Monday, October 17, 2011

Mindful Monday, numero tre

Ciao!

Right now my skin hates me: I have ice burn (from icing my hip after a tough workout this morning). On top of sunburn (from sitting out in the sun for, apparently, a little too long w/out sunscreen). Ouch.

But besides that, I feel a good--albeit busy--week ahead! Today's quote from my African Proverbs calendar (and my "thought" for this Mindful Monday):
"The leader who leads by pointing the way leaves no footprints for his[/her] followers."

I like that one. I also like oatmeal. And I made a delicious batch of it today:

Doesn't it look delicious? And all gooey-on-the-inside--yet-crispy-on-top? Yes?! That's because it's baked oatmeal! (I've been drooling over this "boatmeal" idea (baked+oatmeal=boatmeal, get it?) since seeing it on CCK's site, and finally got a chance to try my own rendition)

So why spend so long on a bowl of oatmeal when I could have popped it in the microwave and been done in 30 seconds? Here's a list:
1. My roommate pawned off an extra-ripe banana on me, so I needed to use it in something.
2. I was sitting in my kitchen working on something anyway, so I figured I might as well be sitting there with the anticipation of something delicious coming out of the oven.
3. I sometimes pretend like I cook.

Here's what I did:
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • a couple dashes of salt
  • about 1/2 of a mashed, very-ripe banana
  • 4 T milk (non-dairy or reg.) or water (I used vanilla Rice Dream, since that's what I'm currently experimenting with, but you can use regular milk or water, probs) 
  • ~1 T brown sugar  (optional)
  • ~1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  • a little sprinkling of chocolate chips (optional)
  • 1 T peanut butter (optional)
(As you can see, there are a lot of options here. Basically, mix together a bunch of things you think sound good and BAKE!)

Preheat your oven to 380 deg. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add in the wet (I mashed the banana, milk and peanut butter together before adding. Somehow in my head that seemed easier). Pour into a small baking dish (I used my favorite little CorningWare ramekin). Cook for ~15 minutes, until firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for ~3 more minutes to give it a nice crust. My advice: if you want to add choc chips or something sugary on top: don't. The broiling step will burn it to a crisp, and there's no need to ruin perfectly good chocolate. Instead, make sure they're well mixed into the concoction.

Now back to work.





4 comments:

  1. Dang, nice post, haha "boatmeal".

    But is the African proverb a positive one?
    i can interpret it as: the leader who points the way/leaves no footprints ... is a poor leader (b/c now the followers don't know where to go)
    OR is it a great leader because the followers must go their own way after being pointed in the right direction?

    back to work

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  2. The leader whose footprints leave steps, that go in the direction of success, have allowed those who desire it to fill their shoes.
    M~

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  3. So was this boatmeal any good? Is it more like granola or regular oatmeal? Or a combination?

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  4. it was delicious! basically normal oatmeal, but a teency bit crispy on top. plus it just felt fancier :)

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