Cooking, fail book, not fail book
Jan. 21st, 2013 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserCooking success! I made apple cinnamon steel-cut oatmeal in the crock pot and it came out REALLY well. I used this recipe almost to the letter. When it was done, I added some raisins and a small drizzle of real maple syrup that had been gifted to me over Christmas and I was saving for something special. It tasted amazing. Easily the best oatmeal I ever had (which is damning with faint praise, I know). It tasted more like a dessert, like apple pie in a bowl. Not only did I finish my serving, I would have licked the bowl if I could have.
The one change I made to the recipe was not using cooking spray (I was using a crock pot liner so I thought it would be okay). Bad decision. Instead of getting seven servings, I got four. That's how much was stuck to the side of the liner. (And I think I was never happier to use a liner, I'd never have gotten the pot clean...)
So now I have three breakfasts waiting for me for later this week. It's amazing how cheap this was to make, too. Using the bulk bins at Sprout, I got about a cup and a half of oats for 50 cents. A lot of raisins (4-5 handfuls?) for 50 cents, too. I used almond milk which I had on hand (originally cost maybe $2 for the whole container, and I used about a quarter of it). Butter, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon I had on hand. The ground flax seed I got for free (with a free eye-roll from the checkout person tossed in) -- buying only a tablespoon of it, the plastic bag weighed more than the flax, so they didn't charge me for it. So for four breakfasts, I paid about $1.50 total (or $3, if you count the entire container of milk -- I'll be using more of it to heat the oatmeal up later in the week).
Books: The![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge has no real rules, everyone makes up their own. (Which in some cases annoys me. Some people read 300+ books a year... because they count comic books.) Last year I had to decide how to handle books I don't finish. Seemed fair to say if I read more than half, it would count. Less and it would not.
The Dragon Done It is one of the first ebooks I ever bought, and tied for the oldest in my To Read pile. I bought it because some author I liked had a short story in it. Plus I like fantasy, so hey. I hadn't known how much I disliked mystery books... or at least this sort of mystery. Nearly every story started with a man in his run-down office, gun in his drawer, as a "dame" walked in. He was always broke. The "dame" was always jaw droppingly beautiful. It was almost always raining. The detective always drank and had a great love of coffee. The "dame" was always trouble... (It annoys me just writing all that out!) So I only reached 20% in, and most of that skimming, so this book won't count towards the yearly total. I still wanted to make record of it here though.
Not fail book! I started one of my Library Challenge books ("read a memoir by someone you've never heard of"). Letters of a Woman Homesteader is a collection of letters by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Published back in 1913 (which by chance also meets the challenge point "read a book published in 1913", though I'm not counting it for both), it's an incredible look into what the west was like back then. She was a young widow and a mother, who went west on her own (with her young daughter) because she didn't want to spend her life in the east washing other peoples' laundry.
If that sounds interesting, click the link! The book is free if you have a Kindle or Kindle app (or free in other formats elsewhere on the net). It's amazingly dated, but in this case that's not a bad thing (other than brief mentions of "niggers"). I had a really odd moment when she mentioned Jack London's books (they were published only ten years before she wrote her letters). It was a really strange feeling of connection with her.
The one change I made to the recipe was not using cooking spray (I was using a crock pot liner so I thought it would be okay). Bad decision. Instead of getting seven servings, I got four. That's how much was stuck to the side of the liner. (And I think I was never happier to use a liner, I'd never have gotten the pot clean...)
So now I have three breakfasts waiting for me for later this week. It's amazing how cheap this was to make, too. Using the bulk bins at Sprout, I got about a cup and a half of oats for 50 cents. A lot of raisins (4-5 handfuls?) for 50 cents, too. I used almond milk which I had on hand (originally cost maybe $2 for the whole container, and I used about a quarter of it). Butter, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon I had on hand. The ground flax seed I got for free (with a free eye-roll from the checkout person tossed in) -- buying only a tablespoon of it, the plastic bag weighed more than the flax, so they didn't charge me for it. So for four breakfasts, I paid about $1.50 total (or $3, if you count the entire container of milk -- I'll be using more of it to heat the oatmeal up later in the week).
Books: The
50bookchallenge has no real rules, everyone makes up their own. (Which in some cases annoys me. Some people read 300+ books a year... because they count comic books.) Last year I had to decide how to handle books I don't finish. Seemed fair to say if I read more than half, it would count. Less and it would not.The Dragon Done It is one of the first ebooks I ever bought, and tied for the oldest in my To Read pile. I bought it because some author I liked had a short story in it. Plus I like fantasy, so hey. I hadn't known how much I disliked mystery books... or at least this sort of mystery. Nearly every story started with a man in his run-down office, gun in his drawer, as a "dame" walked in. He was always broke. The "dame" was always jaw droppingly beautiful. It was almost always raining. The detective always drank and had a great love of coffee. The "dame" was always trouble... (It annoys me just writing all that out!) So I only reached 20% in, and most of that skimming, so this book won't count towards the yearly total. I still wanted to make record of it here though.
Not fail book! I started one of my Library Challenge books ("read a memoir by someone you've never heard of"). Letters of a Woman Homesteader is a collection of letters by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Published back in 1913 (which by chance also meets the challenge point "read a book published in 1913", though I'm not counting it for both), it's an incredible look into what the west was like back then. She was a young widow and a mother, who went west on her own (with her young daughter) because she didn't want to spend her life in the east washing other peoples' laundry.
If that sounds interesting, click the link! The book is free if you have a Kindle or Kindle app (or free in other formats elsewhere on the net). It's amazingly dated, but in this case that's not a bad thing (other than brief mentions of "niggers"). I had a really odd moment when she mentioned Jack London's books (they were published only ten years before she wrote her letters). It was a really strange feeling of connection with her.
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-21 05:02 pm (UTC)The way I got around it is probably more work than you want to put into it, but it was to invest in one of those timers you can buy to control your lights going on and off at particular times to thwart burglars or whatever. I found one that you could set in half hour increments, and I would do something like 1 hour on, half hour off and let residual heat carry it over during those 30 minutes. It was successful about 98% of the time, no burnt on/stuck on oatmeal, and it was fully cooked and hot when I got up in the morning.
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Date: 2013-01-21 10:27 pm (UTC)@ thistle -- I've also seen some techniques for cooking steelcut oats on the stovetop where you bring them to a boil, turn the heat off, and let them sit overnight (leave the lid on etc). Something like that, anyway! I'm glad your oatmeal turned out so tasty. :)
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Date: 2013-01-22 01:37 am (UTC)With a liner, the crock pot is no problem at all! (Other than that sticking issue...)
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Date: 2013-01-22 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-22 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-22 01:34 am (UTC)I was thinking about the timer! I'm going to know my plan better on Friday: If I successfully eat all my leftovers, then I'm going to make another batch. If I eat all of that, I'm going to call this a plan I can stick with and get a timer. :)
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Date: 2013-01-22 10:33 pm (UTC)...I could see people liking that, but I went o.O at that comment. Not what I want to eat in oatmeal (unless the crunchy bits were nuts or something.)
Good luck! :)
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Date: 2013-01-23 04:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 05:44 pm (UTC)The only fruit I really liked in my crockpot oatmeal were dried cranberries and apples, and adding raisins in at the end. I tried blueberries and wasn't fond of that. Can't remember if I did cherries.
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Date: 2013-01-23 06:40 pm (UTC)I've been eating blueberries since last week (they've been on sale and are nice and sweet) and I could see them not working in the oatmeal. All the skins and little seeds would likely be annoying, and while the flavor is generally good eating them straight, I think adding them into oatmeal would make them be lost.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 06:48 pm (UTC)Cooking dried anything in liquid for that long reconstitutes it. And, put it this way: what are raisins, if not dried grapes?
...so, yeah, raisins are pretty darn tasty in it, but grapes, not so much, I found out the hard way. :)
Re: blueberries
If you started with dried blueberries...but I think either it's a preference thing, or they may be like raisins, and best added in dried instead of at the beginning and reconstituted.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 06:59 pm (UTC)I could see adding dried at the end, but I think I wouldn't add fresh even then. I've been snacking on them all morning and paying closer attention to the flavor, and more than half the time they taste like nothing. Only one in five seems sweet, one is tart, and three are just mush. Oatmeal doesn't need more tasteless mush added to it!
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Date: 2013-01-22 12:52 am (UTC)I'll probably fly into San Francisco to visit friends, and take the Amtrak train southwards to visit other friends in San Bernardino. If I stop off at a station near you (take the Coast Starlight train to Salinas?), I could give you some bottles.
Or, for variety, have you tried maple sugar or maple butter before? Would you be interested in trying birch syrup?
no subject
Date: 2013-01-22 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-22 01:11 pm (UTC)I make mine in the oven with little ramekins. Half a cup of oatmeal, some protein powder (optional, obvs), fill with water/almond milk/liquid of your choice to the dent in the ramekin (about 3/4 inch is left at the top), 350 for about half an hour. You can put whatever else you want in there too. I like to put in ginger and nutmeg and cinnamon and molasses and have gingerbread oatmeal! But I always rub the ramekin with olive oil. You can also put egg whites in there for protein if you want. ALSO the best oatmeal I ever had was I was making this, and I had some coconut milk eggnog left over from the holidays that I needed to use, so I used that instead of water/milk. HOLY CRAP, IT WAS SO FREAKING DELICIOUS.
I never counted comic books when I did fifty books, but I did count compilations thereof. Like, when I read Volume 3 of Fables or Y: The Last Man, I counted that. I didn't count unfinished ones. I tend to be like you there, where I hang on way longer than I should because I feel like I SHOULD finish a book EVEN IF I HATE IT.
I'm going to have to read the book of letters, but I will have to find a hardcopy, I don't do ebooks. I read in the bathtub. XD
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Date: 2013-01-22 02:30 pm (UTC)And yeah. It was only last year when I finally convinced myself not to force myself to finish reading a book I wasn't enjoying... so suddenly I had to figure out what to do when that happened. (I'm really happy I did, too. My reading time is too short to waste it on something I'm not enjoying.)
Woo! I hope you're able to find a hard copy! It's not the most exciting book ever (I'm kind of feeling the lack of a plot in it), but it is interesting and cool.
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Date: 2013-01-22 01:18 pm (UTC)... what is that, we only have everyday, ordinary rolled oats here.
I've never thought of making porridge, as we call it, in my slow cooker. Mine is a teflon insert, so it can go on the stove top for browning ingredients, so I wonder if it would stick. I might have to give it a try.
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Date: 2013-01-22 02:19 pm (UTC)Water is the universal solvent. It dissolves nearly everything, especially given time and heat (or agitation).
FWIW, if you're watching cholesterol (like my wife), you can sub Apple Butter for the butter. Adds more apple/cinnamon flavor, adds creaminess, doesn't add bad stuff my wife is trying to avoid.
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Date: 2013-01-23 12:15 pm (UTC)Thanks for the advice on the cholesterol, I am watching mine.
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Date: 2013-01-22 02:32 pm (UTC)"Steel-cut oats take longer to cook than instant or rolled oats due to their minimal processing, typically 15–30 minutes (though much less if pre-soaked). The flavor of the cooked oats is described as being nuttier than other types of oats, and they are also chewier."
no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 12:16 pm (UTC)