Oatmeal Peanut Butter Dried Plum Bars #TheFeelGoodFruit #CG

Healthy snacking is a great idea, but I have to admit that I'm not virtuous enough to snack on foods that taste like hay and and twigs. If it doesn't taste good, I'm going to go looking for something else. It really helps if I make something at least vaguely healthy, and have it on hand.

So when Clever Girls and Sunsweet offered an opportunity to have some fun with dried plums - the fruit formerly known as prunes - I jumped right on it. I like prunes a lot, but I usually eat them as-is, just snacking straight from the bag. They're a nice combination of sweet and tart, with a little chew to remind you that you're eating real food.

My challenge was to create a healthy snack using the dried plums. Hmmm. After snacking though half of the bag of whole prunes they sent, I decided that the diced plums would make a good addition to baked goods, so I created this recipe for bars with oatmeal, white wheat flour (which is a whole grain product) and nuts. And of course the diced prunes.

Are you ready for your close-up?

Dried plums and peanuts playing the starring roles as far as the flavor, with the plums adding sweet/tart to complement the savory nuts.

Fiber is one of the good-for-you components, courtesy of the grains and the dried plum. Peanuts provide protein. And plums provide potassium.

Texture is a big component when it comes to food, and the oats and nuts add their texture to these bars - but not so much that it's a chore to chew.

Some of the oats are ground to a powder, so the bars have a slightly cakey, softer texture rather than being dense and chewy like a granola bar.

And then they're studded with the soft, sweet, squishy dried plums.

They're tasty, they're filling, and they're really easy to make. They're great for snacking any time, or for a quick running-out-the-door breakfast bar.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Dried Plum Bars

2 cups rolled oats, divided
1 cup white wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Sunsweet diced dried prunes
1/2 cup peanuts

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8-inch square pan with baking spray.

Take 1 cup of the oatmeal and grind it in blender, food processor, or spice grinder until you have a fine flour-like powder. You can also buy oat flour, but if you'r not planning on using it for other purposes, you might as well just grind your own.

Combine the oat powder, rolled oats, white wheat flour (you can sub all purpose flour, if you prefer), baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the peanut butter and brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl where you will beat with an electric mixer.

Beat the sugar and peanut butter until well blended. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until combined.

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with two additions of the buttermilk - starting and ending with the dry ingredients. In theory, you could add all the buttermilk at once, then add the dry stuff - but, trust me - doing it in several additions is easier to get it mixed, AND it's less messy.

Stir in the diced dried prunes and the peanuts. You just want them well distributed in the mix. If you want to add more, go for it. I won't tell.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it evenly in the pan. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean - about 35 minutes. The edges will be slightly brown and will be pulling just slightly away from the pan.

Let the bars cool completely before slicing into 9, 12, or 16 pieces depending on how snacky you feel!

The three products that Sunsweet provided were whole prunes, diced dried plums, and plum juice.
They said: PlumSmart® Light: This juice is made from a special variety of fresh, juicy plums and has only 60 calories and 15g of carbs, and helps you stay fit on the inside by providing a good source of fiber. PlumSmart Light is a great addition to a smoothie.

I said: Okay, I haven't tried this yet, but I'm giddy excited that it exists. I love plums, but their season is so short. Plum juice sounds danged good, and if we're being honest, it's going to end up in a cocktail. Just wait.

Yeah, I ripped that prune bag right open. Yup. *munch*

They said: Amaz!n™ Prunes: These little gems are a good source of fiber for only 100 calories per serving. Amaz!n Prunes are nature's perfect way to feel good with nutrition and delicious taste. Prunes also have a low glycemic index, which means they keep you feeling fuller longer. They add a powerful boost of nutrition and fiber to snack time or your favorite recipe.

I said: I love dried fruits for snacking all on their own, and with a prune you get a quick fix of all the goodness of a plum in one bite. These don't last long around here.

They said: Amaz!n™ Diced Prunes: Grab a handful of these delicious diced prunes for nutritious snacking. Toss them in cereal, oatmeal, salad or your favorite recipes for added flavor and fiber. One serving of Amaz!n Diced Prunes is a good source of fiber for only 100 calories. Add to your favorite snacking recipe for extra fiber and a fruit flavor boost.

I said: Let's be serious for a second. Dicing dried fruit is not fun. It's sticky. It sticks to your knife. It sticks to your cutting board. You're not enough of a ninja to get pretty, even cuts. If you want diced dried plums that don't look like you cut them with a dull lawnmower, just buy the diced version. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration.

Want to know more about Sunsweet? You'll find @SunsweetGrowers on Twitter and Sunsweet on Facebook.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Oatmeal Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookies - allergen-free

I don't have any food allergies that I know about, but I'm always interested in trying recipes designed for restricted diets, because I think it's interesting to see how people work around the restrictions.

So, when my buddies at 37 Cooks tossed a copy of Sweet Debbie's Organic Treats at me, I knew I'd find something fun to make.

Besides focusing on organic, the recipes are also allergen-free and vegan. So, no gluten, nuts, dairy ... all those things that I bake with all the time.

Many of the recipes used coconut oil and coconut nectar, including the one I chose. I happened to have a jar of coconut oil, so that was good. I didn't have coconut nectar, and after some shopping, I couldn't find it anywhere. I did some reading and found that agave nectar and honey were both acceptable substitutes.

I had plenty of honey, so I chose to use that. Afterwards, I remembered that honey isn't a vegan product. But I wasn't planning on feeding any vegans, so I figured it would be fine - at least from a "will this recipe work" standpoint.

The recipe also called for 3/8 teaspoon of stevia powder, which I also didn't have. Since stevia is a sweetener and I had plenty of honey in the recipe, I decided to skip it. Many sources I looked at said that honey was sweeter than coconut nectar, so I figured I would be fine.

I didn't have guar gum and couldn't find it when I went shopping, but the book suggested that xanthan gum is an acceptable alternative, so I used that.

I was pretty happy with these cookies. I'm not a big fan of coconut, so I wasn't shoveling these into my mouth with wild abandon, but the chocolate flavor was definitely prominent.

For the gluten-free flour mix, I used the all purpose baking mix from King Arthur Flour; the book also has a recipe from making your own flour mix. For the chips, I used Nestle's, even though I'm pretty sure they're not organic.

You might be wondering about the gluten free oats. Here's the deal. Oats themselves don't have any gluten, but many oats are processed in facilities that process other grain products that do contain gluten. Because of that, they can't be labeled gluten free. So if you're cooking for someone who needs to avoid all gluten, you need to buy oats that are processed in a facility that's gluten free.

The book has recipes for making your own dark chocolate chips, if you prefer to do that, and you need to control absolutely every ingredient in your baking.

Oatmeal Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Sweet Debbie's Organic Treats by Debbie Adler

1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour mix
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut nectar (I used honey)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/8 teaspoon stevia powder (I omitted this)
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups gluten-free rolled oats (I used Hodgson Mill)
3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper. These don't spread much, so you might be able to squeeze all the cookies on one sheet, but I found it was easier to just use a second sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour mix, cocoa powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.

Put the coconut oil and nectar (or honey or agave) in a microwave-safe measuring cup or small bowl and heat for 20-30 seconds. Add the vanilla extract and the stevia (if you're using it) and stir well. The coconut oil should melt.

Add the coconut oil mixture to the flour mixture, along with the water. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture is evenly wet. Add the oats and the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Portion the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets. I made about 20 cookies. Flatten the cookies with your palm or with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass.

Bake at 325 degrees until the cookies are set and the oats look dry, about 13 minutes. If you're baking more than one sheet at a time, or if your oven doesn't bake evenly, rotate the pans in the oven partway through the baking time.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the cookies cool for about 10 mintues before removing them from the pan and letting them cool completely on a rack.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher through 37 Cooks.

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Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies don't need a whole lot of explanation. A big glass of milk, maybe. Or a mug of coffee, if you like dunking.

Words, though, they don't need. I mean, you've got the dark chocolate chips studded in the cookies. And the flavor of peanut butter. And the texture and chew from the oats.

For these, I used Thick-Cut Rolled Oats from Hodgson Mill. They emailed me a while back, and said, hey, ya want some healthy stuff? And I said, sure, I'll try some.

I go through a lot of rolled oats around here, which is sort of weird considering I never use it for breakfast oatmeal. But I use it a lot in bread, cookies, muffins, and other baked goods.

So I embarked upon making these cookies, combining some of my favorite things in a single cookie.

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup Thick-Cut Rolled Oats
1 10-ounce package dark chocolate chips

Cream the butter, peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder in a bowl with your electric mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well-blended. Scrape down the bowl a needed. Add the flour and oats and mix well.

Mix in the chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl or put the dough in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least a few hours or up to several days.

When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees and use a small scoop to portion the dough into tablespoon sized portions, leaving some space between them.

These don't spread a lot on their own, so if you want flatter cookies, press the dough down as much as you like.

Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned along the edges, about 14 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the pan and let them cool completely on a rack.

Disclaimer: I received the oats (along with other products) from Hodgson Mill, but was not required to write this post.

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Oat and Yogurt Bread Machine Loaf

Some days I have no yogurt at all. Other days I have way too much. And then I start getting creative about using it. I mean, I like eating it plain, but I also like using it in cooking. And baking. And sauces, dips, dressings ... all sorts of things.

This time around, I decided to use just a little bit of my recent yogurt richness in bread. And then I decided to add some whole grain goodness in the form of rolled oat.

Then, since I was being just a teeny bit lazy, I used my bread machine.

Have I mentioned how convenient this machine is? As much as I love making bread by hand (and I'm working on a few very interesting variations) sometimes I just need to have a loaf of bread that I can use for toast in the morning. So I can toss ingredients into the machine and just let it go until it beeps.

Did I mention that we're going through a lot more bread since Bob came home from the hospital? Yeah, we are. He's been busy eating and trying to gain some weight.

Oat and Yogurt Bread

1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon cane sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt (I used Wallaby 0%)
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup water

Put all of the ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (in general, the differences are about when the yeast is added, and when the water is added. It might not make a huge difference, but if your manufacturer has a recommendation, go for it.

Set the machine for a medium loaf, light crust.

Press appropriate buttons.

When the bread is done, remove it from the machine and let it cool on a rack before slicing.

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Whole Foods Friday: Oatmeal Bread

It's pretty amazing that uncooked rolled oats completely disappear when baked into bread but that's exactly what happens. You see little flecks of color, but that's about it. The flavor of the oats in the bread is also very mild - it adds a bit of character to the bread, but no one's going to tell you the bread tastes like granola.

This bread has a nice crunchy crust coming out of the oven, but if you want a soft crust, place a clean kitchen towel over the top of the bread as it's cooling. After you store it in a plastic bag, the crust will soften, anyway. So if you like that crunchy crust, enjoy it on that first day.

I kneaded this bread using my stand mixer, but you can also knead it by hand if you prefer. Hold back some of the flour from the recipe to flour your work surface, otherwise you risk adding too much during kneading.

Oatmeal Bread

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Put the oats, water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and let it stand for 10 minutes to let the oats soften a bit. Add the bread flour and salt and knead with the dough hook until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Add the butter and knead until it is completely incorporated. If you have room temperature butter, that's good, but the stand mixer will have no trouble incorporating refrigerator-cold butter, so don't worry about that.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, about 50 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Knead briefly, then form into your preferred shape - round or oval. Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size - about 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the dough has doubled, remove the plastic wrap Slash the top of the loaf as desired. Bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped in the bottom - about 30 minutes.

Remove the loaf from the oven and let cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Whole Foods Friday: Blueberry, Cherry, and Oat Muffins

We all know that more fiber is good for us, right? When it comes to baking, usually that fiber comes from whole wheat. But oats are a good alternative, and sometimes they're a better alternative. They're lighter in color in baked goods, and the flavor is milder, so they can be more appealing to people who haven't fully embraced the idea of whole grains.

I made these muffins with a combination of dried blueberries and dried cherries - about 2/3 blueberries and 1/3 cherries - but you can use any proportion, or any dried fruit that you like. I've recently decided that I like dried fruits better than fresh in muffins. The flavor is more concentrated and they're sturdy, so you don't end up with squished fruit in the muffins.

Some recipes call for hydrating dried fruits before baking. I might do something like that for a more delicate baked good, like a cake. But muffins are more robust, and they can handle the more dense fruit. Of course, if your dried fruit has been sitting around for a while and it is too chewy, you can certainly opt to hydrate the fruit before baking.

These muffins were only tested at high altitude - if you're cooking at sea level, you might need an extra teaspoon of baking powder beyond what's provided from using self-rising flour. Up here (gasp, gasp) at about a mile high, these rose nicely, but didn't over-rise, which is always a worry. And the texture was perfect.

Blueberry, Cherry, and Oat Muffins

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) self-rising flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup dried blueberries and cherries (any combination you like)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup creme fraiche*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a muffin pan (with 12 regular-sized muffins, not the giant ones) with baking spray. Or, if you prefer, line with cupcake papers.

Obliterate the oats in your food processor until you have a fine powder. It's fine if there are a few bits, but it should be mostly powder.

Combine the obliterated oats, self-rising flour, salt, and dried fruit in a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, creme fraiche, oil, and egg. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until it's combined.

Portion the batter into the 12 muffin cups in the pan.

If the oven hasn't quite come up to temperature at this point, no worries. Just wait for it.

Bake at 375 degrees until the muffins are golden brown on top, they spring back when gently touched in the center, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean - about 18-20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

*Home made creme fraiche is easy. Here's my method.

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Oatmeal Date Cookies

My husband called from the hospital on Thursday night. I didn't make the drive to visit him that day because I had a few things I needed to do to prepare for him coming home on Saturday.

"Are you busy?" he said.

I was thinking he was asking whether I had time to talk for a while. But no, he wasn't being chatty. He wanted me to make cookies to bring to the staff.

Duh! I should have thought of it!

Of course I should bring goodies to the staff.

Instead of creating a new cookie recipe (because, seriously, I couldn't risk a failure) I thought it was wiser to use a tested recipe. Or at least adapt one.

So I started thinking about what I had on hand. Flour, of course. I had chocolate chips, but I didn't think it was enough for a big batch of cookies. So what else... oatmeal! I knew I had plenty of oatmeal on hand. And I have plenty of dried fruit. I thought about adding cherries, but then changed my mind and went with dates.

I figured that a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies would be perfect. I'd just substitute the dates for the raisins.

I pulled out one of my trusty cookie books, 1001 Cookie Recipes by Gregg R. Gillespie. The great thing about this book is that no matter what type of cookie you're looking for, you'll probably find several versions. And there are photos of the cookies, so you can choose by that rather than reading ingredients and descriptions.

I wanted a bumpy oatmeal cookie. And - hey - I found one that actually called for dates. How weird is that? Of course, I changed a few things. Because that's how I am.

Oatmeal Date Cookies
Adapted from 1001 Cookie Recipes by Gregg R. Gillespie

1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon butter vanilla emulsion (or vanilla extract)
3 cups rolled oats
1 8-ounce package chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Or, four cookie sheets, if you have them and you don't want to wait for the first cookie sheets to cool between batches.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir well.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the shortening, brown sugar, and sugar. (You can also do this in a bowl with a hand mixer.)

Beat in the egg, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla emulsion or extract.

Gradually add the flour mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed. Stir in the oatmeal and dates (You can do this with the stand mixer on low speed. If you used a hand mixer, you'll probably need to stir in the oats and dates by hand.)

Using a tablespoon-sized scoop or a spoon, portion dough onto the cookie sheets, leaving room between them to spread.

Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes (depending on the size of the cookies) until they are lightly browned.

Let them cool for a minute on the cookie sheet, then move them to racks to cool. Bake the remaining cookies the same way.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

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Mushroom Ris-Oat-O

Yes, I'm back on the savory oatmeal bandwagon again. Last time, I made a fairly simple preparation with some parmesan cheese on top. This time, I decided to amp up the flavors a little bit, and go even a little further into savory land with mushrooms.

This could be made with chicken stock, but I decided to use one of my pantry staples, instead - Better than Bouillon. It's a thick paste rather than a powder, and it comes in a lot of stock-like flavors. I use the chicken most often. Like regular bouillon, it's salty, so you need to watch that. You'll note that I didn't add much salt to this.

As usual, I made this in my rice cooker.

This reheats well, but you'll need to add a bit of water when you reheat to thin the ris-oat-o a little bit.

Mushroom Ris-Oat-O

1 rice-cooker-cup steel cut oats (I used Flahavan's)
Water to "porridge" line on rice cooker
1 teaspoon Better than Bouillon chicken flavor
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
Cheese, grated, as needed - I suggest parmesan or Gruyere
Creme Fraiche

Put the oats in the rice cooker, then add the water to the proper line. Add the Better than Bouillon, salt, and saffron.

Melt the butter in a small saute pan. Cook the mushrooms until the lose their water, then reabsorb it, and then the mushrooms brown a little bit. Add the mushrooms to the rice cooker pot and give the mixture a stir.

Set the rice cooker for brown rice, soft. Press the button and wait, tapping toe impatiently.

Serve with the grated cheese on top, as desired. A dollop of creme fraiche is also very nice, if you like. Some chopped fresh herbs would also be nice, in season. I'd choose thyme or chives.

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#TopChef Quickfire: Apple Pie Inspired Oatmeal

Last week on Top Chef, the quickfire challenge was to make something sweet and savory. The first thing I thought of was this recipe.

Okay, if this was actually a quickfire challenge, I'd be out of luck, because steel cut oatmeal doesn't actually cook very quickly in a rice cooker. I'd either have to use a magical rice cooker that could cook the oatmeal in a shorter time, or I'd be serving the judges some mighty crunchy porridge.

And second, the challenge was for a dish that's both sweet and savory. This isn't all that sweet. Sure, it's inspired by apple pie, but there's no sugar added, and if you use a tart apple, like I did, this is more tart than sweet.

Right now, though, savory oatmeal is a bit of an obsession, and I added to the savory element with walnuts and ... well, you'll see.

Apple Pie Inspired Oatmeal

1 rice cooker measure of steel cut Irish oatmeal (3/4 cup)
Water to the "porridge" line on the rice cooker
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Granny Smith or other tart, pie-worthy apple
Walnuts, to taste
Cheddar cheese, shredded, to taste

Put the rice, water, salt. vanilla and butter into your rice cooker. Peel, core, and dice the apple and add it to the rice cooker.

Set the rice cooker to for brown rice and the "soft" texture (if you rice cooker has those settings. Otherwise, you'll need to figure out how to adjust for your machine or cook the oatmeal on the stove in a pan. But seriously, when you use the rice cooker, you don't have to stir, and it's not going to burn.

When the oatmeal is done, stir it, then serve. Add walnuts as desired and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Of course, if I was really thinking straight during the competition, at the last minute I'd run to the pantry for some maple syrup, which would work really well with the apples. And then the judges would be astonished at my creativity and I'd win the Quickfire.

Me, personally, I like it more savory than sweet. But you can add maple syrup, if you want to.

Here's a Top Chef clip for ya!

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Bravo.

If you're watching the show, you can help keep your favorite chef in the competition. Check out the Save a Chef competition where you can vote via Twitter or by texting. Easy peasy!

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Ris-Oat-O

This is the post where you'll probably think I'm crazy, but bear with me.

The story starts a looooong time ago. Where, in my childhood, my mother wasn't very interested in making any sort of breakfast. Oh, let's be truthful. She was usually hung over and didn't get up in time to deal with breakfast before I went to school.

So pancakes, waffles, oatmeal .. none of the warm breakfasts were ever on the menu. When I finally experienced oatmeal as an adult, I didn't like it much.

Over the years, I tried it multiple times - with milk, with cream, with maple syrup. And I just didn't like it. As far as I was concerned, oatmeal was for cookies or bread or baking, but not for breakfast.

Then I discovered steel cut oats. (Cue angelic singing)

Oh yeah. That's the good stuff!

But here's the deal. I never liked my oatmeal sweetened. I liked it best cooked with just a pinch of salt and a dab of butter. Savory, not sweet.

Steel cut oats.

I mean, oats are just another grain. Like rice or barley or corn or wheat ... So why not cook them in a savory way? Like grits. Or ....

(wait for it ...)

Like risotto, maybe. Sure, risotto is all about rice, but I've seen recipes for barley risotto. So why not OAT risotto?

Yes, I said it. Oat risotto. Ris-Oat-O.

This is so simple, but it's so freakishly good. It's not too savory for breakfast (I mean, grits are savory, right?)  but I also ate this as a side dish with a garlicky pork dish.

I've been eating this A LOT. It's sooooo good.

And now I'm thinking of all sorts of other add-ins I want to try. There will be recipes coming soon, if my plans work out. But this one will have to be my classic ris-oat-o recipe. The one that I'm going to make over and over again. Because it's easy. And good.

I'll bet that if you served these oats to someone who had only ever eaten rolled or quick oats, they might not recognize them. Particularly with the cheese.

I love making oatmeal in my rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, of course you can cook your oatmeal on the stove.

Ris-Oat-O

1 rice-cooker-cup of steel cut oats
Water, to "porridge" level in rice cooker
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Parmesan cheese, grated

Put the oats, water, salt, and butter in the rice cooker.

Set the rice cooker to the brown rice setting, and "soft."

Press the start button. Wait, tapping toe, while oats cook. Or walk away and come back when it's done. (See, that's the beauty of a rice cooker. You walk away and do something else. No stirring, no burning.)

The oatmeal might seem soupy but when you stir it up, you should have nicely cooked oats in a thick sauce.

Serve with a generous snow of grated parmesan cheese.

If you're going to go really crazy with the cheese, you might want to cut back just a bit on the salt, since the cheese is salty. I'll leave that up to you.

You can make this in large batches (this is enough for about 3-4 servings for me, depending on how hungry I am) and it reheats well in the microwave. It thickens up as it cools, though, so you'l want to add a bit of water to it when you reheat, so you get that creamy texture back again.

Did I mention ...

That the oats were provided by the Irish Food Board? I didn't know there was such an organization until they contacted me, and of course I was interested in finding out more about what we get from Ireland. For starters, four different brands of oats, McCanns, Flahavan's, Macroom, and Kilbeggan. That's a lot of oat companies.

For this recipe, I used the Flahavan's, and I have to say that I like them a heck of a lot more than my usual non-branded bulk bin oats. Go figure, huh?

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Fast and Fabulous Oatmeal

Guest post by Fran Blank, The Country Cousin at The Kitchen Cousins

Cold mornings are here and I love a hot breakfast that warms me up and keeps my stomach happy until lunch. Traditional recipes for cooking oatmeal have always left me with a bowl of pasty, gluey gruel AND they took time AND stirring. I thought I would share two ways to make oatmeal worth eating. The first recipe gives you a bowl of chewy, yummy oatmeal AND takes less than 10 minutes AND you only have to stir it a few times - just to mix things up. The second oatmeal recipe has NO cooking, is put together before you go to bed, AND is company "brunch" worthy.

Both recipes start with regular whole oats, NOT instant oats.

1. The Best Oatmeal I Have Ever Eaten!

This recipe makes two generous servings.

- Mix together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil:
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 to 1/2 cup of dried fruit - raisins, cranberries, cherries (my favorite), bananas, etc.
pinch of salt

- When the water boils pour in:
1 cup regular oats and stir to moisten

Put on a lid and take the pan off the heat. Allow the pan to sit, off the heat, for 5 minutes. Remove lid and give things a good stir. Spoon oatmeal into a bowl and then get creative. Top with your favorite sweetener: honey, raw sugar, real maple syrup, brown sugar, ?? Toss in a small handful of walnuts, half of a banana, sliced, or half of an apple, chopped, or any fresh, frozen, or even canned fruit - whatever you have. Pour in a little milk and YUM!! The bowl of oatmeal pictured below has dried cherries, sliced bananas, walnuts, maple syrup, and milk. Now that is oatmeal worth eating!

2. Breakfast Parfait

This is soooo simple and soooo good! The recipe is from my friend, Linda, and we used it for a healthy eating program we did for our local after-school program. The children LOVED it! They came back for seconds!

- Before you go to bed mix regular oats and apple juice half and half. Cover and refrigerate over night. The amount is measured by the number of servings you will need. For example, one cup oats to one cup apple juice should be enough for two generous servings.

- The next morning dish up a portion of the apple juice/oats mixture and top with vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit in season (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, ???), or frozen or canned fruit when fresh is not available. You can also layer this in a parfait glass - oats, yogurt and fruit and it is company worthy. The pictured parfait was topped with frozen blueberries and mango chunks.

I have made this with canned pineapple, peaches or pears. Use the juice from the can to mix with the oats and the fruit for the topping. Then - - add extra toppings that accent the juice and fruit. For instance if you use pineapple toss in some coconut. Use your imagination.

A healthy breakfast is like a hug from Mom. Not a bad thing for any of us.

Hey from the farm,

Fran The Country Cousin

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Banana Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This is a slightly healthier version of a previous pumpkin/banana cookie recipe. Oatmeal adds good fiber, and while the nuts add some fat, they also add protein to these cookies.

When you're making cookies, a small disher (like a mini ice cream scoop) is perfect for portioning and shaping cookies with a lot less fuss. A larger disher is great for portioning batter for muffins and cupcakes.

Parchment paper is a baker’s best friend. Cookies won’t stick, you won’t ever need to grease your cookie sheets, and cleanup is a lot easier.

Freshly ground nutmeg is much stronger than pre-ground nutmeg that you buy at the grocery store, and the whole nutmegs stay fresh practically forever. You can buy a nutmeg grater or just use a fine Microplane grater to grate the nutmeg. If you use pre-ground nutmeg, you can use up to 1/4 teaspoon. If you're using fresh ground, then just a few swipes on the Microplane grater is plenty.

Banana Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick)  butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 overripe mashed banana
canned pumpkin added to banana to make 1 cup
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cups chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, banana, pumpkin, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and oats. Stir to combine. Add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix well. Add the walnuts and stir to distribute.

While you can bake these cookies the same day, it’s better after being refrigerated overnight, which hydrates the oats.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Use a small disher or two teaspoons to drop the dough onto cookie greased or parchment-lines cookie sheets.

Leave plenty of room between them for them to spread.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. Move cookies to a rack to cool.

This recipe also appeared in the Cayenne Kitchen email newsletter.

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Sunny Oatmeal Bread

Yeast must be very conflicted. It eats sugar, but it thrives in an acidic environment. Sort of like me, loving the Colorado environment, but wanting to eat Chicago pizza.

I can't have both, but it's a lot easier for the yeast. In this case, buttermilk adds that extra acidity that makes the yeast giddy and bubbly.

As far as sugar for the yeast's dinner, this recipe includes some rich brown sugar along with the starch in the flour and oats. It's a happy yeast that makes lovely bubbles.

This dough is a little drier than most bread doughs that I make, but the yeast can handle it.

It's also a smaller loaf than I usually make. But that's fine. With all the seeds, it's a pretty rich bread, so it will last a while.

Sunny Oatmeal Bread

1 cup buttermilk, warmed to lukewarm

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) bread flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Mix the buttermilk, yeast, sugar, and oats in the bowl of your stand mixer and set aside for 10 minutes so the oats can hydrate and the yeast can make the mixture light and bubbly.

Add the salt and bread flour and knead until the mixture forms a ball that cleans the sides of the bowl and starts becoming elastic.

Add the olive oil and sunflower seeds and knead at slow speed until the olive oil is incorporated and the seeds are distributed throughout the dough. You don't want to increase speed until the seeds are mostly inside the dough, or they'll be leaping out of the bowl.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap. and set aside until it doubles in size, a bit less than an hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal.

When the dough has doubled, take it out of the bowl and knead it a bit. You might need a little flour on your work surface, but maybe not.

Form the dough into your preferred shape - I went for an oval - and put it on your prepared baking sheet. Cover it with plastic wrap and set it aside until it has doubled in size.

When the dough has doubled, slash as desired, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Maple Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars (or Muffins!)

Perfect for breakfast on the run or at the table.

Although I wrote the recipe for bars, you can use this recipe for muffins (like the photo) as well.

Nuts are optional.

Maple Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars (or Muffins!)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup applesauce
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy with an electric hand mixer. Add brown sugar and beat until combined. It should be light and fluffy Add maple syrup and beat until completely combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add applesauce and vanilla and beat until well blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix gently by hand until it is blended. Do not overmix. Add nuts and mix just until well distributed.

Spread the batter into the pan and even out the top. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely before slicing into 24 squares.

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