Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Ingredient Spotlight: Oats

Raise your hand if you love oats!  I think I’ll raise both my hands.

I don’t know what it is about oats, but I love them. 

Maybe it’s because I used to take oatmeal baths when I was a little kid to help my extremely dry skin. 

TMI, I know.  Sorry. 

Who knows why I love them so much, but I do.  They are really good for you too:

  • High in fiber, especially beta-glucan which lowers cholesterol, stabilizes blood sugar, boosts immunity and helps prevent against cardiovascular disease
  • Great source of mineral nutrients (e.g., Manganese)
  • Contains avenanthramides, an anti-oxidant unique to oats
  • High in protein
  • Healthy fat source

Here are some of our favorite ways to use oats:

1) Baked oatmeal.  Love, love, love this breakfast, whether it’s banana berry, apple cinnamon, gingerbread, zucchini bread, berry baked, cinnamon roll, sweet potato or just plain.  Yum.

2) Granola.  A weekly staple at our house, cheap, easy to make and delicious.  Our family favorite variety comes highly recommended, as does this apple crockpot version.  Oh, and for fall – try pumpkin spice

3) Waffles & Pancakes.  Our overnight oatmeal waffles are delicious and naturally gluten-free (provided your source of oats is GF). Our “Kris-Kringle" Oatmeal Cinnamon Pancakes are a hit in the fall, topped with maple apples.  Finally, oatcakes are fantastic and come highly recommended too. 

4) Bread.  This whole wheat buttermilk oatmeal bread is a new family favorite! Not so good on yeast?  Try this Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread – no yeast required. 

5) Dessert. We love oats in cookies – soft oatmeal molasses top the charts.  Add some chocolate and dried cherries for an oatmeal cherry chocolate cookie. Or, make granola crisp, a ridiculously good and easy dessert.  Want some chocolate – try these oat and fudge bars, and add some caramel for good measure. 

How do you like oats? 

Join us next week for whole wheat flour recipes! And, in two weeks: Carrots. 

1 comment:

  1. My favorite ingredient too! I cant wait to try some of these awesome recipes.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you; especially how you're finding JOY in your kitchen.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...