Carrot cake oats and eggs

Thought I would take another walk on the culinary wild side this morning, with a recipe I stumbled upon while surfing for something unrelated. That always seems to happen- I start out looking for inspiration for a school unit and wind up finding a gem of information on how to re-wire a lamp or make indoor compost or so forth. I cut and pasted the recipe into a note, saved it , but forgot to note just who it was that created it.

Carrot Cake Oats

(Yield: 1 serving)

1/4 c oats
1/2 medium banana, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, peeled and grated
1 TB raisins
3/4 c water
Dash salt
Dash pumpkin pie spice
1 TB chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 oz Neufchatel cheese
1/2 tsp honey (or other sweetener)
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract


In a small pan, combine the oats, banana, carrot, raisins, water, salt, and a dash of
pumpkin pie spice; heat on medium-low heat for about 12 minutes (stirring frequently) until it reaches your desired consistency. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the frosting. Serve the oats topped with the frosting and nuts.

I give it a thumbs up for a special occasion , but it's a little too fiddly for a fast morning. This week hubby has a little bit of a later schedual, we were all up early, so it was a go ahead.

On the decorating for Lent front, I was pointed to a site with some very clever ideas that I thought I would share - Kitchen Stewardship . I am thinking some of these , accompanied with an old tabletop zen garden and other items will be just the ticket. Simple, meaningful and a visual prompt to focus. And then of course later this week I can begin my annual round of Psanky making- those elaborate wax resist dyed Ukrainian Easter eggs. Can't wait !

Speaking of eggs- remember all of the broo ha ha about eggs being bad for you because of cholesterol ? It never was true. 30 years of research have proven that dietary cholesterol has little, if anything to do with blood serum cholesterol That is something that happens in the liver due to other factors, and not something as wonderful and natural as the consumption of eggs. Nature never makes a mistake in the design - something that is rather difficult for some to comprehend. Eggs are a very healthy food . Consider the following points ( from http://www.incredibleegg.org/health-and-nutrition/cracking-the-cholesterol-myth)

• Weight management: The high-quality protein in eggs helps you to feel full longer and stay energized, which contributes to maintaining a healthy weight.
• Muscle strength and muscle-loss prevention: Research indicates that high-quality protein may help active adults build muscle strength and help prevent muscle loss in middle-aged and aging adults.
• Healthy pregnancy: Egg yolks are an excellent source of choline, an essential nutrient that contributes to fetal brain development and helps prevent birth defects. Two eggs provide about 250 milligrams of choline, or roughly half of the recommended daily intake for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
• Brain function: Choline also aids the brain function of adults by maintaining the structure of brain cell membranes, and is a key component of the neuro-transmitter that helps relay messages from the brain through nerves to the muscles.
• Eye health: Lutein and zeaxanthin, two antioxidants found in egg yolks, help prevent macular degeneration, a leading cause of age-related blindness. Though eggs contain a small amount of these two nutrients, research shows that the lutein from eggs may be more bioavailable than lutein from other food sources.

So now my quandry will be how many should I buy per week ? Eating some, decorating more...