Original source:  video | written

Commentary

This is my first attempt at adapting an oatmeal bake recipe for the Ninja Speedi.  I am using a CasaWare 7-Inch Toaster Oven Ultimate Series Commercial Weight Ceramic Non-Stick Coating Square Pan (link).  I was a bit worried that it might not leave enough steaming/baking space at the sides, but that turned out to be a non-issue.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water for steaming
• 1.5 cups (120 g) old fashioned oats
• 1.5 scoops (45 g) vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 tsp (2 g) baking powder
• 2 tbsp (10 g) cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp (21 g) maple syrup
• 1.5 tsp (7 g) butter
• 1 whole egg
• 1 cup (240 g) milk
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 tbsp (56 g) mini chocolate chips

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
2. Add in the egg, milk, syrup, melted butter, apple sauce, and 1 tbsp of chocolate chips.
3. Spray a 7x7 baking pan with neutral oil and add the oat mixture.
4. Top with 1 tbsp of chocolate chips.
5. Add water to the pot.  Place the crisper tray in the lower position.  Place the pan on the crisper tray.
6. Set the Ninja Speedi for 10 minutes at 315°F on the "steam and bake" setting.  It will steam for about 20 minutes before baking.  Press start.
7. This recipe makes 4 servings. Cut the oatmeal into 4 equal pieces.

Experiments

2023-07-02:  I basically cut off the baking at 11:30 out of 17 minutes, which left the top a bit dryer than I like.  Next time I should try just 10 minutes of baking,

2023-07-07:  Tried 10 minutes at 315°F on the "steam and bake" setting.   That was perfect:  cooked all the way through and still moist, and the top was not dried out.

Adapted from:  video | written

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2-3 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1 2/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 375F/190C and grease an 8x8 pan with cooking spray or coconut oil. Place the sliced banana coins in a single layer on the bottom of the pan until the entire pan is covered. Set aside.
2. Add the milk, maple syrup and vanilla to the egg and whisk to combine.
3. Lastly add in the dry ingredients, from the rolled oats to half of the chopped pecans, and stir until combined.
4. Pour the batter into your banana lined baking pan and use a spoon to level out the top. Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the batter and gently press them down into the oatmeal.
5. Bake the oatmeal for 35-40 minutes or until set.
6. Cut into pieces and serve with more maple syrup, chopped pecans and fresh fruit!

2023-05-01:  Just put my first attempt in the toaster oven which I've never used for baking before, so I'm curious how it will turn out.  I almost think it puts out more heat than my regular oven.  If this works, then next time I'll try the air fryer; it's much better insulated.

This recipe worries me.  The amount of cinnamon seems excessive.  The salt seems unnecessary, considering the other oatmeal bakes I've made.  And why put so much banana in if it is not mentioned in the title?  I'm thinking unsweetened applesauce might make more sense.  And I'm using a 7x9 baking pan instead of an 8x8, which should be essentially no different.  I've also set the timer on the range since the mechanical timer on the toaster oven is less precise.

2023-05-02:  Just tried one.  This was the first time I have baked in the toaster oven.  Came out perfect.  The recipe calls them "maple pecan," but the maple is not particularly noticeable, whereas the bananas of the bottom layer are, so I've retitled them.  I have to say that I have been really fortunate with these baked oatmeal recipes.  The amount of cinnamon was also perfect.

Nutrition

Source:  video | written

Ingredients

• 3 cups (240 g) old fashioned oats
• 3 scoops (90 g) vanilla protein powder i use whey
• 1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
• 1/4 cup (20 g) cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp (42 g) maple syrup
• 1 tbsp (14 g) butter
• 10 tbsp (150 g) liquid egg whites or 2 whole eggs
• 2 cups (480 g) milk
• 1 cup (226 g) unsweetened apple sauce
• 4 tbsp (56 g) mini chocolate chips
• 1 tsp (5 g) milk

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
3. Add in the egg whites, milk, syrup, 1 tbsp of melted butter, apple sauce, and 2 tbsp of chocolate chips.
4. Spray a 13″x9″ pan with oil and add the oat mixture.
5. Top with 1 tbsp of chocolate chips.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
7. Melt the last tbsp of chocolate chips in the microwave with 1 tsp of milk.
8. Place the melted chocolate into a piping bag and drizzle over the top.
9. This recipe makes 6 servings. Cut the oatmeal into 6 equal pieces.

2023-04-30:  Like all the other oatmeal bakes I've tried so far, this is really good.  This time I didn't add the drizzle on top since I was taking slices to Julie and I didn't want the drizzle to smear in the ziplock bags.

Ingredients

• 3 cups (240 g) old fashioned oats
• 2 scoops (60 g) vanilla protein powder
• 1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
• 4 cups (450 g) strawberries frozen is fine
• 2 tsp (8 g) sugar or sub 1/2 sugar alternative
• 2 tbsp (42 g) maple syrup
• 1 tbsp (14 g) butter
• 10 tbsp (150 g) liquid egg whites or 2 eggs
• 2 cups (480 g) skim milk
• 4 oz (113 g) plain cream cheese i used whipped, regular is fine you'll just need to melt it down
• 2 tbsp (20 g) sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F.
2. If your strawberries are whole, cut them into thin slices. If you would like a sweeter end product, sprinkle 2 tsp sugar or 1 tsp splenda the top of the strawberries and allow them to macerate.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, protein powder, and baking powder.
4. Add in the egg whites, milk, syrup, 1 tbsp of melted butter, and most of the strawberries. Reserve a few to put on top.
5. Spray a 13"x9" pan with oil and add the oat mixture.
6. Mix together the cream cheese and sugar. You can microwave it for a bit to help it soften. Put a few spoonfuls of the cream cheese around your pan and swirl it around as best as you can.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Cool and cut into six bars.

Source:  YouTube | Written instructions

Notes:  Yeah, this didn't suck. Lightly sweet, like a Bisquick coffee cake, not a cloyingly sweet cinnamon roll.

I'm trying a second time to produce a sweet oat pilaf. By pilaf I simply mean a dish where the oats are neatly loose from one another instead of sticking together in a poridgy mass. I have read some buckwheat kasha recipes where the buckwheat was first mixed with beaten egg to coat the kernels and then heated in a frying pan with the goal of keeping them separate. That will be my approach this time. This would probably work better in the oven, but I'm currently in Russia with an oven that cannot be controlled precisely, so I'm going to work on the stove top.

• 2 cups whole oat groats
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 5 cups boiling water
• 4 small onions, coarsely chopped
• Vegetable oil, neutral tasting (not olive), enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• About a tsp of salt
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1/2 pound of golden brown (not yellow) raisins. This was really three handfuls; I have big hands.

Method

1. First I beat an egg. Mixed in 1 cup of oats. Mixed so that every grain was coated. Heated the mixture in a medium frying pan (with a heavy bottom) over lowish heat with the goal of cooking the egg and separating every single grain. By the time the first batch was done, the egg was leaving a residue in the bottom of the pan that was beginning to turn brown. I hate brown egg mass. Scrubbed out the pan. Repeated the process with the second cup of oats and the second egg. Scrubbed out the pan again.
2. Then I added the vegetable oil to the bottom of the pan and added the chopped onions. When they were approaching translucency, I added the garlic, then the curry powder, then pepper. Cooked briefly.
3. Added the boiling water. Added the oats. Roughly evened them out in the pan. Added the raisins. Added the bananas on top. Sprinkled with the salt. (Next time do the salt before the raisins and bananas.)
4. Covered the pan. Put the flame to the smallest level possible. Intended to let it cook for 50 minutes.

Now the processs of watching begins, since this is an experiment...

• 45 minutes into the process this stuff is smelling freakin' great.
• 50 minute check. Still smells freaking great. Water still remaining. Oats from the bottom of the pan already edible. Should have checked the oats on the side as well, but I didn't. Taste... can't tell yet, hard to say. I'll give it ten more minutes.
• 60 minute check. Side oats are also ready. Still too much water in the mess, so I'm removing the lid. Next time I'm thinking 4 cups of water might be sufficient.
• 70 minute check. Yup, 5 cups was too much. Next time four cups. For now I'll leave it be to get rid of more liquid. If that doesn't work, I'll eat it watery.
• 80 minute check. Still too watery, but I don't want to cook it anymore. I have turned off the flame and will let it simply vent to the air. We'll see what it is like in 20 minutes.

Results and commentary

• First off, in terms of keeping the grains separate this approach was a complete and total success. In fact, it was so successful that I'm wondering if my original premise was wrong. Maybe when using whole oats you don't have to worry so much about the grain turning into a goopy mass. Next time around I'll use only 4 cups of water.
• Flavor-wise this turned out great.
• I had worried that the dish would burn for a couple reasons. First off, oat porridge made with flakes burns easily if there is too little water. Secondly, the addition of banana makes it burn more easily. This time around there was no burning issue whatsover. When I use less water next time, I'll have to keep my eyes open more carefully just to make sure.
• Next time around I'll try to make a savory pilaf with some kind of meat.

I think that cooks avoid whole oats because they take a long time to cook. Now that I know how easy they are to cook, I won't avoid them in the future. The boiling water plus low flame approach worked great.

I liked my millet pilaf so much the other day that I decided to try the same thing with oats. Oats are harder to get to a pilaf texture.

• 4 small onions, coarsely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 tbsp of curry powder
• Maybe a tsp of black pepper
• Some salt
• 1 sliced banana
• 1/2 pound of golden brown (not yellow) raisins
• 2 cups of oat flakes
• 5 cups of hot water

Grabbed a heavy frying pan, not one of those flimsy aluminum jobs. Something with a solid, thick bottom. Covered the bottom with sunflower oil. Poured in the oats. Very slowly heated, trying to coat every flake and slightly cook them. The purpose of this process was to try to end up with seperate flakes, not mush. Removed the flakes to a bowl after a while so I could continue using the same frying pan.

More oil. Soften the onions. Add the garlic, cook briefly till fragrant. Add the curry powder. Cook briefly. Add the oats, raisins, banana, hot water. Simmer.

Stir every 5 minutes to prevent the oats from sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan. Remove when oats are just past al dente.

In terms of getting separate flakes, this was a failure; I probably needed to cook them till they slightly changed color. In terms of flavor it was a complete success. Next time around I will try whole oats if I can find them, and probably use a couple of beaten eggs to see if if I can't get the groats to remain separate. That's a trick that Russians sometimes use with buckwheat kasha main dishes.

• 1.5 cups of water
• 2/3 cup of quick oats

Pour water in a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup. Add oats. Put in microwave for 2 minutes.

New microwave. 2 minutes is too long. 60 seconds works if I want the oatmeal more in drinkable form than porridge style.

Now it's time to try the next round of oat pilaf. This time I'm experimenting with not using egg on the oats, but rather frying them up first in oil, as many rice pilaf recipes do. I'll include chicken this time as well, so I'll have to use a larger casserole dish. I don't have one that is both big enough and has a lid, so this time I'll increase the liquid a bit and put it in the oven uncovered. I'm bummed: I forgot the jalapenos this time.

Ingredients

• 7 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 onion, chopped coarsely
• 1/2 onion, chopped small but not fine
• olive oil
• canola oil
• 1 cup of steel-cut oats
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 14.5 oz can of stewed tomatoes
• 2.25 oz can of sliced black olives, juice included
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, ground

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Put casserole dish in.
2. Pour some olive oil in a frying pan. Put thighs in pan in a circle with the 1/2 onion in the middle. Fry the thighs until you get some browning and crisping on the thighs and then flip. Flip the onions at the same time. Remove the chicken. Reserve the fond. Chop the chicken.
3. Pour canola oil into a pan. Add oats. Make sure each grain is coated with oil. Toast oats until they slightly change color. They will have a slightly toast smell. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. Begin frying remaining onions in olive oil.
5. After they have softened and reduced in size a bit, add cumin and turmeric. Cook for a bit. Add carrots. Cook a while longer.
6. To the onion mixture add stewed tomatoes, the olives with juice, salt, pepper, and two cups of chicken broth. (I actually just used water plus a tablespoon of Whole Foods vegetarian chicken broth powder.) Bring to a boil. Add oats and fond. Bring to a boil.
7. Remove casserole dish from oven. Add oat mixture; yes, it will bubble up at first. Even the mixture out and add the chopped chicken on top. Place the casserole back in the oven.
8. Cook for 55 minutes uncovered

Results

This turned out fine, though maybe not as good as last time. The frying of the oats effectively kept the grains all separate at the end of cooking. I forgot the jalapenos, so it was milder than I like, but it had a flavor I think my niece and nephew would eat. The extra liquid mean it took longer than it had to. A cup less liquid would have taken less time and maybe left the oats a bit firmer.

For next time

I think I will try sauteing the onions and then adding the oats to that mixture to see if the grains become sufficiently coated with oil without using a separate pan.

I want to explore making pilaf with steel-cut oats. Pilaf makers seem to like it fluffy, usually so done by fluffing with a fork before serving, and they like the grains to be as separate as possible, which seems difficult with oats. Many buckwheat kasha recipes toss the buckwheat first with egg, cooking it dry, and then adding it to the liquid; that's the approach I'll try this time.

Ingredients

• 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 10.5 oz can of beef consommé
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeños, seeded, diced small
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric, guesstimated
• 1/2 tsp cumin, guesstimated
• 1 egg
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• vegetable oil

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350° with an empty covered pyrex dish in it.
2. In a pan put vegetable oil, onion, garlic, & jalapeños. Saute a bit. Add cumin & turmeric. Keep sautéing until onion is soft.
3. While onions are softening, toss oats with egg so that each grain is covered. Cook over medium heat in a non-stick pan, stirring constantly, so that the grains separate as much as possible.
4. Add tomatoes, consommé and oats into the pan with the onions. Heat until bubbling.
5. Remove pyrex dish from oven. Put onion/oat mixture in it. Cover and return to oven. Cook for 30 minutes covered. Remove cover and cook ten more minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit uncovered for a bit.

Results

This turned out pretty good. The grains were not a mucilaginous mass; they were easily separable. The jalapeños gave it a nice bite. I think serranos would be good in it as well.

I recently spotted this recipe for an oat pilaf, and decided to see if I could make a variation that used steel cut oats instead of rolled oats. Here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 2 ½ teaspoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons black or brown mustard seeds
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 larges cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 Tablespoon peeled, diced ginger
• 1 14.5 oz canned, crushed tomatoes, with the juice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt

Procedure

• Place oats in nonstick or dry skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until aromatic and slightly browned. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
• Add oil to skillet and heat. When it’s hot, add mustard seeds and heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until they pop.
• Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the ginger and jalapeno, and stir-fry for about 1 minute more. Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.
• Into pan put tomatoes, broth, and salt. Bring to a boil, and then stir in toasted oats. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered for ten minutes.
• Add the onion mixture back into the pan and mix with the oats.
• Continue cooking until oats have absorbed most of the liquid, about another 25 minutes. Let skillet stand, covered, a few minutes after turning off heat before serving.

Once I added the oats to the pan, I stirred every five minutes to make sure they weren't sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.

Result

I liked it. The individual grains were not all mushed together instant oatmeal. Taste-wise it quite resembled my mother's Spanish Rice. And I might like it rather more than ordinary oatmeal for breakfast.

Next time

For the steel cut oats I had approximated the time using Whole Foods "Bulk Basics" book, which is distributed in their bulk foods section. It seems to me that their current preparation of steel cut oats takes significantly less time and water to prepare. Next time I'll try the recipe with a cup less water, which will cut the cooking time down considerably.

I may also try to coat the oats in oil first and fry them a bit to see if that will make the grains even more separate. Perhaps I might try a second jalapeño or use a couple serranos instead.