Better Oats in the morning

While grocery shopping over the weekend…I stopped at a huge display of Better Oats Oatmeal. I’d never seen it before. The sign said that they offer a product that is exactly what I’m looking for… Mmmkay… From Oat Revolution to Oat Fit to Raw Pure and Simple – with everything in between.

Being that I’m a designer, the packaging actually was the first thing to catch my eye. The second was the whole grains, flaxseed and real fruit pieces and chocolate morsel ingredients. There were so many flavors to choose from, I decided on three to start. I went to my “go to” oatmeal favorite, Abundance – Apples and Cinnamon. Then I grabbed Mmm Muffins – Blueberry and the last one was Lavish – Dark Chocolate – I thought the names were really creative.

They come 5 packages to a box… and they were on sale – 4 boxes for $5.00 – Whoops!  Just noticed that on the receipt… guess I should have grabbed another box.

Not sure the oatmeal dispensing system is necessary, but again… I’m a sucker for innovative packaging design.

You cradle the pouch in your hand and add cold water to the fill line. I’ve tried all three and used this method every time. If you don’t want to fuss with the package, you just add 1/2 cup of water to the bowl of oats. The package claims… “For easier and quicker preparation, tear open and try our measuring cup pouch!”  – There is a dotted line and me being an over-achieving perfectionist… I had to use scissors 😉

Brace yourselves for the action/pour shot… I gave it a good stir and put the bowl into the microwave for 2.5 minutes. The package said 2 – but I know my microwave better than Better Oats does… so I went with my tried and true 2.5 minute oatmeal setting.

Sunday’s oats were the Mmm Muffin – Blueberry and OMG! They smelled delicious, tasted just like a gooey muffin and I will DEFINITELY be purchasing the flavor again.

Nutrition Info. – 160 cal. | 2.5 g fat | O mg chol. | 220 mg sodium | 32 g carbs | 4 g protein

Monday morning I tried the Abundance Apples & Cinnamon. I’m trying to get back into the habit of eating breakfast before work, instead of bringing string cheese and fruit to eat at my desk.

I really liked the apple pieces and the cinnamon flavor –  the texture was perfect. I like a thicker oatmeal and this one delivered.

Nutrition Info. – 150 cal. | 2.5 g fat | O mg chol. | 90 mg sodium | 30 g carbs | 5 g protein – Much lower sodium and 1 extra gram of protein in this flavor.

In honor of my friend/blog reader Kristen’s birthday today – I got up at 5:30 this morning with Dan to bust a move with my Lavish – Dark Chocolate Oats. Sprinkles, a candle and chocolate oatmeal at 5:45 AM –  yep, the neighbors now officially think I have gone off the deep end.  Happy Birthday Kristen!

It was like eating a brownie for breakfast and you know what? I honestly don’t see a problem with that. Hah!

Nutrition Info. – 160 cal. | 2.5 g fat | O mg chol. | 220 mg sodium | 33 g carbs | 4 g protein – very similar to the blueberry muffin.

They have a lot of products and while I may or may not go for healthier versions next time – I liked all three of the ones I picked.  For Weight Watcher’s peeps – the Oat Fit line has no added sugar, 100 calories and calculates to 2 pts.

I noticed on their website that you can “Take the Taste Test” and get a 55 cent coupon – they also claim that if you share your experience in an email or video, they will donate 5 meals to help feed hungry families in the United States” – pretty cool!

Now I must get in the shower to really get this day started.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=191

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

Dan loves Island’s Restaurant and their “Yaki Tacos” – A few months ago I found a copycat recipe online and I recreated them. Part of the recipe included making  the teriyaki sauce. I wasn’t feeling like tacos, so I decide to make the sauce for kabobs instead. I had 1/2 a pineapple left from the fruit salad and I wanted to use it up.

The Ingredients for the Teriyaki Sauce:

1 3/4 Cups Water
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Onion Powder
2 Teaspoons Minced Fresh Ginger

The first step is to add the water to a medium saucepan. I had the heat set to between medium and high. I then whisked in the cornstarch. I added all of the remaining ingredients and brought things to a boil – I then turned the heat down to medium and let it simmer for about  8 minutes. It starts to thicken after about 5 minutes.

At this point I added some of the juice from the pineapple that I had cut up – it was about 2 Tablespoons. Once I felt that the sauce was the right consistency, I extracted a cup of it and poured it in a bowl over the chicken. I decided to use Foster Farm’s chicken tenders. I threaded them onto the skewers and it worked out great! I have to say, touching and cutting raw chicken is NOT my favorite thing to do. I will dive into ground beef bare handed for meat loaf… but chicken is a different story. The slime factor is too huge for this girl.

The Simple Kabob Ingredients:

Minus the chicken… it was already in the bowl marinating. I got the veggies cut up while the teriyaki sauce simmered on the stove.

A rainbow of veggie/fruit yum!

The neighbors were having a huge family BBQ and I must have opened the sliding glass door 25 times during this kabob process. Out with the food and camera, in to wash utensils, out with camera… thankfully they were the side neighbors and the fence is high enough to hide my shenanigans.

I constructed the skewers and took them and the remaining sauce out to the grill.

I made one skewer with the pineapple mixed in with the peppers, onion and chicken… but I wasn’t sure how fast it would cook, so I decided to leave it out of the second skewer. That way, if it burned, I’d still have a full skewer of pineapple that I could throw on the grill at a later time.

I did end up putting the “all pineapple” skewer on about 10 minutes into the grilling, but it didn’t really matter that I separated the pineapple – the other mixed skewer did just fine. Next time I will probably also spray the grill – the chicken stuck to it a bit at first.

I basted the kabobs with a much longer brush throughout the cooking process.

They were perfection! Super moist with the right amount of teriyaki flavor. I served them with a side of sticky rice. I probably won’t buy store-bought teriyaki ever again. I love that I can use low sodium soy sauce when I make my own.  It was the perfect dinner for the amazing weather we had yesterday.

I spent about 5 hours gardening during the morning/afternoon and when I say “gardening” that’s sort of a stretch – it was more like weed pulling and plant trimming. I should also note – I apparently used muscles that I didn’t even know I had. Picking up that platter last night was a struggle.

Even though the first day of Summer isn’t until June 21st – it sure felt like Summer grillin’ to me.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=181

Orecchiette Salad

My Food Network Magazine subscription has paid for itself 10 times over. I have gotten so many wonderful ideas from each month’s pages… last night’s dinner was no exception. The recipe came from the April 2010 mag.

I was on my own for dinner last night. I had been looking through recipes on my lunch hour and decided on making the Orecchiette Salad with Roast Beef. I stopped at the store for some ingredients before heading home from work.

The Ingredients:

8 ounces orecchiette pasta (little flying saucer-shaped discs)
1 cup bocconcini (small mozzarella balls), halved
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
8 small sweet marinated peppers, quartered
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or basil (I used mint since I already had it)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 cups baby arugula
6 ounces of deli-sliced roast beef – cut into strips
Kosher salt and ground pepper

The above is for 4 servings – I cut it in 1/2 and have lunch for today.
Per Serving: Calories 500, Fat 22 grams, Sodium 548 mg, Carbs 51 g, Fiber 3 g, Protein 26 g.

I got the pot of boiling water started while doing my “ingredients” photo shoot. It was second nature for me to rip into the pasta package once the salted water came to a roaring boil…WHOOPS! Hadn’t gotten a good photo at that point, so I had to tape the back of the ripped package, LOL.

I’m an orecchiette pasta newbie – hadn’t ever cooked that shape before. There was definitely some hooking up going on in the pot. They all wanted to be up inside each other. 😉

While the pasta was cooking, I combined the bocconcini, artichokes, marinated peppers and mint in a serving bowl.

I was pretty much ready to eat straight from that bowl. I then added the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste… then I gave it a good toss. I kept tasting the flying saucer noodles and each time determined that they needed more play time in the pot. Wink, wink!

Once the noodles were FINALLY ready… I drained them and set them aside. Do not rinse the pasta…very important.

The next step was to add them to the mixing bowl to toss again.  The last step is to add the sliced roast beef and the arugula and yep…you guessed it – toss again… and if you are crazy like me… plate, photograph and then you can EAT! Hah!

We’ve been having some pretty incredible weather lately. I ended up sitting outside eating my salad while Higgy played. The neighbors probably think I’m crazy. 27 photographs, 5 different locations… then the girl finally sits down to eat – on a different plate… every night. Gotta love having a 2 story house right behind us, ugh!

I later found myself  in front of the TV watching Top Chef Masters. They were cooking some pretty exotic/scary stuff – even I’m not brave enough for that. Black chicken, monkfish liver, sea cucumber, duck tongue, kangaroo, goat, geoduck and other exotic surf and turf. I preferred the show’s Simpsons cartoon Quickfire Challenge – The chefs had to create dishes inspired by a Simpsons character. Donuts, grilled cheese, pasta, sloppy d’ohs …way more my thing. I did not know that Lisa Simpson became a vegetarian in season 7.

While I don’t think I could be a full-time vegetarian, I definitely could do it 4-5 days a week. Sometimes I just gotta have a burger or like tonight… roast beef.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=170