Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal

I'm officially out of my apartment and into the dorms! I'm SUPER excited about my job this summer. For those of you who don't know, I'm a teaching assistant for Duke TIP. The program gives gifted students a chance to take a class during the summer. There are some pretty cool classes being offered, like mock trial, creative writing, modern medicine, and more. My class is called mathematical problem solving. So far, it seems like I'm really going to enjoy this. I can't wait for the TIP-sters to get here tomorrow!

Training has been crazy busy, but I finally have a chance to cook! This recipe was inspired by one from "Hicky's Healthy Handbook." I got this cookbook as a gift from Spurs PC 11, and it's packed full of so many healthy recipes! The very first recipe in this book is for Cherry-Hazelnut Oatmeal. I'm not using the exact recipe, but it served as an inspiration for the one below.

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal


Ingredients:
1 package instant oatmeal, original (unflavored)
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp dried cranberries
1 1/2 tbsp chopped walnuts
Dash of ground cinnamon


Directions:
Cook the oatmeal according to package instructions, replacing water with skim milk. Once it is cooked completely, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Taste Rating: 6
Not too bad. It's oatmeal, so you're not going to get an "ooooh my gosh this is amazing" from it unless somebody sprinkled fairy dust in it or something. I will say this is waaay better than those pre-flavored things you get at the store. The walnuts add a really nice crunch to it.

Easy Rating: 9
Microwave and mix. What could be easier? I am not giving this a 10, because I'm dishwasher-less, meaning I have to wash my bowl and spoon by hand in a bathroom sink. If I had a dishwasher, the easy cleanup would justify giving this a 10.

Overall Rating: 7
Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day (not only to give you fuel, but it can actually help you lose weight). This one dish has whole grains, antioxidants, good fats, protein, calcium, etc. All of that in 5 minutes? Win.

Tropical Fruit and Nut Bars

Because my mom sent home Easter leftovers, I am not planning on having to cook a meal for a couple of days. One thing I did make was a variation on my original fruit and nut bars recipe. This one uses the same concepts, but with ingredients that make it a little more in sync with the warm weather.

This recipe is not quite as good for you as the original one...I added coconut which is really high in saturated fat, but I couldn't bring myself to leave it out. I just love coconut. I didn't bother with pictures or ratings, because they pretty much look exactly the same as the first time, and they taste just as delicious.

Also, this is a perfect example of how you can take any recipe and change it to accommodate your own tastes. Never feel like you have to follow a recipe exactly!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup (45 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (70 grams) light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1/3 cup shredded coconut
2/3 cup dried mango, chopped
1 cup dried pineapple, chopped
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Have ready an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) square baking pan that has been lined across the bottom and up the two opposite sides with aluminum foil. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, walnuts, and dried fruit. Use your fingers to make sure that all the fruit and nuts have been coated with the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat (with a wire whisk or hand mixer) the egg and vanilla until light colored and thick (this will take several minutes). Add the egg mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and mix until all the fruit and nut pieces are coated with the batter. Spread into the prepared pan, pressing to even it out.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the batter is golden brown and has pulled away from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cooled, lift the bars from the pan by the edges of the aluminum foil. Use a sharp knife to cut into 16 squares.
Can be stored for about 10 days at room temperature or longer if refrigerated

Fruit and Nut Bars

I'm back! It has been a crazy last few weeks, so I have had zero time to cook. But now midterms are over, I'm home from my trip to Portland, and I am FINALLY able to do another blog post.


Over spring break, I read a book called Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy. It is written by a professor at Harvard Medical School, and the main idea of the book is the "real" food pyramid and getting proper nutrition. It isn't a diet book, and the focus is about health, not weight loss (he does of course address the fact that nutrition goes hand in hand with maintaining a healthy weight). One of his big things is eating enough good fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats found in oils, nuts, avocado, etc.) and lean proteins. He recommends eating nuts, beans, or legumes 1-3 times a day, so I'm really trying to incorporate more of these into my diet. Nuts are the hardest thing for me to eat, because I think they're boring. While searching for nutty recipes that aren't desserts, like pecan pie and peanut brittle, I found this recipe for fruit and nut bars: http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/FruitandNutBars.html. It's still a little bit dessert-y, but it doesn't use any butter, and the amount of sugar is minimal. 

A couple of things that I changed...I didn't use the dates/figs/prunes and used 3/4 cup each of pecans and almonds instead. I actually don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I thought all of that dried fruit would be overwhelming, and it would kind of defeat the whole "get more nuts" concept. Also, the all purpose flour that I used was whole wheat. 

1/3 cup (45 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup (70 grams) light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (145 grams) walnuts (can also use pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds), chopped

1/2 cup (65 grams) dried cherries or cranberries

1 1/2 cup dates, figs, and/or prunes (pits removed and cut into quarters)

1 cup (165 grams) dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Have ready an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) square baking pan that has been lined across the bottom and up the two opposite sides with aluminum foil. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, walnuts, and dried fruit. Use your fingers to make sure that all the fruit and nuts have been coated with the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat (with a wire whisk or hand mixer) the egg and vanilla until light colored and thick (this will take several minutes). Add the egg mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and mix until all the fruit and nut pieces are coated with the batter. Spread into the prepared pan, pressing to even it out.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the batter is golden brown and has pulled away from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cooled, lift the bars from the pan by the edges of the aluminum foil. Use a sharp knife to cut into 16 squares.

Can be stored for about 10 days at room temperature or longer if refrigerated.

Makes 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) squares.

Taste rating: 7

I liked them! I wouldn't consider this a favorite recipe, but I would for sure make it again.


Easy rating: 6
I am not a fan of baking. But this wasn't so bad. You really just mix everything together. I did have to chop the walnuts, because Whole Foods only had whole ones, and the apricots had to be cut into smaller pieces too. 


Overall rating: 7
First of all, my apartment smelled amazing while these were baking. Second, I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap, and I've been throwing them in my purse to take with me in case I need a snack. The convenience is really the best part. I wish they tasted more dessert-y, because there is enough sugar to make them pretty sweet, but they definitely serve their purpose of helping me get more nuts into my diet every day!