I love oatmeal in most every form except for plain. No matter how much butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, milk, honey, or chocolate syrup (just kidding, but I'm not above thinking that's a good idea) I pile on, a bowl of mushy oatmeal doesn't sit well with me. But oatmeal is so filling and very nutritious, so I've been on the hunt for a way to eat it without having to...eat it. In its purest form, at least.
This week, I succeeded in finding two delicious ways to consume oatmeal for breakfast (of course, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my most favorite way of all, but I can't justify having those for breakfast...regularly). The first is an oatmeal quick bread that is dense and chewy and really easy to make. The second is baked oatmeal, which I didn't even know existed until I ran across this recipe. The only change I'd make to this one is to substitute apple sauce for oil (not my brilliant idea, I saw it done in another recipe), but that will have to wait until we get back to the States. If apple sauce exists in Japan, I have no idea where it is.
Well, there you have it. Two good oatmeal recipes to help you use up that huge box sitting on top of your refrigerator. Or is that just me?

Each new year ushers in new resolutions. We recently had dinner with two friends who are undertaking the ever-popular diet resolution. We offered to supply dessert; they declined our offer in an effort to maintain their new dietary lifestyle. So I searched for a "healthy" dessert option that we could all enjoy, guilt-free.
Not to my surprise, the Mennonites came through on this one. This my version of "Healthy Bananas," adapted from this cookbook (which I HIGHLY recommend).

1 banana per person
butter/margarine
orange juice
honey
cinammon
raisins

Lightly butter a pie plate and place the peeled bananas in it. Drizzle the bananas with honey and orange juice, then dust them with cinnamon. Sprinkle raisins on the bananas and in the pie plate (pour a little OJ over the raisins--they'll soak it up). Bake at 325 or 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Compared to our main blog, this one's been a bit neglected. That's about to change! Fall and the beginning of winter have presented us with opportunities to try out some new recipes, and we've found some real winners. I, for one, like getting recipe recommendations from other people. So I'll try my best to put good recipe karma out there.
Our first contestant hails from the site of News Channel 34 in Binghamton, NY. Nothing special about Binghamton, necessarily--it just came up when I Googled "risotto soup." Risotto is one of my favorite foods. The faculty sponsors from our year in Heidelberg first introduced us to real risotto (Dr. Love's risotto became quite famous in our house). This was my first experiement, however, with risotto soup. Mark had caught a cold, it was cold outside, and I didn't want to go to the grocery story to pick up any ingredients. So this was as close as I could get to the chicken soup that the doctor ordered--minus the chicken and plus the spinach and rice. Mark's sniffles are a little better, so it must have done the trick.

Fresh Spinach and Risotto Soup

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb.fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1 c. risotto rice
5 c. vegetable stock, low sodium*
1/4 c. grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper to taste
red pepper flakes

Directions
Heat oil in large saucepan and gently cook the onion and garlic until softened. Stir in rice until well coated, then pour in stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for ten minutes. Add the spinach and season to taste with ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook for 5-7 minutes more, until the rice is tender. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with grated cheese.

*I used chicken stock