Wowee! Instant Oatmeal

I have to give my friend Melissa props because she has an amazing knack for finding out how to make some really cool things. Like the watermelon mint julep she made me recently, and this yummy instant oatmeal recipe (that she emailed me 3 months ago.)

As I was planning meals for a camping trip we are taking later this month, I thought this oatmeal would be the perfect thing to bring along and have on hand for breakfast or snacks - my kids love the packaged kind (which I will usually bring on camp outs), but it is expensive and has a lot of unnecessary ingredients. I think the addition of the salt and other spices really adds that umph! Taking it from regular old oatmeal to the "mmmm...mom-can-you-make-this-everyday?" kind.

Instant Oatmeal

Mix together in a big bowl:
4 cups quick oats
2 cups quick oats (chopped until coarse in a blender)
1 cup brown sugar (or you can use less)
2 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
a couple dashes of mace

You can add flaxseed, wheatgerm, dried apples or other dried fruit, slices almonds or other nuts. I was thinking pumpkin pie spice would be super yummy too! Share your favorites with me!

We Love You Grandma Clara!

Lately, I have been feeling so appreciative that I have lived long enough to finally appreciate the wisdom of my Italian Grandmother and her excessively frugal ways. I found this sweet series of YouTube videos today and had to share. This are the type of meals my Grandma would cook us. She would call them "Poverty Meals."

In Grandma Clara's videos, she says that they ate tons of potatoes or pasta with veggies. It was cheap, filled the hungry tummies and was healthy. They ate meat very sparingly only on special occasions. No wonder she's lived to be a very spunky 93, and my Italian Grandmother is now 94! It's the rich, processed American diet that puts us in our graves early. Amen to grandmothers everywhere who are sharing their wisdom with us so we can pass it on to our children and grandchildren.

Quinoa Salad with Lime-Cilantro Dressing

Yesterday being Memorial Day, our family attended our church's annual Memorial Day Picnic. I decided to try this recipe that I got off the McDougall website because when I read down the list of ingredients it contained all my favorite things: fresh corn, colorful bell peppers, avocado, artichokes, etc. the list goes on...and on (literally, there are so many ingredients!) While each ingredient is appreciated for its unique role, ie. the sweet chewiness of the dried apricots, I don't think that leaving out a few for lack of accessibility would harm it much. I kept getting comments all day from people who really enjoyed it (and when you bring a healthy salad to a potluck, it better be able to hold it's own against its high fat competitors!)




I served it alone yesterday as a side salad. But today I had the urge to wrap it up in some of these buttery lettuce leaves that were waiting to be used in my garden. The variety is called Red Deer Tongue. It reminds me of butter lettuce - but you could also use iceberg or whatever you have. Great success. I loved the cool, crispy crunch this added to the salad - I will be making this many times this summer, I can already tell. It's a great make ahead dish too as it was very tasty the second day.



I did not have sun-dried tomatoes or quinoa. So I used 4 cups of pre-cooked Five Grain Pilaf that I had in my freezer and omitted the sun-dried tomatoes. The Lime-Cilantro dressing is SO delicious, I am excited to have yet another fat-free dressing that I love! Here is the recipe exactly how it appears on the McDougall website:

Quinoa Salad with Lime-Cilantro Dressing
By Roberta Joiner

Roberta made this delicious salad during our last 10-Day McDougall Live-In Program and when I sampled it, I immediately asked if I could print the recipe in the newsletter. She says you can also make this with 4 cups of any leftover grain that you have instead of the quinoa, if you wish.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 8

2 cups uncooked quinoa
4 cups water
8 dried apricots, finely diced
¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 ears of corn, cut off cob
6 small green onions, sliced in rounds
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
½ cup finely diced colored bell peppers
1 can artichoke hearts or bottoms, drained and chopped (reserve 2 bottoms for the dressing recipe below)
¼ cup toasted slivered almonds
1 avocado, chopped

Toast the quinoa in a dry skillet for a few minutes. Add boiling water, apricots and sun-dried tomatoes. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the corn kernels and let rest for 10 minutes. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer and allow to rest for another 10 minutes so it is well drained. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Dressing:
2 artichoke hearts or bottoms, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed well, stems removed
4 stems basil, rinsed, stems removed (optional)
1 tablespoon honey or Agave nectar
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup red wine vinegar
juice of 3-4 limes

Place all dressing ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until well mixed. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired, adding salt to taste (optional). Toss with the quinoa mixture and serve. The grains will absorb some of the tartness of the dressing, and it will seem milder when served with the grains.

Baked Oatmeal

I'd like to introduce you to our newest favorite way to eat oatmeal. A friend of mine put this recipe on her blog. (Thanks Kristin!) Most baked oatmeal recipes call for eggs and butter - as does this one - but leaving it out omits 27 grams of fat and 272 mg. of cholesterol! I've never tasted the "original" but the "McDougallized" version is SO delicious, I don't even want to know what I'm missing. Even though this is technically breakfast no one's going to arrest me for having a 3 o'clock snack - This tastes better than ANY fat free oatmeal cookie! Mmmm! And all my kids like it...all except picky hubby who prefers most of his food very plain.
Without further ado, here it is:


Baked Oatmeal

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced or grated

2 cups regular or quick oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups soymilk ( I always dilute my soymilk, so I used 1 1/2 c. soymilk + 1/2 c. water)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

In 8 X 8 square or round 2 quart dish, lay apples on bottom. Pile on oat mixture to cover. Carefully pour milk mixture over oats to cover. Sprinkle with course sugar. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The last 5 minutes I like to broil the top so it gets real crispy -but we like crunchy over here. You can have fun trying other fruits, nuts, or spices as well. Please share your creations!

Pineapple Salsa

I am obsessed with this stuff! I am dunking carrots in it, warmed corn tortillas, drizzling over my salad and even on my baked potato! If you have never tried to make homemade salsa, you have to now - and you will never go back to store bought.

Here is my favorite salsa recipe, to make the tomato version just sub out the can of pineapple for a can of diced tomatoes, juice included. Or you can click here for a print out version.


Pineapple Salsa

1 15 oz. can pineapple chunks, liquid included
1/2 bunch cilantro
3 green onions, use all of the white and 1/4 of the green
1/4 jalapeno - more for spicier but add it gradually, all peppers vary in heat!
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until desired consistency. We like ours smooth with no chunks.

Enjoy!

3 - 2 - 1 Salad Dressing

I don't know about you, but finding a fat free salad dressing that tastes great can be a challenge. I usually end up making my own (which can consist of boiling and stirring to get it thick using cornstarch) or just drizzling a bit of good balsamic straight on the leaves. And if money were no object, I would have a bottle of 15 year aged balsamic in my cupboard at ALL times. Usually I settle for Trader Joes's aged balsamic and it's pretty good. (Although trying that 15 year aged one has forever left me a balsamic snob)

Here is a salad dressing that you can mix up in minutes. Made from ingredients you probably have on hand right now. That has NO fat, tastes great, and will even stick to the leaves of your lettuce with out doing the cornstarch thing.

I think I found this recipe on the McDougall Discussion Board but I can't be sure. It was a few weeks ago and I was surfing all over the www. looking for a new salad dressing. So if you know where I got this from please leave it in the comments so I can give props accordingly.

Here's what you do:

3 - 2 - 1 Salad Dressing

3 parts pure maple syrup
2 parts balsamic (or try any kind)
1 part Dijon mustard (or try other kinds)

Whisk together above ingredients and viola! there you have it!

I remember seeing a few variations, like 2 parts vinegar and 3 parts maple syrup. You can experiment to see what you like best. Leave your comments (and any other yummy fat free dressing recipes) so we can share ideas.

On a side note, stop by VEGAN DADs website and check out his Vegan Sausages. They are AWESOME!! Totally grill worthy, even amongst a crew of meat lovers! (Everyone loved them!) I will definitely be making these a lot this summer for barbeques. My family would have liked them if they were sausage lovers (which they're not!) Dang. But no worries, I will make them just for me...And maybe a few lucky neighbors. Oh yeah, they already got the recipe and made some themselves!!

Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes.

One of the reasons this blog is named after potatoes is that they are extremely versatile, very nutritious, and they fill up hungry tummies quite nicely! One of my favorite ways to make a dollar (and a meal) stretch is to buy a 10# bag of Russet potatoes for $2.97 and try this during the course of a week:

Dinner #1 - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, and Garlic Bread

I peel, chop and boil a 10 pound bag of russet potatoes. This will make enough potatoes for 3 different meals. You can add as many whole garlic cloves as you want - I use about 7-10. Then I use a hand beater to whip them up nice and creamy, using only soy milk, salt and pepper. No one ever complains there is no butter in them, they can't even tell!

We will also have corn on the cob, steamed broccoli, peas, asparagus, salad or whatever I have on hand as the "sides." Then I will make the kids some garlic bread and my hubby and I will have warmed bread. Viola! A dinner that makes everyone happy - and full.

Dinner # 2 Spud Tacos
My kids LOVE these! They usually have 2 - 4 each. I use a bit of oil to brown theirs, but I just use a tiny shot of spray oil for my hubby and I. Serve with rice and beans or salad & veggies. I got this idea from a favorite restaurant of mine called Mother's Kitchen.


Dinner #3 Homemade Gnoucci
I already posted recently about these. Again, another crowd pleaser!

One food. Three different ways. But there are a million more ways to eat a potato. What's your favorite way?