sarah elisabeth's oatmeal

I often eat oatmeal for breakfast. I use regular oats - not quick - and it's still fast enough for me to do before work unless I'm in an uber-rush. I've been meaning to share oatmeal with the blog for awhile, but I kept forgetting, but since I'm on a roll here, I present to you my morning oatmeal for one.

Take a half a cup of oats and 1 cup of water and pour into a small saucepan (I usually use a different pot, but it was in the dishwasher. I also usually buy my oats in bulk at whole foods, but I was out and bought a box of quaker oats and stop and shop the other day, so that's what's in the pictures. I think it's a little gooier, but it's fine.)

The rule for oatmeal is like rice - for every unit of oatmeal add twice as much water. (1 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of water, 12 cups of oatmeal 24 cups of water, 3/4 cup of oatmeal 1.5 cups of water) Usually I just add the oatmeal first, and then whatever container I used to scoop the oatmeal, I use to measure out the water.

Turn the heat on high - but watch closely so that you can turn it down as soon as it bubbles. while you're waiting and watching, add a handful of sliced almonds, a handful of raisins, and 8 shakes of cinnamon. Stir it (I usually use a wooden spoon, but the regular spoon you're going to eat it with is OK too.)


When it bubbles, turn the heat down as low as it goes. Stir often, almost constantly. I get out the bowl, spoon and sweetener at this time, stirring between each getting.

After about 5 minutes the oatmeal should not be liquid-y anymore, and it should start to almost stand up in the pot if you build towers of it with the spoon. Some of it will inevitable stick to the bottom - don't stress about this. If it starts to burn then you either have the heat up too high, there's not enough water, you didn't stir enough, or it's just done and you should eat it!

Spoon/pour the oatmeal into a bowl. -- a word on sweeteners here. In general I rotate between three different sweeteners - applesauce, brown sugar, and maple syrup. If you are using brown sugar or apple sauce, I recommend putting them in the bowl first and then spooning the oatmeal on top of them. I was using maple syrup this time though, so I poured it on top.

Now stir and eat. it's good for you.


In terms of modifications - they are infinite. You can add pretty much anything to oatmeal - fruit and dairy products particularly lend themselves, but I've seen success with other things! My grandmother likes blueberries and milk, some folks are fans of bananas, when I was hiking we used to add GORP to the cream of wheat - and sometimes to the oatmeal too. M&Ms or chocolate chips, peanuts, dried cherries, butter, cubed apples, soy milk, whatever you like, really.

the (macro)biotic woman

come january 1, I'm back on the macro wagon. I fell off during the summer when I decided that it was more philosophically sound to fully partake of my farm share and eat the local deadly nightshades (otherwise known as potatoes and tomatoes and peppers) than to avoid them and eat foods grown outside of my neighborhood farm. but now the farm share is over, the rules have been bent, and I'm so far outside of macrobiotic guidelines that it's a bit of a sham to even claim the title for my own.

I got into macrobiotics about a year ago through a book that had been recommended to sarah elisabeth. two things struck me as I studied the basics of this diet:

1. macrobiotics is a lifestyle choice, not a diet. it's a philosophy that manifests through food but is actually about the way a person chooses to live her life;
2. macrobiotics is pretty much exactly what my nutritionist had me doing when I was prepping for my back surgery - and that period of my life was the healthiest I think I've ever had.

the description of macrobiotics was so sane and so familiar - creating a diet that is balanced with a person's life and the world around her - that any sort of extremes were diminished in face of the larger picture. (I will admit, however, that it didn't hurt that I had just discovered I was lactose intolerant. cutting out all dairy is much easier when eating it gives a kid crippling gas.) plus the people who were teaching me about macrobiotics, like my friend robin and jessica porter, were so normal when explaining the details to me. yes, there was talk about the yin and yang of foods, but all of it was delivered with a shrug and a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. it was the most rational food talk I'd heard in a long time.

macrobiotic eating is hard to describe to people who have never heard of it, especially because there are some parts of macro living that are guaranteed to raise the crazy flag. like the fact that many people insist that macrobiotics can cure cancer. I don't believe that (not many folks do, it turns out). but I do believe that what I eat should be a balance of foods that are good for me and good for the world around me. I do believe that how I eat is more than just the food on my plate.

this is probably the most straightforward explanation of macro eating and life that I've found. in addition to the macro food pyramid, it also suggests that fresh air, a good night's sleep, and singing are key parts of macrobiotic life. any dietary guideline that tells me that singing a song is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, well, you've got my heart right there.

brussel sprouts return to the neighborhood

here's my theory: people who don't like brussel sprouts just don't know they like brussel sprouts. here's the corollary: brussel sprouts are the enigma of mainstream vegetable life. here's my example: how many folks out there know that brussel sprouts look like this prior to packaging:


it's a stalk - cool, right? and so my premise is that if most people don't even know how brussel sprouts come into the world, how can they possibly know how to treat them right? here's my suggestion for a night on the town with your dear friend, monsieur b. sprout, chaperoned by my culinary panacea, garlic.

1. preheat the oven to 350.

2. mince a lot of garlic. like, five cloves at least. go nuts. or hold back, but know that I would be going nuts with the garlic if I were you.

3. wash your brussel sprouts and peel off the top leaves. cut brussel sprouts in half and lay them on a baking sheet with the newly cut side facing up. the number of brussel sprouts is really of no importance. how many people are you feeding? what else are you serving? are you nervous about the taste? (don't be. keep washing and cutting brussel sprouts. this is good.)

4. when you've maxed out your sprouts, sprinkle them with olive oil and minced garlic. I like to toss on a sesame seed-seaweed-sea salt mixture as well, but you can skip that entirely, or use plain salt and pepper.



(also, please take a moment to observe my DIY pot lid on the back burner. nice, huh?)





5. check on the brussel sprouts after 20 minutes. you want the insides to be soft and the outside leaves to be crunchy. a good hint is to examine the state of the garlic. if it's still brown and roasting, you're fine. if it's looking burnt, well, take those puppies out of the oven.

6. if you're feeling crazy, scrape all the brussel sprouts and garlic-olive oil mixture into a bowl and toss before serving. otherwise, just use a spatula and place these on a plate. it's good stuff. I had these with brown rice for lunch this week, added them to a soup for extra flavor, and just ate them cold out of the fridge. seriously. this will change your mind about brussel sprouts.

and if I'm wrong, you're not using enough garlic.

toast, hash browns, and big plans

So last night at just before 11pm gina marie and I rolled up to Super Stop & Shop to buy cans of things. I managed to buy only *1* item requiring refrigeration because I am classy. And that item was crescent rolls that come in that little metal & cardboard cylinder, again, because I'm classy.

The reason I bought crescent rolls, and a whole bunch of cans of tomato products, is because I am gearing up to make meat sauce for spaghetti and to make beef stew. I've decided that if I go to Whole Foods and buy organic, grass-fed, insanely expensive beef, that I will not get mad cow disease, and I will be able to make yummy food that lasts awhile. I love making food that tastes *better* the next day.

It's really not so in line with the macrobiotic plans, although it is all dairy free... but I don't know how to make any really good vegan soups, and I miss this stuff now that it is getting cold. Any recipes for vegetable soups (including stock and stock recommendations) especially soups with beans and lentil soup, are much appreciated.

In the meantime stay tuned for the beef stew experience and results (the secret ingredient is tomato paste) and for the meat sauce (the secret ingredient is...my dad's recipe?).

The other exciting thing about Super Stop & Shop was that they had my whole grain raisin bread! I had been looking for it for ages since they stopped carrying it at Whole Foods, and I had despaired and all but given up. But now, glory be, I had yummy whole grain raisin toast with earth balance this morning.

And then I got to work and had hash browns from burger king. gross, but satisfying in that oily potato way, but still gross.

let's talk about vegan cheese

I have only ever had one vegan cheese product that I liked. I like the "Grated Vegan Topping" in the purple salt-shaker sized container. the other few I have tried are all real gross or weird or just not worth it.

I stopped eating most dairy products because they made me congested and I think my body has to work too hard to process them. Cutting down on cheese has been good for my congestion, weight fluctuation, amount of energy, and avoiding processed foods (lots of dairy products, weirdly). I really miss cheese though.

Ironically, parm is probably one of the more innocuous cheese products - hard cheese are usually minimally problematic for the lactose intolerant, you don't eat as much of it as, oh, cream cheese on a bagel, or giant blocks of cheddar in the woods, and it has a lot of bacterial breakdown goodness. It's weird then that it is the only thing that I have found an acceptable (I wouldn't make risotto with it) substitute for.

Does anyone have any recommendations for cheese substitutes? or suggestions for what I should eat when I'm splurging? (I've been eating a lot of mint chocolate chip ice cream. oops.)