Oatmeal is a whole grain and can help you feel full until your next meal.
Oatmeal keeps your heart healthy and can help reduce cholesterol.
The word groat is the name for the kernel of any grain such as wheat, rye, barley or oats.
The words Oat groats sound funny together because they rhyme. Can you think of other words that rhyme with oats and groats that might sound even funnier? (How about a goat in a coat, floating on a boat in a moat, while writing a note, getting ready to vote, and eating a tote full of oat groats! If you draw a picture of this, I’d love to see it!)
You can buy oat groats at some stores, but they take a long time to cook.
If you cut an oat groat into pieces, you get Steel Cut Oats.
If you steam oat groats and roll them until they flake, you get Old Fashioned Oats.
If you steam oat groats for a longer time and roll them into thinner flakes you get Instant Oats.
So say the words “oat groat” ten times fast. And then, use some Old Fashioned Oats to make my Fruity Baked Breakfast Oatmeal.
You
can make this oatmeal the night before and let it sit in the refrigerator until
you bake it in the morning, or you can make it, bake it, and serve it right
away.
Good cooks know the word: Grease – to put butter, fat, oil or non-stick cooking spray on a pan to prevent cooked food from sticking. When you grease a pan, the word is a verb. When people call fats and oils by the name grease, the word is a noun. Mechanics also use a type of grease to fix cars, but that is a different kind of grease that we will never use in cooking!
INGREDIENTS:
1½
cups old-fashioned oats
1/4
cup brown sugar
3/4
teaspoon baking powder
1
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4
teaspoon salt
1
cup dried cranberries (or other fruit that you like)
1/2
cup sliced almonds
1¼
cups milk
1/4
cup maple syrup
1
egg, beaten
2
Tablespoons of butter, melted
½
teaspoon vanilla
TOOLS:
One
large mixing bowl
One
medium mixing bowl
Dry
measuring cups
Measuring
spoons
Mixing
spoon
Liquid
measuring cup
Whisk
2-quart
baking dish
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Grease the baking dish.
In the large bowl, combine the oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, cranberries and almonds. These are your dry ingredients.
I have been waiting and waiting for it to snow. Last night, there was a blizzard in my town, and this morning I got to play in the snow. Today, we’ll make Snow Candy.
Can you catch a snowflake on your tongue?
If you live in a place where it never snows, don’t worry, you can use a plate of shaved or crushed ice instead of snow to make this Snow Candy.
Good cooks know: Mise En Place. It may sound fancy, butthe phrase mise en place is really just a French cooking term that means “setting in place.” When you say it out loud, it sounds like you are saying Meeze-on-Plahs. When I think of mise en place, I like to say “things in place.” Say that 3 times fast. Things in place. Things in place. Things in place.
When making some recipes you must have mise en place, otherwise you might burn your food and ruin the recipe. Snow Candy is that kind of recipe.
Safety Note: This recipe creates a boiling liquid and requires that a grownup do all of the work at the stove-top in addition to pouring the candy onto the snow. And remember, good cooks always read the entire recipe before they begin to cook.
INGREDIENTS:
1
cup of butter
1
cup of sugar
3
tablespoons of corn syrup
1
tablespoon of water
TOOLS:
Measuring
spoons
Dry
measuring cups
1
wooden spoon for stirring
1
stockpot or large (6 quart) saucepan
1
9×13 cake pan filled with CLEAN snow
Candy
thermometer if desired
1
liquid measuring cup filled with completely with ice, topped off with water,
and set aside.
DIRECTIONS:
First, measure all of your ingredients and have them ready to use, mise en place, before you start to cook.
Fill the liquid measuring cup with ice, and then add water to fill the spaces between the ice cubes. Set the ice-filled cup aside. This water will not be used in the recipe. It will be used to test the candy after it cooks
Next, HAVE YOUR ADULT place the butter, sugar, syrup and 1 tablespoon of water in the sauce pan and cook on medium, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. This recipe burns very easily. Your adult must stay with the pan at the stove until the candy is done.
Place the sugar, water, butter and corn syrup in a stock pot. The mixture will turn a golden color, thicken, and follow the spoon around the pan.
4. When the candy mixture in the pan is a golden color, thickens slightly, and begins to follow the spoon around the pan, HAVE YOUR ADULT test it in the glass of ice water by dropping a teaspoon of the mixture onto the ice-filled cup. (Remember to keep stirring the contents of the pan.) Give the candy in the cup twenty-five seconds to cool (count to 25!) and taste the sample from the icy water. The mixture should be crunchy and not stick to your teeth. Candy-makers call this the hard-crack stage. If your adult uses a candy thermometer, it will read between 300 and 310 degrees. Remove the candy immediately from the stove. It will burn quickly at this stage.
Test the candy using ice and water.
5. Finally, remember to step away as your adult gently pours the candy onto the snow-filled cake pan. Spread the candy in a thin layer over the snow. Let the candy sit on the snow for 8-10 minutes or until cool to the touch.
Have your adult pour the candy onto the snow.
6. Remove the candy from the snow and pat it dry with a paper towel. Break the candy into small pieces to eat.
