Savory Baked Oatmeal

Recently I went in for a physical. Last year's was the first one I'd had in awhile, and at that blood test my cholesterol was "elevated." I was not expecting it to improve, because this has NOT been the year to focus on diet/exercise (I made an effort after last year's results for a few weeks, but then fell off). Now my cholesterol is officially high, so yeah...I guess I should work on that.

Generally I feel like I eat pretty well; I KNOW I need to exercise more. But I can probably do better on fiber intake, so that's the main thing I'll work on with diet. I bought some Metamucil and officially feel like an old person! Also picked up some ground flaxseeds which I've been adding to cereal/yogurt, and are supposed to help in the same way. 

And I know oatmeal is great for fiber and helps with cholesterol. I tried doing steel-cut oatmeal a few days a week on the last effort - but even with adding fruit, nuts & peanut butter it just didn't keep me as satisfied as my usual egg breakfast. I'm also not really a sweet breakfast person; I much prefer savory stuff. 

A friend of mine I stay with sometimes while traveling makes baked oatmeal (usually with blueberries) that I've enjoyed for breakfast. That's also nice when you don't really want the porridge-y texture of regular oatmeal. I know that "savory oatmeal" is a thing but have never tried it. So I thought "hmm, savory baked oatmeal?" Yes, people are doing this! Oats, whatever veggies you want, a couple of eggs & cottage cheese for protein & binding, and a bit of cheese. I found a few recipes online and as per usual, cobbled together my own.

This is great for meal prep as it makes about 8 servings, and you can just pop a slice in the microwave for 90 seconds. It probably freezes well (haven't tried it yet). I had my first piece this morning and it was pretty satisfying! And because everything is better with a sauce (or "goo" as my husband likes to say) - I drizzled it with a little Cholula Cremosa (cilantro lime).

This is super adaptable; you can use whatever veggies you want and I'm sure I'll change it up the next time I make this. This is a good dish to use up veggies that need to be used. I did an onion, a red bell pepper, a grated yellow squash, a jalapeno and some baby spinach - but you could truly put anything in here. Mushrooms, tomato, sweet potato, broccoli, leftover veggies. If you want to make it even more substantial you could throw in cooked sausage or plant-based sausage. 

I did not actually measure anything except for the oats when I was scooping them out, and it turned out fine - so I think this is pretty forgiving!

Savory Baked Oatmeal

- Veggies (you probably want about 2 cups once cooked cooked): I used 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, 1 grated yellow squash, 1 jalapeno, a couple handfuls of baby spinach
- Seasoning for the veggies (I used a garlic-onion blend; use whatever you like!)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 cups rolled (quick) oats
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbl ground flaxseeds (optional but adds more fiber)
- grated cheese (I used about 1/2 cup but you can do more)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Saute your choice of veggies in a pan with a little oil until cooked, and season how you like. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add cottage cheese, milk & salt and mix well. Add oats, baking powder, flaxseeds and the cooked veggies and mix until combined. Spread in greased pan.

Bake for 30 minutes - a knife inserted in the center should come out relatively clean. Top with grated cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.

If you're serving right away, let cool slightly before cutting. Makes about 8 servings. 

To reheat from the fridge, microwave a piece for 90 seconds. If you like, drizzle with your favorite hot sauce, salsa, or whatever sounds good!  

Shredded Tofu Tacos

Ha - it's been over a year since I posted here. Not surprising - life has continued to be Life-ing, and food has been more "fuel" than something I want to spend time and creativity on. When I'm cooking these days it's usually the same handful of dishes - BBQ tofu is frequent, shrimp with veggies & boxed rice pilaf, pasta with whatever's on hand, occasionally shepherd's pie, soup or chili. 

My BBQ tofu is one of my spouse's favorite meals (though that might due to the mashed potatoes I serve it with), and tofu continues to be a super affordable protein source. Also I'm still trying to reduce my meat consumption. The BBQ recipe is a little more involved with the tofu prep, although it's largely hands-off in the oven. I decided to switch it up and try something I've been seeing recipes for: shredded/grated tofu. Indeed, this is a really easy and fast method that you could go any number of ways with - probably anything you'd use ground meat for. I made tacos, but I think I'll do Asian-style next time (maybe in these Korean-style rice bowls). I think it would also work with just BBQ sauce if you want to do meatless BBQ sandwiches. Or Italian seasonings, and add the crumbles to pasta sauce.

Street-style tofu tacos with onion, cilantro & avocado

Basically I'll just lay out the cooking method:

- Start with a block of extra firm tofu. Some recipes say you don't have to press it. I did since I had time, but the water cooks out in the pan - might just take a little longer to cook if you don't press it. Grate it on the large holes of a box grater (I cut the block in half crosswise first).

- Heat a pan (non-stick is probably best) on medium-high heat and add some oil. Cook the tofu, stirring occasionally, until it gets brown and starts to crisp. Mine took about 10-12 minutes total.

- I added some chopped onion & green pepper after it was mostly browned. You could also add minced garlic here.

- Add salt and whatever spices you like. For taco flavor I used chili powder, smoked paprika and garlic powder. Also add a splash of soy sauce. I think this works for any flavor and it also adds color. Keep cooking until it's the texture you want. I thought mine was a bit dry so I added some salsa.

- Taste and see what it needs for seasoning!

I already have a recipe for vegan shepherd's pie using lentils, but maybe these tofu crumbles are worth trying too...hmmm!