A Very Veggie Breakfast

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I'm still in my "I want to eat veggies. Lots of veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. Especially green veggies..." stage and I've been making sautes and stir-fries for breakfast because the idea of sweet breakfast turns my stomach a little. In particular, I've been making some variation of this for breakfast almost daily, either using kale, chard, collards, or cabbage, depending on what I have in my refrigerator (aka, depending on what I got cheap at the growers market or the grocery store).

This is nice for breakfast because it's simple. I can start it after I walk the dog, even on days I'm feeling somewhat more rushed than I'd like in the mornings. I can steep my coffee (French press) while my food caramelizes, perhaps get my lunch ready to go on my weekdays, and even turn on my computer to check email and other things, all the while, giving my food an occasional quick stir so it doesn't burn.

As a post-Thanksgiving day breakfast, this is fun, light, and doesn't involve leftovers--which there will be plenty of, for many people, in the coming days (and weeks! So glad that's not me this year.). Plus, if you pair it with a piece of whole grain toast or other whole grain, then you will have plenty of stamina for shopping, cleaning, decorating, or whatever it is you do with your Black Friday. Usually, I would make tamales. This year, I work. But as I said, I've been eating this, or some variation of this, for several weeks and I find it a lovely way to start my day in a veggie-intense way that doesn't involve a smoothie (kinda cool for that this time of year, and the blender noise is obnoxious first thing in the morning).

In the variation of this depicted by the picture, I'm using Lacinato kale, which (apparently) has a long tradition in Italian cuisine. I'll have to remember that next time I buy some -- I definitely want something with tomatoes and Italian flavoring soon, probably also for breakfast. Lacinato kale is the same thing as dinosaur kale (my personal favorite name for it), Tuscan kale, and black kale among many other names. This is simply the kale that's looked best at both the growers market and the grocery store.

Sometimes I add mushrooms, because I really like them. I don't always want mushrooms though and so I'm not including it in the list of ingredients. When I do add mushrooms, I usually add 4-6 sliced (depending on the size) a couple of minutes after I add the onions, but before I add my greens. They add a lot of extra flavor though, so if you like mushrooms and have them on hand, I highly encourage you to use them.

This makes a great main dish breakfast for one or two, or could be used as a side dish for several. You could also use it for lunch or dinner, if you're so inclined (and I've been doing some of that too, just changing up what specifically I add).

I've also been craving, recently, baked beans on toast with stewed tomatoes. Maybe all these British shows E and I have been watching are rubbing off. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't usually have baked beans or stewed tomatoes on hand. Maybe though, I'll make that happen.

It's Good to Be Green (and orange!) Breakfast (or dinner)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 carrot, sliced in coins, or 1/4 cup chopped sweet potato
1 bunch kale, chopped
Salt (I use about 1/4 teaspoon, at most)
Red pepper flakes (I use about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
Red wine vinegar (if you don't have this on hand, use lemon juice)

One or more of the following:
1/4 cup raisins, optional
1 teaspoon curry powder, optional
2 tablespoons chopped or slivered, toasted almonds
2-4 tablespoons goat cheese
1/2 thinly sliced, firm apple such as Arkansas black or pink pearl 

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add ginger, onion, garlic, and carrot. Stir to coat with oil and then only stir occasionally (every 2-3 minutes, perhaps) until the onions and carrots just begin to caramelize (about 7-10 minutes total, depending on your pan).

Add the kale (or cabbage), salt, and red pepper flakes. Saute until the kale begins to wilt and then add the red wine vinegar.

Remove from heat when the kale is mostly wilted and stir in the raisins, curry powder, almonds, goat cheese, or apple (I wouldn't recommend using all of these at once--but perhaps two or three, with a specific flavor-idea in mind as you're doing it), if using. Serve hot.

Not-Too-Sweet Chunky Apple Cake

Earlier this month, I was looking on a blog for work (yes, I sometimes get to read blogs for work, kinda awesome when i do) when I saw a post for a "kid-friendly" apple cake. The blogger was playing it up as super-healthy because it had DHA in it from flax. Okay, yes, technically you can get DHA from the ALA actually present in flax, but the human body isn't very good at making that conversion happen. And the original recipe contained 1 cup of sugar, plus 1/2 cup of butter. And that's before the topping, which also had a fair amount of butter and sugar.

Kid-friendly because it's super sweet? Fine. But maybe not the best option. The original recipe also used white whole wheat flour, which is fantastic (whole grains, whoo!), unless you're trying for a gluten-free diet.

I intentionally did not use guar gum or xantham gum in this recipe--quick breads don't always need it. That may be part of the reason that this cake is a little crumbly. It could also be that I used closer to 3 cups of chunked apples, or whole oats (which can be a problem for some people with gluten-sensitivity or intolerance, please ask if you don't know for sure). Or maybe I just didn't let it cool enough after initially coming out of the oven. It did get more solid as I let it cool.

The original recipe didn't contain any extra salt (maybe the blogger used salted butter, but the post didn't indicate one way or the other), so I added some because salt is a flavor enhancer. I also added cardamom and cloves because I enjoy the flavors. Also, it's just the time of year when I want the house to smell of sweet spices. As E put it when she came down in the morning, "It's that time of year, isn't it, when there's lots of baking?" I look forward to baking with her during these next few months, when the days are shorter and cooler.

I'd been wanting to make this recipe for a while, because it seemed like a fun thing to do with some of the extra going-soft apples I had around. I've already made applesauce this season (and will again) and still have some in my freezer. I wanted a different option. But I didn't really want a lot of bread. When my friend Rachael came for a visit, I decided it would be the perfect time to make this cake. I wanted to make it a lot less sweet and serve it with breakfast. I could send her on the road with some. And, because we planned to do a lot of hiking, it would be something fortifying we could eat in the morning and feel fuller with for a while.

The morning I made this, I also heated up some black beans Rachael brought with her, in a chipotle-peanut butter sauce and let them cook until the sauce thickened around them, which added extra protein to the meal--protein + whole grains = staying power. We spread a little extra butter on the bread, but a lot less than the recipe originally called for. Sometimes, I find spreading fresh butter on a bread lets me actually taste the butter, which I appreciate if I'm going to be eating those calories anyway. Then, we went hiking and walking through town and hiking again. And in between, we baked other things. Magical.

To make this vegan: substitute the egg for a flax seed egg, commercial egg replacer, or a banana, and use a vegan margarine or olive oil in place of butter. I used water in my recipe, but a milk alternative would work as well--and the original recipe used regular, low-fat milk.

Not-Too-Sweet Chunky Apple Cake (Gluten-Free)
Dry Ingredients
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (GF)
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together in a large bowl and set aside while you mix the wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground flax
1 1/2 cups water or low-fat milk
1 egg, beaten

Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Add the vanilla, flax, and water or milk and remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes. Stir in the egg. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Other
2 cups (or 3) chopped apples

Brown sugar
Cinnamon, optional

Stir the chopped apples and pour batter into a 9" greased pie pan or round cake pan. Sprinkle the top of the cake with brown sugar and cinnamon, if using. Bake in an oven preheat to 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.

With butter

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa

My friend Rachael recently came to visit and we spent lovely days baking, cooking, hiking, and talking. One morning, we went out to breakfast. One morning we cooked together. One morning, I made this dish, based on a baked oatmeal recipe from a cookbook Rachael brought with her called Simply in Season. It seemed like a delightful base recipe to prep us for a long hike and it's nice to eat seasonal foods, even when some of my ingredients come from a can (more on this later).

Why this dish? When we were planning our day, the evening before Rachael said she'd never had baked oatmeal--not true, I reminded her. When we both still lived in the Midwest and ate breakfast together on Friday mornings with two other friends, I'd made a baked oatmeal recipe a handful of times. Baked oatmeal was something introduced to me a year ago this past summer, at a retreat center I stayed at while on a field trip focused on sustainable agriculture.

One of the lovely things about baked oatmeal is that it's warm, hearty, and can be prepped the night before. The recipe from Simply in Season did not recommend mixing everything the night before and then just sticking it in the oven. But, you could do this, I think, based on my previous baked oatmeal experiences. This is especially good if you're rushed in the morning. And, you could make this vegan by substituting the egg for either a commercial egg replacer, or a flax seed egg. You don't have to use the quinoa, if you don't have any on hand, but I wanted to include it to up the protein a little. If you decide to leave it out, you should increase the oatmeal to 2 cups.

We used butternut squash, because that's the puree I had on hand. At times, I might make my own rather than buying processed, but honestly I could pick up these cans of organic butternut puree for ridiculously cheap and it wasn't nearly as labor-intensive, and when I have butternut squash I've baked, I really just want to eat it. Immediately. You could also use pumpkin for this, or applesauce (as the original recipe suggests).

You could use pumpkin pie spice for this, if you didn't have these spices on hand, or leave the spices out entirely--the original recipe didn't use spices. I might have also added cardamom, if I'd thought about it early enough, but this combination of spices created a lovely taste reminiscent of autumn.

Note: although I've labeled this gluten-free, some people with Celiacs and gluten-sensitivity also do badly with oats, including gluten-free oats. If you are one of these people, or preparing this for someone who is gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant, please check to make sure GF oats are okay.

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (GF)
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup demerara sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raisins (or other chopped, dried fruit, optional)
3 tablespoons chopped almonds (optional)*

Spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet Ingredients
1 cup milk (I used coconut)
1/2 cup butternut squash puree
1 tablespoon oil
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix in the spices.

Add the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees, in a greased 8 x 8 pan (or equivalent) 25-30 minutes, until a knife stuck in the center comes out moist, but clean. Serve warm with milk.

*I didn't incorporate the almonds, but left them chopped, on the side to be added later. You could also use walnuts or pecans, if you prefer.

Lemon-y Snickett Risotto

Ingredients, minus dairy products

It's almost Halloween! What better to do than to have Halloween-themed food (which I fully intend to do for at least a couple of posts--hopefully that intention will actually happen!)? This post is inspired by E's recent endeavors into a (wonderful) lemon risotto. She's made it a couple of times now and it seems worthy of sharing with others. I'm not sure which site she got it from originally, either, but I am going to try and write it up to best reflect what she does when she makes it.

So, what makes this risotto lemon-y snickett risotto? Honestly, not much. Okay, not anything. Totally unauthorized re-use of the name (hence Lemon-y with a hyphen and snickett with two "t's") BUT, this basic lemon risotto can be dressed up with little "lumps of coal" (aka black olives), reptile tongues (aka carrot curls), or fire flecks (aka red pepper flakes).

Risotto in Pot

E seems to have endless patience for stirring the risotto rice--but honestly this doesn't take that long to make, as far as risottos go. In the past, I made a risotto that took forever to cook. And I don't remember it being as tasty as this one. The original recipe calls for parsley, but we haven't used it yet. I imagine it would brighten up the flavor nicely and provide lovely little flecks of green to make it look even fresher (serpent scales to go with the theme of lemon-y snickett?). We also haven't used shallots, but instead just use a bit of yellow onion. I suspect that the lightly garlicky flavor of shallots would be beautiful in this dish, so if you can get your hands on it, you should definitely use shallot in favor of the onion. Don't skip the lemon zest. It'll taste fine without it--but you get an extra hit of lemon flavor whenever you bite into a zesty curl.

Like many risottos, this dish is rich. But fabulous. And I would happily make/eat it for breakfast if I wanted something savory/lemony one morning and had all the ingredients handy. I might also saute some mushrooms and add that, but E doesn't like fungus, so we haven't tried that.

Lemon-y Risotto
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine

ZestingTools & Zest

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
3 tablespoons lemon juice (at least!)
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Bring broth and water to a simmer in a large bot over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover to keep warm. Meanwhile, saute onions in the olive oil and butter over medium-low heat, until tender, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add the arborio rice; stir one minute. Add wine and stir until evaporated. Add 1 1/2 cups broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently.

Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, simmering until completely absorbed before adding more broth. This will take about 35 minutes. Stir in cheese, then lemon juice. Add zest just before serving.

Risotto with "fire flecks"

Oat Groats, a hot cereal

Brown Rice (left) v. Oat Groats (right)

As the days start to change from summery to autumn-y (and they should, since we're officially in autumn as of September 23rd), I want hot breakfast more often. My new love right now -- oat groats aka oat berries. They look a little like brown rice (see the picture, they're the ones on the right without any little green flecks) and have that kind of chewy texture that brown rice has (and take about the same amount of time to cook) but with that lovely, lovely oat flavor.

A groat, if you're wondering, is the parent grain--the grain that comes from the plant and hasn't seen much processing (in this case, unlike the cut or rolled oat, or oat bran or flour). Due to this lack of processing, as far as I could research, these contain none of the gluten that causes people with Celiac's disease or strong gluten intolerance any problems. Oats, I've learned, do contain a type of gluten--but it's not the same as the gluten in wheat, barley, and rye, and only contain a very small amount of it.

I'm actually a little surprised about how little I was able to learn about oat groats online. The sources that talked about oat groats, with a few exceptions (mostly dedicated to gluten-free lifestyles) focused more on the by-products of oat groats we're all more familiar with. But I suppose this shouldn't surprise me too much. I was just talking to a friend about oat groats and his response was "I'll have to look for those next time I go to my co-op." He doesn't like oatmeal much, though he didn't specify why (I suspect it's because that's the primary thing he's eaten for breakfast for a couple of years now because it's cheap and filling). I tried to sell him the idea of groats based on their texture--much superior, I think.

Look at those little groat beauts!

To be fair though, I found out about oat groats when I moved to my new town. They were in bulk bins everywhere (note: if you're celiac, and you're new to it, the advice is don't buy from bulk bins. Instead, you can order your groats from an online retailer or potentially find it with the other grains in your local grocery. I got a small amount, since to my knowledge at that point, the reason that oats were not good for people with gluten sensitivities was because of the processing, not because of the oat itself. This is how come you can find gluten-free rolled oats on the shelves of some markets.

Groats take a lot longer to cook than regular oats and I recommend the pre-soak method to reduce cooking time. I usually add my oats (1 part groats to 3 parts water) to water and bring to a boil and then turn off and go for a run. This reduces my cooking time to 20-25 minutes. I've also seen recommendations for soaking groats overnight. Do what makes sense for you.

I've also read that you can cook extra oat groats and store them in the refrigerator for the next day (apparently they're easy to reheat) but I don't see much point in this. If I'm that rushed, I'm probably grabbing something and walking out the door. Otherwise, I'm going to be able to at least start my groats (especially if I've soaked them overnight) while I'm getting dressed, walking my dog, etc. and then pour them into a reusable container to take with me. Some people cook their groats with salt. I opt out, but if you want to add salt, remember just a sprinkling should be fine.

But so far, I've been able to savor my groats. I like them with pumpkin or sunflower seeds, and sometimes a little bit of local blackberry honey. Sometimes I add milk (lately this has alternated between a dairy option, coconut, and almond). Sometimes I throw on some fresh fruit. Usually I add cinnamon. But they're also really pretty good with nutritional yeast, pepitas (raw, hulled), and a little black pepper if you're looking for something more savory.

I imagine these groats would also make a lovely stand-in for rice in a pilaf, especially a pilaf with a couple of sweeter aspects, like raisins or apricots.

Oat Groats for One

1/4 cup oat groats
3/4 cup water

Bring the water and groats to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn off the heat, cover, and let rest for at least 30-45 minutes. After the groats have soaked (go do something like run, shower, read, whatever), uncover and turn the heat back on. Bring the groats to a rapid boil once again and then reduce the heat to low and simmer another 20-25 minutes. Serve how you would typical rolled or steel cut oats.

Cooked Groats, no toppings