Category: food

Oatmeal

Ashley Bischoff16 Comments

I had read good things about oatmeal and health, so I bought some (apparently, the effects are present primarily in slow-cook oatmeal, so I bought that type).

About two weeks back, I made some according to the directions on the package (boil the water and oatmeal mixture, easy). It didn’t actually turn out very well, as it ended up rather soggy. I’m not sure if I made the oatmeal correctly and I’m just not an oatmeal-person, or if I overcooked the oatmeal leading to its sogginess. I did add some cinnamon and Splenda, of course, but the sogginess remained.

Just today, I decided to give oatmeal another chance. But, to eliminate the possibility of sogginess, I just poured some dry oatmeal into a bowl (along with a sprinkling of cinnamon and Splenda). It was a bit on the mouth-drying side ;), but a glass of water close-at-hand took care of that.

It was actually pretty tasty. And, with Splenda having no Calories, I could add as much as I wanted without feeling guilty (other than the inherent guilt of using up all my Splenda and having to go buy some more).

I am curious whether the cooking process is linked to the healthiness of oatmeal; after all, I didn’t cook it at all this time, and I wouldn’t want to lessen its health benefits on that account. All the same, if you don’t like cooked oatmeal (but don’t mind oats in general), you may want to try this technique.

Natural Peanut Butter

Ashley Bischoff101 Comments

I bought some Natural Peanut Butter the other day at Target. I needed some more peanut butter anyway, and I didn’t want the trans fat associated with regular peanut butter.

I hadn’t had natural peanut butter in years, probably not within the past ten years or so. As a kid, I didn’t like it much, as I preferred the sweetness of regular peanut butter. Trying it again now, it was quite tasty. It tasted as if it was created through crushing peanuts and putting the peanut-carnage right in a jar.

The only downfall, it seems, is that it was quite sticky — on a slice of bread it would seem to gum-up my mouth more so that regular peanut butter would tend to. I’m curious as to what factor is contributing to the stickiness.

I know it’s not for a lack of fat, as the Natural Peanut Butter has 16g (but of the “good fat”). And, I don’t think that the lower sugar-content would be a factor, as I wouldn’t think that sugar would contribute to stickiness one way or another.

Any ideas on techniques as to what could reduce the stickiness of natural peanut butter? I was thinking of adding (no-calorie) Splenda to my next peanut butter sandwich, so as to more closely resemble the sweetness that I’m used to, but is there anything that I could add that might unstickify the sandwich?

Doughnuts

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Someone brought doughnuts into work this morning, and it really brightened my day. I find that just little things like this make a job that much more enjoyable.

There were several varieties, all on a white-donut base (as opposed to chocolate donut-dough). There were some chocolate-frosted, and I think also some chocolate-frosted with shaved coconut. In addition to the regular dough-style (of which I had one), I also had a doughnut that looked a bit scrumpled — was that perhaps the famed “cake-style doughtnut” that I keep hearing about?

I’ll try to further explain its appearance. A normal doughnut’s cross-section would closely resemble a perfect circle; however, this doughnut’s cross-section would be an almost star-shaped irregular circle. Does that make sense? At any rate, it was very much tasty — I would surely choose that doughnut style in the future over regular doughnuts.

Korean Barbeque

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I quite enjoyed the Korean Barbeque on Sunday. Min Jung was in visiting from San Fransisco, and she was nice enough to cook this great meal for us.

The core element of the barbeque was the barbequed beef — sliced similarly as to cheesesteak-beef. She made both spiced and unspiced varieties, for the adventurous and non-adventurous, respectively. I tried both, and actually quite enjoyed the spiced version.

There were also these rice-circle bits. It was a disc about the size of half-dollar made up of rice, chopped carrots, and scrambled egg (I think). I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but it was surprisingly good (I think I had two or three). Still, I had to wonder what they might be like with avocado — the universal condiment, as far as I’m concerned ;).

Ed k brought along some “Mexican Chocolate Pate”. It’s a bit hard to describe, but it was like a half-molten chopped-pecan filled brownie, but with more sugar ;). I think I could almost feel the sugar granules with my tongue as I savored each bite.

It was hella-chocolatey (just how I like it) and I’m having trouble deciding whether Mexican Chocolate Pate or Chocolate Decadence is my favorite chocolate-based dessert.