No Head for Money

How do I manage to continually make poor decisions with money? I must have been inebriated when I signed up for a mail order make up club, claiming to give free product...Oh! only free if you return it in 15 days? How is that free??? Now I am stuck with two shipments of mineral makeup plus brushes and a bill of (gulp) $201.50. Please everyone stay away from these scams. Oh, I guess you already do that, because you know better. So, am I also the only one who somehow overpaid my Nordstroms bill by $184.29??? Fortunately for me, they are sending me a check in the mail. Thank God! I really don't need any more of their merchandise during tax season. One recent good impulsive buy lead me to my new e-reader Nook. My niece visiting from Holland wanted to be the first in her country to own the i-pad 2. So, we got up early to stand in line at the Apple store by 6:30 am. She had her i-pad by 9:30, and I borrowed $30 from her to add to my $50 in order to buy my this gadget off the lady standing ahead of us. Since she bought a new i-pad too, she doesn't need her e-reader anymore. I love my new toy, but I stupidly forgot to pay back my 19 year old niece before she left. I think Suze Orman would put me in a straight jacket, at this point. Please don't tell my husband any of this!

I need a cookie: Comfort Cookies

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oat bran

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 brown sugar

2 ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 chocolate chips

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas, add vanilla, oil, peanut butter, and chips. Mix together.

3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and blend together just until it forms a large ball and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Cover if left over night.

4. Roll into small balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten the balls to a 1/4 inch thickness with a bottom of a glass dipped in flour to keep from sticking.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until the bottoms are brown. Cool on a paper towel or cookie rack for a few minutes.

I found this recipe on vegweb.com, but of course I substituted a few items and changed it up to better suit my dire need of a delicious and real cookie! This comes pretty darn close. Enjoy! (If you don't squish the balls down they will stay round as pictured).

Gruel-ing

"Tomorrow's just your future yesterday." goes a line in the theme song for the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. How true, how true. "I KNOOOOOOOW." says Craig with that twinkle in his eye. Ah, the Scotsman tickles my fancy. It's that face, smile, body, laugh, all-round pleased with himself attitude.

So when I discovered The World Porridge Making Championship Contest "The Golden Spurtle" is in Scotland, I saw my chance. Perhaps Craig will notice me if I make it to Scotland in 2010 to compete in the Oatmeal making contest.

"But wait," Allergy said. "You don't eat oats. Gluuuuteeen will get ya."

steel - cut or rolled?

After some investigating I found a loop-hole. If the oats are grown out there, away from wheat and rye and barley, out there is a field far far away, chances are there will be no gluten to deal with. I tried McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal and my internal flora are happy. But I have to find Hamlyn's Pinhead Oatmeal from Scotland, only because that name is Divine. Pinhead? Is there a Scottish/English dictionary around here? Which term do you prefer? Steel Cut or Pinhead? (No wonder CF giggles. His country has the better English.)

When you go to the Golden Spurtle website there is a dictionary of terms that doesn't include Pinhead. But how about this: Athole brose - honey or meal mixed with whiskey chiefly Highland. For breakfast? Or Luggie, a small wooden bowl with one or two handles formed from projecting staves ..... Not what we mean when we say luggie. Here's one that's fun. Snap and rattle - toasted oatcakes crumbled in milk.

Back to the kitchen and the task at hand. Winning the Golden Spurtle. I don't own a spurtle, but I have a wooden spoon. I think it will work. My oatmeal today will be the first in an attempt to dazzle the judges and get me a place in the 2010 competition. I will use my Medjool dates, and since it's almost Thanksgiving, I will let the holiday and it's traditional flavors guide me this morning. Dates, pecans, pumpkin pie spices (a Trader Joe's product: a blend of ground cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.). Can't use honey. Hmm. Maple syrup. And if I love it, it will be submitted. If you love it - let me know. May my first Spurtle be Golden.

What to call it? Something that makes the morning jolly. How about -

Medjool Gruel

Serves One:

3/4 cup rice milk
1/4 cup steel cut oats
pinch of salt
1 medjool date, fresh, diced
1/4 tsp Trader Joe's pumpkin spice
1 tablespoon pecans
drizzle of maple syrup

Bring rice milk to a boil, add oats, date, salt and pumpkin spice. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover pot and continue to cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Add pecans and allow to sit off the heat for a minute.

Pour into a bowl and drizzle with maple syrup. Eat it up. Delicious. Sweet, smooth, warm, delightful.

The Medjool date is soft and almost melts into the oatmeal. If you are substituting a drier date you might consider soaking it for about 10 min in a little boiling water. Then drain and add the softened date to the pot.
I think it's good enough to enter into the contest.