Natural Nutrition With Oats
Nutritional Oats
There is nothing better than a hearty bowl of hot porridge for breakfast in the winter months, made with oats, for a delicious, healthy and sustainable start to the day.
Oats are well-known for their health benefits, helping in the lowing of cholesterol, aiding with digestion, being a great source of vitamin B and also for their many benefits in skin and hair care.
Oats can be added to many baking recipes to make wonderfully healthy and tasty biscuits and cakes and also to thicken soups adding fullness and great goodness.
As you can see, oats are an all round good guy to keep in your kitchen at all times for cooking and for the many other beneficial properties you can use them for.
Ah Yum Porridge
Oatmeal Biscuits
Not only can we cook a healthy breakfast with oats we can also make delicious biscuits.
Whole grain oats contain seven forms of vitamin B from the B group, vitamin E and nine minerals including iron and calcium.
So If we cook with oats we are not only having great tasting but highly nutritious food as well.
Here is a simple recipe to make some oatmeal biscuits.
Ingredients
- 11/2 cups wholemeal flour
- 11/2 cups unbleached white flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- I large or 2 spoons of honey or molasses
- 1 cup low fat plain yoguart
- 1 - 2 cups raisins
- butter
Instructions
- Grease baking tins.
- Melt butter over low heat
- Add raisins and honey and gently stir in pot
- Add a little warm water if mixture is to thick, do not allow to boil
- Place aside to allow for cooling
- When mixture with raisins and honey has cooled gently fold into dried ingredients making a soft dough.
- Drop dough with round of teaspoon onto prepared biscuit tray.
- Flatten a little with fingers
- Bake for 15 mins or so until golden brown on top
- Place on cooling wire tray
- You can add bananas or any other dried food that you like to this mix.
The Use of Oats In Natural Beauty
Oatmeal Skin Care
Oats are used a lot in natural skin care and beauty products and can be used in many forms made up at home and can cost you next to nothing.
Cleanse, using the rough texture of the oats to exfoliate the skin and use the many soaps and natural body creams that are made with oats, as they nourish and moisturize your skin and are very good for very dry skin.
There are also many natural hair shampoos and conditioners with oats added as they are good for a dry flaky scalp and help stimulate healthy hair follicles.
Try this recipe for a facial cleanser in your own home the ingredients of which should be right there in your kitchen, so no excuse.
Oatmeal Cleansing Mask
This is made using Oats, Honey and Yogurt
Take 1/2 cup of yogurt
1/4 cup ground oats
!/4 cup honey
Mix well
Clean the face well, blot face with water and then apply on wet face.
Start using as a small massage applying once a week working your way up to a full mask pack leaving on for 15-20 minutes
An oatmeal pack maybe used to treat skin conditions.
The Oatmeal facial is a popular treatment to prompt smoother skin because the texture of the oats is a little rough it acts as an exfoliate and takes off the dead skin layer when used as a scrub.
Soaps
There are many natural soaps that are made with oats, and essential oils are added for scent and relaxation.
The Great Anzac Biscuits
Anzac Biscuits were baked by mothers, wives and girlfriends at home for the Australian men that went to war during World War 1.
Due to the lack of refrigeration on the ships, these women came up with the perfect recipe that would help feed the troops.
These biscuits consisted of rolled oats, without an egg, and other nutritional ingredients based on an old Scottish recipe where oats are so commonly used.
The biscuits were packed in food parcels which were sent overseas to the Australian soldiers in the trenches.
To make sure the biscuits remained fresh and crisp they were often packed into used tins such Billy tea.
Here is a recipe for our great Aussie icon the Anzac Biscuit.
Our Aussie Anzac Biscuits - Making Anzac Biscuits
Anzac biscuits are still religiously baked by Australian families today to honour our Aussie troops.
A tasty, nutritious biscuit it is.
A Field of Oats
Healthy Nutritious Oats
Do you like eating oats for breakfast and also cooking with them?
© 2009 Julia M S Pearce