If you’re used to traditional chemicalized oatmeal that you’ll notice a difference when switching to the organic version. … It just cooks different. With regular, that is the regular stuff that throws pesticide caution to the wind, it comes together pretty quickly and you get that porridge consistency without any trouble. With organic, and I’m not sure for why, the individual oats don’t want to break down. Like they’re individuals and they want to stay that way. Yeah right. They just need more heat more mechanical action to get them to where they need to be.

So, and easy fix is to add your oats and then put in an extra third cup of water (I use 1/2 cup of oats and 1 1/3 cups of water). Bring this up to a boil then reduce the heat. While on a reduced heat work the oats using a fork. Bnd needless to say you will get burned if you do this incorrectly. Keep going until the oats attain the consistency you like.

After that it’s up to you. Blueberries really kick butt as an adder to the porridge. The warm against the cold, the mushy against the firm, the tart against the somber. All good.

Related links:

-Reducing cholesterol the natural vegan way

 But before we actually get into prep time we need to take a step back and review some of the experimentation we’ve done so far ..

 The first thing we tried was just taking fresh blueberries and plopping them into a cup of yogurt (we like using mugs instead of bowls because you get enough for a serving and you also have the cup handle to hold the concoction without heating it up with your hands, cold of course is best tasting for yogurt. By the way if you haven’t gotten into the habit of keeping a few mugs and thick-walled glasses in the frig for treats and smoothies you should start.. this is one of those no-effort things that really makes a difference). Anyway, the results were pretty good. You could taste the tanginess of the yogurt as well as the texture and burst of flavor you’d get when you’d bite into one of the blueberries. OK, but we thought we could do better.

 Next, we thought that we should toss the blueberries and yogurt into a blender and pulse it a few times. Well, even with a judicious few pulses the yogurt took on a blue color and was pretty much smoothed out with only a few blueberry skins. As far as taste it had a fairly uniform blueberry thing going on. The separate tanginess of the yogurt really dropped out and that’s something we missed.

 Finally, we tried placing the whole blueberries into a mug and smooshing them with a fork. Just enough to break the berries. Then we stirred in the yogurt. .. What we got was a concoction that still maintained the tanginess of the yogurt but there was also a second note of blueberry. And, this subtle blueberry flavor would kick up big time every time we took a bite of the smooshed berries. In short, this was the best of the three in our opinion. However, we recommend that you play with all three methods and find the one that’s your personal fav.

 Anyway, no need for a step by step recipe on this one since everything is explained above. However, we did find that adding just a little honey gave you some sweetness and that honey flavor which played nicely with the other two ingredients (..but be careful not to go overboard with this addition).

 By the way if you ever looked at that gelled up mess they call blueberries in the pre-mixed you have to wonder what they were thinking. Just consider how could you take a fresh berry and toss it in liquid yogurt for quite a while and still expect it to taste fresh. .. I guess that’s why they tend to doll it up with who knows what. Anyway in a taste comparison there’s no contest. Fresh berries and fresh yogurt trounces the pre-made stuff. .. Now in terms of convenience, we timed how mush longer it took to take out the fresh berries, pull a stray stem or two off, wash in water, smoosh and add to the yogurt. Well, this took a gran total of one minute. .. and it was soo inconvenient.

 Time to go natural and get off of the factory food.

 Why not send this post to any cooking challenged foodie you may know. This “recipe” may be enough to build their cooking confidence and expose them to what quality really taste like. Sort of your good deed for the day.

Related Post:

• Review of Horizon Fat-Free Plain Yogurt

Shopping List:

• 1 Cup of No-Fat or Low Fat Vanilla Flavored Yogurt
• 1 1/2 Cups of Mixed Fresh Strawberries, Blueberries and Pineapple (make sure you get a real pineapple and not open a can of something that was grown over 2 years ago)
• 1 Cup of Soy Milk
• Note that all ingredients as well as the glass jar of your blender should be refrigerated prior to making your smoothie. You want it cold but you don’t want to be adding ice and watering it down (a “not-good” kind of move).

Recipe:

• Add 1 Cup of Non-Fat or Low-Fat Vanilla Flavored Yogurt to a prechilled blender jar.
• Add 1 Cup of Soy Milk.
• Add 1 1/2 Cups (doesn’t have to be exact, this isn’t rocket science) of a mixture of whole blueberries, quartered strawberries and big chunks of pineapple (don’t skip the pineapple, it’s critical)
• Put the lid on the blender and hit the pulse button a few times waiting a second between pulses so the chunks can settle down to the blades (now I don’t like things over blended, there’s a tendency to force too much air into the smoothie and that will reduce it’s flavor impact. And, like the food processor it will seem that you should have more mix time (because if we’re honest it’s fun to click on this powerful machine and watch it do it’s thing)… but trust me, less is best. A few pulses is all you really want or need..)
• Pour a glass and then put the blender jar back into the fridge until you are ready for seconds .. fyi: finish this off in a single setting since you don’t want things hanging around.. remember fresh is best. This recipe will make about 32 fluid ounces (about 2 1/2 glasses). This is just right for me and is terrific after coming home from the gym. If you want less, of course just cut back on the recipe but be even more careful not to over-blend.

Enjoy!

 This is West Soy’s brand. One of those beverage products that comes in a box that needs no refrigeration.. And this is nice especially if you’re roughing it with a backpack in the middle of nowhere. It has this plastic tab kind of thing with a foil seal underneath. Just flip back the tab and then peel back the foil and you’re good to go. And after you’ve quaffed your first serving the plastic tab reseals the whole darn thing.

 Nutrition: For a 1 Cup Serving we’re talking 130 calories, 8g protein, No Cholesterol, 3.5g fat and 18g carbs. Not bad. But what about taste? Not too bad.. To be honest I was expecting this to be a total taste disaster. But no. Not bad.. You can taste that Soy-ish taste a bit (you know that subtle flavor of tofu). So ok the taste is acceptable but for me not good enough to want to drink this stuff by the glassful. And this being the case we decided to play around with it a bit.

 The first test was a very basic smoothie. Took four strawberries and quartered them. Tossed them into a blender. Poured a little of the soy milk in. Pulsed it to sort of smooth it out but to still leave some chunks that will give a little flavor zing when you chew them. .. The results.. Awesome. It came out thick, creamy and delicious. Nice!

 The second test was to make some gluten free pancakes. So took out this mix that someone gave me (to poke fun at me for being gluten free) and made some up with this soy milk.. And these were good as well!

So the bottom line we give this product a thumbs up and it’s a recommended buy. .. See you guys in three weeks..(kidding). 

Related Link:

• West Soy’s Soymilk Page

 But that being said, it all depends upon your logistics as well. For instance, you have a problem if you’re driving an hour every day to get fresh coffee right from your favorite roaster. So let’s try to make some sense of all this:

1. All coffee you drink should be certified organic. No if’s and’s or but’s about it. Think about it, we’re griding this stuff into a powder so that the boiling water we’ll be pouring over it can extract what is in there. .. You only want to be extracting good stuff. Trust me, your body and taste buds will thank you for it.
2. Only purchase whole beans and grind only what you’ll use right before you use it.
3. Buy from a local roaster and make sure that what you buy hasn’t been sitting around.
4. Only buy enough to last you a week.. max. Hey, you buy fresh food every week.. And coffee is one of those pleasures that simply should be as good as possible. It does make a difference.

 There you have it. Simple. Enjoy your coffee and your life. .. You know it only takes a little extra effort to bring things up to the next level, I think you deserve it.

Related Posts:

• Brewing Coffee
• Proper Storage for Fresh Organic Coffee
• Coffee Mugged

 Here’s the deal. .. Ingredients are Organic grade A pasteurized nonfat milk, fructan (NutraFlora, a natural dietary fiber), pectin, live and active cultures (S.thermophillus, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophillus, Bifidobacterium lactis and L. casei). So five different live and active yogurt cultures and apparently the Nutraflora has been shown to increase the ability of the body to absorb calcium which is good news for your bones & teeth. .. Nice ..

 Now As you may know, I’m a big fan of the plain yogurts. There’s something about buying yogurt with fruit already in it that just rubs me the wrong way. What’s up with paying yogurt prices for some fruit that has been added in a factory and just sits there immersed in yogurt for days. .. Just saunter over to the fruit isle and pick up your own bananas, blueberries, strawberries or whatever.  And do a quick add to your yogurt just before eating. You wouldn’t buy cereal with milk preadded getting all soggy and nasty so I wouldn’t recommend it for yogurt either (unless for some reason you’re into soggy & nasty). So a long explanation for the plain.

 Now for the yogurt. This stuff has a creamy consistency and not custardy like most yogurts (more like Yoplait if you’ve ever had that). This makes it easier to incorporate the fruit into and personally I like this smooth consistency. And the taste is awesome. Nice tang, great taste.

 In summary, we’re impressed with this product and give it a thumbs up buy recommendation. Good for eating as a yogurt and with the creamy consistency good for as a cooking ingredient. And, as added incentives, the Horizon People say they support over 500 organic family farms, promote ethical treatment of the animals, use wind power to produce their yogurt and contribute/give back to the community. All good stuff.

 Hope you like the post.. if so why not go to the upper right corner and subscribe? And don’t forget to save that yogurt container instead of tossing away as garbage. Have a good one. Peace.

Related Posts:

• Be Green And Use Your Garbage
• Chile Pepper Primer (Yogurt puts out the fire)

 Basically, this is a slice of bread that you make a hole in the center of. Then you butter it up, toss it into a fry pan and then crack an egg in the center. Cook, flip and Wa-La. .. But like any recipe (an especially one involving eggs), there’s a right way and a disastrous way to do it. Here’s the right way…by the way Di was visiting this weekend and she loves the things. We were over my parent’s house for breakfast and she forced me to make hers instead of my father (who’s a damn good cook by the way). But you know I was getting all big headed like I’m king of the bread with an egg with a hole dish but maybe she was just making me feel good (like ”I’m something and a bag of chips” as they say) just to get me to hop to. Who knows, since it’s already done I’ll go with the ego gratification of thinking I’m the better cook and leave it at that. .. Here ya go:

Toast With A Hole With An Egg In The Middle Of It Recipe

• Take out a stick of butter to soften if you know you’ll be making this recipe 
• Get a slice of very good quality organic white bread. Preferably homemade. Cut thick.
• Cut a hole in the middle of the bread. Some people use a cookie cutter or a plastic cup to do this. Set aside the center section that you cut out.
• Generously, butter the bread and bread center section that was cut out. Set aside.
• Take out a medium fry pan.
• Pour some organic olive oil into it. Spread around the pan surface
• Add some organic unsalted butter
• Do what you do to make sure the serving plate will be warm by the time this thing is done
• Turn the heat on a little above medium (we don’t want to scorch the olive oil)
• Place the bread in the fry pan. Place the cut out center piece of bread to the side of the bread (cut it in half if you have to to make it fit)
• The key is using plenty of butter and olive oil
• Crack an egg and place in the center hole of the bread slice
• Cook..watch..add some additional butter to the sides and exposed top of the bread.
• When the bread if golden brown flip using a spatula (by the way those super industrial plate of steel spatulas they sell now days are just about useless for cooking. Use it for gardening instead. What you need is a thin metal spatula with some spring in it. .. And if you have a plastic one toss that into the garden tool kit as well.)
• Cook.. reflip etc. You want to keep the bread golden brown and make sure the egg is properly cooked
• Serve on the heated plate. Add a little theatrics also like a “Wa-La”, “A beautiful dish for a beautiful lady”, “Bon Appetit” (or “Bone Appetite” if you need to be funny).. that sort of thing.

 Hope you enjoy. By the way if you enjoy this post please send to a friend and tell them to subscribe, see the upper right column under Feeds & Networks (and Stumble it or Add to your Technorati Favorites as well if you want). Some related links are given below:

• FDA’s Site “Playing it safe with eggs”
• Cooking with olive oil

Shopping List:

• Spring Water (enough to cover the eggs in your saucepan & fill a cooling bath)
• Organic Eggs

Recipe:

• Place Spring Water in the Frig 8 hours before to cool down. If you don’t have 8 hours just add some ice. This is for the cooling bath. 
• Place the eggs in a saucepan.
• Add Spring Water until the eggs are covered by 1/2 inch.
• Cover & turn the heat on high to bring to a boil.
• As soon as a boil is achieved keep covered & remove from the heat. Set the pan on a unheated burner on the back of the stove. Remember handles facing back so no young kids grab, spill & scald.
• Let sit for 12 minutes
• Pour Cold Spring Water in a medium mixing bowl (enough to submerge the eggs)
• Safely remove the eggs from the scalding water and transfer to the cold water bath in the mixing bowl. You must be safe, the scalding water and/or the hot eggs could severely burn you. If you can’t do this safely do not do it. I use a large metallic spoon with draining holes.
• Let the eggs sit in the cooling bath for 5 minutes.
• Remove eggs from the cooling bath onto a plate.
• For each egg, hit against the counter to break the shell and then roll the egg against the counter using the palm of your hand until all the shell is broken.
• Peel the shell from the egg.
• Add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and serve immediately or store for later use in a safe fashion. 

 As with any recipe dealing with eggs you must handle and store these guys safely. Please follow the FDA Guidelines for Safety with Eggs.

Related Links:

• Playing It Safe With Eggs

Shopping List:

• 3 Organic Eggs
• Sea Salt & Ground Organic Black Pepper for Seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon of Unsalted Organic Butter
• 3 Tablespoons of previously cooked Organic Spinach Puree (link to this recipe is given below)
• Swiss Cheese to yield 3 Tablespoons when grated (do not use Baby Swiss as the flavor is too mild)

Recipe:

• Place the oven rack in the upper 1/3 of the oven
• Turn the broiler on high
• Have an ovenproof dish ready and set aside
• Cut some butter into some small pieces and set aside on a dish. Set aside on a dish in the frig (you’ll be using this to add some pieces of butter to the top of the omelette in the final step to give you an idea as to how much you’ll need)
• Grate the Swiss Cheese (enough for two measured Tablespoons which should be set aside and a 1 additional tablespoon for sprinkling the top of the omelette in the final step. Set this aside as well on a separate dish)
• Crack 3 eggs into a medium mixing bowl
• Season lightly with Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper (just a pinch and a dash you can always add more later if you wish)
• Add 3 Tablespoons of Cooked Spinach Puree
• Mix well using a fork
• Prepare the omelette. Right before folding sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of Grated Swiss Cheese on the inside then fold.
• Once done transfer to the ovenproof dish
• Place small bits of butter on the top of the omelette and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of grated Swiss Cheese
• Place in the oven under the broiler (be careful you can get severely burned in this step)
• Keep a very close eye on this..As soon as the cheese begins… that’s begins … to brown get the omelette out of there.
• Transfer to a warm but not hot dish and serve immediately

Related Links:

• Organic Puree of Spinach

 Does anyone else envision batter fights at colleges and pancake “I love You’s” cook up on large griddles?..

Related Post:

• Organic Buttermilk Pancakes