Brussels sprout scramble

I pulled this together one morning to use up some excess Brussels sprouts that we had blanched and then not needed all of for a different dish. I was worried about them going bad, and figured that if broccoli is good in a breakfast scramble, why not Brussels sprouts? If we had had any onion, I would have used that as well, since onion is awesome in scrambles. I used powdered tomato to give some depth to this; I found it at a spice store near me, but I've never seen it anywhere else. It's just dehydrated tomato, so tomato paste would work in its place. I liked what the tiny bit of tomato did for the flavor. I also liked the Kerrygold reserve cheddar I stirred into it at the end. That's a nice cheese. I didn't have high expectations for this scramble, but it was actually pretty good, and I was definitely pleased to use up some leftovers.

Brussels sprout scramble

Serves 2.

Butter for the pan

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup thinly sliced Brussels sprouts (mine were blanched, but raw would work too)

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp powdered tomato, or a little tomato paste

1/4 cup good cheddar cheese

Put some buttter in a pan (I used nonstick) over medium heat. Add garlic and Brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and softened. In the meantime, whisk eggs, milk, and tomato paste in a medium bowl. When the veggies are ready, pour egg mixture in and scramble. After the eggs are cooked, stir in cheddar cheese.

Spinach-parmesan bagels

We made bagels for the first time on Saturday, and they were great! I used a bagel recipe from The Bread Machine Book and added some spinach and cheese. I was a little concerned that it wasn't a good idea to make flavored bagels for my first time making bagels, but they turned out great. I reduced the liquid in the recipe a tiny bit because the spinach was wet, but that was all I did. These bagels are really light with a chewy outside. I think the classic bagel is supposed to be pretty dense, but I'm no purist-these were great! The spinach flavor really comes through, so much that Jon suggests lowering the amount of spinach next time. I don't really get much of the cheese, so I might either increase or omit it next time.

We ate the first bagel hot out of the oven with a little butter. Then for lunch I had a bagel with cream cheese and roasted red pepper strips. I think these would be good for bagel sandwiches, too. I was really pleased with how well this recipe worked, and I even have a parmesan-roasted red pepper-sunflower seed batch in the breadmaker right now. I'm just sorry it took me so long to start making bagels.

Spinach-parmesan bagels

Makes 8.

4 oz spinach, or less to taste

1 egg

Scant 1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg white

2 tsp water

Wash spinach and steam with water on leaves until wilted. Cool, then wring out as much water as possible. We ended up with a scant 1/2 cup of cooked spinach.

Place egg, milk, oil, sugar, salt, flour, cheese, spinach, and yeast in bread machine. Set for "dough."

When dough is ready, remove from bread machine and punch down. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll pieces into balls, then pinch in middle to make a hole and roll around in your hands until it is bagel-shaped. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise for 15-30 minutes.

Bring 2 quarts of water and 1 tsp sugar to a boil. Place bagels, a few at a time, in boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, then flip over and boil the second side for 3 minutes. Drain and place on pizza stone or baking sheet. Repeat for all bagels.

Combine water and egg white and whisk a little to froth it up. Brush over bagels. Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Buttermilk bonanza: the pancake edition

I made a total of three kinds of pancakes in our recent buttermilk bonanza. The first, which I did not photograph, was this buckwheat-buttermilk recipe, and it was probably my favorite. Jon and I really like buckwheat crepes, and this recipe is half buckwheat flour, so it really has a ton of buckwheat flavor. We put blueberries into a few of them, and that was nice, but not essential. This recipe used a total of 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk.

The second batch was a very classic buttermilk pancake recipe, sent to me by a facebook friend:

1 cup flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

These were just what you want in a pancake: fluffy and pancakey. I pressed raspberries into a few of them and was surprised that I didn't find them that great, considering how good blueberry pancakes are and the fact that I like raspberries better than blueberries.

The last pancake recipe I tried was this chocolate chip-buttermilk pancake. Once again, very nice, especially with banana and maple syrup. This recipe used 1 cup of buttermilk because I halved it.

I make pancakes very rarely because Jon claims not to like them much. In point of fact, he said he enjoyed all of the ones I made here, and the coconut ones I shared way back here. But he never requests them, my homemade granola and yogurt are our go-to breakfasts, and neither of us usually wants something sweet for lunch or dinner, so pancakes rarely make an appearance. But hey, they're fast, cheap, and easy, and I enjoyed trying a few new recipes for the buttermilk bonanza.

Buttermilk total for the pancakes: 3 1/2 cups

Buttermilk bonanza total: 4 cups

Coconut pancakes

I have a TA session on Tuesday nights, so I spend the day until midafternoon or so at home. This morning I made myself these pancakes. The recipe is from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appetit. They're nice and coconutty without being very sweet. They also kept me full for a while, which is nice. As you can see, I topped mine with fresh blueberries, chopped hazelnuts, and a little agave nectar. I meant to plop some yogurt on it but forgot. Bon Appetit suggests a tropical fruit salad with mango, pineapple, and banana.

Have I ever mentioned that I used to think I didn't like coconut? I have never really liked coconut cake or coconut cream pie, and the sweetened shredded coconut that might accompany jelly beans at Easter is not exactly food. But like so many things in my life that I used to think I disliked (Mozart, I'm looking at you), there started to be exceptions. "I don't like coconut, but I like the curry at that restaurant." "I like the tom yum soup at that place." "I thought I wouldn't like the mung beans and greens in coconut milk, but it turned out delicious." I began to realize that the coconut dishes I liked were not the exception. I just don't really like sweetened shredded coconut. Now that I've realized I do like coconut, I've been making more coconut milk curries and soups and using shredded coconut in my granola. I haven't gotten around to it, but I'm also interested in experimenting with coconut milk ice cream and jus alpokat. I'm really glad that I was adventurous enough to try things I thought I wouldn't like because boy, coconut is good!

Coconut pancakes

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (mine was kind of the texture of coarse bread crumbs-I don't know if that was the intended texture, but it worked well)

3/4 tsp allspice

3/4 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 can (about 14 oz) coconut milk

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 tbsp vanilla extract (I used some homemade by my cousin and given to me for X-mas!)

2 tbsp agave nectar (recipe called for maple syrup, but I didn't have any)

Mix dry ingredients together. If your baking powder is super old like mine, try to break up the clumps. Biting into a chunk of baking powder is not very fun. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir/whisk until the batter is somewhat pourable. I accidentally forgot the water at first, and since I had already mixed it quite a bit when I poured the water in, it was a little lumpy. Even if you do it correctly the first time, these will probably be thicker than your standard pancakes.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium. When skillet is hot, pour about 1/4 cup of batter on it and spread it with the back of a spoon until it's a normal pancake size. When the bottom is golden brown to brown and the top has little bubbles on it and has partially dried out, flip the pancake and cook the other side. Repeat.

Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill

Nothing major here. Just sharing a nice oatmeal alternative for chilly mornings. We call it Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill because we started eating Bob's Red Mill 5-grain cereal instead of oatmeal a while back. It's about $3/lb, but we discovered we can buy the rolled grains in bulk and have a similar experience. I think what I like about it is mainly that the rolled grains are thicker than regular rolled oats. I figure the mix of grains is probably healthy, too. The Whole Foods near me has these grains in bulk for prices ranging from $1.19-1.99/lb, so it's significantly cheaper than buying the packaged one. I think I've seen rolled triticale and quinoa in addition to the grains below, but they didn't have any on my most recent trip.

Here are the toppings I've been using recently:

-1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, 10 chopped hazelnuts

-8 fresh raspberries, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp whole chia seeds, 10 chopped hazelnuts

I really like having the cold fruit because then I don't have to wait very long for the cereal to be cool enough to eat. The flax seeds and chia seeds add omega-3's and extra fiber. I'm not usually into supplement-ish food, but I saw these on sale, and I figure it can't hurt. Plus I like to feel like a weird health food nut every once in a while.

I hope I don't seem to be callously undercutting Bob's Red Mill. I find it to be a good, if sometimes slightly expensive, brand, and I often buy their whole grains and flours. It's just good to know there's a cheaper alternative to this particular product, and this is really what we've started calling it.

Evelyn's Bob's Red Mill

This is just a suggestion. Any combination of rolled whole grains would be good.

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup rolled wheat

1/2 cup rolled rye

1/2 cup rolled barley

1/2 cup rolled spelt

Stir together. Store in a sealed container at room temperature. To cook, bring 1 cup water to a boil and add 1/2 cup grains. Cook, stirring occasionally, until water has boiled off.

Watermelon-feta salad

I threw this together to balance out the heaviness of the fried potatoes I made for breakfast this morning, and I think this would be a great dish to serve if you were hosting a summer brunch. The sweet watermelon and salty feta are a winning combination, and the fresh herbs really make it pop.

Watermelon-feta salad
Serves 1.

1 1/2 cups watermelon chunks
1/2 cup large chunks of cucumber
2 tbsp feta, crumbled
2 tsp fresh mint, minced
1 tsp fresh oregano, minced

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix.

Amaranth-kale griddle cakes

I recently bought whole amaranth for the first time. It is a small grain that reminds me a lot of quinoa. I ate some just as the whole grain, but I also saw this recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman and wanted to try it out. Next time I will probably double the amount of kale I use, and I'll add more salt. Those changes are reflected in the recipe. This recipe was quite nice. The amaranth has a lot of texture, which is really nice and chewy in these cakes. And you know how I feel about kale. This is a perfect "breakfast-for-dinner" food. Not sweet like a lot of breakfast-for-dinners are but still good with maple syrup. Many different things could be subbed for the kale, or you can omit it altogether. I think peas or sweet potatoes would be particularly good.

Amaranth-kale griddle cakes
1 egg
1 cup chopped sauteed kale
1 cup cooked amaranth*
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp almond milk
1 tbsp fresh thyme

Using a fork, beat egg slightly. Beat in kale. Stir in amaranth, salt, and pepper. Stir in flour and baking powder. Add almond milk and try to make the mixture into a stiff batter. You may need to add a bit more almond milk. Stir in the thyme.

Heat a nonstick crepe pan over medium until it is hot. Plop the amount of batter you want down on the pan. Cook, turning once or twice, until both sides are lightly browned. Serve plain or with maple syrup or yogurt or a giant serving of kale.

*Cook amaranth like quinoa: Cover in twice its volume of water, bring to a boil, and let simmer until grain is done, about 15 minutes. Drain if necessary. I think 1 cup dry amaranth probably gives about 2 1/2 cups cooked, but don't hold me to it.

Easy bean and egg breakfast

I made this for dinner one night when we had just gotten back from a trip and had very little in the house. It was a very dump-and-stir dish, and it was even better for breakfast the next day. I usually don't use canned beans in my cooking, but when I find some dented cans for cheap in the clearance bin at the grocery store, I buy them for occasions like this when I want something fast and easy. Most of my tomatoes are also dented discount bin specials, but I recently had one of those cans explode in my pantry, so now I'm a little concerned about botulism. I know the bulging ones are bad, but are dented ones also suspect? I would feel a little silly if I got food poisoning because I wanted to save 40 cents on tomatoes.

Beany breakfast
I used tomatoes with chilies in them. If you have regular canned tomatoes, try using chili powder in place of the cumin and oregano or adding some canned or fresh chilies. There will be some leftover bean-and-tomato sauce here. It will keep in the fridge for a while.

1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry oregano
1 14-oz can pinto beans, drained
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies

2 eggs plus a little butter for frying
2 tortillas (corn would be better, but we had flour tortillas in the fridge)
A few thin slices of cheddar cheese

Saute the onion and garlic in the vegetable oil over medium heat until the onion is soft. Add the cumin and oregano and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the beans and tomatoes and cook uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated.
In the meantime, fry two eggs in butter. After you've removed them from the pan, throw the tortillas on the pan to get a little warm and buttery. Place tortillas on a plate, top with some cheddar, and add one egg and a nice scoop of tomato-bean mixture to each.

Buckwheat galettes

First, a crepe vocabulary lesson. In France, if it's made with wheat, it's filled with something sweet and called a crepe. If it's made with buckwheat, it's filled with something savory and called a galette. So really, "buckwheat galette" is redundant. But we don't live in France, so I'm calling them that anyway. Vegetarian Times had a buckwheat galette recipe in their September issue, and since we had some really fantastic galettes in Brittany in July, we wanted to try to recreate the experience. The recipe worked really well, and we will definitely be making it a lot. The buckwheat has a very distinctive, savory, nutty flavor we love. It's also a lot more interesting texturally than plain wheat crepes. The only drawback to this recipe is that you have to let the batter rest for 12-24 hours before you can make the crepes, so it does require some planning. We usually do menu planning for the week every Saturday or Sunday, so we always know to whip up the batter the day before.

You can fill these with anything savory. Sometimes I just melt some cheese on them and fold them up. They're a great substrate for beet salad. When we serve them that way, we melt the blue cheese a little before adding the other ingredients and leave them open-faced. I also really love filling them with melted cheese, sauteed greens, and a little black pepper. Add a fried egg on top and you have a very hearty, yummy breakfast.
Buckwheat galettes (from Vegetarian Times)
They claim it makes 8, but it made 12 the one time I actually counted them.

1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp honey

Whisk together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg and honey with 2 cups of cold water. Using an electric mixer, beat egg mixture into flour mixture until batter is smooth. Beat 6 to 10 minutes, or until batter is light and thickened slightly. (I don't know why we do this step or if it is actually necessary, but the recipe works well as is, so I haven't messed with it.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12-24 hours.

The next day, whisk 1/2-1 cup (I always use 1/2 cup) water unto the chilled galette batter to thin. Heat a nonstick crepe pan over medium heat. I don't have to grease mine at all, but you probably know if you do, so grease it lightly with butter or vegetable oil if necessary. When skillet is hot, pour 1/3 cup batter into the skillet, lifting and turning the pan so the batter coats the bottom. Cook 2-3 minutes, until edges begin to brown and center is brown. You will usually get little bubbles coming up. They're fun to look at. Remove from skillet with a spatula or your fingers and make the next crepe. Before you do that, you might want to melt some cheese on top. If you want dinner to be warm and on the table all at the same time, you can put the cooked crepes in a warm (200 F) oven until you've made them all. Store any extras in the fridge for a few days. They might crack a little when you get them out to reheat and fill them, but they'll still be tasty.

My first tofu scramble

Hooray, I have met another goal of vegan month: I have now made a tofu scramble. I based it on this recipe, suggested by mollyjade. It contains nutritional yeast, which I had never used before. I don't know exactly what it contributed to the taste, but the scramble was definitely very savory and good. I enjoy egg scrambles at breakfast, and I can definitely see myself doing some tofu scrambles instead. Next time, I will add more vegetables because my preferred tofu brand (aka the cheapest one at Fiesta) comes in 1-pound containers, and that's a lot of tofu. I might also omit the lime juice. I found the sourness a little odd. Below is the scramble exactly as I made it this morning. My tofu expired several months ago, so it had dried out somewhat and I didn't have to drain or press it. If you are more punctual about eating your tofu, you might want to press it or drain it on towels.

Tofu scramble
This made two hearty helpings, and we had about one cup left over.

2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 Swiss chard leaves, stems separated from green parts, both chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb tofu, crumbled
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
whole cumin seeds for garnish, optional

Saute the onion, red pepper, and chard stems in the oil for about 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the spices and stir. Deglaze the pan with about 1/4 cup water. Stir in the tofu and cook for about 7 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook until wilted, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and nutritional yeast. Garnish with cumin seeds if desired.

Crepes three ways

Since getting back from Europe, we have been suffering from a little jet lag. It is getting better, but when you travel west, you get tired early and wake up early. Consequently, I've been having more elaborate breakfasts than usual. This is what I made on Sunday. For once I was up well in time for With Heart and Voice on the radio, and I listened to it while eating my crepes. Initially, I was planning on filling them all with fruit, but I had all this time and all these ingredients, so I filled them three ways.

Filling 1: strawberries, blueberries, and plain yogurt
Filling 2: mozzarella cheese, a slice of tomato, and basil
Filling 3: Blue cheese and blanched asparagus

Jon did the expert garnishing. The bottom two are garnished with basil flowers from my garden, which is still alive after being very well-tended by some friends while we were gone.

Half-whole-wheat crepes
I have a friend whose mother is white and father is Korean. She describes herself as 100% half-Asian, so I think of her when I describe these crepes as half whole wheat.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/8 cup water, plus more if the batter is too thick
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix together. Refrigerate batter for 1-24 hours. To make the crepes, heat a crepe pan over medium-high heat until hot. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto the pan and try to get it to spread as well as possible (and let me know if you figure out how to do that). Cook for about 30 seconds on the first side. Flip and cook for about 15 seconds more.

This was cooked into one of my crepes. I thought it kind of looked like calligraphy.

Granola

I finally found a granola recipe I really like. It's more a ratio than a recipe, really. Beyond the oats, you can use any liquid sweetener you want and any nuts and fruits you want. I got the recipe from Moosewood Restaurants: New Classics, which has a maple-nut granola recipe in it. Maple syrup is pretty expensive. I used it the first time but found that it wasn't really mapley, so I substituted honey, which is cheaper, for the second batch. I didn't regret it at all. I wanted this batch to feature almonds, and since apricots are related, I thought it would be nice to throw some chopped dried apricots in too. Dried cherries and pumpkin seeds went in because I wanted a little more variety. This is delicious with homemade yogurt in the morning. I will definitely be keeping this in stock. It makes a pretty big batch, so I won't have to be making it constantly, and it keeps indefinitely, as far as I can tell. Plus, there are tons of flavor combinations I want to try. The one warning I have about the recipe is that you can't put it in jars to store until it's completely cooled, and it takes a long time to cool (like over an hour). So if you start it at 10 pm, you might end up staying up later than you intended.

Granola (adapted from Moosewood Restaurants: New Classics):
4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (quick-cooking or instant can be substituted but aren't quite as good)
1/4 cup oat bran (optional-gives a fiber boost)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey (or agave nectar or corn syrup, I'd imagine)
2 tbsp molasses (not blackstrap)
2 generous cups nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, chopped to whatever size you want it in granola (dried fruit should be kept separate until after cooking)
1-2 tsp spices, if desired (I like it without, but there is cinnamon in the original recipe, and I'm sure nutmeg or cardamom would suit some people)

Combine oats, oat bran, spices, and nuts in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine oil, honey or syrup, and molasses and stir vigorously to try to get it rather uniform. Pour liquid into the oat mixture and stir to coat. Pour oats into a large greased baking pan (I use a 9x13 Pyrex) and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes. When it is golden brown, remove from oven and add the dried fruit. Let it cool completely before storing it in airtight containers in the refrigerator. Stirring periodically will help the heat dissipate and keep the granola from sticking to the pan.

Chocolate crepes with fruit and yogurt

I got a crepe pan in November from an aunt. At first I thought it was kind of silly. I had never minded not making crepes. But it works really well, and I have had a lot of fun with it. I have made regular savory crepes, chickpea flour crepes, garlic scape crepes, regular sweet crepes, and now chocolate crepes. We had a lot of fruit salad left over from Jon's mom's visit, and I thought this would be a good way to use it up. I accidentally forgot to add the water, and the batter didn't spread as well in the pan as I would have liked, but they tasted pretty good anyway. Also, the recipe calls for 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and I used 2 tbsp regular sugar. It was not very sweet at all, which was fine with me since I was putting fruit in it.

Chocolate crepes, from Crepes by Lou Seibert Pappas
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp liqueur, optional (I used Grand Marnier, although I didn't get much of the flavor)
2 tbsp butter, melted.

Mix everything in a food processor. If you don't have one, mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately and then whisk together. Cover and refrigerate 1-24 hours. (I don't know whether that is essential, but I always do it.) To make the crepes, stir the batter just to make sure nothing has separated. Then heat up your crepe pan over medium to medium-high heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan, tilting to let it spread. Cook until mostly dry on top, usually under a minute. Then flip over and cook for 15-30 seconds on the other side. Fill as you see fit.

In case you were curious, the fruit salad contained apples, bananas, clementines, pineapple chunks, strawberries, raspberries, and sliced almonds. I thought the almonds were a stroke of genius. It's nice to have that little crunch every once in a while. And of course, the yogurt I used was my homemade plain stuff. I added 1/3 cup of powdered milk to the last batch, and I think it helped make the yogurt nice and thick.

Herbed cream cheese

I have a garden on my balcony. I grow lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, strawberries, peppers, and tons of herbs. The herbs are perfect for herbed cream cheese. There is really no recipe. I use a combination of dill, chives, and garlic scapes. Mince them finely and use a spoon to mix them into room-temperature cream cheese. It's hard to use too much of the herbs because you'll be putting the cream cheese on something (I hope), so get more herbs than you think you need. This is Jon's breakfast plate this morning. We also really love sandwiches made with a good layer of herbed cream cheese on each slice of bread and a thick layer of thinly-sliced cucumbers in the middle. It's divine.

My homemade breakfast

I had an excellent breakfast today, and it was almost all homemade:

1 slice of homemade yogurt bread with (not homemade) butter
Fresh homemade yogurt with homemade granola and (not homemade) dried raspberries

Homemade fruit smoothie: banana, orange juice, carrot, frozen strawberries, frozen raspberries, and frozen pineapple.

In case you're wondering, yogurt is easy to make. Heat 1 quart of milk on high heat, stirring constantly, until it gets really steamy and foamy. When it comes down to about 110 F, add it to a bowl with a couple spoonfuls (spoonsful?) of yogurt with live cultures (Dannon has worked best for me) and keep in a warm place 8 hours or so. I kept mine in the oven with the oven light on, and by the morning, the temp in there was 116 F, which is a temperature that makes the little lactobacilli very happy. Homemade yogurt is super-delicious just after you make it, before refrigeration, so it was a real treat to have some of that this morning.

My granola contains: oats, dried cranberries, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, and honey. I'm not going to put up the recipe because, although it's pretty tasty, I am still trying to figure out an ideal cooking time/temperature. My oats didn't get very cooked when I made it, so it's somewhere in between granola and muesli.