…. in the kitchen particularly……

After years of not being overly interested in spending time in that room, I have, thanks to my wonderful ED’s gift and Sara Wilson, [author of the gift, a book called ‘I Quit Sugar’] re-discovered  the joys of creating tasty foods that feed the body and the soul. [I should probably also add that Sara Wilson doesn’t even know I exist just in case you mistake this as an advertisement for her.]

When I began this new adventure – about two weeks ago now – [really is that all, it feels like forever!]  I decided to give up on wheat as well as sugar – may as well kill two birds with one stone I thought [such as  odd saying courtesy my parents generation]  – so was looking for something affordable and tasty to replace that lunchtime sandwich with.

I’m not a recipe follower, never have been, probably never will be – and as I mentioned in my previous post I was experimenting with something I call Cheese and Oat Cakes which I have been making on and off for the last forty odd years – mostly off in the last ten years –  I knew though that if I was going to record this in my blog I would have to have, at the very least, an accurate record of the ingredients. 

That was a challenge!

Luckily its a pretty easy recipe to remember.  The proof lies in the fact that after pretty much a decade I pulled that recipe from my memory pretty much intact and started fiddling about with it.  Now I’ve had three attempts at making something just right for my lunchtime taste buds.   And today I got it just right!

And I was a good girl, I remembered to jot down what I was mixing in and I even remembered to take a couple of photos – well towards the end which is better than nothing!

So here’s the recipe to make 12 cakes: [I don’t know why they are called cakes – really they are more a patty-like creature.  Maybe I should call them Cheese and Oat Patties from now on??]  [Oh, and another aside, everything is free-range and/or organic wherever possible – but if that’s not your bag use whatever you have to hand]

Toss all this into a large mixing bowl:

3 cups rolled oats; 3 cups grated cheese, a good handful of chopped fresh parsley;           2 tsp Zesty Garlic Herb Blend*; sea-salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Mix this all up enthusiastically then add in 2 eggs and about a half cup of cornmeal.  [If you don’t have cornmeal use flour].  Add in a small amount of milk to make the mixture damp, but not soggy.

I use my hands now and strongly insist that a good palm full of the mixture becomes a ball – if it won’t and keeps falling apart, add in a bit more milk.  You have to be quite firm with the mixture or it won’t bind.  So now you should have 12 nice round balls all lined up neatly on your board. [I did, she said proudly!]  I let them sit there for 10 or 20 minutes and then put my nice big heavy bottomed fry pan on the element and heated it through.  I don’t add any oil as my pan cooks beautifully without it – but use a little if you need to.

I put 6 balls into my pan at a time, flattening them out somewhat so that they resemble cakes – or patties – rather than balls.  Turn the heat down and cook for 2 – 3 minutes before turning.  If they brown too quickly turn the heat down further.  Cook the other side for 2 – 3 minutes also.

  You can see in this photo there is no oil in the pan, yet the cakes are still browning nicely.

And that’s it they are done and ready to eat!

Yummy!!

Enjoy!

*A quick note about the Zesty Garlic Herb Blend, which is for me personally, a prime ingredient in the success of this recipe.  It is made by Bittersweet Herbs & Spices who do a great mail order service.  Find them on the web at http://www.herbsonline.co.nz

If you make these tasty treats do drop a line to say what you think.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!