Disjointed Day 22

To any educators out there, I would like to propose that in between lesson plans on the parts of a cell, mitosis, and frog dissection that you work in Chicken Anatomy 101.  Over the last couple of years I have made a roast chicken at least once a month and call it unobservant, or perhaps under confident, but I can never remember which part goes up.  Recipes say that the breast should be facing up, but lets be honest once the chicken is horizontal in the pan, minus its head, feathers, tail, etc. it all starts to look the same. 

Really of all the topics that are covered in public school curriculum, this would be a very good subject to make mainstream.  I'm not talking home economics (or do they call it "life skills" now?) but mainstream curriculum.  This is a chicken.  This is the breast of the chicken, it goes up in the pan.  This is the underside (?) of the chicken, it goes down.  And maybe a handy chart, song or mnemonic devise might be nice as well.  This would only ensure that people could feed their children, feed their spouse, impress loved ones.  It would increase productivity at work because people would be Googleing "Chicken Chart," "How to Roast a Chicken," or looking at pictures of cooked chickens trying to decide which end is up! 

I was going to post pictures of our lovely roasted chicken, which by pure luck ended up with the breast side up, thank you very much.  But I tried a new recipe and while okay, it was just okay...The good news is I have learned that however you cook a chicken right side up, wrong side up, upside down, you can't really ruin it. Even if the initial results aren't exactly what you had hoped a good cooked chicken can make fabulous meals for days. 

So instead of a beautiful brown bird to share, I'm going to share a recipe that for me truly is a no-fail, super simple breakfast dish that we have come to love in our house.  When I first read the recipe for Amish oatmeal one reviewer described it as a breakfast cookie.  (Can the Amish eat cookies? Another good question for you teachers out there or Google.)

I like this description because it really describes the final texture more than anything.  Now I really like oatmeal, but when I make oatmeal (and when I say "oatmeal" I really mean instant oatmeal from the packet) I add about 1 Tab of hot water.  Just enough to bind it together, but never ever more than that.  The minute it gets soupy the texture starts to freak me out a bit.  I have recently learned that my little sister also eats her oatmeal this way.  I'm not sure where we picked it up; my dad wouldn't touch oatmeal with a ten foot poll and my mom likes hers really, really soupy made with hot water and milk.

So here is our "Breakfast Cookie"
1 1/2 cup Quick Cook Oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients and add milk, butter, egg and vanilla stirring until incorporated.  Pour mixture into a pie pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  This goes into a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges start to look golden brown. 

This is one big delicious breakfast cookie that in our house gets eaten throughout the day as a snack, dessert, you name it!  This is also a great use-it-up recipe if you have purchased quick oats for oatmeal cookies or to make granola and have some leftover. You can also measure out the dry ingredients into a Ziploc bag and put this in the freezer. Then you can have a breakfast cookie in a snap any time. (My mom's brilliant idea!)

Thanks for indulging this truly disjointed post.  I'm not exactly sure what chicken anatomy has to do with oatmeal, but that's just what this particular Day 22 looked like.