[Recipe] Overnight Oats

I'm not one for following recipes - they all tend to end in diaster. (Which may explain why I failed in all the Chemistry lab classes in college.) So these are more like "cooking guides" where everything here is "approximate" and you can tweak it to your liking.

A few weeks ago, my friend Angela started a sensation within our friends circle by emailing us about overnight oats. It's a super easy breakfast idea for summer - you prep it the night before, and it's ready the next morning by the time you head out the door.

After I looked over several blogs showcasing overnight oats (I like this one too), I realized that it doesn't really require a "recipe" persay - perfect for a lazy person like me. You just need the following:

- oatmeal (could be steel, quick, or rolled although I read somewhere that the steel oats don't soften as much and can be chewier than liked and that the rolled is more appropriate)
- milk (or soymilk, almond milk, etc)
- sweetener or flavored yogurt (I opted for the latter)
- fruits of your choice
- any container that has a closed top (many blogs use mason jar, but I use a screw top glass jar that looks more like a candy jar. I have yet to use a Tupperware but I'm sure it would work just as fine)

Optional: other nutritious goodies like nuts, granolas, chia seeds, flax seeds, etc

1. Add oats, milk, and sweetener/yogurt to container. Don't fill the milk to the brim if you are adding chia seeds (they need room to expand) or if you are transporting this to the office.

2. If you are adding chia/flax seeds, add them now. If you are adding nuts and granolas, you can add them right before you eat so they don't get too soggy.

3. Cover lid and refrigerate. Shaking optional. Enjoy next morning! Easy!

Wait? What happened to the fruits? You can add them in any time. I opted to add them into the jar along with the oats and milk in the beginning to let the flavors swirl all together, but you can also add them right before eating. Adding the yogurt probably doesn't make it as sweet as adding sweeteners, but I like it better not as sweet and I also get the added benefit of yogurt. The cool thing about this is that you can choose to follow the recipes you find online to try the difference combinations of flavors, or you can make up your own!

Now...if only I can get H to eat this, then I wouldn't have to make a separate breakfast for him during the summer months...

[Recipe] Chinese Sausage Rice

I'm not one for following recipes - they all tend to end in diaster. (Which may explain why I failed in all the Chemistry lab classes in college.) So these are more like "cooking guides" where everything here is "approximate" and you can tweak it to your liking.

I first thought of this "recipe" when I came home after work one day and found the gas not working due to some street repair mishap. I didn't want to drive out again for food, and frozen pizza just wasn't the same in the microwave, so I made dinner from something I remembered reading once upon a time.

Ingredients:
- white rice
- a package of Chinese sausage, defrosted
- water

You also need a rice cooker.

(To those who may not know what Chinese sausages are, they are different from Western type of sausages. They tend to be sweet instead of salty. For more information, check out an intro by Serious Eats.)

First, measure out and wash your rice as you normally would.

Then, take out your Chinese sausage, and cut them however you like. They would be easier to cut defrosted, even partially. The first time I made this dish, I cut them into diagonal slices; the second time, into bite-size chunks. It doesn't matter.

Next, put the cut-up sausage into the rice cooker with your pre-cooked rice. Yes, the idea is to cook them together.

Here is where it gets tricky: you need to adjust the amounts of water yourself depending on your rice cooker. The first time I made this, I added 1.5 times of water for everything, but it wasn't completely done so I had to add more water and cook it a second time. The second time I made this, I doubled the water in the beginning but the rice turned out mushy. I think this was because the slices from the first attempt were easier to cook than the chunks from the second attempt. So I havn't fully perfected the ratio yet for my rice cooker. In any case, it's always better to add less water in the beginning and add more as you go along - just be careful of the steam!

What happens is that the oil from the Chinese sausage will leech out into the water. When it's all finished cooking, mix everything, and you will get a very tasty blend of well-oiled rice with sausage. We used to cook the Chinese sausage by boiling it first then frying it, so this "recipe" makes it a lot easier, faster, and energy-efficient (in terms of energy used for cooking and for washing dishes).

The good thing about this rice cooker technique is that, while the meat and the carbs are cooking away, you can cook your vegetables. Obviously for the first time (when my gas was out), I couldn't do that. But the second time, I decided to go the lazy all the way and simply have steamed corn. I used a wok, filled it halfway with water, and placed a steamer basket* with corn. I left the cover on and let it boil for a good 10 minutes or so before checking up on it.

By the time everything was done cooking, I was able to finish reading half a magazine and was not at all tired out from cooking like I usually was. Yay!!

So, the first time I made this, H had a food-orgasm. He volunteered to bring the leftovers to work the next day (which never happens), ate them straightaway the next day (which also never happens), and texted me again how good they were (also which never happens). If you have a carnivore** in the family, this would be a great dish to try. If you also have kids who you can still get to help out with the cooking, this would be an easy dish to try too. Enjoy!


* I would recommend finding the steamer basket from a local Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, or other like stores. I got mine from one of those stores for less than $5.

** I would imagine that this one-rice-cooker-cooks-all technique can be used on veggie sausages as well, but I have not yet to try. If anyone tries it, I would like to know how it turns out!