"Starcrossed" - Massachusetts
This has got to be one of my favorite books of the year . . . I couldn't put it down. It has intriguing characters, a good number of historical / literary references (Greek Mythology), and a nice PG love story. The story follows Helen, a girl growing up with her single dad on the small island of Nantucket. She knows she is different, but doesn't know quite why . . . that is, until a gorgeous and mysterious family moves in, and Helen finds she just can't stay away from them. There are tons of interesting plot points and while some of it might be a bit confusing at the end, I can't wait to read the next one. I began reading this book thinking it was a stand-alone novel, so I was very distraught when it ended with so many loose ends, but luckily (or not, since so many books on this 50 States of YA list seem to be series) there are already a 2nd and 3rd book out for me to enjoy :) This is not high literature by any means, but I really did enjoy it.
This was a recipe that I was going to try (Freezer hash browns), but had a little run in with the potatoes beforehand, so unfortunately, I can't actually tell you how it works out. But, feel free to give it a try and let me know how it works. . . it sounds like a really good idea. I think I cooked my potatoes a little too long (I just used the sensor cook on the microwave) and they got mushy when I tried to shred them so I just turned them into fresh hash browns . . . they were okay. But my tip about potatoes, and I can't stress this enough, is DON'T EAT GREEN POTATOES. It would seem like common sense to cut them off, and if you do, the rest of the potato is fine to eat, but I was eating a whole baked potato with toppings on it and apparently didn't realize how big of a part of green I ate. First of all, it tasted horrible, but I figured that it was just one bite, so it wasn't a big deal. I was wrong. I had a very bad evening of intestinal distress and didn't end up feeling any better until I threw up. Yep, really gross, sorry, but I just wanted everyone to know. There is nothing else to do . . . the green potato contains a poisonous toxin called solanine, so just be really careful, especially with kids. The smaller the person, the more they are affected by it.
Okay, that's my green potato rant . . . for how much food stuff I do, I would have thought I would have heard of that by now, but I never did . . . so, now you know . . . please learn from my mistake.
To make up for that gross tale, I have something much better to share with you, my very own slow cooker banana bread flavored steel cut oats recipe. I developed this recipe as a Christmas present for the girls that I work with. I began with the sweet potato steel cut oat recipe that I loved so much and tried different variations to find out what tasted the best. To be honest, I did not go buy the Quaker oat packets to find out what commercial banana bread oatmeal tastes like, I just tried to make it taste as much like banana bread as I could.
Since I'm a scientist, and this is my life's lab notebook, I did try to document most of my experiments . . . sorry that makes this post a little long, but I wanted to keep track of all of the different trials :)
Trial 1
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 Cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Cooked on low for 5 hours.
This variation tasted a little off. I don't know if it was the vanilla in it, but I didn't really like it. It did taste better the next day after the flavors melded a little bit, but I decided the vanilla was not a good addition.
Trial 2
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 Cups), previously frozen and thawed in the microwave for 2 minutes
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cooked on low for 5 hours. I learned from the last trial to let it rest overnight in the fridge before trying it and this variation was very good.
Trial 3
2 large bananas, unmashed, previously frozen and thawed in the microwave for 2 minutes
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cooked on low for 4.5 hours. I thought maybe the bananas would kind of dissolve while cooking and I would be able to eliminate the prep work of mashing them, but that definitely did NOT happen. They pretty much looked like nasty brown worms on the top of the oats and since they had cooked that way, it was a bit difficult to get them to incorporate. Not appetizing. They still tasted good, but that experiment did not give good results.
Trial 4
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 C)
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/4 C brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cooked on low 4.5 hours. I found that the previous versions were plenty sweet and since bananas are so sweet themselves, cutting down the sugar was definitely a good call. The additional cinnamon couldn't even be tasted however. It's kind of a waste to put that much in at the beginning. If you want a stronger cinnamon taste, just put a little sprinkle on top before you eat it.
FINAL RECIPE
2 - 3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 C), can be fresh or thawed from frozen
1 C steel cut oats
4 C milk (any kind works)
1/2 C water
1/4 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cook on low 4.5 - 5 hours. Refrigerate over night. Heat up with milk before eating and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some walnuts. Yum :)
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| Banana Bread Oats |
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| Pecan Pie oats |
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| My kitchen, the oatmeal factory, I made 32 oatmeal packets :) |
Good idea for the slow cooker. I would eliminate the "don't make again" recipes, and just post the one you liked the best. I will try that one for George!
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