Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Omega 3 Oatmeal and Healthy Vegan Comfort Food

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Omega 3 Oatmeal and Healthy Vegan Comfort Food

I forgot to mention in my last post that I made those pancakes with hemp milk. I saw it when I was at the store the other day and decided to pick it up to try it out. I have to say, it might now be my favorite non-dairy milk – it is really good and also high in Omega 3’s, awesome.

So, as I had mentioned in my last post, I was contemplating making some sort of spicy brunch dish, but somehow the morning got away from me, so I opted to make some oatmeal. Man I love oatmeal. I made Brett a bowl of Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal and made myself something I decided to call Omega 3 Oatmeal. It was a bit of an experiment, I just kind of threw some stuff together, but it was really good. Brett tasted it and said he liked it better than his oatmeal. I will definitely make this again soon.















Omega 3 Oatmeal
1/3 cup regular rolled oats
2/3 cup plain hemp milk
3-4 dried apricots, diced
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
2-4 tbsp agave
1 tbsp brown sugar
dash cinnamon

Stir all ingredients together in a sauce pan and bring to boil, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for a couple of minutes. Enjoy!

For dinner, I made Sautéed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach from Veganomicon and served it over quinoa. This recipe was alright, but if any of you out there make it, I would taste it before adding the salt called for, as ours turned out a bit salty. This was remedied by serving it over lots of quninoa. I really like quinoa, it is probably my favorite grain, and I feel like I don’t use it enough, Brett loves it as well, so I’m going to have to find more places to work it in! I also made Mashed Cauliflower for the first time. Lizzy gave me this recipe, but I believe she said she had gotten it from someone else. I apologize that I’m not crediting the original individual, but alas I don’t know who it was. Whoever made this up – wow, it was wonderful. Brett went to town on this. I think I’ve found a great way to get him more veggies.

I was really in the mood for veggies, so I also whipped up some of Lizzy’s Roasted Mustard Brussels Sprouts . She seems to be the Queen of Good Tasting Simple Veggies, and I don’t think I hate Brussels Sprouts anymore! Now these didn’t turn out as good as they probably could have, but this is my own error. I left my pizza stone in the oven, so the sprouts took forever to cook that is until I noticed I had left the stone in. I also think I’ll make more mustard sauce next time too, it was really good. The only thing I did differently in this recipe was use malt vinegar instead of balsamic at Lizzy’s recommendation.















This meal was vegan comfort food, and healthy to boot. I am stoked that I have leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow.

‘Til next time!

13 comments:

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

i LOVE oatmeal. i like brown sugar and soy milk in mine. i'm gonna try adding some ground flax seed in my next bowl.

Monika K said...

What does hemp milk taste like? Does it have a weird texture? I want to try it but I'm feeling overly cautious (not exactly sure why, I'm usually so adventurous...).

Unknown said...

We made some hemp tea the other day, but used rice milk. It sent me to sleep. Hemp oil is also great for Omega-3. Oats have been one of my favourite foods since childhood, when I always had porridge for breakfast.

Lizzy said...

I saw rice milk and hemp milk a few days ago and considered buying it. My mom got me some Vanilla Rice milk once that tasted like crap. Seriously like soaked newspaper with a little vanilla flavor. But I think I'll try the hemp milk now =)

Can you believe I've never eaten oatmeal like that? I used to eat oats all the time as a kid. Quick cooking oats with cocoa powder and milk. Used to be my breakfast for years. But all you guys post oatmeals that look so tasty. I won't be able to resist much longer =p So thanks for the recipe. It's so healthy, too! Yay, I think I'm in love.

I knew you'd love it. Katie gave me the recipe. I think we should send her cupcakes as a thank you for providing us such a simple yet incredible recipe!!!!

I will probably add more mustard the next time I make these, too. I'm wondering whether the malt vinegar makes a big difference to the balsamic vinegar I used or not. But I haven't found any other recipe that requires malt vinegar, so I guess I'll save my money and and abandon it. I already have enough huge boxes of stuff filling my cupboards that I hardly ever use.

Lizzy said...

Duh, I forgot to insert the URL.
The mashed cauliflower masterpiece came from the Chocolate Covered Vegan ! =)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Oatmeal is one of my favorite foods... and I have Lizzy's Brussels sprouts recipe written down to try. Your plate looks super-good.

J said...

Pleasantly - I too love oatmeal. In some ways, it almost seems wrong that something so good is so easy. I don't think you'll be disappointed throwing some ground flax seed in your oatmeal; it gives it a nice nutty flavor and adds nutritional value.

Monika - I thought Hemp Milk tasted a bit nutty, perhaps even 'oat-y'. It is thicker than both soy and rice milk, a consistency more like cow’s milk. I had been eyeing it at the store for awhile before I picked it up, I'm glad I did the stuff rocks.

Cookiemouse - I didn't know there was such a thing as hemp tea. Hemp - huh, what an interesting little plant eh? Thanks for the note about hemp oil. This may be a silly American question, but is there any difference between what we in the US call oatmeal and porridge?

Lizzy - It took me awhile to find a good rice milk that I like. I use West Soy Plain Rice milk for cooking and such, and like their Vanilla as well. Brett thinks that pretty much ALL soy milks taste like watered down cardboard, but he likes the rice. The hemp milk doesn't taste like that, it is nutty and thick and yummy. When I go to the store this weekend, I may pick up a carton of the chocolate to try.

Oatmeal is too good and easy for you to not make it! It's cheap too! Have I mentioned it is healthy as well? That is my plug for oatmeal, but seriously, if you can have something super tasty and nutritious in about 10 minutes including prep time, how can you deny that?

I think I'm going to try making the Mustard Brussels Sprouts again tomorrow and I'll definitely make more mustard sauce to go with them. I'll probably also 'baste' them with more sauce when I go to flip them. OH, and I'll take the pizza stone out of the oven first this time. :-)

Malt vinegar is interesting, I actually found it was cheaper than most of the other vinegars I use. For 'shits and giggles' I used some malt in place of rice vinegar when I was baking Italian style tofu last night. I think it turned out pretty good, though won't be able to report too much until I use it in dinner tomorrow night, I just wanted to go ahead and make it since I already had the oven on. (Dinner last night was an unblog-worthy ['cause I already talked about it] Peanut Tofu Stir-Fry, the only thing I did different was baking the tofu instead of frying it.)

Chocolate Covered - I guess you are the culprit behind the delish mashed cauliflower we had the other night. Thanks for the recipe, it was so good, and Brett loved it too. Seeing him go to town on some veggies like that makes me think that I should make them more often.

Anonymous said...

Omega 3 Oatmeal, I could use some of that. I'm quite sure I don't get enough Omega-3's in my diet. Hemp Milk happens to be one of my favorite milks, but since it's so expensive I only drink it on occasion. But I'll definitely have to try this!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Thanks for your comment! I definitely think the S'mores muffins are fair game for breakfast. The only real "offenders" in them are sugar and marshmallows. Otherwise, whole wheat flour, carob, and a small amount of vegan graham crackers aren't going to hurt anyone! :) BTW, I love hemp milk (although I use non-fat soy milk in cereal when I eat it).

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

how is hemp milk? I always see it and don't buy it... should I?

J said...

Romina - I too noticed that hemp milk was a bit pricier when I picked it up. But it is so good, I think I'll just try to be sparing with it. I saw a chocolate variety I think I might pick up this weekend to try.

Vegyogini - No problem. Haha! Sugar and a little marshmallow every once in awhile for breakfast never hurt anyone. Would be nice to have a decadent breakfast sometimes.

Happy Herbivore - That is a loaded question! I would say personally, of course, go get some, it's a bit more expensive, but it tastes great, the consistency is the best of the non-dairy milks I've tried, and it has Omega 3's, what could be better? But everyone has their own tastes. Hemp milk is thicker, nuttier, and a bit richer than soy or rice milk. I really do like it.

The non-dairy milks seem to have come a long way. I have also seen almond and oat milk at the store, but never bothered as I figured their flavors would be too strong for baking, and not really sure about drinking.....Have you used either of these two?

Rachel said...

I make a really similar Omega 3 oatmeal! I have it almost every night for a bedtime snack. I used dried cranberries instead of apricots and mash up a little banana in it...the banana blends as it heats and sweetens it. Also, sometimes I add some slivered almonds. Yummmy.

J said...

Veganette - Those are really good ideas for variations. I'll keep that in mind, as I really liked that way the oatmeal tasted when made with hemp milk, and loved the nuttiness (and health benefits) gained from adding the flax seed. Nice idea about the banana too, get some fruit in while I'm at it. Sounds like a supreme bedtime snack.