This coffee cake is a scrumptious way to celebrate National Oatmeal Month

In honor of National Oatmeal Month I constructed an oatmeal appreciative recipe. This coffee cake combines juicy green apples and tart dried cherries to complement its whole grain texture. Have it for breakfast or dessert, you choose! Hope you enjoy this decadent smelling treat amongst many oatmeal loving individuals. Happy Baking!

Whole Wheat Apple Cherry Oat Coffee Cake

• 2 ¼ cups Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Rolled Oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 t. cinnamon
• ½ t. nutmeg
• ¾ cup non-hydrogenated shortening(cut into small pieces)
• ½ t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• ½ t. salt
• ¾ cup apple juice
• ¾ cup soymilk (can be substituted for any milk)
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• ½ cup dried cherries (roughly chopped)
• 1 peeled and cored green apple(roughly chopped)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small mixing bowl. Cut in shortening using a paddle attachment or a pastry cutter. After the mixture becomes crumbly and the shortening is well dispersed, remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Briefly stir or pulse to combine.

In a liquid measuring cup measure apple juice, soymilk and vanilla extract and stir together. Stir liquid mixture into the crumb mixture until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl if necessary. Fold in the fruit and place batter into a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan. After evenly spreading into the pan, sprinkle the remaining cup of crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 17-20 minutes.

We got 300+ entries for our oatmeal giveaway! I wish we could give each and every one of you a prize pack. Before I announce the winners, who were chosen at random and not for their poetry, I wanted to say that I am so impressed with everyone’s haiku writing skills! We got a lot of great ones, but here are a few of our favorites:

From lilcg:

saturday morning
with brown sugar and butter
nothing is better

From Matt:

Coffee excites some people,
But I know what’s good:
Oats, at sunrise, in my bowl.

From Kristen (This one cracked us up and deserves an honorable mention- sorry if it offends those with a more refined sense of humor):

Oatmeal is the bomb
I slow-cook it in my thong
sex and food ain’t wrong

From Adrienne:

Morning light peeks through
young sleepyheads stumble in
oatmeal in the air

Read the comments for more great oatmeal haikus.These are just a small sampling of the amazing poetry submitted by you guys!

And now, without further ado, here are our winners: Please note that after one winner was selected, I withdrew their names from the list, hence the number gets smaller.

Winner #1:

Stephanie from The New Healthy

Winner #2:

Pam from Pam's Amazing Journey

Winner #3:

Jenn from Just the Beginning

Congrats to these three winners! We’ll be in touch to get shipping information. Thank you to everyone who participated. It is so inspiring to read what makes oatmeal one of your favorite things.

If you didn’t win, don’t worry, we have a lot of great giveaways in store for the next few months. We’ve got some new products, some great books and even a fabulous kitchen appliance (actually, three of them!) to share- so keep reading and let me know if there is anything that you think we could do to make this blog better.

Cheers!

Bob hands over possession of the Focus Mares Bike to Train with Grain winner, Harvey Visser. Harvey was very pleased to win the bike and promised to be back for Cross Crusade this fall.

See part one for the first half of Mo’s European tour.

1.1 – GP Hotel Threeland Cyclocross

The race course was set up right through another small town and into the surrounding woods. It was hilly and very much like a mountain bike course with singletrack style climbs and slippery, muddy down hills.

I hadn’t done that much climbing in a race since the summer mountain bike races, but I gave it my best shot and kept trying to keep my effort steady rather than burn too many matches on the climbs. I spent most of the day on my own and finished ninth with my first European race top ten!

Coverage from Cyclingnews and Cyclocross Magazine can be found here and here.

We headed back to Belgium that night to prepare for the final race of the European campaign. The race was going to be on par with a World Cup course with a very stong field of competitors. I was hoping that my last race of the trip would be a strong one.

1.2 – Fidea Classic, Tervuren

After pre-riding the course, I could tell that we would all be off the bikes and running within the first two minutes of the race which was good news for me as I like running in the mud. The rest of the course was filled with twists and turns through the woods, some small climbs and several sections of getting on and off the bike in the mud. I had a decent start position and was surprised to find myself running in the top five at the top of the muddy hill.

After I hopped on my bike, the fight for the top ten ensued as each rider tried to use their strengths and move past one another. A few riders passed me but I was able to pass a few more heading into the last lap to grab another 9th place and a second top ten for the week of racing!

You can find more of Lyne’s great coverage on Podium Insight here and here. Cyclingnews and Cyclocross Magazine coverage can be found here and here.

That night we headed to the home of our friends Christine and Jonas along with our friend Lyne and enjoyed a home cooked meal and some local specialty aperitifs. It was a perfect way to wrap up the races and enjoy some socializing while watching the race coverage on TV too.

The following day we packed up all of our equipment and then Karlien and I spent some quality time scrubbing the mud out of my racing gear before putting it in her washing machine while Matt and Gijs went off to pick up some specialty beers to bring home. Later that day we headed to Turnhout, a town close to Arendonk.  We explored the busy shopping district on the first day of the annual winter sales and had an amazing lunch at a tea house. That night we joined friends Luc, Heidi and Jasmien for another fantastic homemade dinner and relaxing by their fireplace.

On our final day in Belgium, we headed back to Ghent to return the borrowed equipment to the BMC Service Course. We took one last trip through Antwerp for some coffee at Caffénation and another lunch and ginger tea at Lombardia before heading home the following day.

Upon returning home, we awaited news of the US World’s Team selection. We settled back into our work schedules and a well-earned rest week for me. Late Friday afternoon I read on Velonews that the team had been selected and that I was not selected as a discretionary pick. Having missed the selection, I was even more thrilled to have had the opportunity to do four races in Europe the week before. And now it’s time to say a HUGE thank you to all of my sponsors, fans, friends and family for your support this past season. I could not have done it without you!

But we’re not quite done yet!
Please join us for the annual MM Racing End of Cyclocross Season Party on Saturday January 30th at the Ride Studio Café in Lexington from 6:30-10:00 PM for snacks, beer and maybe, just maybe some cupcakes! Bring your friends and let’s celebrate our succesful season together. So we know how many cupcakes to make, please RSVP.

We have lots of new and exciting things to share with you in our next newsletter, including awesome custom computers from Cateye, more sponsor spotlights, a great new sponsor and much more. So, stay tuned!

Thank you to our sponsors for their continued support: Bob’s Red Mill, Seven Cycles, SRAM, Mavic, Pedro’s, TRP, Fizik, Mad Alchemy, Bonfire Health, Challenge Tires, Thule, New England Athletic, Ryders Eyewear, CatEye, ClifBar and Lazer Helmets.

If you just can’t get enough MM Racing, you can follow us on Twitter Matt: @mm_racing, Mo: @meaux_marie or find the MM Racing fan page on Facebook.

Thanks for reading!

Pie crust doesn't have to look this perfect to taste amazing.

They’ll make a day for just about anything, won’t they?  National Pie Day was created by, um… you guessed it, the American Pie Council, to celebrate this national comfort food and its role in our American heritage. Ok, we’ll roll with it. We don’t need to be told twice to put pie up on a pedestal and worship all that is lovely about pie.

What we love about pie is its amazing versatility. You can put almost anything into a pie shell and it will be a hit. From sweet, fruit pies and cream pies to savory quiches and potpies, we haven’t found a pie that we didn’t love.

What is definitely the most intimidating part of pies is the crust. Yes, you can take the easy route and buy a pre-made crust at the store, but there’s something about making a pie from scratch that is so satisfying.

The key to a good pie crust is to follow the directions exactly, use cold butter and ice water if required, and make sure the dough does not get overly wet. You want it to stick together when pressed, but you don’t want it to be gooey. It’s a bit intimidating, but usually there are only a few steps: mix flour, salt, sugar (if using), blend in shortening or butter using a pastry blender, add water one tablespoon at a time until dough sticks together. We cannot emphasize enough that the water must be added and blended one tablespoon at a time. If you dump it in all at once, you end up with a soggy crust. A tip that we dearly love is using wax paper or plastic wrap when rolling your crust out. What a lifesaver that can be!

You want to check how long the crust needs to be chilled (if at all) before you endeavor to make your pie. There is nothing more frustrating than going to make your pie and learning you still have to chill the dough for six hours. The longer the dough chills, the flakier your crust will be upon baking. Not all dough needs to be chilled and we recommend keeping a few different crusts in your collection:

• a traditional double pie crust (gluten free version here) Chilling time can be reduced, but the crust may not be quite as flaky.
• a double pie crust that does not require chilling
• a single pie crust for pies that do not need a top crust (gluten free version here)
• a quick and easy graham-cracker or nut-based pie crust; for a great gluten free version to stand in for “graham cracker” crusts,  we particularly love this one from Karina Allrich of Gluten Free Goddess fame.
• for a vegan pie crust, this post is a great reference.

Just 10 days after Nationals, we re-packed the bikes and bags and headed to Belgium for the biggest week of cross races in the World. I had made arrangements to compete in one World Cup and three UCI races and was excited to redeem myself after Nationals. It would be a busy week of racing but it also meant that we would have the chance to take a few recovery days and explore the cities around us.

We were happy to have very few problems with our travel to Brussels despite several airports in Europe being closed just days before due to record snowfalls (6-8 inches) that closed runways, caused de-icer shortages and massive baggage problems. We had a slight delay due to traffic leaving Newark and did not suspect any problems in Brussels until I overheard a flight attendant say “Brussels was closed this morning due to more snow, but the pilots didn’t seem concerned.” It appeared that Brussels got another 6-8 inches of snow that night that left one runway open for arrivals but no departures going out. We arrived on time and then sat on the runway because we did not have a gate available. Twenty minutes later we were sent to another gate and then had to wait another 30 minutes because the jet-way was stuck in ice and needed to be shoveled out. Coming from Boston where they move snow out of Logan in record time, we just kind of felt bad for these guys.

Baggage Claim. It was apparent that the airport closings from the week before had led to a huge mess, including Brussels being filled with luggage. We waited for about an hour while carousels were emptied and luggage was put into row after row after row. We felt very lucky when all of our luggage arrived trouble free.

After packing the rental car, Matt proceeded to slam the hatch back into his forehead causing a minor bloody mess but my last minute band-aid packing had him on the mend quickly. We hit the road en route to our rented cottage in Arendonk hoping that the road conditions were at least manageable.

We arrived about ninety minutes later to our little cottage in Arendonk and were welcomed back by Karlien and Peter.  We had no trouble with the drive despite concerns that the roads were in bad shape from the snow. Karlien had put a small Christmas tree in the cottage for us making it feel very festive with the snow outside and the wood stove inside. That night we spent Christmas Eve with the Gijsen family, played with the kids and learned about Saint Nicolas Day (Dec 6th) being their big holiday where the kids get gifts (historically left in their shoes) and Dec 25th Christmas keeping a more religious tradition.

On Christmas Day, we pre-rode the Zolder World Cup Course and met up with several of the other American racers. The snow was deep on the course and it was very technical because of the conditions. I was very much looking forward to some redemption after Nationals and excited to race on some European courses.

12.26 – Heusden-Zolder World Cup

The start of the race was a bit hectic as I was close to the back and the first turn was so snowy that most riders were off their bikes and running. I found myself able to move up close to the top ten and tried to stay relaxed to avoid mistakes.

The course had several steep ups and downs and I chose to run two of the downhill sections to avoid crashing like I had seen several other riders do in the warm up.

I was sitting in 16th place for much of the race. My legs felt good and I felt comfortable on the slippery course, letting my bike lead the way. However, each time I had to run up or down a hill, the bottoms of my shoes got so jammed with snow and ice that they would not go back into the pedals despite trying to kick all the snow out. I began losing time as I struggled with my shoes and pedals and finished 20th. It was still my best World Cup finish but I was hoping for top 15.

Race coverage from Cyclingnews, Velonews and Cyclocross Magazine can be found here, here and here.  Lyne from Podium Insight was on hand and provided words and pictures here and here.

We also found a pretty nice video compilation below.  I make a few cameos in it, so check it out here!

The following day we headed to the BMC Service Course in Ghent. After an all-to-brief tour of the city of Ghent, we headed to the home base for the BMC team. Matt had contacted some of the mechanics that work for the team and asked to borrow some equipment so that we would not have to fly with more baggage. Ian and Jürgen kindly offered whatever we needed as well as a tour of the warehouse when we arrived. We left with just the right equipment for the next race on Wednesday that was sure to be a muddy one! We finished off our “rest day” as spectators at the famous nighttime cyclocross race in Diegem. There were 15,000 spectators that came out on a chilly Monday night to watch ‘cross under the lights. It was a first to come to a race as a spectator, but with frites in hand, I didn’t feel out of place.

12.29 – GVA Trofee Azencross-Loenhout

We were surprised to see that 10,000 people showed up to a cross race in a small town on a Wednesday the week between Christmas and New Years, but that’s typical Belgium! There was a steady light rain that mixed with the remaining snow on the ground to make a muddy mess of the course. The race was fast and flat with a few short bumps and one set of bmx-style whoops. I felt strong on the technical section and dug deep on the long flat pavement to try to work my way up to the top ten. In the end, I held onto 13th hoping to crack the top ten in the next few races over the weekend.

Race coverage from Podium Insight, can be found here and here.  More pictures and coverage from Cyclocross Magazine can be found here.  Cyclingnews and Velonews coverage can be found here and here.

That evening after the race we headed into Antwerp to check out the festive lights, holiday markets, do some sightseeing and eat at Lombardia veg/vegan restaurant. They have a famous hot ginger drink that I could have three times a day if I could! The city was filled with decorations and lights, an ice skating rink and food vendors. We strolled the city taking photos and later stopped for some frites and gluhwein (hot spiced red wine). We joked that we felt a little like we were in a movie where the couple ‘jets off to Europe’ for the holidays. It was a glamorous welcome rest between the races.

On New Year’s Eve, I got in my training ride and we packed up the car for the drive to the next race in Luxembourg. We made a quick stop at the local car wash to give the bikes and wheels a proper scrubbing.  The car wash had many options to choose from but our Dutch is really up to par with car-wash talk… we settled on Zeep (soap) and Verwateren (water).

Our drive to Luxembourg took us through the Ardennes forest and through the towns of Liège and Bastogne, home to the oldest road race in Europe, the Liège -Bastogne- Liège, first run in 1892.  In Pétange, Luxembourg, along the French border, the race promoter had provided us with a hotel for the evening. We arrived early and headed north to Luxembourg City to walk around and find some New Year’s Eve dinner. The city was mostly quiet with restaurants setting up for meat-heavy prix fixe menus and late night revelers. There was one large party tent set up in the main square blasting pop music. We wandered around checking out the old walled sections of the city, taking photos and dinner. We headed back to the hotel for some rest which turned into watching fireworks at midnight from our window and watching a really bad werewolf movie dubbed in German.

Read about the rest of Mo’s European tour in part two.

When we think of oatmeal, we typically picture good old-fashioned rolled oats (or maybe quick oats). When you visit the store, especially our store, you find many varieties that may make you wonder what the difference is between them. What makes steel cut different from rolled? What makes instant different than quick? What makes Scottish different than Irish? Here’s a handy little explanation that will *hopefully* clear up any confusion.

Oat Groats:

I just love that groat rhymes with oat! The groat is the de-hulled oat grain. Some grains are called berries, but oats are known as groats. Quite simply, the most intact form of the grain available in the market. Use this version of oats as you would other whole grains. Oat groats are a bit softer than wheat berries and make a wonderful addition to pilafs and soups. We have some wonderful recipes using oat groats, such as this Creamy Mushroom and Grains Soup- a favorite at my house!

The oat groat is the whole oat kernel with the hull removed. Photo borrowed from culinate.com.

Rolled Oats:

The most common form of oats, rolled oats are made from oat groats that have been steamed to allow them to pass through the roller mills without cracking and breaking. Rolled oats are available in many different varieties, each of which refers to the thickness of the flake and cooking time required. The smallest and thinnest oat product is Instant, followed by Quick Cooking, Regular (Old Fashioned) and Extra Thick.

Instant oats have also been pre-cooked to make them truly instant. Just add hot water and you’ll have oatmeal. Most brands add sweeteners to their instant oats, but ours are simple, plain oats.

Most recipes calling for rolled oats are referring to quick cooking or regular, but using extra thick will add an extra chewiness that some find quite appealing.

The most common oat product, rolled oats are flat flakes.

Steel Cut Oats:

Steel Cut= Pinhead= Irish Oats. Steel cut oats are made from whole oat groats that have been chopped into two or three pieces, making for a much chewier cereal. They are almost exclusively used for breakfast, as they do not soften very well in baking applications. These are the oats used in the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship and you will find that they are cooked prior to being used in any recipes. You can find many wonderful recipes on the Golden Spurtle website, as well as our own, using steel cut oats.

What makes steel cut oats particularly attractive for breakfast, and the reason we tout them as the perfect fuel for your day, is how the body breaks them down. Because of their size and shape, the body breaks them down more slowly than rolled oats, preventing spikes in blood sugar and keeping you full longer.

Steel Cut Oats are much larger pieces than Scottish Oats

Scottish Oats:

The true oatmeal, Scottish oats are ground on our stone mills from whole oat groats. They are not rolled, they are not cut, they are ground. The texture of Scottish oatmeal is fairly fine, though more coarsely ground than flour. In the United Kingdom, this is what they imagine when you say oatmeal. In the United States, this is what we imagine when we use the term porridge. It’s creamy, thick and almost instant when combined with boiling water. This is what people would have made hundreds of years ago, before modern roller mills were invented.

Scottish oats are wonderful for baking, as they are truly a more coarsely ground flour- like cornmeal. Oatmeal, cornmeal, flaxseed meal- get it? Meal is the next grind up from flour and below farina. We have some great recipes on our site using Scottish oatmeal, including one of our favorites- Scottish Oatcakes.

Scottish Oatmeal is very finely ground. Photo borrowed from recipetips.com

I hope this has helped answer the question of what makes each variety different. If you’ve still got a question or two, please leave it in the comments and I’ll find you an answer.

Classic rolled oats are perfect for oatmeal cookies and granola. Find recipes for gluten free versions on our website.

In honor of National Oatmeal Month, I thought I would take a few minutes to talk a bit about gluten free oats. It’s been almost three years since we introduced gluten free oats into the mainstream marketplace, but we still get a lot of questions about them.

If you don’t follow the gluten free diet, you may not understand why oats are such a big deal for those on a gluten free diet, after all oats do not naturally contain gluten. They do contain a protein known as avenin, which is very similar to gluten and can cause adverse reactions in some people. Avenin-sensitivity is not limited to people with celiac disease and can affect people of all walks. It is not particularly common, but you can find more information about it here.

This is one reason why oats should be introduced slowly into the gluten free diet, as celiacs are more likely to be sensitive to avenin. The second main reason why anyone on the gluten free diet should introduce oats slowly into their diet is that the fiber in oats can be hard on a compromised digestive tract. Start with a small serving, about 1/4 cup, per day until your body adjusts. AND we always recommend talking with your physician before adding oats into a gluten free diet.

Oats have long been on the ‘forbidden foods’ list for those with celiac disease because of cross-contact issues at the farm level. Wheat and oats have traditionally been rotation crops which is not ideal for preventing cross-contact. It’s nearly impossible to keep wheat from cropping up with oats when grown as rotation crops. This happens all across the board in the farming industry. Usually, it’s not a problem because most grains can be sorted using high-tech machines. Oats and wheat, however, are very similar in shape, size and color, making standard grain-cleaning practices almost ineffective. New technology has been introduced into the industry that can detect the subtle differences in the two grains, making it far easier to produce gluten free oats.

At Bob’s Red Mill we take it to the next level by working closely with a farming cooperative made up of over 200 farms in Saskatchewan. Each farm has been a dedicated oat farm for over three years prior to joining the coop and uses only pedigreed oat seed. The oats are tested for gluten at the farm level and exhaustively tested upon arrival at Bob’s Red Mill. We use the ELISA Gluten Assay to determine if the oats are under 20 [gluten] parts per million in our in-house laboratory. You can watch a short video about our gluten free facility here.

We now proudly offer three varieties of gluten free oats- regular rolled, steel cut and quick rolled- as well as oat flour. I’ve heard oat bran may be on the list next, but that’s news from the rumor mill.

I hope this has helped clear up any confusion surrounding gluten free oats. If you’ve still got questions, just post them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

This cakenut was rescued from a goodie tray so you could see what they look like... it was gone in seconds.

Yes, the names are quite silly, but everybody loves them. When I first started at Bob’s Red Mill, I giggled at the cleverly named, donut-shaped biscuit I covered in cinnamon and sugar every morning. When I saw how well they sold and the fact that Bob loved them, I smirked and tried one. After a taste, I decided to make this treat available to my wheat free friends, as well.

Now you can find Wheat-Free Bisnuts in the case every Friday and a treat similar to the Bisnut, a Cakenut! These familiar circular shaped moist little cakes are often topped with powdered sugar or a vanilla glaze. The Wheat-Free Vanilla Cakenuts are made every Wednesday. If you have tried these and enjoyed them…here is the recipe.

Wheat-Free Vanilla Cakenuts

• 1 pkg. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix
• ½ cup safflower oil
• ½ cup water
• 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Follow the instructions on the package of cake mix to prepare the batter. Spray donut pans thoroughly and fill half-way with cake mix. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Once cool, remove cakenuts from the pan and decorate as you wish. This vanilla glaze is quite delicious and super easy.

Vanilla Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoon water

Whisk together until consistent. Drizzle over cooled cakenuts.

My favorite thing to do with a Bisnut is dunk it in my coffee. The cinnamon sugar exterior adds sweetness to your coffee and creates a lightly coffee-flavored biscuit. The Bisnuts found daily in the main cases are made from our scratch biscuit dough pressed into a donut pan, then sprayed with water and tossed in cinnamon sugar. The Wheat-Free Bisnuts use our  Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix (made vegan), then pressed into a donut pan and tossed in cinnamon sugar. You can find donut pans in the Whole Grain Store for $11.19. There are adorable mini donut pans available too.

In the bakery we have had fun experimenting with many batters and dough in these pans. Here’s an idea, next time you make muffins,  fill sprayed donut pans  instead of muffin pans. Impress guests with dips and drizzles of glaze or maybe a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Try Bob’s Red Mill Spiced Apple Muffin Mix with a bit of powdered sugar and cinnamon dusted on top. Sure to impress! Happy Baking!

The two symbols we use for kosher- the latter indicates the presence of dairy.

This is the final installment in our demystifying label terms series. If we’ve missed a term that you’re curious about, please ask and we’ll do our best to find an answer for you.

Kosher: The term “kosher” refers to foods that are in accord with Kashrut, the set of Jewish dietary laws that regulate what foods may and may not be eaten, and how food is processed. Without getting into the full history of the term “kosher,” the basic idea refers to food that has been inspected and certified by a rabbi to ensure that the food, including all sources of the ingredients and the facility, meets the dietary laws of Judaism.

Today, these foods represent far more than adherence to religious laws; “kosher” means that the facility and the sources of the ingredients used meet strict quality and cleanliness standards. Muslims, vegans and those with severe dairy allergies can look to kosher symbols as a way to navigate the label.

At Bob’s Red Mill, we use two kosher symbols. The first, a simple K, represents that the product has been inspected and approved by our certifying agency, Kehilla Kosher. The second, K-D means that the product contains dairy. Because we do not have fish or meat in our facility, we do not use any other kosher symbols. All Bob’s Red Mill products are certified kosher. We know that our kosher symbol is not as widely recognized as some others and we are happy to provide contact information for Kehilla Kosher as requested. Please feel free to contact our customer service team to inquire about our certifying agency.

I would like to give a shout out to our customer Janis from Michigan who helped me explain this properly.  Thank you so much, Janis!!