hmmm
Well, that was an interesting experiment. I made my first ever batch of steel-cut oatmeal in the crockpot Friday night, and had it for breakfast 3 days in a row. Wow, that stuff is *filling* -- I wasn't hungry for hours after eating it. I forgot to prep it last night, so ended up having a meal-replacement bar for breakfast today. And I'll be darned if I haven't been starving all morning. I think this means I'm officially switching to oatmeal now. Since I did the bowl within the slow cooker technique, I used a 1:4 ratio. Today I'm going to try it in the rice cooker, so I think I'll try a 1.5:6 cup ratio. I was reading that the rice cooker can make a huge mess if it boils over, so I'm hoping that the 20 cup rice cooker will have enough extra space that it won't be too bad. I could just make it ~in~ the crockpot instead of using the double-boiler method, but again, I've read too many things that say it bakes to the sides. Which, really, do NOT want. I am *so* sick of washing dishes by hand.
I also used the rice cooker to make quinoa the other day, and man, I had forgotten how much I liked that. Just dumped some onion, garlic, and better-than-boullion in with everything, and I got a ton of leftovers. The quinoa went with the chicken taco salads I decided to try, and man, they came out really good. Got the chicken taco seasoning from Pennzeys, and it was pretty awesome. It did have cilantro in it, though, which my roommate could taste. Not enough to ruin it (as she pointed out, guac hides almost everything *g*), but enough that I'm going to hit up a friend (hey X!) and get him to help me make my own mix. Pennzeys also has a regular taco seasoning without cilantro, but it's got lactose, dextrose, corn flour, and cocoa powder in it. Which... I don't know, I ~guess~ there's a reason for, but I think I'd rather stick with plain spices that aren't adding carbs.
Speaking of cooking, this weekend is the SCA West Coast Culinary Symposium, which I'm quite looking forward to. I'm daytripping with Johanna, and I just need to decide what clothing I want to get a mess all over. :-> I mean, yea, tunics are definitely the way to go, but most of mine are linen, and I'd hate to get food all over them. Maybe I'll take my old cotton broadcloth one for slumming and change to a nicer one for dinner. I am hoping I learn something, though my cooking skills are pretty much at the slim & none stage. I am actually thinking about taking a cooking class... has anybody ever heard of Cucina Bambini? The menu choices for their Essentials series seem a bit odd, but if it really does teach stocks, proper knife skills, roasting, sautéing, and baking for $175, it might be worth it. There's also a Kitchen Basics class at Sur la table which looks interesting. It's $25 more, and 1.5 hours shorter, but I'm actually free all three Sundays it is offered this month.
And Indiana is doing okay, but OHMYGOD he hates me. They found 3 additional smaller lumps when they had him under, so went ahead and took those out too. He totally looks like franken-kitty. They are all standard mast cells, thank goodness. No cancer. I tried sticking a tshirt on him to keep him from messing with everything, but he could still reach one of them, and the poor guy could barely walk because the arm holes were too tight. (pic 1, pic 2) So I swapped it out for an old fabric cone that was Rosie's. It barely goes over his head, which means even when it's untied, he can't get it off. Yay! And he seems to not totally hate it. He was supposed to go in this morning for a checkup, but my mom called this morning sick as a dog, so I had to take her in instead (to Kaiser, not the vet!!). So Indy goes in this afternoon. Hopefully he won't kill any of us. They've already said if they can't take his stitches out next week, they're going to teach me how to do it. Oh, HELL NOES!! He's only got 3 doses of meds left, thank goodness. He's been off the pain meds since the 2nd day because he just wouldn't take it. And after he bit through my finger while I was trying to shove the antibiotics down his throat, they gave me some empty gel caps at the vets. It's still a struggle and a half to get it down his throat, especially since I can't find a decent piller, but at least it only takes 2 tries instead of 10 minutes and him frothing at the mouth looking like he's got rabies. :-/
Cats. Gotta love 'em!!!
I also used the rice cooker to make quinoa the other day, and man, I had forgotten how much I liked that. Just dumped some onion, garlic, and better-than-boullion in with everything, and I got a ton of leftovers. The quinoa went with the chicken taco salads I decided to try, and man, they came out really good. Got the chicken taco seasoning from Pennzeys, and it was pretty awesome. It did have cilantro in it, though, which my roommate could taste. Not enough to ruin it (as she pointed out, guac hides almost everything *g*), but enough that I'm going to hit up a friend (hey X!) and get him to help me make my own mix. Pennzeys also has a regular taco seasoning without cilantro, but it's got lactose, dextrose, corn flour, and cocoa powder in it. Which... I don't know, I ~guess~ there's a reason for, but I think I'd rather stick with plain spices that aren't adding carbs.
Speaking of cooking, this weekend is the SCA West Coast Culinary Symposium, which I'm quite looking forward to. I'm daytripping with Johanna, and I just need to decide what clothing I want to get a mess all over. :-> I mean, yea, tunics are definitely the way to go, but most of mine are linen, and I'd hate to get food all over them. Maybe I'll take my old cotton broadcloth one for slumming and change to a nicer one for dinner. I am hoping I learn something, though my cooking skills are pretty much at the slim & none stage. I am actually thinking about taking a cooking class... has anybody ever heard of Cucina Bambini? The menu choices for their Essentials series seem a bit odd, but if it really does teach stocks, proper knife skills, roasting, sautéing, and baking for $175, it might be worth it. There's also a Kitchen Basics class at Sur la table which looks interesting. It's $25 more, and 1.5 hours shorter, but I'm actually free all three Sundays it is offered this month.
And Indiana is doing okay, but OHMYGOD he hates me. They found 3 additional smaller lumps when they had him under, so went ahead and took those out too. He totally looks like franken-kitty. They are all standard mast cells, thank goodness. No cancer. I tried sticking a tshirt on him to keep him from messing with everything, but he could still reach one of them, and the poor guy could barely walk because the arm holes were too tight. (pic 1, pic 2) So I swapped it out for an old fabric cone that was Rosie's. It barely goes over his head, which means even when it's untied, he can't get it off. Yay! And he seems to not totally hate it. He was supposed to go in this morning for a checkup, but my mom called this morning sick as a dog, so I had to take her in instead (to Kaiser, not the vet!!). So Indy goes in this afternoon. Hopefully he won't kill any of us. They've already said if they can't take his stitches out next week, they're going to teach me how to do it. Oh, HELL NOES!! He's only got 3 doses of meds left, thank goodness. He's been off the pain meds since the 2nd day because he just wouldn't take it. And after he bit through my finger while I was trying to shove the antibiotics down his throat, they gave me some empty gel caps at the vets. It's still a struggle and a half to get it down his throat, especially since I can't find a decent piller, but at least it only takes 2 tries instead of 10 minutes and him frothing at the mouth looking like he's got rabies. :-/
Cats. Gotta love 'em!!!