What's for Breakfast? - SRS Meeting February 4, 2010

Buy it: Oats are very cheap to buy and when sealed probably can be stored for 30+ years. You can buy oats from the LDS Cannery in 25 lb bags or in #10 cans. Oats can also be bought in any grocery store or wholesale stores like Costco. Oat flour must be stored in the fridge or freezer, it will go rancid quickly. For long term storage, store only whole oats. Oats can be easily ground into oat flour when needed.

Store it: Oats can be stored in almost any airtight container. I have my oats in #10 cans and in kitchen platic storage containers. Here is the original post on Storage Containers.

Use it: Besides making a wholesome breakfast, did you know that you can add oats in with your ground beef to make a healthier meal? You can also grind your oats into oat flour to make healthier baked goods.

Newsletter: The entire newsletter can be downloaded here. Click on the links to view our posts on Types of Oats, Baking with Oat Flour, Basic Oats Cooking, Green Living (Homemade Baby Wipes) & Recipes! The link to last years class (April 2009) on oats can be found here.

Baking with Oat Flour

How to adapt recipes to boost fiber and nutrients using oat flour.

Have you heard of baking with oat flour? Even if you don’t have a wheat grinder at home to have the benefits of fresh ground whole grain wheat, oat flour easily be made in a blender or food processor or home blender. The oat flour then can be used in place of a portion of white flour in a baking recipe. This boosts fiber and whole grain nutrition. Also, oat flour retains moisture in baked goods, which reduces the need for additional fat.

Oat flour is so easy to make! Simply grind regular or quick oats in your blender or food processor until the consistency of flour. Try low speed and grinding or processing in 30 second increments. As a general rule, grind small batches. Try 1- 2 cups at a time, more than that might be too much for your blender. A VitaMix blender handles about 3 cups with no problem. It will take about 1 1/3 cups oats to make 1 cup oat flour. If you have ground more than you will use in a recipe, store the flour in the refrigerator or freezer; oat flour goes rancid fairly quickly.

Replace refined flour with oat flour at a 1:1 ratio; if you’re replacing 1 cup wheat flour, simply add 1 cup oat flour. For muffins, cookies, and breads, try substituting 1/3 of the recipe’s refined wheat flour with whole grain oat flour. Try replacing up to ½ of the flour for waffles and pancakes. Just experiment, and see what you like!

Another option is adapting a recipe to include rolled oats that are not ground into flour. Just use 2 times rolled oats as the portion of refined flour you’re replacing. A quick bread recipe, drop cookies (like pumpkin, banana, zucchini, etc) and muffins would probably be good candidates. For example, turn banana bread into banana-oatmeal bread. Pumpkin cookies into pumpkin-oat. You probably wouldn’t replace more than 1/3 of your refined flour with whole oats. Maybe up to 1/2 if you want true oatmeal cookies or something.

For most recipes, you do not want to replace all of the wheat flour with oat flour. Oat flour used alone in a recipe generally produces a dense, gummy texture. If you cannot use wheat flour, or do not want to, try pairing oat flour with rice flour. The dense and gummy properties of oat flour complement the properties of dry, gritty rice flour to make a satisfactory combination. A 50% oat/50% rice flour works well in drop cookies(such as banana, zucchini and pumpkin), wholesome muffins, and quick breads. Try adding 1-2 tablespoons tapioca starch or potato starch per cup of non-wheat flour used, to help lighten the product a bit. If you’re baking often without wheat for allergy reasons, I recommend xanthan gum as well; the baked product will be less crumbly. Use ½ tsp. xanthan gum per cup of gluten-free flour. (1 tsp. per cup if using in yeast breads or pizza crust).

If you’re looking for wheat-free recipes using oats, Melissa’s blog has several, including really good yeast bread!

Fruit crisp, oatmeal cookies, and oat pie crust work pretty well with all wheat flour being substituted with oat flour. I also like a particular recipe for brownies that uses only oat flour. See Melissa’s blog post, “Vegetable Brownies?”

Basic Oats Cooking

Measure the amount of water into a medium saucepan and bring to a full boil. If desired, add ¼ tsp salt to the water. Slowly add the grain and return to boiling. Cover and simmer for the time specified or till most of the water is absorbed and grain is tender.

Rolled Oats, quick cooking – 1 ½ cups, 3 cups water. Simmer for 1 minute. Let stand, covered, for three minutes. Yield 3 cups

Rolled Oats, regular – 1 2/3 cups, 3 cups water. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. Let stand, covered for 3 minutes. Yield 3 cups

Oats, steel cut – 1 cup, 2 ½ cups water. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
Yield 2 ½ cups

Source: “Bee Prepared” Book

Types of Oats

Oats are the edible cereal grain produced by the cereal grass of the same name. Oats are light tan in color. They have a nutty flavor and a chewy texture and are high in vitamin B1. They also contain vitamins B2 and E. Oats must be hulled before they can be eaten. Whole oats minus the hull are called groats.

Rolled Oats: Oat groats that have been steamed then flattened by steel rollers into flakes. They are also known as old-fashioned cut.

Quick Cooking Oats: Oat groats that are cut into several pieces before rolling to shorten the cooking time. Quick-cooking and rolled oats are interchangeable in recipes.

Instant Oatmeal: Oat groats that are cut into very small pieces and specially processed so that they need no cooking, just the addition of boiling water. Some brands of instant oatmeal are flavored with sugar, spices, or fruits, and usually salt.

Steel-Cut Oats: Oat groats that have been sliced by steel blades. Also know as Scottish or Irish oatmeal, steel-cut oats have a firm texture when cooked. It is usually found in specialty markets.
Oat Flour: The finely ground grain. Usually found in health food stores. Oat flour sometimes is used in baked goods.

Oat Bran: The ground outer layer of the oat. Used in cooking and as a hot cooked breakfast cereal, oat bran in considered a good source of fiber.

Source: “Bee Prepared” Book

Recipes with Oats

Don't forget to check out the Quaker Oats website for more oats recipes!

Instant Oatmeal Packets

Blend ½ cup oats until powdery. Into each of 10 zippered sandwich/snack size bags combine:

¼ cup quick or instant oats
2 TBSP powdered oats
pinch of salt

To use: Empty packet into bowl, add 2/3 cup water and microwave for 1 ½ minutes or add ½ cup boiling water and stir until thick.

Variations - to each packet add:

Apple Cinnamon: 1 TBSP sugar, ¼ tsp cinnamon, 2 TBSP chopped, dried apples
Raisins and brown sugar: 1 TBSP packed brown sugar, 1 TBSP raisins
Wheat germ: 2 TBSP any kind of wheat germ
Blueberries & Cream: 1 TBSP non-dairy creamer and 18 dried blueberries. (do not use powdered milk, it tends to go bad too quickly)

Oat ‘n Berry Bars (just like Great Harvest’s Mazurkas)
by Tonya Leavitt

1 cup butter
2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 cups quick oats
fresh or frozen berries (I like Costco’s frozen berries called Nature’s Three Berries: raspberries, blueberries, marionberries)

Cream butter and brown sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, mix into butter mixture. Add oats, mix again, just until combined. In a 10x16 cookie sheet with lip, press down 2/3 of dough to form bottom crust. Top with a few handfuls of berries, do not completely cover dough. Drop remaining dough randomly over berries. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Granola Bars (these were the ones sampled on Thursday night)
by Alton Brown

8 oz old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 oz raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
3 oz sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
1 1/2 oz wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
6 oz honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 oz dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1 oz unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
6 1/2 oz chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Apple Betty
by Becky Gamett

apples
2 TBSP lemon juice mixed with ¼ cup water
½ tsp cinnamon & ½ cup sugar mixed together
1 cube butter
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup of oatmeal
½ cup of oat flour (pulse oatmeal in blender to make oat flour)

Slice enough apples to fill a greased square pyrex baking dish & pour lemon juice & water mixture over apples. Sprinkle cinnamon & sugar mixture over the apples.

Mix butter, sugar, salt, oatmeal & oat four together until it is a crumbly consistency. Place on top of apples, covering all the apples. If you make a 9x13 baking dish full of apples, double the crust recipe. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Top with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, roasted chopped pecans, and a dollop of whipping cream.

Apple Crisp

Filling

1 2/3 cups dry apple slices
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 ½ cups water
2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all dry ingredients together, then add water and mix well. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally.

Topping

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup butter
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
6 TBSP sugar

Mix together thoroughly and spread over pie filling. Bake in a 8x8 pan at 375 for 25 minutes.

Fruit Crisp Topping
by Melissa Lords

Make a large batch and store it in a cool place. Then it’s extra fast to make a fruit crisp anytime! This recipe is for one 9 X 13 pan. Double, triple, etc. however you like. My mom stores hers in an ice cream bucket in the basement storage room; I store mine in a freezer bag in the freezer. This is a low fat recipe.

3 TBSP melted margarine
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour(try making ½ whole wheat)
1 cup quick oats

Stir all ingredients together until well mixed. Store in a cool place in closed container.

To make a fruit crisp, put one quart bottled fruit filling in bottom of 9X 13 pan, or slice fresh fruit and throw in pan until about 2/3 full(allow room for crisp topping), or reconstitute dehydrated fruit. Top with crisp topping. Bake 375 degrees about 40 min.

Suggestions: peach, apple, strawberry-rhubarb, cherry-apple, blueberry, etc.

Suze’s Buttermilk Oatmeal Scones
from Melissa Lords

These are healthy and wholesome! During college, I often packed these as part of a nutritious lunch or snack.

2 2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼-½ tsp salt
5 TBSP butter or margarine, softened
2 2/3 cups regular(old fashioned) oats
¾ cup golden raisins(or regular raisins- that’s what I use)
¾ cup walnuts(opt), toasted
1 ½ cups buttermilk (add 1 TBSP lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and let stand for 5-10 minutes until curdles)
1 egg

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in oats, fruit, and nuts. In separate bowl, whisk egg and buttermilk together. Pour the egg and buttermilk mixture into dry mixture, reserving ¼ cup. Plop 12 blobs onto a cookie sheet. Then dab/spread remaining buttermilk/egg mixture on top of scones. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees and then 10-15 more minutes at 375 degrees.

Garbanzo-Oat Waffles
by Melissa Lords

These have an amazingly good texture for having no eggs. If you use lentils and grind them instead of garbanzo bean flour, everything in this recipe is from food storage! See notes below for grinding legumes.

2 cups oats(regular or quick oats)
1 cup Garbanzo Bean Flour*
2 ½ cups water
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1-2 TBSP honey
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Grind oats in blender to make flour. Add other ingredients and blend. Let sit for a few minutes, then blend again for a couple seconds. Pour into heated, oiled waffle iron. (use pan spray or spray oil). You may replace the water with one egg.

*I’ve found garbanzo bean flour at Whole Foods. The garbanzo flour makes a nice creamy waffle, with egg-like consistency. I also make the waffles with home-ground lentil flour. The lentils can be ground in a blender! This is much cheaper than buying the garbanzo flour. It’s the way I most often make the waffles; they’re not as creamy as the garbanzo ones, but are good and wholesome. Yellow split peas, red lentils, and green lentils all can be used for the recipe and ground in the blender; each has a slightly different flavor, but each are mild. My favorite of them is the regular brown(?) lentils. The ones that are most commonly sold.

NOTE: I have changed the waffle recipe for when I make it with lentils. It turns out nicer if I use only ½ cup lentil flour and then use the 2 cups oats.

ONE MORE NOTE: If you have a wheat grinder, check to see if it grinds legumes, and if it can grind garbanzo beans, white beans, lentils… You can grind your own flour of all sorts at home! This recipe does work with white beans, I’ve tried it. I do prefer the lentils or the garbanzo beans though. The white beans are a little bitter; I add a drop of molasses to help with that.

These waffles offer a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates. They’re very good with maple syrup. I personally find fruit purees delicious and satisfying, and have not been using maple syrup. Try applesauce, peach puree with coconut, strawberries, and blueberries on top; pear sauce, or prune spread. I like prune spread mixed with a strawberry sauce that I keep in my freezer. The sauce is simply blended strawberries, slightly sweetened and thickened with fruit gel.

Substutiting with Oat Flour (SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009)

You can make oat flour and substitute it for wheat flour. Fruit crisp, oatmeal cookies, oat pie crust work well with all wheat flour substituted with oat flour. In products like fruit cookies (pumpkin, banana, etc), muffins, quick breads, oat flour by itself is gummy or dense. For these items, it's best to use combination of flours (wheat/oat, or oat/rice/bean flour, etc.).

Rolled oats (not ground) can be used to substitute a portion of wheat flour in a recipe. Use 2 times the rolled oats as wheat flour called for.

Wheat, Barley, Oats & Flax (SRS Meeting - April 2, 2009)

Wheat

• Start the day with whole grains. If you're partial to hot cereals, try old-fashioned or steel-cut oats. If you're a cold cereal person, look for one that lists whole wheat, whole oats, or other whole grain first on the ingredient list.
• Use whole grain breads for lunch or snacks. Check the label to make sure that whole wheat or another whole grain is the first ingredient listed.
• Bag the potatoes. Instead, try brown rice or even "newer" grains like bulgur, wheat berries, millet, or hulled barley with your dinner.
• Pick up some whole wheat pasta. If the whole grain products are too chewy for you, look for those that are made with half whole-wheat flour and half white flour.
• Bring on the beans. Beans are an excellent source of slowly digested carbohydrates as well as a great source of protein.

www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/

Wheat, Why is it so Good?

Wheat is packed with vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately, processing used to produce and refine white flour removes most of the valuable nutrients. Wheat kernels have three main divisions; the bran, the endosperm, and the inner embryo or wheat germ. The bran layer constitutes 14% of the wheat kernel and is removed when producing white flour. The bran is packed with vitamins A, C, and E, calcium, iron, and iodine. The bran also happens to be the best source of dietary fiber which aids in digestion and helps ward off disease. The wheat germ layer is an excellent source of vitamin E, as well as other vitamins and protein. Many important nutrients are removed when layers are separated during processing. For this reason, it makes sense to put whole wheat back into your diet. Pound for pound, wheat is one of the least expensive foods available. And, since grain products will expand in your stomach--satisfying you even if you eat less--using wheat products can help you stretch your budget by elimieliminating the need for store-bought, overpriced, and over-processed goods. If you are concerned that your food storage may be lacking in protein, a good supply of wheat and beans will form a complete protein. Just a half cup of uncooked wheat contains 8 to 10 grams of protein. So, not only will wheat give you the protein needed for muscle growth and repair, but you will have a low-fat complex carbohydrate to give your body the energy it needs to make it through the day.

www.beprepared.com

Whole Grains vs Refined Grains

Whole grains haven't had their bran and germ removed by milling, making them better sources of fiber — the part of plant-based foods that your body doesn't digest. Among many health benefits, a high-fiber diet also tends to make a meal feel more filling and linger longer, so you stay full for a greater amount of time. Refined grains, such as white rice or white flour, have both the bran and germ removed from the grain. Although vitamins and minerals are added back into refined grains after the milling process, they still don't have as many nutrients as whole grains do, and they don't provide as much fiber. Rice, bread, cereal, flour and pasta are all grains or grain products. Eat whole grain versions — rather than refined grains — as often as possible.

www.mayoclinic.com/health/whole-grains/NU00204

Whole Grains

• Barley
• Brown rice
• Buckwheat
• Bulgur (cracked wheat)
• Millet
• Oatmeal
• Popcorn
• Whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers
• Wild rice

Refined Grains

• Corn flakes
• Couscous
• Enriched macaroni or spaghetti
• Grits
• Pretzels
• White bread (refined)
• White rice

Barley

Unlike many grains which contain fiber only in the outer bran layer, barley contains fiber throughout the entire kernel. So whether it’s whole grain or processed barley products, dietary fiber, including beta-glucan soluble fiber, is available in amounts that have a positive impact on improving blood glucose levels. Barley also helps lower cholesterol. It is a great addition to any diet. It’s easy to include barley in a healthful and delicious diet. Choose barley flakes for a hardy cooked breakfast cereal. Add pearl or whole grain barley kernels to your favorite soups, stews, casseroles and salads. Or use cooked pearl or whole grain barley kernels as a fiber-rich addition to your favorite stir-fry or Chinese take-out entrees.

www.barleyfoods.org/nutrition.html#q1

Oats

The same soluble fiber found in oats that reduces cholesterol can also benefit those who suffer from type 2 diabetes. People who eat oatmeal or oat bran-rich foods experience lower spikes in their blood sugar levels than they could get with a low fiber food like white rice, white bread, or regular pasta. "The soluble fiber slow the rate at which food leaves the stomach and delays the absorption of glucose following a meal." One recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a low intake of cereal fiber to be inversely associated with a risk for diabetes. The authors conclude : "these findings suggest that grains should be consumed in a minimally refined form to reduce the incidence of diabetes mellitus." They also found a significant inverse association with cold breakfast cereals and yogurt and, not surprisingly, a significant positive association with colas, white bread, white rice, french fries, and cooked potatoes. The more you eat of the latter, the greater your risk for diabetes.

If you walk down the cereal aisle in your local grocery store you will probably notice many cereal boxes or instant oatmeal boxes claiming their cholesterol lowering abilities. This is bringing many consumers attention to the power of oats. The specific fiber beta glucan- in oats is the soluble fiber that seems responsible for this benefit. Many studies have shown that in individuals with high cholesterol, consuming just 3 grams of soluble oat fiber per day- or roughly the amount in a bowl of oatmeal can lower total cholesterol by 8 to 23 percent.

Oats' Powerful Phytochemicals

Oats also contain a great source of phytonutrients which help prevent disease. The germ and bran of oats contain a concentrated amount of phytonutrients, including caffeic acid and ferulic acid. Ferulic acid has been the focus of recent research that shows promising evidence of its ability to prevent colon cancer. It has been found to be a powerful antioxidant that is able to scavenge free radicals and protect against oxidative damage. It also seems to have the ability to inhibit the formation of certain cancer-promoting compounds.

www. amberharman.blogspot.com/2007/07/super-food-day-4-oats.html
Pratt, S.G., K. Matthews (2004). SuperFoods Rx Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life.
New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Flaxseed: Nutritious and Versatile

Flax seeds offer a lot of nutritional benefits in a small package. Flax seeds have vitamins, minerals and healthy poly-unsaturated fatty acids. A large amount of the essential fatty acids found in flax seed oil are omega 3 essential fatty acids which have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular risk. Flax seeds also provide fiber for healthy digestion and freshly ground flax seed is an excellent source of lignans. Lignans from flax seed can help restore hormonal balance.

www. nutrition.about.com/b/2006/01/24/flax-seed-nutrition.html

Using Flax

• Maximum nutrition: freshly ground. Whole seeds are not digested completely. Pre-ground seeds lose nutrition as they sit.
• Purchase whole, grind with coffee grinder or cereal grinder, or VitaMix Machine.
• Sprinkle on prepared foods, for flavor and nutrition: Oatmeal, granola, yogurt, smoothies, stir-fry, salads, soups, buttered bagel, applesauce
• Baking with flax gives a “Nutty” flavor. Great in waffles, pancakes, bran muffins, breads, oatmeal cookies.
• Use as an egg substitution (See Melissa’s blog at wheatdairyeggnutfree.blogspot.com)
• Excellent “binder,” holds product together.
• Use in waffles, muffins, cookies, quick breads. Try meatloaf, crumb-coated chicken tenders