My New Food Obsession

Whoa!  It's been a long time since I've blogged about food...just looked at the last recipe I posted and it was a long, long, long time ago.  I've still been cooking up a storm and buying a gazillion cookbooks as per usual...I just added the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook to my arsenal and pretty much read it from cover to cover, savouring each page as I went along.  Tomorrow I'm reorganizing our library because I need more space for my cookbook collection...I think I might be topping 250 right now.  Yes, I have a serious problem.

So what new recipe discovery has brought me out of my recipe funk?  Some fantastic chicken dish?  An unctuous dessert?  An out of this world appie? 

Oatmeal.

Yes, folks...I've discovered baked oatmeal and I am loving it.  Loving it!  I'd heard of it ages ago and have been meaning to try it for eons, and last week finally gave it a whirl.  I looked around for recipes that were healthy and finally decided on one that could easily be adjusted to add in different ingredients or made even healthier with a few substitutions.  I have to say...this recipe is pretty awesome...the texture is really great because it's dense but still moist and can easily be packed in your bag for a quick, healthy snack...it's almost like a bar.  I eat this almost like a dessert by heating it up with a schmear of peanut butter and some no sugar jam...seriously yum.

Baked Oatmeal - from Cooking Light, October 2003

2 cups uncooked quick cooking oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins
1 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups fat free milk
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the first five ingredients in a medium bowl.  Combine the milk, applesauce, butter and egg.  Add milk mixture to oat mixture, stir well.  Pour oat mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish quoated with cooking spray.  Bake for 20 minutes.

My changes - I added two scoops of vanilla protein powder to boost the protein/carb ratio, added more like 1/2 cup of raisins and 1 cup of walnuts (good fats, people!).  Next time I think I'll use olive oil instead of the butter, try almond milk and cut back the sugar to 1/3 cup - the protein powder and raisins added enough sweetness.

Hubs liked this, but his reaction was a little muted because I made this fruit cocktail cake that was seriously out of this world and so insanely easy...so good that I'm making it for our Christmas dinner.  Look out for that recipe to come your way soon!