I love finding new uses for items in my pantry. So I loved it when Alton Brown came out with a second show talking about oats. This show contained many great recipes that are not only "Good Eats" as Alton would say but also have some health benefits. Oats can do a real favor for your heart, with all their good cholesterol, helping to combat the damage you have done with the bad cholesterol.
Alton gave 4 recipes during this show. I will spend some time talking about each one of them. Two of them I have already tried myself.
1. Yeast Oat Bread
Alton started by taking some leftover plain old oatmeal and turning it in some hearty Oat Bread. This bread can be used for sandwiches as seen in the show. He used Agave syrup as a sweetner in the bread. This syrup from Mexico is said to be sweeter than both honey and sugar. It has become more popular in the US in recent years. Vegans like it as an alternative to honey, so you can usually find it in health food stores although many chain grocery stores carry it as well.
2. Oat Waffles
If you don't like eating oatmeal and I am not a really big fan of it, this is another way to get oats in your morning meal. He uses rolled oats that he processes in a food processor to make "oat flour". To learn more about this recipe, check out my review of it.
3. Oatmeal Cookies
Alton makes a real good point about oatmeal cookies. How come every recipe calls for all-purpose flour. These are oat cookies. So instead he once again takes some rolled oats for a spin in his food processor. To learn more about this recipe, check out my review of it.
4. Oat Drink
Lastly Alton shares a drink that has been flavored with oats and some citrus. Since oats are water soluble you can extract the flavor and health benefits from them by soaking them in water and then drinking that water. He uses a Mexican sugar - Piloncillo, lime juice & zest, as well as ½ teaspoon of caradmon seeds to boost the flavor.
Overall this was one of my favorite episodes in a while. It has so many good recipes that I could not wait to try out. Check for future airings on this episode on Food Network, or YouTube which I am sure someone has posted it on there.
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