Sometimes I make more oatmeal than my family is willing to eat. (Believe me, that’s much better than making less than they want.) I just pitch it in the trash, because I can’t think of an alternative, but has anyone come up with a use for cold cooked oatmeal? I’m thinking “meatloaf filler,” but that seems kind of unappealing. Could it be used in cake maybe? Cookies? What?
Setting tile?
Mixed with honey and/or yogurt, it makes a great facial mask and body scrub.
When I was cooking for vegans, I would use cooked outmeal in place of eggs as a binder for casseroles, fake meat loaf, veggie burgers, etc. A couple of Tablespoons more or less equals an egg.
You can make oatmeal griddle cakes. I freeze em in twos so the kid can nuke them for breakfast on school mornings.
I’m wondering… how about sweetening/flavouring it a bit more, putting it in the blender to get a really fine texture and freezing it on sticks - oatmeal ice lollies. I have no idea what they would be like, but it sounds like it might work.
In my experience, oatmeal is not expensive and it is better to cook too much than not enough. Since I now live alone, if I make more than I can eat, I spead it on a cookie sheet to dry some and then put it on a bird feedes. Redbirds really like oatmeal! Salvaging oatmeal leftover to serve again seems frugal to the extreme. The only thing worse that I can think of are the uses Mom found for leftover grits. :eek:
Mangetout, you really will, won’t you? (Mange tout, that is.)
Actually, you have the brain of a vegan genius. Blended really well, with lots of honey and some vanilla, and I bet you’d get a pretty decent “ice milk bar.” I’d add cinnamon and nutmeg and go for an horchata flavor.
:smack: Of course, once you add honey, it ain’t vegan. I did know that.
Leftover grits can make great griddle cakes.
You can add enough milk to make it look like a muffin batter, bake and have instant oatmeal muffins. Toss in some raisins and/or nuts.
Annie–I really don’t bake, so forgive me if this is a naive response, but: are you saying that all I need to do is mix some milk into the muciligeous glop now sitting in a pot atop my stove, pour the mixture (which already contain raisins, btw) into a muffin pan, bake (for how long and at what temp?) and I’ve got MUFFINS?
If this is true, I’m going to become a muffin-bakin’ fool.
Oh yeah–in fact, this is the principle behind some of the tastier uses of polenta, which is just a schmancy name for grits if you ask me.
As for leftover oatmeal, I like the idea of giving it to the birds.
Daniel
I would imagine you’d at least need to add some flour and baking powder/soda or else they wouldn’t rise.
Oatmeal keeps in the fridge well. Put it in tupperware, and nuke it for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Those griddle cakes look nummy! I’ll have to try that.
PRR (Can I just call you Sally?) – Cooked oatmeal adds a great texture to bread, if you’re into baking (or have a bread machine).
For muffins, you’ll still need to add all the conventional ingredients; the oatmeal just replaces some of the liquid and some of the flour (but less than you’d think), and perhaps some of the sugar, if the oatmeal is sweetened. Start with a muffin recipe and experiment a little. I’d start with substituting one cup oatmeal for, say, 3/4 cup liquid and 1/3 cup flour, and see how that comes out, then adjust liquid and flour to come out well.
The advantage of that is that once you get a recipe, you can mix up a big batch of the dry ingredients and put it in a big baggie or something. Then, once you have the oatmeal, just scoop out the right amount of the mix, add the right amount of liquid, and you’re off to the muffin races.
Beautiful. Thanks.
And my friends all call me Sal.
My vet says oatmeal is good for my dog’s digestion. And she loves it more than her regular food.
Oh, come now. I can’t be the first person to suggest haggis, can I?
Oh, Chronos. I thought you liked us.
But all she has is oats! You can’t have haggis without the sheep bits!
I’d go for the griddle cakes, or lure birds the way hlanelee suggests.
Alton Brown did a show on oats, and haggis was a sidebar to it. I’ll have to admit that I have a serious craving for the stuff now.
Haggis…the love that dare not speak its name…
-stonebow, who LOVES oatmeal made with apple juice instead of water, sugar, and ground clove