Sweet Potato Spice Oatmeal

As most of my regular readers know by now, my mother is visiting the USA for the summer. In between enjoying her home-cooked food, I've been introducing her to some of the WFPBNO foods I eat on a regular basis, one of which is oatmeal. To be honest, she's not sold on it yet. I made this awesome Sweet Potato Spice Oatmeal this morning and it was "just okay" according to her (LOL). I enjoyed this recipe a lot and here's why (a) it has no added sugar or butter (b) its made with all whole food ingredients and (c) it is ready and on the table in less than 20 min. 

Prep Time: 15-20 min

Ingredients (Serves 4): 

1. 1/2 cups Steel-cut Oatmeal
2. 3 cups Water
3. 2 Medium Sweet Potatoes, roasted previously.
4. 1/2 cup Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk (Almond, Soy, Cashew etc.)
5. 2 tbsp Slivered Almonds (or substitute with Pecans)
6. 2 tbsp Raisins
7. 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
8. 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
9. A pinch of Sea Salt
10. Maple Syrup (as needed) 3 to 4 cups water

Directions:

Mix Steel-cut Oats, water, raisins and sea salt together and pressure cook under high pressure for 5-7 minutes. If you don't have access to a pressure cooker, simmer the oats on a stove until tender (approximately 20-25 min). Once the steam dissipates, add 1 tbsp almonds, 1/3 cup almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract and mix well. Dish out into 4 serving bowls, garnish with more slivered almonds and a small splash of almond milk. Dust on more cinnamon, if you desire. I didn't add any sweetener to this dish, but if you like it sweeter, add maple syrup to taste. Serve warm. 

If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out my Recipe Index for more Whole-Food, Plant-Based, No-Added-Oil recipes. You can also like Rugrat Chow! on Facebook. Thanks!

Steel Cut Oat Bean Chili

One of my favorite vegan chefs out there, Chef AJ, shared a recipe on Facebook for a Steel Cut Oat Bean Chili. The picture itself oh so appetizing. The recipe was super simple. It looked like it would come together is around 30 minutes. The temperatures have been dropping all week and today .. snow was coming down in gentle flurries all day long. It was a perfect day for a bowl of chili. I even had all the ingredients on hand. It was meant to be :) 

Adapted from: www.sheknows.com (original recipe in OATrageous Oatmeals, by Kathy Hester)

Prep Time: ~25-30 min

Ingredients (Serves 4):

1. 2 cups water 
2. 1.5 tsp Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base 
3. 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
4. 1 tbsp Oregano
5. 1.5 tbsp Ground Cumin
6. 1 tsp Smoked Chipotle Chili powder
7. 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
8. 1 (14.5 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed 
9. 1 (14.5 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 1-1/2 cups homemade)
10. 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
11. 1 cup frozen corn
12. 1.5 tsp Liquid smoke
13. 1 tsp Freeze-dried Cilantro leaves (or fresh)
14. Juice of 1/2 a lime (optional)
15. Salt, to taste

Directions:

I pretty much followed the directions on the sheknows.com website with the exception that I did not wait for the oats to be completely cooked before I added the rest of the ingredients. I let everything cook together which blended the flavors much better in my opinion. Bring the water and vegetable base to a boil in a heavy cast iron pot (I used my Le Creuset). Add oats, bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. Then stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a boil again and reduce heat to low, cover with a heavy lid to prevent excessive evaporation and serve when the oats are completely cooked (about 20 min). I forgot to use the lime juice listed in the original recipe. And with the vegetable base I used, I didn't even need to add salt to this recipe. It turned out great!!

My Assessment: This chili was really good. I love using different grains in my chili recipes and hadn't used Oats until now. The recipe was so simple, even with my couple of substitutions and additions, anyone could throw it all in a pot and have a wholesome dinner in half an hour!! A+++ 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 242 (Fat Calories 19)
Total Fat 2.1 g; Carbohydrates 44.7 g; Fiber 9.8 g; Sugars 3.5 g; Protein 12.0 g


If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out my Recipe Index for more Whole-Food, Plant-Based, No-Added-Oil recipes. You can also like Rugrat Chow! on Facebook. Thanks!

Toasted Oats Daliya

I started using Steel-cut oats, instead of Old Fashioned (Rolled) oats for my morning oatmeal not too long ago (yes, I waited too long to try the real deal). Anyhow, one of the first things that struck me about steel cut oats is how much the flavor and texture matches that of Daliya.  

Daliya is the same thing as Bulgur. For those who haven't heard of it before, it is essentially a cereal made from the groats of different varieties of wheat, most commonly - durum. It is commonly used in cuisines across Europe, Middle East and South East Asia, especially Pakistan and North India. It has a light, nutty flavor, similar to steel cut oats, which is why I decided to try out steel-cut oats in the same recipe today. 

Oats Daliya w Spinach and Mixed Veggies

Prep Time: 20-30 min

Ingredients (Serves 2):

1. 1/2 cup Steel-cut Oats
2. 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (peas, green beans, corn and diced carrots)
3. 3 cups fresh Baby Spinach (or regular spinach leaves, coarsely chopped) 
4. 1 tsp Onion Powder
5. 1 tsp Garlic Powder
6. 1 tsp Mustard Seeds (or Ground Mustard)
7. 6 fresh (or frozen) Curry Leaves
8. Salt and Pepper, to taste
9. Hot Sauce (optional)

Directions:

Toast the steel cut oats in a dry skillet, on medium to medium-high heat, until golden. What the toasting does is make them less sticky once cooked and also somewhat reduces the amount of water they need to absorb when cooked. Once golden, transfer oats to a pressure cooker. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes and then add half a cup of hot water (1 to 1 with quantity of dry oats). Cover immediately and cook under high pressure for 2 minutes. Allow steam to dissipate on its own. This works really well in an electric pressure cooker but a stove top should work just as well. Basically that half cup of water is just enough to soak and cook the oats (without making them mushy) and to generate just enough steam in the pressure cooker to last for 2-4 minutes. It all happens super fast!! Do not uncover the pressure cooker even after the steam has dissipated (make sure you turn off the 'keep warm' function, and move the stove top cooker to a trivet). Let it sit until the veggies are ready.  

Li'l Nikhil made my day he saw me take the box of Baby Spinach out of the fridge this morning. He asked me Leaves (Baby Spinach) and Dip (Balsamic Vinaigrette) for breakfast!! And then of course, he continued on to admonish me on using up all the leaves for my breakfast - "but I won't have any left for me for tomorrow!!" :)

While the oats are cooking, line the dry skillet used for toasting them with a thin layer of water and add onion, garlic and mustard seeds and frozen vegetable mix. Add a sprinkle of salt, and allow vegetables to thaw. Then mix in the curry leaves and saute until they release their aromatic oils (within 1-2 minutes). Then add the baby spinach and allow to wilt and mix everything together. 

Taste test for salt and pepper and once the vegetables are ready, open the pressure cooker, scrap the oats out with a wooden spatula (I've found that steel cut oats never get fluffy like bulgur but remain sticky). Add oats to the vegetables and toss everything really well together making sure to break up the larger pieces of crumbly oats. Garnish with freshly cut cilantro leaves and serve with hot sauce, or fresh mint chutney!

My Assessment: I liked this version of savory oats much better than the recipes I've posted before using old-fashioned oats. And of course, this is the whole, minimally processed, grain so it is much healthier as well. And it tasted just like wheat daliya :) so that was a great substitution that worked! 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 218 (Fat Calories 31)
Total Fat 3.4 g; Carbohydrates 40.1 g; Fiber 7.8 g; Sugars 4.5 g; Protein 9.0 g