Know your oats - Oat vocabulary

When can you eat cookies for breakfast? When they're mostly oats! But first, a lesson in oat vocabulary.

• Oat groats or whole oats are the oat seed with the outer hull removed. They take the longest to cook and are often pre-soaked.

• Steel-cut oats (also called Irish oats or Scotch oats) are oat groats cut into smaller pieces. Also pre-soaked.

• Rolled or old-fashioned oats are whole groats flattened in a roller. They cook more quickly than groats.

• Quick oats are steel-cut groats flattened in a roller. Because they are small and flakey, they cook quite quickly.

• Instant oats are precooked so they can be prepared simply by adding hot water and are often pre-flavoured and sweetened.

Learn more about Saskatchewan-grown oats from my article in Star Phoenix.

Chocolate Oat Clusters

Gleaned from the website of Only Oats, a gluten-free oat processor in Regina.

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

6 tbsp cocoa

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

On medium heat melt butter, sugar and milk in a saucepan until it boils, stirring often.

Add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Remove from heat. Drop by the spoonful onto wax paper. Cool completely.

Ode to Oats

Did you know? Canada is the largest exporter of oats in the world, and much of those oats are grown here in Saskatchewan.

The bulk of Saskatchewan's oats are shipped to the United States and processed into the brand name cereals and granola bars you find in the grocery stores.

You can also buy oats from smaller local companies, like the package of organic oat groats (in the picture) that went into my morning oatmeal. The brand is Willow Creek, which is based in Watson, Saskatchewan.

Apple Honey Oatmeal

Find local dried apples at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.

1/2 cup steel-cut oats
2 cups water

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried apples, chopped
1 tbsp honey

The night before, mix steel-cut oats with water and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 min. Remove from heat, cover and leave out overnight. In the morning, add another 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Add the salt, cinnamon and dried apple. Cook, stirring, until desired porridge consistency is achieved. Stir in the honey and eat!

Newspaper column - Breakfast

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on 20 July 2009

You’ve all heard the advice: a healthy diet starts with a good breakfast. However, I contend that a healthy diet begins with a good Saskatchewan breakfast. So often when we talk about eating locally, we focus on the big meals—dinner with meat, veggies, salad and dessert. But it’s just as easy and just as fun to start each day with a taste of Saskatchewan.

A few years ago, my husband John and I decided to eat locally for a whole year. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. That year is up, but good habits are hard to break. We still stock our larder with locally-produced foods and breakfast is my favourite meal of the day.

This time of year, you may find me out early in the strawberry patch picking berries for a bowl of yogurt and homemade muesli. When the berries are this fresh and so delicious, breakfast is worth celebrating, so I often serve it in a martini glass. It looks as good as it tastes!

In the winter, I eat my muesli in a bowl with dried apples and cherries (that I dried myself) or with berries such as saskatoons and raspberries that I canned with a light honey syrup. Sometimes in winter, we get a warm start to the day with oatmeal porridge sweetened with honey or maple syrup.

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Whether for porridge or muesli, I always try to buy a bag of oats that specifically states it is a product of Saskatchewan. My homemade muesli includes nuts and seeds (which aren’t necessarily from here), plus locally-grown flax and hemp seeds, mixed with canola oil and honey, then toasted in the oven. (I buy the flax at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market; the hemp seeds come from The Good Seed farm at Birch Hills.)
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Berry smoothies are also a great breakfast idea. We start with local Dairyland yogurt, add a banana, which isn’t local of course, and top it up with frozen blueberries, cranberries, saskatoons and/or strawberries, all locally picked, plus a dash of ground flax.

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When we have a little extra time, or when company is coming, John heats up the griddle and makes wild blueberry pancakes. If I’m cooking, we might have clafoutis, a terrifically easy breakfast custard from France, where it’s traditionally made with cherries. I use a mix of Saskatchewan berries, including the local sour cherry.

Speaking of traditional, bacon and eggs in our house are always local. We get them at the farmers market, or, if we’re at a local meat shop, we pick up good Saskatchewan-made bacon and breakfast sausages. (Currently, our freezer is stocked with breakfast sausage from the Smokehaus in Martensville.)

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As for toast and jam, it’s easy to be local. I make my own bread or buy it at a bakery such as Christie’s. My mom supplies the jam. While it might be hard to turn every breakfast into a local meal, here are some tips to get started:

1) Buy locally-made bacon and breakfast sausage. We have such good butchers in Saskatchewan, it’s easy to find quality products.
2) Pick extra strawberries, saskatoons and sour cherries this summer (available at u-picks) and freeze enough for a smoothie or clafoutis now and then. Wild blueberries may be found at the farmers market when they’re in season.
3) Reach labels and try to buy basic ingredients, such as eggs, oats, honey and flax, that are products of Saskatchewan.

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Here's the recipe for my homemade muesli. And here's the clafoutis (pronounced cla-foo-tee), which will impress everyone at breakfast time, especially the cook!

Prairie Berry Clafoutis
2 tbsp butter
3 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups mixed Saskatchewan berries
(fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp flour

Heat the oven to 350F. In the oven, melt the butter in a cast iron skillet or large pie plate, making sure the butter doesn’t brown.

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Put the eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and salt into a blender and blend until smooth. With the blades running, gradually add 1 cup of flour and mix well. Remove the buttered pan from the oven and pour in the batter.
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Toss the berries with the remaining tbsp of flour. Scatter the fruit over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the centre of the custard is set. Serve warm, perhaps with a sprinkling of icing sugar.

RHUBARB MATRIMONIAL CAKE

This summer, I have good intentions of trying rhubarb in savoury dishes, but I still seem to be stuck on desserts, like this one. It's a matrimonal date cake without the dates -- rhubarb instead. The recipe is from "Mrs. Marr's Rhubarb Recipes," the cookbook of the historic Marr Residence in Saskatoon. Rhubarb is apropos for a pioneer house since it was one of the easiest, quickest, most versatile vegetables in the prairie garden. Be sure to check out the annual Rhubarb Festival at the Marr Residence on the August long weekend.

Nat's Rhubarb Dessert
8 cups rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup tapioca (I used flour)
pinch salt

Crumb mixture:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (I used 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (I used 1 cup only)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter, melted

Mix the first four ingredients and let set for 1 hour. Mix remaining ingredients together until crumbly. Place half the crumbs in 9"x13" pan. Cover with rhubarb. Top with remaining crumbs. Bake at 350F for about 40 min., until the crumb is lightly browned.

Check your pulse - CHICKPEA CHOCOLATE COOKIES

This column appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on 20 Jan. 2008

The farmers of Saskatchewan want you to eat more lentils, beans, dried peas and chickpeas. Why? Because they want to grow more lentils, beans, dried peas and chickpeas. In the past 25 years, Saskatchewan has become one of the world’s largest producers of these foods, second only to India.

The problem is, the market is saturated. World consumption has actually dropped from nine kilograms per person in the 1960s to about six kilograms per person today. Just think, our farmers went from zero to 25% of the world market in 25 years, even as that market was shrinking. That says a lot about the hard work and superior product coming out of Saskatchewan. So what’s up for the next 25 years?

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That was the topic last week at the annual Pulse Days in Saskatoon. (Pulse is the name given to this class of edible seeds of the legume family.) The goal is to double production of pulse crops in Saskatchewan from about five million acres per year to 10 million acres or more. Once that mark is reached, one-quarter of all crops in the fields will be pulses.

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But if pulse farmers are going to increase production, they need to convince more people to eat their lentils, beans, dried peas and chickpeas. To aid their effort, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why we should do just that:

1) Pulses are good for you. They’re chock full of fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals such as iron. They have a low glycemic index, which makes them good for people with diabetes.

2) Pulses are good for the environment. Pulses take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. Nitrogen is a natural fertilizer which all plants need to grow. Most farmers use an artificial fertilizer created from natural gas. With concern over greenhouse gas emissions, growing more pulses is a natural way to cut the carbon footprint of farming and the food we eat.

3) It’s easy to sneak pulses into the diet. Pulses can be ground to a flour and used in baking and other processed foods, so you get the health benefits without a single “bean” in sight. With consumer demand for healthier foods, processing companies such as General Mills are looking at the possibility of including more pulses such as pea fibre. It’s easy to include pulses in home baking, too.

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4) Pulses are diet food. Low in fat and calories, high in nutrients and good carbs. Pulses make you feel fuller so you eat less.

5) Few people are allergic to pulses. People who cannot eat wheat flour do not suffer the same ill effects when eating pulse flour. Also, toasted chickpeas are a nice alternative to nuts. For instance, the University of Saskatchewan has created a fabulous chocolate full of crunchy bits of chickpea. You’d never know!

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Try the chickpea-chocolate combination in this recipe from Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. You'll find more desserts with pulses here and here.

Chocolate Chickpea Cookies
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup soft butter or margarine
2 large egg whites
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Mix in the egg whites, vanilla, chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt, mixing on low speed to form a thick dough.
Line two baking sheet with parchment. Drop dough by the tablespoonful, spacing cookies 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly with fork. Bake at 350F for 11-13 minutes.