Spiced Whipped Oatmeal

I now present you recipe two from the healthy fixes series. It reminds me of oatmeal pudding. And we know that I'll eat anything that reminds me of pudding.

I was inspired to make whipped oatmeal by the blog Katheats. This girl is a serious oatmeal lover- check out her oatmeal tribute page; it's epic.

The Basic formula is this:

Make oatmeal with thin slices of banana, whisking like crazy during the second half of cooking.

Once you've mastered the (extremely complicated) basic formula*, the dish is highly customizable. You can use any kind of milk you want to prepare the oats and then add extras like spices, nuts, granola, peanut/almond butter, dried fruit, fresh fruit, yogurt or chia seeds.

* Its not extremely complicated, that was a joke.

Now, Why Oatmeal? I'll tell you.

Oatmeal boosts energy without adding a ton of calories and fat. It is a complex carbohydrate, which means you feel full longer and have energy longer than you would if you'd just eaten cake and icecream, or even something like a peach. This means the oat/banana combination packs a one-two punch: Energy spike from the banana, sustained energy compliments of the oatmeal.

Oatmeal contain more soluble fiber than whole wheat, rice and corn. The soluble fiber helps eliminate heart-clogging cholesterol, and reduces the risk of heart disease. Oatmeal also contains goodly amounts of vitamins A, B and E, protein, iron and calcium.

What's more, when you choose oatmeal for your breakfast, you are totally in control of what you put in your mouth. Unlike cereal, the only ingredient in rolled oats are OATS. Stay away from the flavored instant varieties... they're full of sugar and it really doesn't much longer to prepare the real thing.

Here is my super tasty decadent version:

SPICED WHIPPED OATMEAL

1/2 cup oats

1 cup vanilla silk almond milk

1 medium banana

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t cardamom

There's no sweetener even needed, because the banana and the vanilla almond milk is sweet.

Combine the almond milk and oats in a pot over low heat. Thinly slice the banana into the pot and let the oats warm, stirring occasionally. Once you start seeing some simmering action, get out your whisk and whisk until the banana is dispersed and unrecognizable as banana and the oats are at your desired consistency. Stir in the spices. Mmmm fragrant and spicy. After writing this post, I definitely know what I'm having for lunch today.

If you want to really mix things up, instead of spices, try adding 1/4 cup chocolate chips when the oatmeal is still hot and stirring them in to melt. You could also add a little bit of cocoa powder and a sweetener like agave nectar or honey instead of the chips.

Calories: 340 Fat: 2.5 g Sugar: 30 g

Macaron Experiment

I never understood this new obsession with macarons. I hadn't tasted one, but I had the impression that they were hard, dry little cookies, kind of like a cross between Necco Wafer and Shortbread. Not appetizing all all, hardly gush-worthy.

Why did I assume they were nasty? Was it judging by looks only or my tendency to mistrust foreign cookies?

When I was in New York City in March, I met a girl who was freakily similar to me (she's Mako's assistant, loves Twilight and baking, among other things. She's even taking culinary courses right now!) Anyway, we spent hours swapping city bakeries we loved, and she told me of a place nearby that had cupcakes and macarons. It wasn't long until I was standing in the shop, ordering a salted caramel macaron at her urging.

And it was awesome! Macaron cookies are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with a burst flavor in between. Turns out, macarons are completely delicious.

Now, faced with their reputation as fussy, hard to make desserts, and a delicious taste in my memory, multiplied by an excess of egg white after making creme brulees at work...I knew a macaron attempt was in my immediate future.

Macaron ingredients are usually just these: almonds, confectioner's sugar and egg whites. Super simple.

You can use almond flour, or (as I did) grind whole almonds and confectioner's sugar in a food processor as finely as you can. The confectioner's sugar helps the almond resist turning into almond butter and stay floury. Pictured below.

I used recipes from David Lebowitz and Tartlette. Regular flavored and Chocolate.

The consistency is supposed to be like "Magma," whatever that means. Neither recipes turned out exactly how I pictured, with rounded tops and cute little feet...my pink ones (colored with food coloring) mostly cracked, and the brown ones had little pointy hats.

I used a 1/2-in pastry tip to pipe the macaron rounds. Everything I read said the little circles should smooth, but not spread.

Pictured above is my first tray.

...and after they baked.

They still tasted good though, crackly and chewy.

Above are the chocolate ones...their little points never smoothed out as they should, though they did bake nicely and develop petite feet.

So I guess I conclude that the first batch wasn't stiff enough, and the second was too stiff. I'm going to try again, but by the end of that day I was completely sugared out and my teeth felt mossy. I don't think I will try it again too soon.

I filled the workable chocolate cookies with cardamom buttercream. I just mixed butter and powdered sugar and a bit of cardamom. It had great flavor.

I'm going to wait to have an absolute macaron success before I post any recipes, but the site of the two I tried have great ideas and hints. Good luck!