January is "Oatmeal Month" We purchase more oats in January than any other month of the year, over 34.6 pounds of Quaker Brand oats alone!

The most popular toppings are milk, sugar, raisins, bananas, butter, or margarine. Other unusual ones are peanut butter, eggnog, cottage cheese, and brewers yeast.

Besides cereal, oatmeal cookies are the number one use of oats.

To add more oats when you cook and bake here are some tips:

Substitute oats for 1/3 of the flour called for in pancakes, muffins, biscuits, quick breads, yeast breads, and cookies. Just put some oats in the blender and turn them into oat flour.

Use oats in place of bread or cracker crumbs in meatloaf.

Make toasted oats bu placing oats ona cookie sheet and baking at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Use these over salads, on sanwiches, or to substitute for nuts when baking.

A good sandwich spread: 2/3 cups toasted oats, 1 1/4 cups peanut butter, and 1/2 cup honey. spread on bread, crackers, or apple and pear slices.

Use ground oat flour to coat chicken and fish pieces when baking or frying.

Add 1/3 cup of oats to your favorite "smoothie" of fruit, juice, and yogurt.

Oats are a great versatile food, and can help remove cholesterol from your body. They can also help diabetics maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

This info came from my local newspaper. They also list a website which looks very interesting. It says there are over 245 recipes using oats, and the site has recently been completely redesigned. I am going to try it later.

www.quakeroatmeal.com

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 15, 2002

Answers

Toasted oats are so good. To make a great cereal add them to chopped nuts, raisins, and carob chips.

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), January 15, 2002.

I love homemade granola and my favorite quick recipie is from the more with less cookbook-simply-use 7 cups dry stuff, of which 3-4 cups is oats plus about a cup to cup and a half wet stuff. So when I make granola I go through my cabinets and use what ever looks appealing or needs to be used. Mix it all together and toast in a low heat oven til done-I like to put it in an oven after I've baked something else and use up the heat in the oven. Oats are good!

-- Kelly (homearts2002@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

Hi Ya'll. This is probably the most unhealthy way to use oats but it sure is good. We call it a pore man's pecan pie because it tastes just like pecan. 3 eggs 2/3 c. white sugar 1/3 c. melted butter or margarine 1/2 tsp salt l cup karo pancake syrup l cup of old-fashioned or quick oatmeal. Beat the eggs and add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, dont beat. Pour into an unbaked 9" pie shell and bake 40 to 50 min at 375 degrees or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Blessings Peggy

-- peggy (peggyan2@msn.com), January 15, 2002.

If it has oats in it, it must be healthy. Just repeat that 3 times before you take the first bite!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 15, 2002.