Maple Flapjack

After hearing from a friend that a flapjack in the UK is a crunchy yet chewy bar made with steel cut oats I definitely wanted to give it a shot.  I was a bit confused at first when he mentioned the term because here a flapjack is basically a big pancake. He shared a basic recipe for a flapjack located at http://britishfood.about.com/od/eorecipes/r/flapjack.htm. One of the ingredients required, golden syrup seems to be a uniquely British item.  Not having easy access to golden syrup I thought an appropriate alternative would be Vermont maple syrup and it worked out wonderfully.

This first batch was more of a test run and I think I'm getting a better idea of where I want to go from here, so I'll update when I make another attempt.  For this first batch these are the ingredients I ultimately used:

14 Oz Steel Cut Oats
4.5 Oz Butter
8 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
.5 cups Brown Sugar
Zest of 1 Lemon

I began by melting the butter in a saucepan along with 6 tablespoons maple syrup and lemon zest.  At this point I didn't add the brown sugar and additional syrup but I'll explain more later.  Once it was all mixed, I stirred in the oats until fully coated.  I moved this combination into a baking dish that I buttered and lined with parchment paper. I made sure to press the mixture into an even layer.  I placed in a 350F oven for 25 min just until the edges got a bit of color.

This is where the brown sugar comes in.  after cooling my flapjack came out crumbly and didn't cut into bars as expected.  From reading online it looks like I was perhaps lacking sugar.  I poured the crumbly flapjack into a mixing bowl and added .5 cups of brown sugar and an additional syrup over top and mixed again and placed in the oven for an additional 15 minutes.

It set up this time!  It is hard to say if partially cooking and adding more ingredients had an impact so I will make another attempt soon and report back the results. After completely cooling I was left with crunchy yet chewy bars that had a very nutty texture from the toasted oats and a rich caramel like flavor from the butter and syrup.  Apart from being delicious it is fairly nutritious with oats being the dominant ingredient overall.   

meals for work

For as much as I enjoy cooking at home, I still have the horrible habit of buying meals while i'm out at work.  In many cases this is for both breakfast and lunch. People have been telling me for years that it is a huge waste of money but it it just a habit that I have not been able to break. 

Starting last week I made it a point to always have breakfast at home before heading to work, this has helped me focus in the morning and feel less rush to grab something quick.  It is also infinitely healthier to eat a bowl of cereal and have a piece of fruit than to grab a breakfast sandwich on the go.

My challenge this week is to make sure I have a different lunch item packed every day.  This is where the Zojirushi Mr. Bento comes into play.  It basically is the same idea as packing a bento every day except each stackable containter comes in a insulated carrier. I bought this a couple of months ago and have not used it a ton unfortunately,  this week I am changing that and hoping to make this a frequent routine.

The sizes of the containers are the perfect size for me to pack both breakfast and lunch while being able to stagger meals throughout the day.  This is what I brought with me to work today:

In the front right is my breakfast: steel cut oats that I simmered in some coconut milk and skim milk and added mixed frozen berries to finish.  To the left of that is a morning snack: fresh strawberries and walnuts.  In the top left container is sandwich of turkey, ham, and cheddar on whole wheat.  Finally, in the top left container I have simply mixed greens topped with a few pickles.

I've been getting ideas from the Mr. Bento Flickr group which is very active and has new interesting combinations every day.It was pretty fun and relaxing to put together the bento, it didn't take too much time and already I can see this is a very good way for me to take my lunch every day. 

food for a lazy day part 1: breakfast

So today being labor day I figured I had a bit extra time to be a bit  ambitious and cook a few things I've been wanting to make.  Believe it or not, I find the most relaxing thing I can do on a day off is work in the kitchen.  I made two meals with my free time today.  First up: steel cut oats with pear ginger compote, honey roasted pistachios, cottage cheese and fresh raspberries.

I first prepared the compote by cutting up pears into a large dice.  I thinly sliced ginger and cut it into little matchsticks.  I added both of these items into a pan with some lemon juice, water, and sugar.  I set this to simmer for about a half hour.

For the honey roasted pistachios I placed peeled pistachios on a cookie sheet to warm up in the oven.  In the meantime I combined butter, honey, and cinnamon and simmered in a saucepan.  I pulled the pistachios out of the oven and tossed in the honey mixture to coat.

Both the compote and the pistachios were used with the oats as toppings to mix in along with some cottage cheese and fresh raspberries.

To make the oatmeal I first took steel cut oats and I toasted them in a pot with a bit of butter.  I added boiling water and let it simmer until the oats were soft.  After the oats finished cooking I added some kefir, brown sugar and cinnamon to finish it off.

Breakfast this morning was a great departure from the usual egg and pork fat savory breakfast that I tend to go for, but it was very nourishing and filling.  A great way to start off the day!