Clean Up Your Laundry Routine – Switching to Wool Dryer Balls

It all started with a bottle of Jennifer Lopez Still perfume in college. Every time I would sports it on, I would break out in a rash. Meh. It’s a fluke, I thought. But no, every time.

Now, a number of years later, my daughter and I are both very sensitive to fragrance, which is in everything. I actually carry castile soap in my bag for my daughter and I to use while out and about. In regards to laundry though, dryer sheets are basically a condensed chemical bomb you are putting on your clothes, and then wearing on the largest organ of your body, your skin.

My goal is to eliminate products with fragrance from our lives, and getting away from dryer sheets has been a huge help to our skin issues.

What the heck are these wool dryer balls? 

Wool dryer balls are simply just firm balls of wool. The brand that I purchase are handmade from New Zealand sheep wool. You use them in your dryer, in place of dryer sheets, to soften clothes, reduce static & wrinkles, and bonus, they cut down drying time. You can even add a couple drops of essential oil on each dryer ball to add a non-agreessive, non-chemically scent.

Is it bad for the dryer?

I haven’t found any evidence that dryer balls damage the dryer in any way. We have been using them for about 8 months, and no issues with our dryer. I looked through our dryer manual and didn’t find anything saying not to use them. I have friends who have used them for years and haven’t had any issues. That’s not to say there isn’t someone somewhere who has had an issue, but thus far, I haven’t discovered anything negative.

Are they loud? 

Yes, it takes a little bit to get used to the plunking sound of the dryer balls bouncing around the dryer. Now, I don’t even notice it, plus we have a door on our laundry room and usually just close it to keep the sound down.

Cost savings?

I think it’s about the same. They dryer balls cost more upfront, but then I’m only purchasing some essential oil every few months.The dryer balls are good for 1,000 loads, according to the company I purchased mine from. I’ve been using them for about 8 months now, and they are still going strong.

If getting away from toxic ingredients is something you are interested in doing, start with one product. I have slowly been doing this over the past 10 years, and I still have work to do to keep moving towards living a cleaner, more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Make sure you are reading ingredient labels, and if you don’t know what an ingredient is, look it up. Check out the company, and who owns it. Many of the smaller companies are now selling out to larger companies, and those larger companies are not upholding what the smaller company once stood for.

Another reason to read the ingredients – there are companies and MLM’s out there who are greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a company says things like “natural” and claim “no xyz” on the label, or use a beautiful field in their marketing materials, but once you read the label you find out that they are just as toxic, via other horrible ingredients. Also remember that companies can hide toxic ingredients by listing fragrance on their ingredients label. Fragrance, they claim, is proprietary, so they do not have to disclose what the fragrance breakdown contains.

We are definitely lied to about what’s in the products we use. It is so hard to change, and pull some of these products out of our lives. Be gentle with yourself. Do research. Change one thing at a time. If this is important to you, you can get there.

 

This post is not sponsored. I just love these products and I use them in my daily life. If you are looking to purchase these items, please consider purchasing through my amazon links below. I do receive amazon credits when you purchase through my links.Thanks!

https://amzn.to/2HJCGom (link for dryer balls)
https://amzn.to/2YxmCLA (link for essential oil)

Brown Butter Bits – Friday, August 25, 2017

Where should we have a pop up in the North Valley?

Happy Friday, darlings! Brown Butter Bits is my weekly roundup of things I’m loving this week,  things happening this week, things I’m interested this week…well you get the point. Why “Brown Butter Bits”? They are the best parts of browning butter. 

-I have been rewatching Madame Secretary on Netflix while unpacking boxes. It makes unpacking the final boxes a little less boring. Anyone else ready for new episodes of your favorite shows?

-Mr. PC and I have been talking about a Pistol Whipped Pastry pop-up. We would like to do it in the North Valley. Any ideas where? Or if you have an awesome space and think our brands would work well together, let me know at rachel at pistolwhippedpastry dot com

-We are smoothie obsessed in this house, and no smoothie would be complete without the perfect straw, Hummingbird Straws. This isn’t sponsored, I just love these straws.

-Our backyard is basically a dirt lot right now, but we are getting our seeds started in anticipation of Mr. PC putting together our raised garden beds. I am obsessively trying to do research so that these seed starts take, and grow to provide our family with some veg. Let me know if you have any good resources or tips.

-I’m contemplating getting an Instant Pot. I love that you can make yogurt in it (yes, I know I can do this in the oven, I’ve done it before and wrote about it here), use the pressure cooking function for dried beans, and love that you can sauté onions and brown the meat directly in the pot. Do you have one? Love it? Hate it? Let me know.

-If you watch my Instagram stories, you know I’m obsessed with GoodBeing box. It’s a monthly box of curated beauty samples that are all natural and many of them are organic. Well, I loved the sample of Ursa Major Fortifying Face Balm that came in one of the recent boxes, and I just went on their website to purchase some. I wish they were available in Sephora or Ulta. However, they are offering free shipping on their website, plus GoodBeing gave me a discount code for 15% off (go to their website and sign up for their newsletter to get 15% off too), and I love that they are a small brand. (BTW, not sponsored, just love these brands)

Have a great weekend! See you back here on Monday when I’ll be posting up our favorite weekend waffle recipe.

Oat Protein Balls

The kitchen right before the movers arrived and loaded it up with boxes.

I am working on a post about our new house, I promise. We are unfortunately still drowning in boxes. Some things are easier to unpack, while others it takes a little living in the house to find their spot. Also, have you ever tried to unpack boxes with a teething, crawling one-year old, who only wants mama to hold her? It should be an olympic sport.

Watching the storms roll in.

Today I am waiting around the house for an oven repair person that the superintendent of the job site supposedly called. I’m not holding my breathe after I texted him this morning to inquire what time frame they may show up in, and he told me to let him know if they don’t show up because they notoriously won’t show up for appointments. ::eye roll:: To say I’m annoyed would be an understatement. I’ve talked with a couple other neighbors, and apparently they have had the same problem, plus the superintendent himself told me they have been having this problem. A brand new house, and no oven for the first month of living in it. Absurd.

Yesterday was a blah day for us all around the house. I don’t know if it’s all the boxes or just the stormy day, but we didn’t want to do much. Usually I would bake, but oven woes prevented that, so I concocted instead.

I tried to create these protein balls last week, and they didn’t turn out the way I wanted. They were way too crumbly, need a little kick up to the sweetness…they just needed more. I went back to the drawing board. I’m happy to say the modifications I made yesterday were a winner, though I’m already planning another version in my head.

These are great for anyone trying to watch what they are eating and want a little sweet treat, but also they are fantastic for nursing mamas. I have tasted some of the lactation treats for nursing mamas…disgusting (for those not in the know, oats are great for helping you make milk, and yes we worry about these things, because we basically worry about everything now that we are moms).

Oat protein balls (a horrible name, I agree) are a perfect treat for anyone. Mr. PC took them with him to work this morning and now I have 1 left. Bummer. Time to make another version, and unpack some more boxes.

Print Recipe
Oat Protein Balls
Perfect sweet treat, especially for breastfeeding mama's. Copyright Croissant In The City, 2017
Course Snack
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Course Snack
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Grease a baking dish or pan.
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
  3. Mix to evenly distribute.
  4. Add wet ingredients and mix until combine.
  5. Scoop with ice cream scoop or TBSP to portion evenly, then roll with your hands. Place in the baking pan and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until firm.
  6. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let me know how long they last. In our house, they last about 24 hours.
Recipe Notes

Just a couple notes for you!

  • I used a dark roasted peanut butter and I love the depth of flavor it adds, but feel free to use what you have and/or what you like.
  • Guittard are my favorite chocolate chips, and you can now find them at Fry's and Sprouts.
  • Don't feel like you have to use the same add-in's that I used. I love hemp seeds because they are a great plant based protein. We use them daily in our smoothies. If you don't want to invest in a package of them for this recipe, sub in something else. Chopped or ground nuts perhaps or flaxseed meal.
  • If you are concerned about the digestibility of raw oats, you can always sub sprouted oats. I have also toasted the oats in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 325 (this doesn't really assist in digestibility, it's more to enhance flavor). For my purpose of this snack, to support lactation, raw oats seem to work better for me.
Share this Recipe
 

 

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Brown Butter Bits – Friday, July 14, 2017

Happy Friday, darlings! Brown Butter Bits is my weekly roundup of things I’m loving this week,  things happening this week, things I’m interested this week…well you get the point. Why “Brown Butter Bits”? They are the best parts of browning butter. 

-The sunsets here in Arizona have been amazing lately! Take a look at the picture above.

-I’ve been researching gardening, fruit trees, and flowers for when we get into our house. My favorite flowers, ranunculus, supposedly do well in the Arizona weather. The yard I once thought was so small, now seems enormous when I think about all the plants, pavers, and garden boxes we will need…yikes.

-I’m reading a number of cookbooks, but also picked up Chip & Joanna Gaines book. Pretty good. All about how they met and started their now empire. I think when we see people who are on the upswing of success, we often think it was incredibly easy. In this book, the Gaines are very honest about their challenges, and it’s refreshing. Plus they are an adorable couple.

-Hulu has all season of Golden Girls, which I spent a couple weeks re-watching, and now I’m watching Wings. I know, insane. But I was not really at an age when these shows were on  where I really watched them let alone comprehended them.

-Amazon Prime Day for the win! We got a great deal on a Ring doorbell. No more answering the door for us.

-I am loving cooking in my own kitchen again. It’s so nice to have all my cooking equipment back in one space. It’s just a little strange, as always, getting used to a new kitchen space. Check back here on Monday for a new recipe. :o)

Well, back to unpacking! See you on Instagram Stories!

 

Heartbroken And Without A Home

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Tree with a sail boat carving nailed to it at the first house.

Originally this post was stuffed full of wonderful photos I had taken of the new home we were in the process of purchasing. It was situated on 1.4 acres of land in Phoenix and we were so excited. A new home for Christmas and the bebe’s first Christmas to boot!

We sold our house in Gilbert, packed up all our belongings and hauled them to storage, moved into my parents living room with our Tuft & Needle mattress and a few boxes of our belongings for a couple weeks until we closed. And then the appraisal happened.

If you don’t know, the appraisal is the part of the home buying process where a 3rd party you hire comes and evaluates if the property is worth what you are paying for it. They save this inspection until last, and our sweet little house with the red door and the 1.4 acres of land appraised $30,000 less than what we were paying. The sellers didn’t want to drop the price, and asked us for a week to take all the bills for the money they had spent to remodel the house back to the appraiser to see if that would bring up the price. We saw this sinking ship before us and decided to jump back into the house hunting pool.

Quickly, we came upon another house. Back in the area we wanted to be in, and plenty large enough for us to grow into. There was no 1.4 acre lot, but we fell in love with the house and the neighborhood. And there was plenty of room for me to have some backyard chickens and citrus trees. And then the inspection happened.

A bunch of little things came up, but two big things, the pool they supposedly had replastered (unfortunately, it had not been and would have cost $6,000 to redo) and the roof, of which we needed a whole new one! We went back and asked for the $10,000 to re-roof a brand new house priced at the top of the market for the area. This afternoon they told us no way. We walked away.

To say we are crushed is an understatement. We had fallen in love with both houses. And now we have no home and no prospective home. To the greedy grinch house flippers of the world, I say bah-hum-bug! Do things the right way and make the house safe, then add some nice touches to it. Do a good job and people will pay you top dollar for the houses you rehab.

img_9291
Citrus tree at the first house. I love how it just popped out of the cement near the pool.

I honestly don’t know what we are going to do now. Retreat. Lick our wounds. Figure out a game plan. Head back out into the fray. There just seems to be nothing we like anywhere in the area we would like to be in (and it’s a rather large area). It’s discouraging, but I do believe we will be in the right place for us. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later. Send us some good vibes and let me know in the comments below if you have a really insane house buying story. I could use some commiseration or a good laugh right about now.

And now for some food business…

IMG_6649
Peach crostada with an oat crumble. Eagerly awaiting peach season.

I’m looking forward to getting back into teaching some cooking classes, probably in the middle of the new year. I’m currently working on the curriculum for the classes. Every class I teach I learn something more I want to expand on or add or edit out.

I am searching for a great location to teach the classes, so let me know if you know of a great space or see anything while out and about.

I have also started to freelance again. The goal was always to get back into writing more, and now writing seems to fit into my schedule a little better than baking full-time.

Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset
Lemon curd handpies. We teach handpies in our Pie Perfection class.

You may notice that everything on the Pistol Whipped Pastry website, with the exception of some apparel items, are listed as sold out. Since we just had a baby, and it’s her first Christmas, I am taking a break for the holidays. We will be updating the website with some old favorites, new products, and some new branding (woot woot!) come February.

Lets leave this kind of sad post on a happy note, and feel free to comment below with any of your holiday baking questions. I will be more than happy to take a little time in another post to try to answer and help you all out with your holiday baking projects.

Before we go, you should definitely go check out the interview I did recently with my friend Marlee for her blog, I Just Make Sandwiches, where I answer baking questions from her readers.

Lastly, send us some love and cross your fingers we find the right house soon, as I desperately need to have my own kitchen again. Bakers gotta bake. Am I right?

 

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The Great Granola Bar Shipment

GranolaBars

 

It’s been a crazy week. We made, hand cut, wrapped, and labeled 6,300 granola bar samples. I am ever the optimist when putting together a project, but unfortunately, I grossly miscalculated how much time it would take to put this project together. Luckily, I have some amazing friends and a fantastic husband who all pitched in to help get the job done.

As we placed the last label and packed the last box, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. I reveled in crossing the finish line by our new fire pit with a glass of wine, caramelized onion chicken breast, sautéed kale, fingerling potatoes and Mr. PC, before allowing the flood of new tasks lining up for this current week to infiltrate my mind.

GranolaBarsPacked

This is by far the largest order we have had, and yet when we are bogged down, we stray more to meals that are simple and fast. Usually a quick pop into a favorite restaurant or a jar of my family’s sauce that I’ve stocked up in the freezer tossed with some pasta and maybe a little protein and parm.

However, once we had finished, we turned our minds towards food. I wanted to sleep, and yet jump into my home kitchen and start making meals again. Meals I could linger over while sipping wine, nibbling on bits of veg while I chopped and tossed onto the pan for roasting.

PreppingAlmonds

In the interim, until I could get dinner on the table, we need something to snack on with our wine (for me) and bourbon – High West – with an ice sphere (for Mr. PC). Behold, a bulk bag of raw almonds and a garden lush with fresh rosemary. Massaged with a little olive oil, sprinkled with Maldon sea salt, and roasted till toasty. The perfect fireside snack, it is silly simple, but it was such a perfect nibble.

I love insanely thoughtful, simple, and delicious bar food, and these nuts are exactly what I want to graze on while have a leisurely drink by the fire with my hubs.

RosemaryRoastedAlmonds

Now, all I want to do is read the box of cookbooks that arrived on my doorstep in the middle of the great granola bar shipment, while eating roasted almonds.

Print

Salted Rosemary Roasted Almonds

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

1 1/2 # Almonds, Raw & Whole
2 TBSP. Olive Oil
3 Sprigs Rosemary, Fresh
Maldon Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place almonds on a parchment lined sheet pan. Massage olive oil and rosemary (remove the leaves from the stem by holding the top in one hand and sliding your hand down the stem with the other hand) into almonds, coating all throughly. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Roast for 10 minutes, pushing nuts around, and rotating pan. Then roast for another 5-10 minutes, until slightly darker and slightly golden inside.

Remove and cool. Pile into a bowl and serve warm with your cocktail or adult beverage of choice.

 

Seashells and Sand-Reckoner by the Seashore

Beach1

There is something about the beach that makes you want to write bad poetry about waves being metaphors for life, have a clam bake, and drink copious amounts of wine or coffee while plucking up seashells. The sound of water and gulls, the smell of sweet salty air, the waves crashing and rolling up to engulf your feet and the sand squishing between your toes.

I’m not a sun-worshiper. Being fair and freckled doesn’t make for good sunning. But hitting the beach at the tail-end of the season, is perfect. Less crowds, cooler weather, lots of long walks on the beach with Mr. PC, seashell hunting, and tumblers of wine sipped sitting in the sand, watching the water.

photo 7

Mr. PC signed us up for his family vacation to Corolla, North Carolina on Duck Island. In past years, when his aunt and uncle rent a beach house for a week, we have been unable to attend. This year, knowing my business is picking up and that he has some big projects that will prevent us from traveling, we made the trek to the east coast.

Beachcollage1

I baked a bit on this trip, stowing away a baking pan, scale, measuring spoons and microplane in my luggage. Cinnamon rolls, a German chocolate cake, and pineapple mojitos. It’s actually a lot of fun to go into a kitchen and not know what is in there, and then figure out how to make what you need without the typical tools. Some of the best restaurants or coffee shops I’ve worked at have been those that don’t have large budgets and where we have to get creative when it comes to tools or baking vessels. It pushes you to be inventive.

Everyone contributed a little. Paella was whipped up one night, someone brought BBQ from a restaurant in Memphis, others picked up pizzas and champagne. As each bottle of alcohol was emptied, they were placed up on window ledge in the living room, over the sliding doors – a remembrance to the good times had by all while partaking.

beachcollage3

Mostly, this trip let me recharge a little. I read magazines and cookbooks. Daydreamed new pastry and cooking class ideas. Walked on the beach with my hubby. Drank (we brought Sand-Reckoner, Pillsbury, Dos Cabezas, and Arizona Distilling Co. with us, so everyone could try some Arizona goodies. Well, and some Pistol Whipped Pastry of course!) and ate a massive meal of clam chowder, shrimp, and crab cakes. Slept. Climbed to the top of an old lighthouse. Realized after said climb what poor shape we are in. It was just the break we needed before coming home and diving into work.

beachcollage2

On this trip I met Mr. PC’s extended family. His cousins and their families were unable to make it to our wedding. Completely understandable, since everyone has busy lives and with a country between us, it can be challenging for all of us to get together. I was happy to finally meet everyone and have the opportunity to get to know his aunt, uncle and cousins better.

At the end of our journey, we ate the best soft pretzel and mustard (Lusty Monk) we’ve ever had at a brewery called Weeping Radish on the road back to Norfolk, Virgina. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. PC stashed a portion cup of the mustard into our carry on, which I found when unpacking later that night.

photo 9

Now we are home and the weather is becoming beautiful again here in Phoenix. Our suitcases are still laying on the floor half unpacked. My seashell collection is stilled wrapped in Mr. PC’s tshirts and stuffed inside the alcohol travel tubes. Mr. PC is busy with work, and I am knee-deep in lots of Pistol Whipped Pastry plans. The beach was fun, but back to the grind of work and life. It helps that I also have a case of Lusty Monk mustard coming our way. And I am still finding sand everywhere, even in the pockets of my favorite hoodie.

 

Daydream Monday, anyone?

PWPplums

 

Summers in Arizona for restaurants and bakeries or any hospitality business here is slow. Super slow. I assumed this would give me time to relax, daydream, and plan for the upcoming season. Yeah, not so much. I have been consistently busy planning and plotting with the odd job here and there, that I feel like I haven’t been able to spend much time playing with all my new ideas.

Mondays are my creative days. Well, I do office work too, but I give myself space to write recipes, test recipes, and flip through my cookbooks and mags that are piling up on my desk, and finally organize the bobs and bits around my messy office.

Daydream Mondays allow for endless cups of coffee, slices of leftover dark chocolate cake for lunch, and wine time arriving whenever the day demands and permits. Bowls of sweet plum slices for snack while catching up on emails or sorting through boxes of baking tools that will be used and abused this upcoming season. I don’t have to be anywhere or have to meet any deadlines. The day takes shape however I need it to, plus it’s alone time in my home office and kitchen to be by myself.

It’s simple and not the break I had hoped for, but the business is growing and starting to find its shape, and I am so grateful for this progress.

PWPWSArtisanMarket

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday to Williams-Sonoma Biltmore for the Artisan Market. We love being able to do these events and spread the word about what we are doing at Pistol Whipped Pastry.

Happy Monday, friends!

 

Rachel Ellrich Miller is a pastry chef and food writer in Phoenix, where she bakes, eats, hangs out with her amazing husband, Mr. PC, and drinks copious amounts of Arizona wine. You can get more information about her pastry at http://www.pistolwhippedpastry.com, or her Sugar Rush column on Phoenix New Times Chow Bella blog.

A Willcox Weekend

WillcoxSunset2

Mr. PC and I are in love with Willcox, Arizona. The land stretches forever in every direction, with farms and vineyards lining the roads. People are kind, waving to us, even though they have never seen us and may never see us again. The main drag of downtown is slowly being revitalized with wine tasting rooms, and hopefully restaurants will follow.

The purpose of our trip was a going away party for our friend Simona. She has an amazing career as a wine maker, venturing around the world to different wineries, helping through the entire wine making process. We met Simona a few months ago when we went to Willcox to help our friends at Sand-Reckoner plant some vines (see story here).

SmoresBar

We brought a dessert bar with dark chocolate cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream, a s’mores station (Simona had her first s’more and while a little too sweet for her, she did enjoy it), bourbon coconut rice pudding, and mason jars of lemon posset.

DessertBar

As everyone arrived at the Pillsbury Wine Company tasting room, a variety of dishes filled the table and full bottles of wine collected on the bar. There wasn’t a bad bit of food in the place. Citrus salad, grain salad, peaches baked with goat cheese, baked squash, marinated steak tacos, and Simona’s veggie lasagna.

CitrusSalad

 

RoastedPeaches

 

GrainSalad

Everyone sat outside eating, drinking wine, talking and watching the rain storms roll overhead. A beautiful weekend with lovely people.

WillcoxSunset

If you have the chance, get down to Willcox wine country and taste the beautiful wines they are making.

Simona, we will miss you! Safe travels on your next journey! xo

Rachel Ellrich Miller is a pastry chef and food writer in Phoenix, where she bakes, eats, hangs out with her amazing husband, Mr. PC, and drinks copious amounts of Arizona wine. You can get more information about her pastry at http://www.pistolwhippedpastry.com, or her Sugar Rush column on Phoenix New Times Chow Bella blog.

 

Soaked Oats

SoakedOatsFinished

 

My husband, Mr. PC, came home from work and announced that he would be participating in a lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks competition at work. I’ll admit that my first thought was “ughhhhhhhh!” We do really need to up our fitness game (from non-existent to actually doing some sort of physical activity), but honestly, like most people, we often find it challenging to find the time with our busy schedules.

Plus, we love good food, cocktails and wine, and often treat meals like great events, eating to our hearts content. The eating out or quick meals during the fast pace of the week often catch up to us with a snugging of our pants.

I love trying out new (or new to me) ideas that I feel will make my life a little healthier and a little easier. Enter this concept of soaked oats. I’ve been reading a lot about sprouting and soaking grains to make them more digestible, which also allows for the nutrients to be better absorbed by the body. I’ve heard a lot about overnight soaking of oats (hello muesli) and have always wondered if soaked oats taste better than the regular cooked version. Answer: yes!

However, I am not into eating them cold. I just can’t get around the texture and temp combo. So, I do reheat my oats. I love that it makes a hearty, re-heatable breakfast that can be easily transported, and doesn’t have any preservatives. When I eat a breakfast like this, I don’t find myself snacking as much during the day.

I make a batch at the beginning of the week, stored in mason jars in the fridge, they are easy to pull for breakfast on the go (for me), or for Mr. PC to take to work.

I soak the oats overnight with water and organic (no-sugar added) apple juice. Reheated in the morning with a couple splashes of milk, then portioned out into jars, and stored in fridge. I reheat my oats each mornings with a bit more milk (use homemade almond milk, which is amazing), add in a touch of brown sugar or some homemade jam, nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, a bit of quinoa leftover from dinner, coconut milk…options are endless.

Perhaps this will help until I can get back on that running regime.

Oats after soaking for 6 hours.
Oats after soaking for 6 hours.
Print

Soaked Oats

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

2 cups Apple Juice, Organic & No-Sugar Added
2 cups Water, Filtered
2 cups Rolled Oats, Organic (and if needed Gluten Free)
A pinch of Salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup Whole Milk, Organic (or Homemade Almond Milk)

If desired, you can add a multitude of items, here are some that we often add-in.
3 TBSP Wheat Bran (omit if Gluten Free)
1 tsp. Cinnamon, Ground
Handful of Cashews or Walnuts, Chopped
Handful of Dried Cherries or Dried Cranberries
Nut Butters
Hemp Seeds
Homemade Jam
Honey
Brown Sugar
Leftover Quinoa (I know this sounds odd, but with some raisins and a splash of milk, it's delicious!)

Directions:

In a large pot, bring water, apple juice and pinch of salt to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in oats. Cover and allow to sit overnight. (I don't refrigerate mine, but if it freaks you out to leave it at room temp, you can refrigerate.)

The next morning, heat up the oaks with 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk (or almond milk) (You can also, just portion into jars, and not reheat - this is how they are traditionally eaten, but I am not a fan of the texture/temp combination). Portion into containers (we use glass canning jars with the plastic BPA free lids) and stir in extras. Store in the fridge. Eat cold or reheat.

 

I store our oats in glass mason jars, ready to grab and go.
I store our oats in glass mason jars, ready to grab and go.

 

Rachel Ellrich Miller is a pastry chef and food writer in Phoenix, where she bakes, eats, hangs out with her amazing husband, Mr. PC, and drinks copious amounts of Arizona wine. You can get more information about her pastry at http://www.pistolwhippedpastry.com, or her Sugar Rush column on Phoenix New Times Chow Bella blog.

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